Hot Rods What caused you to become afflicted with the hot rod/custom sickness?

I am building a 58 Chevy pickup with my 15 y/o nephew and it got me to thinking, what formed my likes/dislikes for cars.

My dad was a drag racer. We ran drag cars, drag boats basically anything we could race.
I had a stack of hot rod mags in a giant box in the garage. I would look them over for hours. It has what I believe formed my view of what a hot rod looks like.

I was 6 when AG came out. I used to build scale versions of the drive in with my model cars. I had the LP soundtrack with all the pics from the movie.

No matter how much I start out, with a clear vision, all of my cars end up looking like an altered from 1960.

My dad never pushed hot rods on me. Honestly, he changed jobs in about 1978 and things got pretty tight, so the drag car got parked and he just wrenched on cars to keep us afloat.

He still comes around and works in the shop every day. He will be 80 in December.
I attribute my sickness to sitting in our old gasser, turning the steering wheel, wearing his old helmet, pretending to run the 1/4 mile.

 

Lol . My status is sort of similar. Dad dragged race late 50's /early 60's then went dirt racing. He always had old cars and hot rods around. Ran a 1937 Chevy coupe on dirt. I remember he had all the little hot rod mags, from the 50's through the 70's. I read through everything I could get my hands on. Good times back then. He built everything himself , from chassis to engine , roll cage and paint. Good times and great memories.

 

A fellow in my neighborhood had a 40 ford coupe , serious rake , yellow , flames , was a bit rough....that's what bit me when I was 14 ..had over 100s of cars since then..only have have 2 now..both 49 Dodge 3 window coupes...

 

Some of these... Gary

 

My uncle. He had a stack of hot rod and hot rod cartoons magazines I used to read every time I visited my grandmother. Then when I was 12 I was pumping gas at a Citgo station I hung around at and Fred Steel came in in his T bucket and I pumped gas into it. He later came back with his purple roadster. After those 2 I was hooked!!

 

I never left being 18... I'm 74.... when I turned 50 my mother gave me a t-shirt that said Celebrating the 32nd anniversary of his 18th birthday..the son who never grew-up. I took care her until she past at 96.... She was wise beyond "my" years.

 

American Graffiti.

 

I have to wonder about that myself. No family influence. From an early age, probably 4 yrs old or so, I was really drawn to cars, trucks, anything mechanical. Always noticing vehicles....and when about 10 yrs old (1954) discovered Hot Rod magazine and the various 'little pages' that began showing up on the newsstands in the late '50s. Found my first model cars in '56 (Revell and others) and was hooked. Spent most of my lawn cutting and paper route money on them.

I worked on bicycles, lawn mowers, etc.,. By 12 years old, I began hanging around a combination gas station, repair garage, body shop operation that was on my path home from school. They tolerated that, I voluntarily helped out where I could and learned a great deal by watching and asking questions.. Bought my first car at 14, from this shop, a wrecked '50 Ford 2 door and repaired it myself based on what I learned there. When I finished, they generously painted it for me after I prepped it. It just kept expanding from there.

Ray

 

I came about it all on my own. Maybe I am a re-incarnated old hot rodder. My dad or anyone else in my family was that much interested in cars when I was growing up. But I remember even as a kid in my pre teens liking the old square cars like Model As. I could tell a 32 Ford roadster and Y block engines when I was 10 years old. Guy in a house across from us had a 32 highboy with a Merc y-block in it and I was in love. Never got to talk to him, he moved about the time we moved in. But I was hooked....big time.

 

Like many here, got into models and grew up in the SoCal car culture. Wrote Car Of The Month features for the school paper and had a couple of great journalism teachers. Day after I graduated from high school, drove to Petersen Publishing and applied for a job. Didn’t get the job, but enough free lance work to make a living and got into ad agency copy writing specializing in high performance aftermarket products. Started making a living in this business in 1960 and never looked back

 

I’d always had a fondness for anything mechanical but hot rods didn’t truly take hold until I found the hamb. I was probably 15 or 16 and got hooked bad. Not long after that I’d go visit Rocky in Omaha and I guess my obsession just kind of never stopped growing from then on.

 

It struck back around 1958, on Jacksonville Beach, when a low, channeled, fenderless A pickup with a Y- block with Thunderbird covers came down the beach sand. Some guy on vacation in Florida, but to this 12 year old, it was like being struck by lightning. Followed by the little pages of R&R and R&C. Then by a 40 coupe that an older guy had in high school. Bahama Blue, white t&r interior, and a 301 SBC.. There was no cure or recovery.

 

Back in the early fifties i read “Hot Rod” by Henry Gregor Felsen. That’s all it took.

 

Some of my early memories involve loud pipes and burning rubber. I have an older cousin that always had sweet sounding duals on everything he owned so from about the time I was three years old I was hooked. Grew up being a gofer, parts cleaner and probably a general all round pain in the ass to anybody that was working on anything that had oil and grease and needed fixing. Lawn mowers, go karts, tractors, you name it, sometimes I even really fixed something, most times I didn't. I got into model cars at about 7 and got my first car, a 54 Buick, when I was in 8th grade. Almost 67 now and still lovin it.

 

Honestly, the Batmobile, 1966. When I was 5 years old.

 

Oh, sure, Tim blame your "condition" on me. It's ok....I accept full responsibility
I suppose I got started in 1957 when I saw 2 brothers in the 'hood [S.E. Portland, Oregon] drag racing a pair of unmuffled old black primer fords down the street in front of our new house. It was too cool. Then it was 1/24th models and I always hooked up with older car guy friends in school. Got to ride occasionally in hot rods and customs.

 

I SHOULDN'T like working on cars because fixing things was never explained to me. I learned it out of self preservation. Dad would throw a wench and curse tings into position. "Get me a 7/16" box end wrench!" I was little, had no clue. If I brought the wrong thing he usually tossed it.

But I guess I was trying to win his approval and I leaned things by osmosis. He'd identify every old car we saw and I learned that from him. That plus little book magazines he'd bring him and I was hooked.

 

My dad wasn't into cars at all...they were just transportation. I do remember he had a radio/TV shop and a couple of times he would bring me a toy A roadster that was battery operated. You could set the front wheels to go in a certain direction then switch to GO. It would hit the wall and break the front suspension on the first try. I think I only got 2 of those......

 

Built my first kit in spring of '71... I also had a blast with my uncle's Aurora ho slot car track...

 

Sickness ??? WTF you talking about.

I'm not sure how I caught it but I guess it was from the crew I hung out with in school. Some of them were way into cars and I ended up worse (?) than them.

 

Its hard to tell. Born in SoCal and raised there gave me all sorts of opportunities.
Started with model cars.
I then discovered that Rod and Custom magazine was the same size as an English and math book.
Got a drivers license and went to Lions, Irwindale, OCIR, Reath Automotive, Engine Masters, Von Fritch Engineering, Johnnie's Speed and Chrome, and so on.

Then the magical day happened... Larry Christopherson let me sit in his car and also help him pack his chute. Now I have a great wife who enjoys riding in anything I have at the time... life is good.

 

I think what got me hooked ( addicted that is, car crazy) was the first event I went in Fall City Washington, it was called the Waterbash then ( it’s now the Eastside Street Rods Westport run) after that I decided I wanted a hot rod, 4 years later I bought my F-100, the rest, as they say, is history.


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I first got into hot rods when I saw some magazines on the news stand when I was probably 10 or 11. In Australia we didn't have much going on back then in the late 50's. I do remember seeing a hot rodded early sedan when I was maybe 12 or so. Bought my first car, a 1938 Ford Club Roadster at 13 or 14 and taught myself a bit about mechanicals on that. Then a few more cars including a 38 Ford sedan,then a 46 Ford sedan. At 20 I had my first real hot rod a channelled 29 Ford Model A roadster. The rest is history. While still a hot rodder I like the best of both worlds and also stepped across 49th street with my custom Hudson(although it is also a 48).

I think I have mentioned this so called exchange on another thread but it goes like this.
A couple are getting romantically serious with maybe wedding bells in the future. He says to girlfriend I think you should know I have an incurable disease(meaning hot rodding). She asks will it get passed onto any children we may have. His response is "I hope so"

 

Mom and Dad left home in Nebraska, and relocated to So Cal in 1941 driving this rig. When I came along a few years later, you think I was going to be interested in anything but race cars and hot rods my whole life?!!

 

With older brothers who were into cars..my desire for independence and desire/ability to pick up girls, and in an attempt to be one of "the cool guys, with a cool car", it was bound to happen.
Started out building model cars.
Could identify every car on the road by the time I was 7.
I loved the idea of putting personal touches on such a personal thing..kids were identified by what car they had.
Cars were an escape from boredom..into potentially adventurous/exciting times, with endless possibilities.
"Just transportation", never.

 

Yellow deuce coupe in American graffiti....... back in 1977.

 

Growing up, my dad was into Corvettes. When I was pretty small, that is what he drove and always had one or two around that he was painting for someone else. I could tell every year of Corvette when I was just a small kid. We went to Bloomington every year and I would ride in the back of lots of different ones whether his or some buddy. I remember he liked the stock ones and I was always drawn to the ones with fender flares, flames, etc. We also had a neighbor that lived just down the road that had an early 70's Mach 1 with slot mags that told me one time how it would pop wheelies. I didn't believe him, but rode my bike down to see him actually do it just outside the neighborhood. That was pretty cool for a 7 or 8 year old kid. Then, we moved when I was in third grade and our new next door neighbor was into four wheel drives and was also building a 69 Camaro. I would hang out with him and his buddies in my early teens and they would let me torque head bolts, etc. when they were building an engine. One day a guy came over with a T-bucket with a blown small block and took me for a ride. When he launched it, the left front tire left the ground about a foot. Pretty sure that was a trigger that ruined me from then on...

 

No idea, always loved cars from a young age. It's definitely not a hereditary thing from my father or grandfather. Dad used to take me to the local drags and hot rod shows although he wasn't into cars himself. As a kid I saved my pennies and bought hot rod magazines as all we had were local GM or Fords products, some English cars and the big yank tanks, Galaxies or Impalas. US cars were phased out around 1967 as local GM, MOPAR and Ford products came onto the market. Earlier US cars were built locally however they weren't produced in great numbers by comparison to North America. Ford did convert some early Mustangs to RHD with some Camaros and Vettes also coming in as were Cadillac land barges.
Like all young males, you get your license and first car, everything else with the exception of the fairer sex is forgotten about. I had a few cars that I hopped up as did my buddies. Hot rods were there but thin on the ground by comparison to other cars. Some of us participated in local versions of street racing with all manner of makes and models of cars and drivetrains.
Local muscle cars, when they finally arrived, were outside the financial reach of most of us young fellows in my day. RHD conversions were being done to the few US cars that were imported however they were pretty primitive by today's standards. Almost everyone else I knew grew out of it (Cars) however I persevered as have a few similar age or older guys that I know.

 

My grandfather on my mom's side built dirt track cars with his father. this was back in the
late 60's early 70's. late 30's and early 40's cars cut up into "modified" racers. whenever we would go to visit the "guys" would go hang out in the shop, drink beer, bench race, and sometimes do some work on the cars. i still have a small scar on my scalp from where i grabbed the handle of a big floor jack and cracked myself in the skull with it...lol
My grandfather on my dad's side (along with his brother, my dad, and one of the cousins) restored model T's. There is a picture of me at about 4 years old standing on the seat of a T roadster holding the steering wheel with a huge grin on my face. to this day, every time i smell stale gas, gear lube, bearing grease, musty interior, bondo, lacquer paint, etc i can clearly see those moments and those people as if they are standing in front of me.
Through the years my dad would have a few projects that always ended up getting sold before they got finished as we would need a new hot water tank or roof on the house. My dad also ran a small paint and body shop out of our garage on the side to make extra cash.
Then at 12 years old I saw American Graffiti for the first time and it seemed like my world kind of shifted and then came into sharp focus. That yellow coupe just grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I dug out the stacks and stacks of dad's car mags from the late 50's through the 60's until he left for Viet Nam. the big and small format mags, the Cartoon's were my favorites early on, after that i would spend my paper route and lawn mowing money on current subscriptions and news stand purchases of the current mags.
Around this same time, I found a big cardboard drum at my grandparents house that had all of my dads model cars. that my grandma had wrapped in paper and stored after dad left for the service.
i would spend hours upon hours working with these models. Chopping tops, swapping engines, painting, and occasionally blowing up...…
I don't know that i ever really had a choice about liking cars or not. My family never really had the cash to pay other people to do things for us so we did for ourselves. my grandfather used to tell me "money spent on tools is money well spent" you could always learn how to do something if you had the proper tool. That principal applied to not just car maintenance, but also to home maintenance. If there was something we couldn't do there was someone in our circle of friends that knew how to do it and a barter was made. A barter is how i got my first car... i traded a fiberglass go kart body for a 1968 Chevrolet wagon... it was rusted halfway up the doors and fenders but it had a strong running 327 with a powerglide (that engine would end up in a 75 chevy monza coupe a few years later)
it has been a hell of a ride ever since. and i wouldn't change a thing....
Chappy

 

In about 1957-58, I was six or seven, a friend of my Dad had a 1936 Plymouth coupe ,black with whitewalls and a glasspack. My Dad and I were riding with him this particular day ,with me nestled between them. What sticks in my mind to this day, as we were going down this long hill was the sound of that glasspack racking off as he was on and off of the gas. I can still hear it today. I'm pretty sure that this is when the seed was planted Bill