Like most of you, I have had quite a few Hot Rods and Muscle cars over the years. I'd like to see your first. Here's mine a 40 Ford two dr. My brother bought it for parts and gave the remains to me. I was 14 (1959),at the time and it took several years to get it running. Wish I knew where it is now.
My first Hamb friendly hot rod was a '59 ford panel. Got it back in 1999 at a police impound auction for $250.00 Played with it for a few hours and had it driving around the yard, a few more hrs and she was on the road. I Can't find any pics of it though.
1963 got this from my pops for workin in his shop from the time I was 13 with no pay. 4 years after school and weekends. Had a 324 olds with a hydro in it.
I built my '53 Chevy hardtop while in High School in 1979-80. It got new tires, chrome & upholstery thanks to my $2.15/hr job at a plant nursery. I helped a bodyman with his house addition in return for spraying the paint.
Sorry to say I have no photos of my first car as I owned it. May not be considered a hot rod by some but was most assuredly in my eyes. Bought in 1969 at 15 years old before I could (legaly) drive, my high school pal had the honor of rowing the Hurst Syncro-Loc shifter behind that 348/3speed. That shifter was the first speed part I ever purchased. Had five spoke ET's and Dragmasters painted black to match the car and air shocks for a nice rake. This is how it looked shortly after I sold it.
As a teen in 1957 ,I started finding as many free parts I thought would fit my ideas. Dumped cars in the woods,over grown lots etc. an outback junk piles at a few shops that told me I could have something looked good to me. Biggist find was the sad remains of 1928 A Ford roadster on a farm near by}no motor in it,no seat,no rad shell and rear was crushed in bad, up almost to cockpit{ it was free for the asking !! By 1959 I had built my piles of parts in to a running hot rod. So I had a car for high school. I have kept it,an still drive her,after all she was my first sweethart. Today that same hotrod looks like this; Now has new steering wheel ,chrome headers an I've added yellow panels in the seat,plus just a few years ago I did make a folding top,but other then that she looks like it did .
My first hot rod.........built over 3 years starting in 1959......296 inch motor.....I was 14 when I got it. Did all the work myself, including the R&P interior.
I bought my old 51 Merc as a sophomore in high school from the crafts shop teacher at the school. I drove it for a couple of years, blew the flathead, sold it. bought it back a couple of years later for 10.00 and tucked it away here at my grand parents house where it sat for several years until I came up with a free Buick 350 and turbo 350. Drove it all over the place with the Buick in it until it crapped out. Buddy gave me a 60 Chevy pickup with a 350 Olds in it with a serous knock. He passed it on from the guy who gave it to him. My son and I played with the truck just enough to figure out that the converter bolts were loose in the flex plate. A bit of tightening, a test drive around the block and down the road and back to make sure it all worked and out it came and right into the Merc. I drove the Merc all ovet the place with the 350, subframed it and drove it some more. My wife used it as her daily for a year or so in that time frame. After a redo including a frame swap things stalled out and it sat until a guy with more money than sense bought it and fully rebuilt it. The rebuild isn't very Hamb friendly but the car has had it's own spot in a climate controlled garage since the day he bought it.
My first hot rod, 30 Model A coupe, drove it 7 miles and rolled it over 2-1/2 times, tore the driver's door off, I was sitting on a wooden pop crate, no seats in it yet, first time I had driven it! Pics are circa 1963.
My first real hot rod was this. Built it when I was 23 years old, drove it as my daily for 5 years . Loved that car.
Built this when I was about 16 from various parts I could find. Ran a 283 and a 3 speed. Pretty rough but lots of fun.
'50 Plymouth... I was 15 years old when my dad and I built it in 1988. Small block chevy powered and full of stories...both true and well... kinda true. This pic was from last week...
1964..50 ford crestliner [$50] ....bought it with a cracked block. Built a 53 Merc 255 for it. I was 16. This is the day I bought it. It got better with a thorough cleaning, new [junkyard] '50 hood and trunk, grille etc. Redmond, Oregon
In 1963 my Brother Tom gave me an early 'T' body. I saved and bought a model A frame for 10 bucks, my friends were wrecking out a pretty straight 40 sedan delivery, so I robbed the front suspension. My plan was to build a D/A with a flathead, and with some serious horse trading, I had a well equipped engine. The back door on our house had a dryer plug, so all of the arc welding was done in the yard, while most of the fitting of parts was done in the barn. Along the way, my Stepdad gave me a 53 Caddy 4 door, and my plans were changed, along with some help from my oldest brother Jerry, we mounted the 331 and hydro. All those years later, and after building 16 other 'T's, ranging from drag cars, track roadsters, touring cars, and land speed racers, I am finally going to build a model A. I do have a couple of more track roadsters in the planning as well.
Built our first drag car a 36 Ford in my Grandpa's garage in the early sixties and raced at New Yorks Westhampton 1/4 mile track. It was originally flathead powered that was swapped later on to a 327 SBC. I'm the skinny kid in the middle.
This partial photo View attachment 3905024 is the only photo that survived of when I first got my coupe in 1974 (I think). After I built it, all my photos disappeared. It had no engine or trans when I got it but was told it used to have an Olds engine in it. It had an Olds instrument panel in it so that may be true.
since the late 50s as a kid building models... I wanted a hotrod.. I bought this car local in 70-71...as a 19? yr old.. I believe it was built in Springfield Mass, mid/late 50s, was Turquoise then? Then red with gold fogged edges..never found any history on it.. 283-2 barrel, 3 speed.. It was a deathtrap.. I had no skills, no tools, no hotrod mentors,... and the car broke my soul as I had so many close calls with it...death wobble, tossed the entire rear out once on a 2nd gear powershift, nearly flipped it..the spring u-bolts were all hacked up, loose, messed up.. I never took pics of it, I was working on the damn thing..or sobbing in a corner.....a female friend took this back then, and then gave it to me 25 years later when we worked together at a car dealer.. .
I already owned a 39 Ford Coupe, but I bought the 34 in 1959, because I was crazy about pickups. I did all the work of chopping, channeling, and swapping a 53 Olds engine, plus hydramatic, and rear end (using the transverse spring). Bob
That truck looks wicked with the 303, chop, etc...and...you look the part.. total hotrod badass....... you win, close the thread.. .
The Jalopy Journal
