my 1940 ford dlx couple built in 1956 49 olds engine bored to 324 try power 39 trans it was on the cover of rodding restyling 1956 ran B/G named the emerald queen a show and go car , I put a 350/350 nova rear and like a fool I sold it,it went to north Carolina
The car I miss the most was my 1964 Buick Lesbra station wagon. I traded it to a fellow H.A.M.B.ER for a 1956 Chrysler Windsor. Bruce.
Heres the 56 Chrysler{I traded for} after I repainted her a metallic green, she never gave me a lick of trouble and would roll down the interstate at 65 M.P.H. with no problems. Bruce.
My first 32 5-window bought in 56 for $140.00 put in a new 322 Buick. Sold in 72 to try avoid a divorce, What a mistake.
My 1960 Ford Galaxie 4 door "Puff".got it from a little old lady in Marblehead ,Mass. It was my first Legal car on the road. I would leave the keys on the floor at night and my little brother took it out for a beat-run . HE smashed every corner of the car ! I didnt talk to ,or see him for over a year. I was gonna kill him ! He has always said he was going to find me another one ,,,yea right ,,,That was 37 years ago and I'm still pissed. Ruth was her name ,photo to come later
In 1957, I was 15, my first 'Hot Rod', 1933 Ford with a'48 Merc F/H engine, '36 Ford transmission, stock rear end. The night after picture was taken, the car was burned to the ground in the 'ol' barn fire. Nothing left to salvage!
The only car I really miss is my old Marina Blue '67 Malibu which I sold shortly after joining the HAMB in '03. Nicely built stroker, killer suspension and a bunch of other stuff. I just got bored with it, mostly because of the 700r4. Should have just swapped it out for a four-speed but......... The clown who bought it called me a couple of years later to let me know the body work was done (it didn't need much) and the paint was being finished up that coming weekend. I asked if he was going with the original color (IMO, the most beautiful color GM ever painted a car).........'No' he said, 'It's going to be orange with silver 'S S' stripes.' I nearly puked.
Right after I graduated from high school I bought a 1961 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. Had a factory tri power and automatic transmission. I would love to have another one. I have a lot of good memories with that car. I also miss my 39 Ford Deluxe Coupe
LOL that changes everyday. But the wife and I had a lot of fun in a '58 merc Monterry when we were kids
17 years old, Most fun was in my '36 Five window, bought it from 2nd owner, Billy Mendoza. Car had an original radio, 27K miles on the speedo. Billy installed a 59A mill, '39 box, juice brakes, Mor-Drop axle, and sold it to me for $275. I built a nice 5/16 X 1/4 (274) flattie, installed it, removed front spring and reversed eyes. Did this job in the yard, (garage had my roadster and a '32 Five window inside) so I was cursing up a storm at that blasted jack and ornery spring, and shackles. My Mom said "Watch your language, or I'm gonna write that word on your car!" Me: "What word?" Mom: "that...'obscenity'!" Got it running, took it to my bud Shannon the Striper's, had him stand in the rumble seat and letter right over the back window: "Obscenity". Mom didn't see it right off, but when she borrowed it a friend of hers asked, "Why is that word painted on Mike's car?" Mom made that squinty eye.... I got married when 18, my pretty wife was not real 'quick on the draw'...She went to see her O.B., he was asking questions, she was answering them...He asked, "What's your sex life like?" She answered, "Oh, usually a drive to Stevens Creek in Mike's '36..." True. LOL Really miss 'Obscenity', first wife not so much.
I kind of miss them all. A few have come back over the years for an encore including the Chopped 37 Chevy Sedan that I continue to enjoy. If I had to pick another, I would say my very first (pedal) car handed down to me by my Brothers or it could be the 37 Chevy Custom window Delivery I built. Only had it a short time when my kids were getting ready to start their College years. The last owner gave it some nice upgrades and I don't know where it ended up when he sold it. The good news is I have pictures and have built diecast and plastic models of most of my favorites.
It would be my 37 Chevy pickup, followed closely by 59 El Camino. Both were daily drivers, 37 for 3 years, 59 for about 2 years. But without selling them I would not have built others.
I never had a real hotrod... but I miss my first car that I've mentioned before; a 40 Chevy S.D. 4-door Sedan. My Pawpaw gave it to me about 3 weeks before I turned 13. Yes, 13. I had so much fun and learned so much with that car. After about 2 years my dad wanted it out of the backyard, so I sold it for $40. That was 50 years ago. Wish many times I still had it, or could get it back.
I have two cars I miss a bunch and think of often! One is my first 32 Ford and is the one in my avatar. The other is my soap-box derby car that my dad built for me. It was destroyed in the Famous Palm Sunday tornado that hit Indiana in 1965.
sitting here thinking of this and the car I miss the most was not a car at all but my 1984 Ninja 900. capable of 0-60 in 2.7 seconds and 10.30's @130 in the quarter.... not with me on it, but the magazines of the day and their 140lb rider could do it. most of the old cars I have owned have been pretty regular. nothing really custom, just good old cars. mostly stock.
After I returned Stateside in '67 following my hitch in the Marine Corps, I worked heavy construction, went to night school and built several '55 Chevys. This one was a freebee. It was cherry and rust free before being wrecked and had a bent frame. Had to replace front sheet metal, driver's side door, straighten windshield pillar and replace windshield. This photo was taken in 1972. Note tree and wooden A-frame I have hung a come-along from to lift and lower body onto a straight '56 wagon frame a buddy gave me...... Didn' t fit into civilian life very well, so went back into the service in '75 (Navy that time). We (former Marine Corps, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel) were called OSVETS (other service vets). Our service jackets were stamped 'OSVET' and Navy vets reenlisting had theirs stamped 'NAVET'. After a tour aboard an LPD, I was transferred to a sub tender. They needed pipefitters, silver brazers and welders to work on the diesel boats and fast attack boats (maintenance, shipalts and repairing collision damage when they played chicken with the Russkies, mostly). I was stationed at the Sub Pier in San Diego in '77 when my '65 GTO rag top was totalled. I was driving slowly through base parking and these 4 idiots off one of the subs were sitting in a '66 Mustang smoking dope in the parking lot and backed out of their parking spot too fast and without looking. They weren't moving all that fast, but it was enough to total my car, nonetheless. The entire passenger side from the rear wheel opening to the front of the door was pushed in about 18". Unfortunately, my GTO had been in New London, Connecticut before being brought to San Diego and the frame had corrosion stress cracks from the winter road salt bad enough that it flexed noticeably. So I pulled the low mileage '74 400 engine and '65 Muncie 4-speed and some other parts at the Auto Hobby Shop on base and sold what was left to a wrecking yard. I lived on board ship and when we were in port, I would walk through the base parking lot and leave 3" X 5" cards with my name and the outside line into our shop aboard ship on the windshield of any car I thought I might be able to stuff the Pontiac engine into. Did this for months and no call backs. Finally, a fellow stationed aboard my ship who was getting short called. He had bought a car from another sailor and never got it running. I met him at the Auto Hobby Shop. The car was parked beside the metal shop building with some others stored long term there. It was a black '56 Chevy 210 2dr sedan. Straight rust free body. Had a blown engine and bent right axle shaft. Covered with dust and hadn't run in years. Here are some pics of my GTO convertible being hauled off and the '56 Chevy as I swapped the Pontiac engine into it and built it up over a couple of years time ('78 - '79)...... Initially, I added a Sig Erson cam, '68 428 cop car heads (small chambers to boost compression and large valves and ports to breathe better). Ran a 428 intake with '68 Q-jet carb and moved the heavy duty '56 V-8 radiator forward to allow for the longer Pontiac engine. Also mounted my new power brake booster and master cylinder from the '65 GTO. Used center outlet '68 Firebird right hand exhaust manifolds on both sides to squeeze the 400 Pontiac into the '56 Chevy chassis. Most of these were 2" outlet, but I got lucky and found a couple with larger 2-1/4" outlets. Increased head pipe size to 2-1/2" and ran 2-1/2" duals with hemi mufflers. Replaced the '56 rearend with a 12-bolt rear from a '69 SS 396 Camaro. Couldn't keep the big Poncho mill cool, so had a radiator shop build me a huge crossflow desert cooler radiator using Grand Prix tanks and reversed '69 Camaro (side) mounting brackets and I built a serious fan shroud for it as well...... No more cooling problems. Later on, added a '66 Pontiac iron tri-power intake modified to mount larger 440 Dodge 6-Pack Holley carbs. These were the performance replacement carbs sold by Dodge dealers over the counter to replace the factory installed vacuum secondary carbs. These carbs had the smaller square fuel bowls and unlike the OEM tri-power, all 3 carbs had metering plates and accelerator pumps. Essentially, it was the same as a mechanical secondary 4bbl carb versus a vacuum secondary 4bbl, except that in this case, the 2 end carbs acted as mechanical secondaries and each of them were 500 cfm, whilst the primary center carb was 355 cfm (1355 cfm at 2bbl rating or 958 cfm at 4bbl rating). Did a lot of hand fitting to make it work and built my own air cleaner using a '70 Datsun 240Z oval filter element. Adapted the '66 Pontiac tri-power progressive throttle linkage to the Holleys. Really miss that car...... The best driving '55 - '57 Chevy I have owned so far. Best regards, Harry
My HAMB friendly all original 1964 SS Nova 283/PG sold to a kid to help him out of his hole in life per my dad - and he flipped it shortly after - that was about 1979....I got a notice from the police on it a few months later....and my OT Hemii 4sp RR sold in the late 80's for good money but just before they went to climbing up in $$$$
Brutal. Mine; 396 Muncie. Traded it for a Camaro and gave that to my girlfriend. She dumped me. At least you have the kids.
50 olds 2 door sedan, 57 olds eng with a 55 hydro. Ran both 3 carbs and 4 bbl different times. 64 fairlane 2 dr h/t ,306 c-4,super nice. All gone
I guess it's a toss-up between my 64 corvette [350 HP 327/Muncie 4 speed] and my trusty ol 57 Pontiac [389, Muncie 4 speed] ....both drove great but the ladies LOVED the 'vette.
What else? My 1956 Chevrolet; all NINE of them! The only thing that makes it all bearable, is number TEN, the current, and last, 56 Sedan Delivery. Course my 70 340 Dart I bought new right out of high school, and paid cash for, is awfully close, or my 72 Nova SS. I guess I'm done (?). I am Butch/56sedandelivery
I don't know if I miss it the most but out of the ones I've sold I wish I hadn't sold it. 63 1/2 factory 390, 3x2, 4-speed bench seat car.
My Avatar , 37 Terraplane coupe. Handled like a GoCart, stopped like a Vette. Drove it any where I wanted to go at 60 mph. Was to crowded with three full size people in the front , so I got a Hornet coupe to replace it. The Hornet was clumsy compared to the 37 .
I have two. First was our 69 SS Camaro 4 speed, with the 396- 375hp black on black. Sold it to buy a Chevy Vega wagon for a family car. And second was our 38 Chevy coupe. Had too many Hot Rods for the family budget at the time. Sorry for the crappy old photos. Ron.......