Hot Rods Do you remember the "old" Kool guy in town?

I'm sure years ago we all experienced the "old" kool guy that use to drive a hot rod. Almost fifty years ago, I was raised in a town of less than 800 people. We had a guy in town that always seemed to drive his Ford all of the time and any where. He wasn't going to a rod run or a cruise night it was just everyday driving. I saw him driving to work, going to church, local school events and at the local hardware store. Like most boys I was always riding my bike, it was kool to see this guy driving his hot rod. Every time that I would see him, I would switch from being Evil Knievel to pretending I was driving a Hot Rod.

He drove a '41 Ford coupe at one time was painted a medium blue. Sadly over the years it had faded. I don't remember ever seeing it clean. It had dirty aluminum slots, big tires in the back that stood out just a little, with the front tires tucked in the fenders. Wasn't real loud just a kool evil rumble that complimented the aggressive rake. Now I know why it was always dirty, he was probably concentrating on just keeping it going. The Coupe was all business. It was the highlight of my day when I would see it rolling around town.

Last night when I was driving my '39 to get gas for my lawn mower. I drove by two young boys riding bikes that waved tentatively. It was kool to see young kids acknowledge the sedan. As I was driving home it made me think back of the guy that I use to see in the '41 Ford. We need to be aware of who is watching us. Hopefully we will inspire some one to drive their own hot rod. Who knows, some day we might even be that "old' kool guy driving through town.

 

There was a older guy in the town of 500 where I grew up like that. This was in the 1950's. He had a maroon 1950 Merc with a first generation Thunderbird V8.

 

That "guy" that sticks out in my mind was Jim Enger in the Portland area. He had a super low 33/34 Ford 5 window coupe that he drove every day no matter the weather. He built the car in the 70's based off a 5 window my grandfather had built and then proceeded to drive the wheels off it for the next 40+ years until his health went downhill and he sadly passed away.

 

Actually two "older" guys.
1964, I was only ten years old but already had the car bug (bad), these two guys were in their early/mid 20's and were friends and both had ordered 64 GTO's, the word got out in our small town that they were going into the big city to pick them up and would be showing them off at the high school, still remember them, one was black and the other was Gulfstream Aqua (I had to look it up).
We pleaded with them to take us for a ride but they wouldn't have any part of that.

 

I guess I´m this guy in my town. Last Monday I was trailering my lawnmower to cut the grass beside my shop and went to pick up a sheet of aluminum. Dirty work pants, dirty T-shirt, 55 Chevy I ´ve put 30k miles on within the last 3 1/2 years with worn paint and an old trailer... The old guy I buy sheetmetal from is used to me showing up, towing a trailer with the 55 , he just gives me a nod and a good price, because he had a 55 Chevy 210 also, but had to sell it when he got divorced. Not that there are many 55 Chevys around, most people don´t know what it is. But he saw me the first time I came in, said " cool 210, I had a 2dr sedan, 427, T10, 3.55. All said. He loves it when I show up , but he is that kind of grumpy old guy that won´t show it. A few minutes later I was filling up, a few boys on their bikes were on their way to school, and gave me a thumbs up.... They are the next generation, and maybe they´ll see a life beyond computer games, anti- social media and computer controlled everthing.And to me my life is to short to "not "drive my old cars and"not" enjoy them. Maybe that is what the old guy was doing, while you were riding your bike.

 

I think I may have crossed over the age line and now I'm him.

 

My neighbor two doors down when I was a kid of 14 or so moved in with his dad, mom and sister. He was Dave Campbell and he had a 1954 or so Ford two door hardtop that he had hopped up a bit. Don't know what he was running in it, but it was fast! He sold or traded that off and got a 1962 Corvette that had a built 283 and a rolled front end pan. It had side pipes. I learned ALL about side pipes on my first ride in that car. They were not covered....I had cutoffs on and felt the BURN when I exited the car! I also had my first experience in a car doing a wheelie! On the STREET, even! MAN, that car screamed. Dave then traded in that car for a brand new 1969 O.T. Dodge SuperBee with a HEMI and a four speed. That was a car that he built up himself and the second car I experienced a wheelie in. One night, Dave's SuperBee was stolen right out of his driveway, rolling under the window that he was eating dinner next to. They found the car, stripped out and Dave never got it back. Lost track of him after that.

 

I first met the Engers in 1970, one heck of a car family and yes that was one neat coupe.
RIP Jim and Arden.

 

There was an older guy who had run a couple of service stations in town in the early To mid 60’s. He used his 1954 Chevy Pickup with a 409/4-spd. as his daily and parts chaser. On Sunday’s he would flat tow his 1955 Chevy Hard Top also a 409/4-spd.to local drags.

 

Yep they are a great family, still see Jeff quite a bit. Arden was a great guy, loved his 34 roadster, CJ sold him the frame to build that car. Still remember the little car show they did for him right before he passed away. Jim did the interior in Taboo as well. It was the last complete car he did before the cancer got him.

 

I Recall Him Well And He Rolled In A 1928 Ford Roadster With 389 Pontiac That Turned 103 And Drove It To Work...

 

That guy would have been Kooch, about 10 years older than me. Laundry list of cars, '56 Chevy with 409/4-speed traded for a new 340 horse maroon '62 vette, traded for a new fawn beige fuel injected '62 vette traded for a new maroon '62 409 Impala SS. Years later I was home on leave and drove by his body shop and there was a Cheetah on a trailer next to the building. Didn't know what it was until years later. Cool dude.

 

Old Guy? unfortunately, I know I am him. There never was any hotrod running the towns I have lived in, as much as I do with the 32 (because I don't have a normal daily driver for over a year). Even now, I see so few rods out in my usual 3 town area trips, and I also live on a busy main State road. Nada. None.

The shitty part is the "Old guy" part, the young girls & women perk right up when they see the hotrod, but I know they were expecting some handsome younger buck to be driving something like that. Oh well..

Recent graduation photo shoots as I live a few miles from 2 colleges.

 

Mine have been to a few Proms......

 

Absolutely I do. They ran one of the local repair shops in my little town of Emery, SD population somewhere around 500 back in the 70's. Cletus and Gerald Krumm were the go to guys for hot rod builds. Clete had an O/T Hemi GTX, and Jerry had a 64 Polara Sport. They build some awesome engines for the guys in town who could afford it. A couple I remember were the 65 Impala Bruce Terveen owned, with a snotty bitch of a 327 in it. The other was Rod Fluths 55 Chevy Handyman wagon, also with a nasty 327 in it. They built Rod's 327 pretty tight, because I remember them pulling it down the road outside of town to do the initial start. I was farting around in our back yard throwing rocks at robins or some other destructive shit when I heard the squealing tires of the Handyman as they drug it down the road. It sounded like all hell was breaking loose when it started. They also had a pasture littered with 50's and 60's Mopars. Jerry is no longer with us, and Clete is retired and living in Arizona.

 

Going to High School we knew of a fellow who had nothing but flathead Fords. Nobody back then in the area was doing flathead Fords but him.

 

when I was a kid there was a bitchin chopped and channeled Hemi powered 32 5 window that belonged to an old guy.

wonder what ever happened to that car?

 

How true!! I was ugly when I was young and even uglier now but when I'm in my Hotrod I'm Elvis!! Pete

 

In about 1960 Kenny Winkler had a black, pin striped ‘57 J2 Olds with a Cad LaSalle box, but then in 1961 I saw Bob Snyders’ ‘33 full fendered three window with a Hilborn injected 392 and that one ruined me for sure

 

There was this guy named John that had a yellow Deuce coupe. Fastest car in the valley!

I grew up in a small town in northern New England and there were no hot rodders around. Had to get all my inspiration from Hot Rod magazine and Rod and Custom. Then AG came out when I was 16 and man, it changed my life!

 

Hello,

I remember this cool, old guy (at the time, he was younger than we are today…) that was a friend of my dad, from LA. He was all things mechanical with a background we would all like to have then and now. He went to school with Vic Edlebrock, became good friends with the family and continued to be involved in auto mechanics until retirement.

We used to see him all of the time, when we were little kids going up to LA for frequent visits from our house in Long Beach. His wife grew up with my dad in San Pedro during their own pre-teen and teenage years.

When we were little, both of our families went on a week’s vacation in Baja Mexico. Then later on during our teenage surfing years, we met one of his sons up in the Malibu area for some great surfing adventures. He even invited us to his son’s Quarter Midget races and tried to get us involved. But, as teenagers, every time we saw him, he took the time to talk to us about race car building/tuning techniques. We were like sponges…every little bit helped us in the long run.

During the time we were involved in hot rods and drag racing, my dad’s friend would pry information out of my dad about what we were doing. Then he would contribute on the side. My dad used to tell us that “WE” got this part and that part for our builds, but never told us it was directly from his friend. He was instrumental in getting us one of the first Isky-Gilmer 671 blower kit drives for the SBC build, with an Edlebrock manifold, of course.

His contacts in the industry were quite impressive. When he said “Let me look into it,” the part or invoice was put into play. Once, he asked us what kind of slicks would fit under the 58 Impala. When we told him the size, he said… “Let me look into it.” The following week, my dad drove home with a pair of Bruce Slicks that were the exact size for the Impala and later on, the 40 Willys coupe. We were floored when it popped out of the big Buick trunk. My dad said… “WE” got these for you guys…
Bruce Slicks on the 1958 Impala

Jnaki

The topper was that in our last month of drag racing, we had come close to the national record in C/Gas. We had started our final stage of the 40 Willys Coupe build. (Complete finishing with paint and upholstery) Through our dad’s friend, we had on order, bigger M&H slicks, Hilborn two port injectors, and my dad said he would get us a complete Halibrand Mag Set for the front and new rear slicks. To top this off, a B&M Stick Hydro was on order for installations through my dad’s friend’s connections. What a fabulous friend and mentor.

After our drag racing incident, I went to his house in LA, to look at a 1956 Ford Sedan with a built up Flathead and a LaSalle floor shift. Of course it had Moon Discs and came right off of competing in the salt flat races. (Later on, we both thought he was showing us a different way to stay involved in hot rodding) It was going to be one last foray into hot rods, but we would have to give up the 58 Impala or 40 Ford Sedan Delivery.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/friday-art-show-2-8-19.1138964/#post-12947372

We lost touch with him (and his family,) over the years. But, even with that, it brought back those fantastic memories, every time my brother and I got together, later on in life. On the bright side, our memories of that time period in Long Beach and Los Angeles were some of the highlights of our hot rod /drag racing involvement. (and of growing up in this old time period of the 50s-60s) We can never forget that time period, with so much going on during our tumultuous teenage lives.

THANKS, J for the valuable information and a great friendship...

 

Growing up in SoCal in the 50s, there were quite a few of those "cool old guys" running around town! Now, I guess it's me that's the "old guy"! I just gotta work on the "cool" part!!

 

When I was growing up, there was a neighbor 3 houses down from me that had a 46 or 47 chevy sedan delivery painted metallic blue, black interior and he would wash and wax it once a week in the alley behind his garage. It made a big impression on me. I remember it like it was yesterday. Fond memories.

 

Hello,

From 1949 to the early 1960’s, we had a neighborhood Mobil Gas Station on a busy corner, several blocks from our house. Back then there was almost a gas station every 4 or 5 blocks apart. They were the neighborhood gas stations that most remember, before they started being bought up by the big guys, or the property was getting valuable, so a developer bought,sold and reconstructed condos in that particular place.

Our neighborhood station was very popular despite having only two pumps. But, in the back of the property aligned with the alley way, was a mechanic’s set of garages. My friend lived down the alley, so it was fun and convenient to walk to the gas station. The auto parts store was several miles away, but this gas station/workplace garage always had a great stash of necessary parts for the early hot rods in the neighborhood.

This photo is from a similar, small main building in Santa Monica. But the structure was the same, a separate, small front building, and a two stall mechanic’s work area beyond the blacktop corner property. Our station had two pumps and the red, Coke Machine was inside of the office.

The owner of the gas station was a great older guy that was the friendliest person around. He always treated the kids with respect and if we did not have the correct change for the fabulous Coke Machine in his office, he supplied the amount. He was friendly, but not too overly friendly when other adults were around. He was then, the official “owner” of the station and was all business.

Jnaki

But, the guy that was the nicest at the Mobil Gas Station was the mechanic. He always had time to talk to us kids, while working on various cars and trucks. He did not think we were too young to listen to his mechanic’s talk about tuning, balancing and other old mechanic’s tips. He probably knew we were going to be drivers in 8-9 years, so he was probably drumming up business.

This old guy talked to us little kids, he even told us about the work he did on this custom, Tahitian Red, Ford pickup that was in the shop at times. One day, after stopping at the gas station for the millionth time to talk to him. He told me that the next day there would be a surprise for me. The next day arrived and I was totally surprised that this Tahitian Red, custom Ford truck was in the back garage getting some final tune up touches. He then offered to take me for a delivery drive back to the owners storefront several blocks away. Wow!

When we were driving age, he gave us tips on keeping our cars running right. This old guy was definitely cool and knew how to communicate to anyone. He was a teacher in his own right. Thanks for the great beginnings…

 

The only cool old guy I know of is Milner he had the fastest car in the valley.

 

There were a few guys with hot cars when I was a kid. Guy across the street had a very nice '59 Chevy Impala, actually 2, one was a black hardtop, the other a white convertible. Both sounded stout. Another guy a few blocks over had a chopped '51 Merc, flat black. I thought it was the coolest car in town. Rumor was he locked up but the car was still in his mom's garage. Every Halloween we'd go to the house, peek into the garage, yup.. the Merc is still there. One day I was about 15, rode by on my bike.. the garage was open, no Mercury.

Now I'm that old guy with the primered car. I drive mine when I can, almost every weekend all year. Not too many kids notice it. When I was building the car and would roll it outside, kids on bikes would be riding past the house all afternoon to get a look at it.

 

Funny, my son works in town and his boss is a car guy, has a nice OT Camaro. He's been for a ride in my car, a nice guy. They were talking cars at work one day... someone mentions this old guy covered with tattoos driving this loud primered car and that he would never mess with a guy like that. My son piped up... uh.. that would be my dad.

 

The "old" cool guy in my neighborhood back in the 60s in Tulsa was Chuck Walker, who did quite a bit of the work on Larry Roller's 3 window. Chuck had a '49 Merc coupe with a flathead that I thought was the coolest thing ever. I would ride my bike down to his house and pester him with questions. He always answered my questions and would show me how things work.
When I moved to Bartlesville OK in the late 90s, there was a guy I would see driving around town in a chopped Merc and another guy driving a '60 Impala flat top with '60 Merc grille and '59 Bonneville tail lights. I thought, "I gotta meet those guys." Turned out to be the same guy!
I drive my Nomad and '40 quite a bit (and make sure I always take time to talk about the cars when people ask).

 

In the town of Portsmouth, NH there was a guy who work for a construction company redoing roads or something like that. His father was a Car Guy but of the numbers matching restoration type. I cannot remember the guys name, but he built a custom black 58 Impala, and a Ford F100 as well as other projects. I would go to see him every once in awhile to asked for his advice or to help me fix one of my screw ups. One day, home on leave, I went over to his house only to find out that he had past away.

 

Oh my gosh, yes.
Not many of them,
But I remember...

When I was 3 and 4 years old... the greasers next door. They were only teenagers, but I idolized them.

Larry, next door. A little older. He let me hang around a little bit when he'd be working in the garage. Learned you could heat and bend metal from him. He had a multi-colored primered late 40s Ford Coupe sitting on the property line that never ever moved LOL.

The father of one of the kids we went to school with seem to redo a late 50s early 60s Corvette every couple of years. Always red with the white cove.

The very old couple across the street had a late 30s GM Coupe. I think it was a 1937 Chevy. Stock. Light gray. Perfect. I only saw them take it out on Sundays. I could only hear the whine of first gear as they pulled away on their way to church and shopping. It was their regular car. This was in the mid-to-late 1960s!

Then in the 70s.
A guy in his 30s, I'd guess. He had a really nice silver 55 Chevy two door sedan. Aluminum slots and black wall tires. Sounded good. Funny thing is, I'd smile and wave, but he always seemed to be real serious. Maybe I got a nod once lol. He was one of those people who made me think to myself... I'm not gonna be like that.

Okay, enough reminiscing.
Back to work.
Leave me alone! LOL

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