I heard magic carpet ride and it brought back memories. I was about 12 when and older kid in the neighborhood took pity on me riding my 20 inch bike banana seat high handle bars. He was in his old 57 chevy beater. As I type this the hair stands up on my arms. Sure what else was I to say . The seat wasn't bolted in level and there was a large hole in the trans tunnel for the four speed shifter. He fired it up and I can still remember the smell. Next was magic carpet ride in the 8 track. We pulled out on 73 highway Leavenworth ks listening to stepenworth. Then that's when it happened 1st 2nd 3rd 4th the awesomeness was unbelievable. Was a 301 bored 283 . I am 59 now and love hot rods. If a kid I staring talk to him. Preserve the hobby. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I was about 13 when a friend of mine became excited about hot rods and had just about every magazine available at the time on the subject. After reading the articles and viewing the cool pictures he decided he had to build a hot rod and actually got his father to donate one side of their two car garage for the project. There was an old farm down the road from my house that had a junkyard out back that the family had been using for years to dispose of their worn out farm equipment and cars. We used to sneak in and look at all of the neat stuff that was there and there was one item in particular that caught our eye.It was a 27 phone booth Model T body sitting on an unknown chassis. He decided that it would be the perfect start for the project so we got up enough nerve to go to the old farm house and ask the owner it he would sell it. At first he wasn't too happy about the fact that a"Couple of damned kids" were snooping around in his junk area but after talking to him for awhile we finally managed to get him to go with us to look at the one we were interested in. He said the car used to be a daily driver and that the engine died and he was going to try to put the body on an old Chevy frame and try to convert it to a six cylinder but lost interest. He said that if we got it out of there we could have it for 25 bucks. I took all of the money that my buddy could muster at the time and soon it was sitting in his garage. Over the next couple of years he constantly worked on that his hot rod project with me often lending a helping hand. He ended up putting the body on a modified Henry J frame and install a 1953 331 Chrysler Hemi engine, transmission and rear end out of a car that his uncle gave him. He chopped the top and generally got the body and interior together and finally had something that was fairly presentable and ready for its maiden voyage. We lived out in the sticks so registration for the first ride wasn't a consideration. I jumped into the passenger seat and we backed out of the garage and out into the street. My friend threw caution to the wind and torqued the auto trans up let his foot of the brake and we launched up the road in a cloud of tire smoke. Luckily everything worked as planned and after putting on about 10 miles we made it back safely with the adrenalin pumping. I'll never forget that day and from then on I was hooked on hot rodding and have built and owned more of them than I can remember. Strangely enough that was the only hot rod that my buddy ever owned...Funny how things turn out.
I was about 10 or 11 years old in '56 and my older brother took me with him to take a ride in his buddy's '51 Chevy. I was hooked. I think it coincided with my first woodie !
I was about 10 when my Mom's boyfriend took me for a spin in his new '50 Olds. Pedal to the metal. Quite a difference from Mom's '39 Dodge........
First hot rod ride was in a 1932 Plymouth 3 window back in 1981... owned by Mike Goodrow. but watched the B movie "The Giant Gila Monster" 1958, on CBS in 1968... made me say some day I am gonna have one of them climb in hot rods... they called them "bombs" in the movie ... late in 1984 I did... While working on my "bomb" I would see - hear hot rods go by with .... what ? .... "no fenders"... I got a state police warning notice for having no fenders my first month on the road....stayed thumb tacked to the wall for 25 years. got a pair of A coupe rears from bobby t. ... bobbed them, bolted them on, leaving the pigeon poo badges where they were as an act of rebellion for getting the warning... state law changed just in time for me... Thanks to sam, wayne, al, norm, blaine and the rest of you local fenderless pioneers...
1957--in a friend's model A coupe with a flathead and straight exhaust-no fenders-battery on the floor by me in a wooden box-going quite fast on mountain dirt roads-loud and fast for the time I thought-I was hooked.
I was probably about 15. It was a roadster, probably a model A. It was a V8 (not a flathead) with a manual trans. Primered, it had a school bus seat without belts, welded spider gears and pie crust slicks. Like going 80 MPH on a go cart. Gary
I don't remember how I met this dude but I was 14 and the guy owned a low, red, chopped, carson topped 40 merc convertible with a 3 carb'd flathead/3 speed. It had no running boards and sported a 50 Nash grille...that's all I can remember about it except the owner, probably 17, had the trunk full of tools and parts. He'd tune on the flatmotor and after it got dark, I'd sneak out my bedroom window and walk the 2 miles to his little rented cabin and we'd ride in that glorious, loud merc. He'd beat the shit out of it too. One night, he got jiggy with it and broke an axle key...jacked it up on the side of the road at about 1 am and replaced that key in about 20 minutes. These days that guy would prolly go to jail for preying on kids but he was just a skinny, long haired hot rodder. I knew I had to be a hot rodder too.
I grew up driving vintage iron for work; I can honestly say I've never ridden in a hot rod, as defined by a pre-1948 souped up car. The family "lunch truck" was a Model A pickup of uncertain origins which existed solely to carry snacks to us men working in the fields at 10 and 2 and to take us out in the morning, and back at night and for the lunch meal. That old truck still sees the light of day for the Albert City Threshermen's where it does pretty much the same job. I remember when the '50s fad hit post-American Graffiti in the mid-70s; I was so jealous that my dad refuse to even think about fixing up a 1930s car, and all I had to drive was my early 1965 Hipo Mustang coupe. Just goes to show how dumb kids can be.
1966, lived in Hanford, CA and was 12 years old. Across the street lived a couple in their mid to late 20's. They had a metallic green 1957 Chevy Belair with a blower sticking out of the hood, a 4 speed and a chrome straight axle. Fred had a company truck so Harriet drove the 57 to work every day. I walked to school and after a few days Harriet stopped and asked me if I wanted a ride and then invited me to ride every day. I was living the dream, a beautiful blond lady with a 2 foot tall beehive hairdo that knew how to bang gears dropping me off right in front of school. I remember watching her drive away every day and wishing I was Fred. As a side note I googled their names and found out Fred (now 77) is still living in the same house and Harriet passed away about 5 years ago.
I was eleven. I knew I liked cars, but was having trouble figuring out what type. Rally cars were kinda cool, vintage cars were stuffy, but cool, I couldn't make my mind up. Then these long haired bearded weirdos @Davewp brought the large abandoned shed over my back fence, and started filling it with their vintage car projects. At first, I took no notice, but one hot Saturday afternoon, the most outrageous noise blasted outer the rear door of that old woodworking factory, so I teamed up with another young fella, and we snuck around to the back door for a look. Inside was one of those hippys we had seen coming and going. He was leaning over a big block Chrysler engine, revving it up, with uncapped headers. Holy Fuck! This was the apocalypse, earthquakes tornadoes and firestorm all rolled into one, and still blasting out that big ol open rear door. The car, was a Model A tub, kinda a long bucket, short tub body, metallic black with flames, lots of chrome, and big fat tires. Who needs drugs, when the Hot Rod bug bites, your infected with a natural high, and after this day, I was totally bent on Hot Rods. Spent so much of my free time hanging around in that old shed, with these hot rodders, who weren't crazy hippys, that eventually I had my first ride in this same hot rod. The owner made sure he gave my buddy and me a ride we never forgot. That old Hot Rod is still around, a little changed these days, but mostly still the same.
I took my nephew and his 3 year old son in my hotrod a couple weeks ago. Spanked it hard through 3 gears, drifted through the drive and did a couple violent 180s on the grass. I guess he was talking about the scarey loud "go-cart" for about a week after that.
KIWIJEFF- I totally dig it. That's very similar to my scene. The beardy- weirdies in my case used the decrepit old bakery next to the T-junction. Lotsa motorcycles and parts lying around. Dudes only- t shirted longhairs in dirty denim jeans. My first hot rods were street rods so they don't count. 'Oh Wow- this is scary- cool" was, in my case, borne in a muscle car. I don't think I was cool enough or female enough to ride around in Tony's 8" channeled y-Block, metalflake red deuce roadster. p.s; Love that wedge beast tub!
I grew up in a racing family so I was hooked on cars already. When I was 12 (1960) a neighbor's son came home from Air Force service, he purchased a beautiful 57 Chev Bel Air coupe and a Harley w/ shifter on tank. I was admiring his car and he took me for a ride, car and cycle, he treated me like his little brother, introduced me to cruising, Street racing and set the hook on motorcycles for me. He was a Kool guy and as a 12/13 year old kid he had a huge positive influence on me, my first car at 16 was a 57 Chev coupe and had motorcycles 1974-2010. I had Alot of fun w/ him and his girlfriend, great memories. He married, moved out of state and lost touch w/ him. Point of story is be nice to kids that show interest in your cars/cycles, you can make a difference in their life. In today's times I would not do the things that we did back then as a concerned parent today would/could have you put in jail today, different time's for sure.
That guy sounds a lot like my uncle Perry! LOL Hmm... I am a Kansan... I wonder, could it be? LOL Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
After riding my 1947 Whizzer motor bike, my cousin gave me a ride in his A-V8 hiboy, that did it!----I was hooked!----Been "line chasin' " ever since!
From the time I was real little , I rode in the rumble seat of my dads Winfield cammed "A" roadster ; thought it was a hot rod. Then in 1965, as an 8 year old Cub Scout walking home from a meeting, neighbor Ronnie gave me a lift in his '56 Ford convert, Tahitian turquoise ,white top, black tuckn'roll, 312" w/3 two's ,Hurst 3spd Mystrey shifter...wow! What an awakening...I was gone, hook, line ,and sinker.Edit : Still have my Dads "A"... still don't think of her as a hot rod : IMG_0413 by bowie posted May 22, 2017 at 8:49 PM
This wasn't my first ride in a hot rod but my first time offering a ride to someone who really appreciated it. For the past 4 or 5 years some of our car club members take their cars to our local nursing home. The staff provides breakfast treats and it becomes a real outing for them. Most of the residents are in wheelchairs and they are wheeled out for the "show". Probably a dozen of the residents took rides in 4 or 5 of the cars. This 41 year old guy has had a stroke and was pretty much limited to giving a thumbs up and a smile. With effort from the nursing home staff we got him in the '32 and I gave him a ride. From the smile on his face I think he enjoyed it.
When I was ten my step father swapped a 53 Mercury with a tired flathead for a 52 Ford Victoria with a 56 Thunderbird Special 312 under the hood with a 3 speed overdrive transmission and a hole in the lean back of the back seat where some gal had thrown a cigarette out and it came back in and caught and burned a round hole in the seat. Car had held the C/Gas record at the Ellensberg WA drag strip before we got it and it was quick and danged fast. We had it for about three years and it got traded for a 57 Mercury two door hardtop.
That's 15 year old me in the passengers seat. This is the first run of John Fleckenstein's (17 at the time) first build.
1952, 10 years old. Rainy day, first time I ever saw it...It was a hot rod, no doubt about it. Looked like my Revell model, "Hot Rod"...a 1932 Ford. 'Roadster'. Down Lincoln St. it came, black, no fenders, 'big wheels' on the back...there was fire painted on it, red flames pouring out of the radiator, but the thing that really grabbed me was the tiny windshield wiper, maybe 6" long, going real fast, "Quish, quish;" at the squinty windshield, and that white canvas top... I strained my eyes to try and see the driver, but with the rain, I couldn't make him out. The twin pipes had a deep drone, one that I'd think about... Hot Rod magazine. It caught my eye, on the news stand, Bill's News. I had a quarter, so I bought it. (my first 'bought' issue, with Ike Iacono's '34 Coupe on the cover: "Jam Packed Jimmie". I read the magazine cover to cover, frankly memorizing everything I could find...Dad hated hot rods, (truck driver, cut off too many times in traffic by 'squirrels') so I was 'on my own'. That big raked '32 came by again, a few times...I'd wave, and he'd race the engine, or wave back. He looked to be an old guy, probably 23! He stopped one day, and I just glommed over this "Race Car"...he asked how I was, and I said, "Fine!" Now, a few issues into Hot Rod magazine, I asked some intelligent questions: "24 stud engine?" Yep. "'39 box?" Yeah, that's right... Wanna go for a spin? Oh, MAN!!!! I was in there and he reached across and closed the roadster door with a firm 'Whump'! The inside was huge...(I was 5'1, and weighed 95 or so) he select 1st gear, and off we went. I remember the 'singing' noise the gears made, (the car was upholstered in dark maroon naugahyde, but the floors were metal and wood...) Second gear? Going down the w-I-d-e Lincoln St. Al opened it up. Wow! Like we were taking off in an airplane...The S/W speedo climbed, I was plastered into the seat, by what we now call 'torque'...he eased up now, shifted into 'high'. He said "Floor carpet's out, had the trans out for new gears. I always blow low gear, this is the third time...Got Zephyrs in there now..." I made a mental note: Look up 'Zephyr gears'. He took a right on El Camino, drove around the big bend, then turned left, into a drive-in restaurant, "Mab's Drive In". It was a huge gravel lot, with a semi circular glassed-in coffee shop. My Mom cautioned me about this place..."full of hoodlums and pachukos." Al told me, "This is where we come at night, drink coffee and bullshit...Sorry, just an expression...We lie and get races, sometimes bet on 'em, then go out and race. Sometimes the cops come, so we have to 'split'." He turned the small front wheels and stepped on it, throwing a shower of dust and gravel...Man, the car was 'set up', the big 4 spoke Bell wheel spun as Al straightened it out...somebody came out of the coffee shop and yelled, Al just waved as we drove past. "That was 'Happy Hal'," Al said. (I would have bet money Hal wasn't happy with that big sideways brodie !) Back out onto El Camino, left on Lincoln, then 7 blocks and a U-turn, I was home. Al opened the door, said "Al Marceline, but my buddies call me "Boof"... You're Mikey, right?" I stammered, "Thanks a million, yes, I'm Mikey, do you know the Soto Brothers? "Yeah, they're in my club..." He asked if I'd like to go to a meeting sometime, I finally got the answer out. "Yyyyyyess..." That was my first of many rides with "The Big Boof". Man, what a pal. Lifelong. I have stories. Enjoy heaven, Boof.
I had a '47 Tudor at the time, 1962, with a 283 in it but it was stock from the outside. So first, what I considered a real hot rod ride, like the cars I drooled over in the little magazines, was in Barry Strom's (Rochester, NY) deuce coupe, fenderless, channeled but not chopped (East Coast style) with a 364 Buick. Scariest part was Barry's unwillingness to pause long at red lights, car would overheat, so we would jump off before the green. I figured we'd either get tee-boned or arrested but neither happened and I had a smile a mile wide for a week!
I had to have been 7 or 8 my dad just finished his baby blue 56 F-100 we spent the summer going to car shows and soft ball games in it.
My first ride in a hot rod was Dads buddy's BBC blown Morris minor pick up. We were side ways ina cloud smoke! I was about 12 or so and had never experienced anything like that. It was life changing. Right now I'm sitting next to a 671 on the shelf that I got from the same buddy (Muggie).I still see him, he's still hardcore.
My first Hot Rod ride was with my Uncle Mike. I was 12 or 13. Uncle Mike was around 22 years old. The Hot rod was a 30 model A coupe made into a roadster. I don't recall it having any fenders. It had an Olds Rocket fire engine. It made a a lot of noise and seemed awful fast! I couldn't say anything intelligible because I was smiling so big I could not form words. Uncle Mike also had a flat bottom drag boat that I was fortunate to ride in a few times in the early sixties. I had the same problem in the boat (mile wide smile) . Of course I have always been hooked on Hot Rods and flat bottom boats. Every time I see one of those old ski boats I get the urge to buy one and just enjoy it for one summer. So far I have successfully resisted that urge. But Hot Rods.... That's a different story. I fortunately still have my Uncle Mike to share Hot Rodding with.
Gotta say I've probably never ridden in what I would call a true "hotrod". I'm starting the long process of building mine now so hopefully my son can have the same kind of stories that you guys have looking back when he gets older. Hopefully he can look back at working on the car with dad and grandad as great memories in the future.
well about 25 yrs ago I was munching on a burger and fries looking out the window on mainstreet when I heard and then saw a chopped 40 chevy waking the dead.went to the door for a better look .car slowed window came down I heard a voice shout hey chris are you coming for a spin.i nearly dropped my burger YOU BETCHA,i knew the guy well,toured the city centre in it.the chevy is long gone and we both still messing in hotrods. later that week the guy took a trip in the local ferry,a short 1/2 mile crossing.parked the 40 on board.turned it off.when it was time todrive off the other side no start just a click.after 13 crossings the mother started when the starter cooled down and the bbc fired up
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