Hot Rods Neighborhood hot rods that influenced you

Grew up in Detroit where an older guy down the street had a 55 Ford Crown Vic. It was a tail dragger, mandrian orange/white, glass packs and spinner wheel covers. Soon as I had saved enough I bought a 56 Canadian Ford Crown Vic. Still miss that car. On the other way down the street the man had a Harley dresser I loved. Never had a Harley dresser but I still have a Softail in the garage.

 

I remember seeing a '57 Chevy near my home that had a filled hood. Thought it was boss, and since I wanted a '57 I figured that would be one thing I would do.

 

Does the local “Jeans Variety Store” count? Every month or so my mom would give me a my sister a dollar each when she went in there with us. My sister would get a few 45’s and I’d get a HotWheels.
Ya, I grew up in a small agricultural town.

 

Early 60s, local guy who worked for Ross Welding as a mechanic, had a '57 Ranchero. Lowered all around, painted honduras maroon, 430 Lincoln power, Lee tailight lenses with spades and a white toneau cover with a large spade in the center. Man I loved that car and saw it in action a lot as my old man's grocery store was on Rt 9, same as the weld shop, just north of Rhinebeck where the road was straight and level.

 

I was born in 1959. My father operated a small speed shop from about 1965 to 1972. I do not remember any pre-war hot rods coming to the shop. There were quite a few 55-57 Chevys, a couple 50's Fords and Mopars. Most of the cars I remember coming to the shop were muscle cars. Now every Sunday was the trip to the drag strip. Mostly to the little local track and the occasional trip to a NHRA track. There was my exposure to old hot rods, Gassers and Altereds. There were lots I remember. Most were low budget cars. Those low budget cars were always the best because you never knew what to expect from them.

 

I was under the influence of a baby blue '40 Ford 2 dr sedan, sure it had a flathead (I didn't know what that would be at the time) but I did know it had dual straight pipes as the old guys on our school bus knew... I was about 10 or 11 years old and all I could do was drool out the school bus window at this awesome car. I looked this guy up and wrote him a letter how my love for '40Fords came about and I still have 1. Never heard back from him and a few years ago, I heard he passed away. Soon after a '57 Ford retractable showed up but it wasn't as cool as the '40.

 

I never saw a hood filled in like that.. You are right, that is very clean looking..

 

AND I WAS ABLE TO BUY IT 58 YEARS LATER ..

 

In the early 70s I walked paper routes with lots of muscle cars parked on the streets, 2 sd trans ams, 2 big block chevelles, a yellow super bird and a 57 Chevy nomad (black primer and blue windows). I thought the nomad was the coolest car ever. I don’t remember other hot rods, it seems that everyone was in to cheap and fast muscle cars. It took sometime for me to move from muscle cars to hot rods, still like muscle cars but like hot rods a LOT more.

 

For me it was summer of 1967; Andy Willot. 1931 Ford coupe. Channelled, suicide front end, 331 Chrysler Hemi with a 3-speed Packard trans and a ‘49 Merc rear end. I would love to duplicate that car exactly as it was.

 

When I was a kid we would play on the street behind mine because there was less traffic. There was a guy named Gary who lived on that street in a little war time house with no garage but this guy was always driving some kind of hot rod which was his only car and he would wave to us all as he drove by. All my friends and I thought the cars were cool. Funny thing is this was also in an era where customized vans were also all the rage and many of my friend's older brothers were driving them. Years later when I got my first older car I ran into a younger guy from my neighbourhood who told me he would chase after my car on his bike to look at it when I was cruising around waving at everybody. And the cycle continues...

 

Two that I can remember. I lived at the top of a hill and when I was about 10 years old I can remember a '49/'50 Ford going down the hill and letting off the gas and hearing the exhaust make that "rapping" sound. I'll always remember it. The next was a Model A Ford that was being built on the next block. It was typical east coast style with stock height roof but severely channeled. The car was almost un-drivable because of the hideous channel, probably 10 inches but as a 10 year old it was still cool.

 

About 1966, a local hot rodder down the street in his early 20's always had a project going on in his garage. Me and my buddy would ride our bikes down there to see if he was in the garage working on something. He had a yellow 49 Chev business coupe with a 409 in it. Car was raised slightly in the front and had the rear wheels wells cut out for cheater slicks. One Friday night we were walking home from the down town movie theater and had just passed the local A&W, he stopped to give us a ride. The car had bucket seats so I got in back and my buddy sat up front. He folded up a dollar and stuffed it in the crack of the glove box door and told my buddy it was his if he could reach it as he went through the gears. As he took off, I fell back against the bulkhead and my buddy was glued to the seat. The ride made our evening and gave us something to boast about for many weeks. My buddy didn't get the dollar. A good mixture of home built hot rods and early muscle cars cruisin the streets back then.

 

Hot rods were rare where I grew up.
a guy in the next town use to cruise in a early 50s Stude truck. Nose up and cutting a mean lick.
thrn s guy showed up in a blue hammered merc at show I attended as a youngster. Never looked at a car the same since

 

My buddies dad built this model A and still owns it today. Growing up I always thought it was the coolest! Many years later I was talking with the owner and told him how I thought it was cool that he would pick up my buddy in it.....he said well after the divorce it's all I had to drive.

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As a kid, I always loved the old "square" body cars. I loved to look through magazines at them. But I had not actually seen one in person until my family moved in 1959. And right across the street from our new residence in a small neighborhood was THE quintessential hot rod, it was a red 1932 Ford highboy roadster. Under the hood was a Mercury engine, a Y block version. That was when I got my first chubby.

 

Not many HAMB era rides around my area back then, or now either for that matter. A few Tri-5 Chevies, but nothing that stands out in my memory. Most everything was pony or muscle cars. I do remember a 68 Roadrunner with a Sox and Martin style paint job that was supposedly the fastest car in the county. 440 with a 4 speed IIRC.

Many of the younger men were off on a Southeast Asia trip for Uncle Sam, and the others were working and raising families. By the time I graduated in 1977, there just wasn't much going on in the poor rural county I lived [still live] in. My views of what was happening in the world came from the magazines, when I could afford to buy them.

 

Good stuff guys.

 

I grew up in a small southern Minnesota town and there wasn't a lot of hot rods around but the guy who lived across the alley had a hot rodded 33 Chevy coupe. It had a Corvair front end and a J2 Olds in it. I always thought it was cool but didn't really light my fire. He and Dad were always messing around with old cars together.
In the late 70's this guy in town built a 49 Ford 2dr with a flatty. He went to auto body school and painted it dark blue and flamed it. Wow! That caught my eye. A few years later he and a friend of his opened a body shop. I stopped by one day and he was just finishing up a 30 model A with a 327 in it. It was bright yellow and had the fenders removed with a 32 truck grille. I got to go out cruising with him one Friday night and I fell in love with hot rods!!!
A few years later I bought a 38 Chevy coupe from him and built my first hot rod.
A friend bought that 30 coupe several years later after it went though several owners and looking closer at it it wasn't that well built car I always thought it was. But it did cement the bug in me. Thanks Bob

hotrodderman

 

Live in a small town outside of the city. There were a few that caught my eye. An older neighbor had a 48 ford coupe with olds with 3 x2s. Another couple of older guys had 35 5 windows, One had a nailhead, the other a 265. Both had nice paint jobs. A lot of 55-57 Chevrolets. I was able to buy a 57 chev 4dr bel air in high school for 60.00. The car was only 9 years old. A couple of the richer guys had 409's

 

This is what our high school shop teacher would drive in. He would let us change the oil and do some maintenance. Yup BIG influence on me.

 

growing up in an around hot rods with my grandpa there was always loads of neat stuff always coming by the house, but one car that has stuck in my mind for as long as I can remember was a butternut yellow 32 Ford. 3 window, full fendered, unchopped and unfilled top, built flathead and a perfect rake. It just struck me as a perfect hot rod, next to my 33 pickup I would ride around in with my grandpa. The other car that sticks out to my mind was there was a 55 Chevy 2 dr hardtop that was a mild custom and to me just oozed cool. It was nosed/decked/door handles shaved, wagon rear bumper, Buick tail light lenses, Corvette grille. Then the motor looked like a 56 dual quad corvette motor, had a 4 speed manual and nomad style interior with the waffle pattern seat covers. Car was laser straight and all black. Had 57 Corvette hubcaps and thin whitewalls. Just thinking about it now makes me really want to build a similar 55.

 

Back when shop classes were an avenue out for those of us that didnt go to college.

 

Sounds great, I say you need to build that one right after you finish the truck!
My metal shop teacher looked a little like Clint Eastwood and drove a '65 Vette everyday, black with American 5 spokes all around. He was building a fiberglass sports car on the big table in the classroom, from scratch. I built a T bucket chassis on the same table.

 

Man you hit the nail. I recently spoke at his funeral. The story was that he was responsible for a lot on how I successfully got through life. Teach a child to fish.

 

In HS, about 1986, a guy moved in two doors down. Had a survivor 40 Ford with an SBC parked out fron that he drove in HS back in the 70s. Would never sell it, was not really a car guy. I couldn't even buy it with a pile of cash after I sold my Olds. It was a badass coupe.

 

I’ve been searching the classifieds nationwide for a 53-56 F100 to build a clone of Mikes truck. If any of y’all see a good unmolested survivor, let me know.

 

1952, Santa Clara.
First real hot rod I remember seeing 'up close' was cruising by on Lincoln street, in the rain: I was 10. I spotted it from the front porch of my Grandma's... A black '32 roadster, Highboy. Top chopped 4-1/2 inches (I later found out) the white canvas sat low over the driver's head, but what caught my eye was this tiny windshield wiper, going fast, Swish, swish...Rooster tails from all 4 tires, 10 feet in the air. Big wheels in back, little ones in front. The engine made a loud muffled humming sound, kinda like an earthquake...that 'rumble'.
And when he went by I could see two little silver pipes out the back.

I had seen it once before, parked at Johnny Freitas's big Standard gas station, with some other 'older cars', they were fixed up, you could tell. My Mom said they were a crowd that the police watched, always racing around.
I wanted to go up and look the cars over, never saw anything like that...Mom said she'd show me some pictures of some fast Fords, stay away from those older guys.
She'd had 2 suped-up Model A's, first a '29 roadster with a Winfield head, cam, and carb. (in 1935-37, the second 'A' was a '31 Sport coupe, her mechanic was on Liberty St., Pete Dias, an Indy wrench famous for his work with Meyer-Drakes and Offies. Pete built her '31 up with an OHV conversion, she was undefeated in the hill climb from San Jose to Holy City. She had friends who testified to that!

My Dad hated hot rods, (he was a long haul trucker, had some experience with idiots driving old heaps with coon tails from antennas, cut the big trucks off and laughed)
Dad wasn't liking it when I came into Hot Rod Magazine, sadly he was killed in a truck accident in '54. I was 12.
Some of the hot rod guys were friendly, liked me around...I read every tech article I could find, so this older guy 'Alfonso' asked the members (Hernando's Racing Team) if I couldn't go to the drags with them.
"Mikey's Dad just passed away, let's bring him in...He knows a lot."
I was 'recruited' as an honorary member, and by age 13 was chopping the top (myself) on a $15 '36 three window. Yes, I was 'honored' to run in such circles!
A year later, one older member 'gifted' me a deal, a nice '32 frame, '32 rear end with driveshaft, spring, and hydraulic brakes, and a '29 roadster back half. $15 for all. I built a channeled roadster out of it, '38 flathead, '36 box.
My fabulous friends were supportive all the way through.
One night (when I was fresh in the club) 'Boof' (owner of the black '32) said "We got us a little race out on Coleman Avenue, let's go." We hopped into the Highboy, I remember it had the large Stewart Warner gauges all across the Deuce dash. Boof said in a race they were easier to see...
I was about to find out. We lined up with a San Jose coupe, an orange '32, supposed to be really fast...I was scared, and excited...At 12, you don't get to sit in for a race...The starter had a flag, (white) Threw it down, Boof stabbed the gas spoon and I went deep into the brown leather seat, but then he speed-shifted, his knuckles hit the dash, were were moving rapidly...I could feel the torque, way more than anything I'd ever felt! Then high gear, another big torque suction...('Torqsion'?)
The '32 coupe was far behind, but I wasn't tall enough to really crane my neck up high enough to see!
The seat sat low, I felt like I was in a large tub, but I could tell Boof had "blew him off".
Wow. The drags were 'all of it', but THIS was...Oh, when I get my license...kind of a moment.
Revell had a 69 cent kit of a Hot Rod, it was small (1/32 scale) but it could be made into a Highboy just like Boof's.
I built one, painted it black, Boof was "Wow, Really??" when I gave it to him.
I finally got a chance to thank him, his brother was over, I dropped by to look at the wiring under the dash...
When I told him I'd rewire it for him, he was exhilarated. I said, "You couldn't repay me with a million dollars for the things you did for me."
That was in 1989, he passed sometime after. He had that car since late in 1951. It went through some changes, but was still the same '32.
Godspeed, 'Boof'.