Folks Of Interest It's more than just a car

I've been thinking about some of the reasons that I got into hot rodding and cars in general, and to me it's never really been about sticking a bunch of flashy crap on a car and calling it cool, or spending an ass load on a car to show off to everyone, and as much of a cliché this is, hot rodding is a way of expression. Growing up I spent every minute of every day drawing and designing cars, or making the model version of them. Growing up the only thing that I wanted to do was design cars. Now that life has taken me in a different direction I kind of got fed up with never being able to give my ideas any life.
I can honestly say that I enjoy combing through the catalogs for parts and then searching the web for the same part at half price, I love trying to figure out how they made a particular part and trying to reverse engineering it, I love hunting the ads looking for that piece of trim that will tie the whole thing together.
My car isn't going to be a hastily thrown together pile of parts, or some status symbol with no soul in it this car is going to be a piece of me.

 

Growing up, my mom would say that. Even after getting married my wife would say it too, { It's just a Car } They didn't understand. No, it's much more than { just a car to me }. If car shows didn't exist, or if they even outlawed old cars. I would still keep, and enjoy my Hot Rods. Because they are a part of who I am. Ron....

 

Pics of what you are working on?

 

My problem is, I acquire a car I like, fix everything that doesn't work, make it safe and trade up for something else I like. So I guess I don't make it mine, but rather make it theirs...

 

I completely agree, it is more than “just a car”. It’s an extension of who I am. It’s a chance to show off my abilities, work ethic, and creativity. My car (truck) is who I am. I realize that my opinion is not highly regarded today with most people thinking that it’s “just a car”, but as a car guy that’s ok.


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https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/index.php?threads/1052468/

Here's the link to my build on here looks of give you an idea of what I'm going for



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Dead nuts on. Same here since I was a little kid. Never gonna change. Snowman

 

I was out in my old beater doing some last minute Christmas shopping yesterday looking for Brenda's favorite & slightly elusive perfume, I had stopped at a local CVS and was staring slack jawed at what seems to be hundreds of bottles of colone.

The store was packed with holiday shoppers and as I neared the end of the aisle I heard a couple of guys of the opposite side of the aisle talking about the old car in the parking lot, one went on to say, I've seen that car around town for years and my dad knows him, as a walked around the corner I nodded as I walked toward them and one of the young me said, Is that your old car and of course I told him yes, he told me his dad's name and I had went to school with him.

These two guys were probably in their early twenty's and seemed interested in the car so I told them I couldn't find what I was looking for and ask them if they wanted a closer look I am about to leave, they followed me out and I opened the door and ask if they would like to sit down in the car, both took turns sitting in the drivers seat, one ask how long had I had the car and I told his close to 32 years.

I left thinking how lucky I was to be born during a time when car's were a important part of a young mans life, a right of passage and not only a mode of transportation but a canvas for self expression.

I shudder when someone says old cars is a life style but they sure are a huge part of my life, just like my byline reads. HRP

Growing up in the rural south I was drawn to HOT ROD's at a young age, like a moth to a flame, first with the printed word and plastic models, then later the real things.
I eat, sleep and dream about old cars, and spend way too much time here!

 

Good to know I'm not the only one that has reoccurring dreams about cars

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I love the history and the art of the older cars! I would probably have a yard full of them even if they were banned from operating on the roads.

 

We grew up in an era where the car's styling changed every year so you could tell the difference between a 1956 car and a 1957 car so we were entranced by the styling. Now when I look for my daily driver in some parking lot, I often mistake it for an entirely different make.

 

My coupe is a extension of who I am, Its a big part of me. For a lot of us, yea its not just a car its a way of life. A life style if you will.

 

A few years ago I helped build a friend's 31 Model A coupe. I sold him a TCI frame and off we went. One night we were in his garage and I was doing the dash and engine wiring while he is adapting a tilt column. His wife came out to put some laundry in the washer and we were busy talking about how the car was coming and what was next on the list and what would be needed for that. She turned away from the washer and said, "I don't know what you two are so excited about, it's JUST a car". We both stopped what we were doing and in unplanned unison said, JUST A CAR! Followed by icy stares. She just shook her head and walked out of the garage. It took a few days to settle down, we didn't forgive her, we just returned to calm and building the car. However, she never referred to the project as "Just a car" again.

 

I get a buzz from cars I find appealing.. They have to be 1972 or older... There's something about the cars built after 1972 that turns me off....

 

Hard to tell or even guess at what younger guys an gals think about cars now days,or even see old cars as good.
It's a time of phone zombies that seems too be in a world of fake crap an the new cars {what I call new is 1980 an up} that seem to all cast the same shadow of each type box or blob.
It's at the very least fun to be asked about my old car,showing some still see an know about the world around them.
Many walk or ride by with out seeing anything but there phone or in another world some how.
My own hot rod ,28A Bobtailed Roadster with T-Bird V8,is the same rod I drove to high school in the early 1960s. For sure not just a car,to me.!
As for OP,an his 47Ford dreams,not just a car;
Here in Miami fl. was a custom 46 Ford coupe owned by Joe Hagins,named "Showboat",he won a lot of car shows in the 60s,was a awesome Ford.

 

My old beater is a part of me and has been with me through many flings with other cars. HRP

 

Same here. I couldn't care any less what other people think about my old cars/trucks. Actually, I think it would be great if they were more unpopular so that they would be cheaper to buy.

 

I bought my car while in high school and drove the wheels off of it most of my life. It has become my identity and probably for the rest of my life as now in life the first thing people ask me who I haven't seen in a while is if I still have that car. It's usually hard for people to understand that who aren't into it as much as the guys are on this site.

 

I had old cars my whole life. Mostly from the 60s and early 70s. So not too old in the eyes of most around here. I was raised at a drag strip since I was a baby born in 1965. My Mom and Dad raced and then worked there till I was 16 years old. I had seen just about every cool car in that time. At the track once a year they would have a Hot Rod show. I thought they were the coolest cars ever but even then they were mostly owned by old timers and were totally out of reach to the younger crowd. Ever since I never got as excited about cars as much as I did with those Hot Rods. Last summer while looking at Facebook Marketplace I saw a car I just couldn't get out of my mind. It was everything I thought a Hot Rod should be. First a real steel body chopped, channeled and suicide doors. Also most importantly for me a Flathead with 3 Stromberg carbs. It was awesome. Defiantly "more than just a car". I had to have it. I'd like to say I begged borrowed and stole too get it but I don't beg and I absolutely don't steal. I did borrow a little but mostly I got the money from selling my daily driver, a 1965 Chevy Panel truck. I sold it back to my friend who sold it to me. He was so happy to get it back. He had owned it over 20 years. It felt good to see him back in it. It was "more than just a car" for him as well.

 

For me these old rides really help me feel connected to my grandparents and great-grandparents. My '51 Ford F1 was bought new off the ford lot by my grandpa, years later he and I began the resto work on it when I was in my twenties, before he passed away. Lot's of good memories.
My '33 chevy 5W was bought as a used car by my great grandpa in the '30s, been in the family ever since. I'm pretty sentimental and these things are worth their weight in gold, to me anyway. Hopefully they'll stay in the family for another 2-3 generations.
Merry Christmas!

 

Yes, it is more than just a car. I am using all vintage parts or building everything For my Model A Stock Car build. I have made friends finding these parts; I can tell you where every part came from.
I pulled the brake and clutch pedal assembly out of a 53 Ford car. I remember opening the left door seeing a big snakeskin. I hate snakes, so I found a broom handle and poked under the dash and seats to make sure the snake was not home.
After I was sure it was safe I got to work and soon forgot about the snake.
As I was laying upside down under the dash with my legs over the back of the seat. I felt something fall on my chest, sure it was the snake I managed to get out from under the dash and on my feet and running from the car in half a second.
Only to discover I had knocked the brake pedal pad off and that is what had fallen on my chest.

It is also history my number 31 is my dads old racing number.
The champ quick chance, one V8 side plate and Schroeder steering box came from NASCAR modified owner Russ Bets, The 59 car
The second V8 side plate came from modified driver Rich Ricci
My axle was old 40 Ford Hot Rod piece that was drilled 30 year before I was born.


Dad's race car


Russ Bets 59 car


Rich Ricci

 

I wish that I was able to keep my cars, But for most of my life I had to sell one to get one.

 

Well when I was growing up it was both my step mom, AND my dad who thought "It's just a Car", and now my current wife thinks the same. My first good car I bought in '57 was a cream puff '50 shoe box Ford. Fist modification was removing the bumper guards, (cleaning and polishing the bumper where they were, removing the hubcaps and installing white "slap walls". I was still living at home and when dad got home he flipped out over me doing that. He wanted me to put the B. G's and hub caps back on......NOW!!! Of course I didn't. My first wife indulged my car crazyness but the current one doesn't get it at all either.
Like most of you here I suspect, even my every day ride is special and is not stock in some way. I bought her a Buick Enclave, did some special pen striping, the best rims and tires Buick has, bought stainless trim for the A,B,C posts. She has always treated the interior like its a women,s boutique, with shit thrown everywhere, stores umbrellas by the dozen, and says guess what?
Yup........ "It's just a Car".

 

Those parts are awesome. The snake story was hilarious.

 

I here you on that. I've done that many times. I sold my 65 Chevy panel truck to buy the Hot Rod in my avatar.

 

It took 15 of the 17 years I've been my wife to get her to understand but now she finally does.

 

There have been many cars pass thru here in the last 40+ yrs but one has been here since the beginning. Wife's 55 she has owned for 42+ yrs and was our daily for many years as well. She drove it to work for many years and ran it at Sears Pt.Baylands, etc. It is not going anywhere! The kids want it but hard to decide which one. I think she will keep it long after Im gone but who knows? Top picture is in 1980.

 

I call the silver/gray thing that is our daily driver the "stealth car" for that reason. The car can honestly hide so well in a parking lot exactly where I parked it that I walk right past it looking for it. It has a distinctive license plate frame and a Seahawks emblem on the decklid next to the plate and that is how I found it last night. Parking next to the cart return helps though.
I never had that problem with the 51 Merc I had for years or my 48. Neither fit the Just a car category either.
Still I think for the majority of us the cars we have had for a long time take on their own persona and personality. Some even have their own group of human friends who always swing by to see them when they are out in public. The same guy would stop by the 48 to see what I had done since the past year for years on end at one show. I've done the same on a couple of other folks cars and probably have 20 photos of one car that were taken over a 15 year stretch and I have no clue as to who owns the car.
I had one buddy though who had no attachment to his builds the moment they were up to a state where he wasn't working on them all the time. As long as he was still "building" he was fine but the minute the building stopped he pretty well lost interest after driving it a few times.

 

As most on here, I suspect

 

I guess it’s just our generation, we’re old now. When we were growing up we could tell the make and models of most all cars we seen on the street. Now newer models have sleeker styles, I guess, and 600 horsepower with a/c and all power accs. But they seem as only “People Movers “to me, not as Cars.......must be my 72yr. age???????