Hot Rods Where has hotrodding has taken you

Tonight I am sleeping in an aircraft hangar after having a send off after 13 years at my current work position, and am leaving to pursue another opportunity as a senior helicopter crewman, I was the son of an aircraft engineer that loved cars but I became a chef,16 yrs cooking and presenting greasy hands at work each morning to scrub down I decided to take a job I was offered as a spare parts storeman at a local helicopter company,,, just so I had access to sandblast cabinets,TIG welders,Lathes,sheet metal rollers folders etc etc,,,
7 years later I was spinning spanners on helicopters and working onboard choppers as a rescue crewman, then I went on to become crew chief for another helicopter company,,, all the while using my workplace to build my cars after hours,,,20 years in aviation and just tonight before a few beers on my last day I parked up the 34 in the spare hangar and realized It is parked right next to the very first Huey I helped import and the first Huey I flew in and worked on near 20 yrs ago at another company and owner,,,,strange where rodding can take you, I did it all so I could build old cars, and still do


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Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Good on you.

 

In 63 I was running a very crude altered. I liked the cars that belonged to machinists. So I decided I needed to become one myself. United Air Lines were hiring apprentice machinists. Just right. 33 years later i retired with my A&P and lots of chips from machining. Flew to every continent except Antarctica. Built three Bonneville record setting cars and ran my engine in two more. All started at Fremont drags.

 

Ironic isn't it? Beautiful car and a piece of history that it is parked by. To think that you worked on and maintained both. I have slept in some aircraft hangers also though not under the same circumstances and wondered as I fell asleep about those aircraft. Who flew them and their thoughts? Who maintained them and their love for an inanimate object? While I have flown in both the Huey, Blackhawk, Loach, and Ranger Jets. The Huey serves the best memories of insertions and extractions. The Blackhawk for two medevac flights that I was the cause of. Yes Iraq, broken left arm and Afghanistan for an IED. Missing some bone parts in my left elbow and three eye surgeries along with minor scarring of my right eye and face. I survived it all and admire those aircraft and your '34.

 

Can't say HRing led me to a livelihood but it led me to hundreds of absolutely great friendships and great times.
Great story, enjoy your retirement, (I'm assuming thats what your about now)

 

It would take a book for my journey, and one day I will finish it,,,,,,,,,

 

Wrote car of the month stories for the high school newspaper from ‘57 to ‘59 and used them as a portfolio to apply for a job at Rod & Custom in the summer of ‘59. Made some good contacts at Petersen and started doing freelance writing for the car books and an ad agency that specialized in hot rod equipment. Ended up with my own agency and bunch of great friends. Now retired and have weekly lunch meetings with a guy that ran the Viper racing team in Europe, former publisher of MOTOR TREND, retired head of the Nethercutt restoration shop, owner of one of the premier Corvette collections and a car guy that owned a company that he still can’t tell us what he did!

 

Lots of projects .

 

I've made a lot of good friends, and met some heroes from my youth (now also friends). All because of cars. I'm happy.

 

Around 1965 I obtained a box of carburetors and a box of Customizing magazines with one featuring the Barris Brothers.......

 

I am not sure that I can say that hot rodding has actually taken me anywhere. I knew most of the skills required to build a car or a bike when I was a child and only refined them with age. I did learn to cook but that was so that I could be more mobile, I have always had wander lust and cooking was just added to my skill set to make it easier to find work when I needed wandering money.

I think more than anything else hot rodding has taken me inside my own mind and given me the opportunity to create. I am not sure that inside that place is a good thing. It can be a very very scary place visit and I am sure that no one would ever want to reside there.

 

To the poor house a few times!

 

I started “ Hot Rodding” at about 11 years of age, starting with a “ box scooter” , went on to to a 430 Lincoln powered ‘55 Ford at 16, then later to a car we can’t mention , here. Then I Graduated college and went into my field, law enforcement, for a few years.Found out I didn’t have the temperament for it!
Worked as a machinist for a couple of years( loved it, but too far from home) . Then I got hired at my home town Fire Dept. About six weeks into my career, the “Master Mechanic “ job became open! I put in for it, the chief asked if I had tools and could work/ fix things, I said yes, having put a 430 in a 55 at 16. Got the job, retired 33 years later, at age 60, from the Fire Dept, as Master Mechanic, Firefighter.








Bones

 

I have always been drawn to cars, even when I was a 2 year old they said when I heard a car with loud pipes I jumped around making car sounds. I went through my share of homemade go-karts and scooters and model cars and hot rod magazines were always (and still are) among my favorite pass times. I got my first car at about 14 and went to work in an auto parts store at 16. When I went into the Army in 1971 about 95% of my basic outfit went to infantry training but I got sent to wheeled vehicle mechanic school due to my test when I first got to basic training. After my Army service I worked in auto parts until 94 when my store sold out to a chain store and I got on at the USPS, didn't really like the job but did like the pay and retirement package. I retired in 2013 and been fooling around with my old cars and junk, traveling and just plain doing what ever the hell I like ever since. Life is good!

 

In 1956, at 12, I started reading Hot Rod Magazine and others and read stories of Karol Miller and now we are friends.
Saw and read the many stories of Bonneville and in 2003 at 59 I received the Red Hat of the 200MPH Club after showing up on the salt in 1974 and setting my first record in 1975. I met and became friends with many of those I had read about.
A lot happened in my life and only loosing my father, a wind tunnel model maker precision machinist, at 19 is to me my only low point. I’ve been married 56 years this August, had 2 great children and now 5 grandchildren and pit crew on my sons dirt circle track car and I still drive on El Mirage.
If it all ended up tomorrow I would be a happy person and think I was one of the luckiest guys in the world.

 

Like others I started wrenching on cars as a teenager which later progreesed to an over 44 year aviation career. First the USAF as a mechanic and crew chief. Obtained an A&P license and worked for Pan American World Airways for 20years in several different aircraft maintenance positions. Hired on with the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Carrier Aviastion Safety Inspector, Air Safety Investigator and retired as the Manager of the Kentucky Flight Standards District Office after another twenty years. Interesting that some others have followed the same career path. No complaints or regrets.

 

Made friends with older hot rodder at age 10, his friends took me to the drags from age 13 to 16, learned much from HRM (had every copy from #1 in 1948, read them over and over...) built a 'roadster' starting at 13, finished at 15. Got a job at the 'Best damn garage in town', worked for Red Mayfield...turned out as Journeyman, at 20 went to Cadillac-Olds dealer, carburetor man for 2 years, went thru paces, tired of American car repair, then to Porsche Mech, then BMW, licensed in both...Years of hot rods, race & sporty cars, etc. All from hot rods.
Met extremely attractive first wife at a street race, her boyfriend had this 'unbeatable' '56 Chevy. He raced for $20, I said 'Let's go'. He scoffed, I had a '56 Ford convert.
I said, "If you're THAT much faster, give it all you've got...Really shame my car."
Lined 'em up, and I blew his doors off. (my Yblock was 'suped-up') He said "Again..." I did it again, 5200 RPM outa the gate, shift into 2nd at 65...into high at 90.
He couldn't believe it...he gave me the $20, and his girlfriend Janet jumped in my Ford!
Zowie...or so I thought.
The Ford was my Mom's, (Mom liked the H.P.) Mine was a '36 Five window, low rake, Dago axle, juice brakes, 276 flattie. Janet and I were engaged now, she was seeing an 'analyst'. He asked her, "What's your sex drive like?" She said, "Oh, usually a drive up to Steven's Creek dam in Mike's '36..."
She said, "Why'd he wanna know that?" Bzzzzz.........True story. Gave me a daughter that was born in '62, the moment John Glenn hit the water in the capsule after circling the globe. Whew! Then a year later, my first SON! (@richinsanazay on here)

Second wife I won in a crap game. (no, not really) I had a blues band, was playing a 'job' at the El Rancho, So. San Francisco. this black haired, blue eyed beauty walked up and started it, 5 sons later she finished it! 1976.
Opened my shop then, in Campbell, CA. Many Porsches, BMWs, M-B's, and Bonneville Butch and I planned his new Streamliner, a V16: two 500 Cads.
We were running an A/SR at Fremont (Baylands) and were immersed in projects...Butch had the 'sister shop' to mine, we were both busy.
A lot younger than me lady came in with a fuel injection problem nobody could fix.
I talked to her about the car, trees, horses, and nice houses...for 6 hours. (Where DOES the time go???) The next year we were married, (didn't plan on that) but it was to be.
She (Joey) worked with me in the shop, a month later she was assembling crankshafts/ con rods, and all sorts of engine close tolerance ass'y.
Joey was a trig major, so chassis geometry was 'logical' to her...Wow.
Married these 43 years now, 2 grown daughters, (one's a gearhead!)
So, total of grandchildren is 22.
All from hot rods. Starting with that wonderful guy, Al Marseline, of Santa Clara...and that marvelous black '32 Highboy, 276" flathead, chopped windshield and 5" windshield wiper blade.
Thanks for the life, Al. Godspeed.

 

I started getting interested in hot rods when I was 15. We moved to California when I was 16. What an eye opener. My across the street neighbor was a member of the Ramblers car club of San Francisco. This added to my experiences, going to the Oakland Roadster Show, Half Moon Bay Drag Strip. Mel's Drive In. I came back east in 1958 in the Army, got out in 1961. was in several car clubs ,but got tired of the BS. I am now 79, and still take my roadster out when the weather permits. I met a lot of people important to me. Barris, Roth, Gene Winfield, Mickey Thompson, Dean Moon, Tommy Ivo, don Prudhomme, Don Garlits, Bruce Larson , Bob Muravez, John Force, I could go on, but I don't want to keep being a name dropper. I did nothing great, but I got to know a lot of people all across the country, and some more overseas, too. I am thankful for the experiences.

 

On first reflection I didn't think it really took me anywhere special. But my first hot rod I put together I sold for the down payment on my dream house for my wife and boy and myself. So I guess hot rodding took me to lake front living...

 

I wouldn,t have been the places I,ve been and know the people I know if it wasn,t for Hot Rods

 

Geographically, not too far, just up and down the California coast to various road race tracks.
I've gotten involved in more behind the scenes shtick, get to meet the people behind some big names and loads of interesting people with niche knowledge. And the occasional Big 3 engineer that drops a nugget or two. Mostly on new stuff, but applicable to older vehicles.

Probably should build myself something that I can take on a real road trip.

 

story goes: mom wanted to meet the cute guy in the green coupe......hot rodding got me.

 

I'm with Mav, it's taken me to the poor house and had a lot to do with a divorce

 

Dad was a car freak from the time he was a kid. My first step father traded a 53 Mercury hardtop for a 52 Ford Vicky with a 312 thunderbird Special under the hood that had held the Ellensberg wa drag strip C/G record at the time. That car probably corrupted me as much as any as it was lowered, (gas class just meant engine swap in the 50's) loud and fast. It also had a big burn hole in the lean back in the back seat on the drivers side because the guy Ken got it from's girlfriend had thrown a cigarette out while driving it that got blown back in and burned the hole.

Found Hot Rod magazine on the bookmobile one day in the 5th grade at Capt Wilkes School on Bainbridge Island a kid in 6th grade named Steve Bitenvendt had one in his hand and I checked and found two more that I checked out and I went though every HRM that was on that bookmobile in 5th and 6th grades.

Bought a 51 Merc coupe from the craft shop teacher in high school here in Toppenish in 1963. He was a cool guy teacher who taught his students how to make laminated gear shift and dash knobs . I never had him for class as I took Auto Mechanics next door. I had that Merc in my name for 32 years including the time between when I sold it and bought it back for 10.00. My name was still on the title when I bought it back.

My want to build hot rods took me through high school and tech school mechanics classes. I ended up being the guy who took care of the A troop 1/9 Cav scouts generators in Vietnam for most of 1968 along with flying as a scout Observer. I even did a field valve job on a rather ragged jeep we had in the unit.

It led to working in various shops as a mechanic in Texas in the 70's and then to Jr College when I decided that I needed to take management classes if I ever planned on having my own shop.

I ended up moving back up here to Washington and after bouncing around with a few different jobs the shop teacher that I had convinced to take the job during my Jr Year and was my teacher during my SR year retired three days into the 78/79 school year. I got the job and taught auto mechanics for 13 years and in contact with several car freaks that are still building hot rods or restoring cars who I may have slightly corrupted. 3 of my closest FB contacts are former students.

Other than that the hot rod thing has taken my wife and I on several fun and interesting vacations including going to Pismo Beach for Trog in 2016 and Deuce days in Victoria last year. Both were lifetime memory vacations for both of us. Victoria was also for our 50th anniversary
My wife isn't big on having friends that hover but her hot rod gal friends are lifetime friends that she gets to spend a few hours with a few times a year and see ya later.

Where it takes us from here will probably be some fun road trips when the 48 is done. Or drag a flathead powered something behind a motor home on the trailer to far flung adventure.

 

The hobby has been good to me. All I ever wanted to do was work on my cars. Started my business 30 years ago, second-generation is running today. Had a great time at the shows met a lot of wonderful people and made some good friends. It's fun to sit my chair and watch an auction and wonder if the car has any of my paints on it.It was a great journey.

 

Traffic court.

 

I was Lucky, Born into the car/racing hobby, remember going to dirt track Midget racing from baby on, through the 60's, local modifieds, all types of racing, my Dad was a big racing fan besides being a Midget car owner 1946-1987. I started in Midgets at 22, first year of roll cages and finished in Wing Sprint cars through 91, a Great 21 year Adventure, all my life, Hot Rod magazine and Speed Sport news, my study material. At 15 1/2 bought my first car with my saved up paper route money, had it on the road on my birthday at 16, a 57 Chevy that I have talked about on here. A big influence on cruising, cycles was a neighbor, Jim LeRoy, came home from service around 60, I was 12, he bought a 57 Chevy and a Harley, took me cruising, street racing and riding on that harley, I was hooked, I had motorcycles 36 years, want to mention my Uncle Chester who would take me and my cousin riding in the saddle bags of his Harley, he also drove Dad's Midget in 50's. I came back to car hobby after racing ended for me and am still active in the car hobby. Cars did not lead me into my career, Tool & Die Maker/ Pattern Maker, have both cards, ran my own shop 36 years. High school machine shop set that hook, I realized how much I liked the thinking, machining, creativity involved and worked all my adult life doing what I loved and the perfect career for a carnut IMO. I have stated, I'm a very Lucky man and I have a Guardian Angel that has watched over me as too many times it could have turned out differently and I would not be here to share memories. The carnut life I've led has been a great/fun trip all my life, went to local races last Tuesday, going tonight, found 2 car shows reasonably close next weekend, Life is Good, everyone Be Safe out there.

 

Down the rabbit hole

 

It has taken me down to the money pit and dropped me in.
But I loved the journey, would do it again if I could.