I was in grade 7 and could name just about every make and year of car from half a mile away, as could all my buddies. Baseball was my life during the summer and hockey in the winter.
Holy crap, Carl. I didn't know there really were parents like that. I am really sorry to learn that all your stuff was sold out from under you. I can imagine how that really hurt. I am happy to know that you were able to have resolution with your mom. My mom held on to all my crap, some I didn't know about until she moved 25 years later. Bob
Born in Jan' '62 so I was probably busy filling diapers as fast as I could! I'm still bummed that none of my birth year cars are cool enough to drive in my humble opinion car design died with the '58 model year
I graduated in 61, and did first year in Vernon, BC in 1962. In the spring of 1962, I was busy getting a 54 Buick engine and running gear stuffed under my third car, a 47 Chev Coupe. The first two vehicles I owned were a 39 Coupe and a 34 1/2 ton, any of which I would love to have again. Right after I graduated, I headed for Vancouver to attempt to make enough to cover my second year. It happened that lots of friends moved there at the same time, and four of us rented a penthouse in Vancouver and had a hell of a great time. Bob
I was 5 years old in Southern California, watching the Sunday afternoon jalopy races on KTLA channel 5 with Dick Lane, the original "Whoooa Nelli" announcer from Western Speedway in Gardena.
Well, used to have a pic, that showed that I was riding my two wheeler and chasing pussy! But my last move, I lost it! But it still happened! Lol Bones
Graduated from South Division High School in Milwaukee. Had a 37 Ford coupe with a 276 flathead. It was a ragged old heap but I loved it.
I was 7 y/o, already a gearhead. My dad owned a Leonard gas station. Anybody remember those? Leonard was a Mid-Michigan company that sold out to Total Refineries in the late 60's. Would love to get hold of some old Leonard petroliana. I do have a Leonard "Golden Shovel"award received by my dad for keeping a sharp station. I rode to Detroit with my folks to the TV station where that was presented by Mort Neff, host of the Michigan Outdoors show. Leonard was one of their sponsors. I remember being deeply disappointed by the whole thing. You see, I couldn't wait to see my dad on TV. However, they put my mother and I in a soundproof room with a glass window to watch the presentation. But I never got to see my dad on TV! This was way before VCRs and I'm not sure there was even a tape made by the TV studio as this was a time when many shows were done live. My dad has been gone for 25 years now. What I wouldn't give to get a tape of that. I spent most of my time when not in school at the station with my dad. Learned how to keep my mouth shut and ears open out in the shop and picked up a lot while a fetched tools. Did my first tuneup at 12 y/o on Mom's Olds (wasn't allowed to work on customer's cars at that age). There were about 8 stations in our small town. Ours was where the hot cars came to feed. Dad had a 58 T-Bird that morphed from a stock 352 to a warmed up 430 MEL. Jim was one of the guys who worked at the station. Drove a 61 Catalina that ended up with a rowdy 421 after he had an oil pan failure in the stock 389 ( a rod went through it). Neighbor whose grandparents were very well off got a new 63 Corvette FI 4 spd for high school graduation. Dad kept that running strong and even learned how to deal with the FI system. Remember him doing a bunch of reading on that one. My cousins, 2 farm boys had a 58 Belair. Their Dad had passed away young and they ran the farm while Mom taught school. She thought they should have a car so they could get more work done. The Belair was a stock 348 2bbl with Powerglide. They went to tinkering as we farm boys are wont to do and found some problems with the motor, then the trans. The problem is that it wasn't fast enough. They went to Mom and talked here into financing some "repairs." When they were done the 348 had an Isky cam, ported heads and a 3 deuce setup on top. The trans problem was solved by a 4 spd with Hurst stick and Scheifer heavy duty clutch and flywheel. I wondered why they didn't take off the old Powerglide column shifter since they didn't need with the 4-spd. I found out one night soon after the swap when they took me to the A&W. We pulled in amongst a bunch of their buddies and Harland made a big show of slamming that column shifter up into "Park." You see, they had lost some races before the mods were done and were ready for a rematch. The Belair had become a sleeper overnight. They made me stay sitting at the picnic table at A&W while they went out to play, two by two. They must have run about 6 cars that night and never lost. I recall the most impressive car in those days was the '64 GTO another employee name Jim had. It was a year old 389 tri-power car with 4 speed. He tossed the keys to my dad when he came back from the dealer after buying it. We went for a RIDE. My dad didn't usually stand on the gas when I was with him. But he had to check out the performance because Jim wanted him to tune it. Holy Shit! My skinny 9 year old ass never had been pushed back in the seat like that before. After that, I was hooked. I think this gearhead disease is more contagious than Covid-19. These are just a few of the cars I remember from my misspent youth. I've often said that if heaven is what you want it to be, I'll spend eternity as John Milner cruising the valley in that piss yellow deuce coupe shuttin' em all down.
I will trade with you. I was born in '61 and I am not too crazy about my birth year cars either. I can live with a 61 Impala bubble top. but I love the 62s.
5 years old. Already hooked on hot rods. Time to get hooked on girls. First day of kindergarten. So how was your first day of school? Mom... I saw the prettiest blond-haired girl I've ever seen in my whole life! Oh brother... LOL My mom was laughing. LOL Everybody have a good Sunday! Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hopping rides on Katy freight trains to get to Dallas and sweep floors at Carroll Shelby's dealership on Yale Blvd. Used my meager wages to buy my first Harley - a $250 non-running 1937 WL.
Graduated from HS. Finishing up work at the "Big Donut" (Randy's now) in Inglewood. Starting El Camino JC in the fall. Started working at Sears Inglewood during the first semester in the auto section. Flew with my dad in our 1938 Ryan SCW anytime he went up. One of the best years of my life.
I was at the Great Western Exhibit Center 3rd Winternationals Car Show in So.Cal. as a kid and got I my picture in Apr. 63 Hot Rod Mag. My parents (non-car people) took me because I was "Hot Rod crazy"...even at that age A "coke-bottle-bottom" bespeckled Hotrodjack at the Revell Model Car display. That picture made me somewhat of a legend among my buddies at John Foster Dulles elementary school in La Mirada, Ca.
15 years old. Got my drivers license and my first drag racing trophy that year. Absolutely one of the best years of my life.
1962 Long Beach Hello, Where you in 1962? It was the senior year of high school and that spring was the last time we would see most of our high school buddies. It was already known that most would be going off somewhere other than staying in Long Beach. As cool as the Bixby Knolls scene was, most had their future endeavors planned and off they went. Some went to far away colleges, some locally, some to the military and a few others got married. Yes, married at age 18. (at the last 50 year reunion the table, it had our friends that got married back then and were still together!!!) This was a great semester, but sad. My friends were going away after being together for the last several years. We did have some new friends from the junior and sophomore classes, but it was not the same. It was an eye opener as I had all of my credits to graduate, with the inclusion of the final English, Government and Math. So, I had the 2nd year auto shop, 3rd year metal shop, an art class and a radio production workshop as electives. All of those electives, I could have failed and still graduate on time. It was a semester to remember, for sure. The cruising hot rod scene was ramped up with nightly cruises, different area of So Cal to explore and long surf trips were in place. New friends were everywhere in the Spring/Summer. Now, as older teens, those past high school memories were beginning to be stuffed away for posterity. A new chapter was in front of us and “The whole world was our oyster.” Jnaki High School graduates have a giant relief at the end of the graduation cap tossing and the grad party. But, my brother who had recovered somewhat from his injuries, was in his final year of college. He thought we might want to do one more project before I started college in the fall of 1962. Thoughts of another gas coupe or truck build was tossed around. The idea was still a street driven hot rod that could win at the dragstrip. But, several things were building a big wall, surfing road trips and college. We could not build a competitive car in three months and we had too much fun on our So Cal surf trips all up and down the coastline, including forays into Baja. By the end of Summer, we were admiring this race car from Tony Nancy. My brother had mentioned that it could have been our next build. (Although this red modified roadster was too light to race in the modified roadster class.) He always wanted to drive a FED and this style of race car would have both, a roadster and FED chassis/motor. It would have taken us the whole of 1962, possible spring/summer of 1963 to finish the weekend project as he was still away in Los Angeles for his college activities. It was looking dim. Also, our choice of an auto industry career was waning with every month of fun, local So Cal activities. Within the following months leading into the 1963 year, after a few more speed shop dealer purchases, we shut down the whole idea. The backyard garage turned into a modified surf shop. We kept the tools and necessary stuff for car repairs, but race car stuff was completely gone. So was our hot rod/drag race build history. Instead of Precision Racing Engines, it was now "Surfboards and Repairs by Huey..." (another So Cal storyline...) TO
Hello, Were you an advisor in 1962? Minimal participation by any U.S. forces other than what was sporadically left over from WW2. We talked to a ex-military guy later on in 1966 about U.S. participation and he said it was documented in history. Jnaki We were not worried about the draft until 1965 or so.
The Jalopy Journal
