I was 17 years old. My very first car. 1935 Ford. Already built with a later engine and column shift. Hydralic brakes. The body was like the day it left Dearborn. Someone from NJ driving through Mayville Wisconsin and the engine started to knock. He sold the car there to a local truck driver who tried to fix the knock. Not knocking too bad now. I purchased it for $175.00. Joined the Air Force 1954. Went to Great Lakes naval training center. Engineman school. I could go home every weekend. Had a few too many on one weekend and blew the engine. Pulled a 59A from one of our stock car racers. It was a strong engine with a Melling cam. Drove it to my new base just outside of Washington DC. Next assignment Japan/Korea. Came home 2 years later and my dad had put the engine in one of his dump trucks. I pulled an engine from a junk 50 Merc and drove it to my new base in MO. That engine was junk. Smoked like you would not believe!!! Sold the car to a guy from CA for $150.00. He knew what he was doing. I had my head up my ass.
My first old car, 1970, local farm sale, 39 Ford deluxe coupe with a nail head and stock trans and rear end. $250.00, and covered with stick on plastic daisies. I scraped off the daisies painted the car red added a buckskin interior with some True Spokes and I was styling. Drove that car for 2 years and if I remember I got 3000.00 to start my first deuce 2 door.
My 36 in 1970. Happy birthday to me. by Roothawg posted Jul 27, 2008 at 9:28 AM Still have it. Dad was a hot rodder. It was my 2nd Bday present.
In 1958 one of my uncles bought a '35 Ford from a neighbor for $35. He drove it for a week and decided to sell it. He called my Dad and said he'd sell to me for $17.50, I'd been cutting lawns all summer and had the money. I think my Dad added another $17.50 so the uncle got his $35 back I was 13 at the time and kept the old Ford at my Grandmothers home with a big shop in the back yard. A friend and I totally disassembled the 5W and put it back together. I sold it for $50. to a high school friend and never saw it again.
My first hot rod, 1976, Model A. Built with swap meet parts like split wishbones back when streetrodders were changing to four bars, etc.
Mine was an ironing board. Had some big high wheel push mower wheels in back and little push mower wheels in front. Man than joker would fly down hills.
Bought for $250. in 1965 as a non running project when I graduated High School. Got it together and running over the summer and drove it to college for 2 years. Then got a girlfriend (my wife now for 51 years) so sold it for $750. and bought a 65 Vette for $2500. in 67. Those were the days. Able to pay for college and drive around in a 2 year old Vette and graduate debt free.
I was 16 and it was the summer of 1964, I worked part time for my neighbor who owned a body shop. A guy came in with a beautiful black lacquer '54 Ford Mainline for sale. It was nosed and decked, front springs were heated, cracked windshield, not much left of the interior and it had a 239 ohv and 3 on the tree that puked oil out of the rear mains faster than you could pour it in! I gave him $20.00 for it. I bought a used 312 Y-Block from the local wrecking yard for $35.00, I also bought a '53 Ford Mainline that had no motor, no trans and no front clip. What it did have was a good windshield, good springs and a good tuck n roll interior, I gave $5.00 for it. Within a few weeks, I had a beautiful black lacquer '54 Ford with a beautiful black tuck n roll interior, a strong running 312 with 3 on the tree, a good windshield and good front springs minus a coil or two. Wish that I hadn't wrecked it!
My first car I bought when I was barely 15 from my older brother's friend, which is the '37 Chevy sedan in the first picture for $5 dollars. Painted it in the carport canary yellow with donated paint. Pulled the 6 cyl. out of it with a tripod in our front yard, and put in a 265" using the stock driveline. Got my license on my 16th birthday and drove it until I turned 17 when I bought my brother's '40 Chevy for $200. That was in 1963 in Phx. AZ. and have been hot rodding ever since!
Summer of '69 I was 17 years old. A $50 48 Chev Coupe body. A $125 running '57 Chev 4 door. A couple buddies and some beer I stole from dad...and 3 weekends later I was driving the '48 with a 283/3spd. My high school girlfriend modeling the finished product
23 T bucket. Used my Super Mod as the core, since the local track had finally caught me, and banned the car from competition. Rules stated that the frame had to be production car, and mine was tube framed with some cleverly bent sheet metal covering the main tubes to give the appearance of factory rails. Since I couldn't sell it, and I'd moved up to Sprints anyway, it was just sitting in the corner. One day I found myself bored, and pulled out the tape measure. Next thing I know, I got the torch lit, the grinder plugged in, and the start of the bucket. An MAS body, some wiring, lights, a cut down 32 grill shell and I was 'styling'. Center steered, in-n-out PG, Hillborn injected 13:1 alky burning SBC, with wide fives, asphalt tires and a QC . Bought a title at a swap meet, stamped the number off the title onto the frame and hit the street. It wasn't dependable or practical, but it was impressive with those injectors sucking that alky, and the headers providing the sounds and smells. Used to idle slowly through the local drive-ins just to see how many eyes I could get to water. Didn't get asked much for a race either, as I remember. Fun times....
Not a hot rod (that didn't come until 1966), but in 1961, my buddy and I built a race car so we could go to the drag races. It was crude, but it passed tech (which was where most of the expense was), and we had a lot of fun. Best time with a basically stock 221 ci flathead was 16.44 et. This was at Minnesota Dragways in 1961 (which was an NHRA certified strip), so I think it was an honest time. Considering what we had , I am still satisfied with it. (These pictures are of "test runs" around the neighborhood.)
I guess my first "hot rod" was this little 34 Ford roadster go kart, when I was 3-4 years old. He had a show truck at the time and painted the roadster to match his truck so I could show it with him at the shows he was going to. I was in charge of doing all the cleaning on it and if I didnt keep it clean it would be shown. Needless to say I kept is spotless as it was so much fun showing it in the indoor shows. Then I pretty laid claim to my 33 Ford pickup when I was a baby as well. The story told is I was only a couple months old and my grandparents visited in the truck and they sat me in seat. I took a little look around and promptly gave my grandpa a thumbs up and from that point it was mine, lol. I would always keep it dusted and cleaned for him when ever I visited and help with what I could as I grew up, learning about how things worked on the old Fords over the tri fives we also would have in the garage, but the 33 has been apart of my entire life.
My First - Just this month After sacrificing for family and retirement, etc. for forever, it was finally my turn. Our car love is all over the map and we've had some cool rides, but the oldest was a nice 63 260 white over red Ranchero. Been looking in damn near every corner of the web with a few helping locally for over three, likely four years. I had begun to give up hope. As you all know, finding a solid hot rod build without bleeding cash, is like no other car search. Needle in a hay stack the older you go and I had decided I definitely wanted a pre-war car. Weeks ago, in Craigslist of all places, a crappy photo of an unimpressive seeming matte black chopped 32 Tudor (which is what I had been targeting lately) begged a second look to make sure I was smart to write it off and continue looking. The next few photos absolutely convinced me this car was not something to pass up at least going to see. In the end it was all that and much more. A super solid build with lots of correct part picks and most important a beautifully done interior. This is a sedate, tastefully done build all around. Sort of wolf in sheep's clothing build with all the usual parts put together really nicely. All steel/crate 350 Ram Jet/700R4/9in/new SoCal Speed buggy spring frame/leather interior and a well done chop job (at least as much as I can tell with paint). Dragged my friends over to Vegas and drove it home to San Diego the long way round on a warm day. It was the most epic zen long days drive of my life, and the car never ever complained one lick. I feel so lucky to have found it. It's beautiful to me, and I am totally F'ing over the moon.
I guess the first hot rod I drove was my dad's 64 Oldsmobile Dynamic88 with a 394 4bbl in 1972. My first hot rod I owned in 1976 was an off topic dirt track car. I couldn't post pictures of it here, even if I had any. The 1st HAMB era hot rod I owned was a 35 Dodge 2 door sedan. That would have been 1991. There were lots of hot rods between the 1st dirt track car and the 35 Dodge. It took nearly 7 years to get the 35 to the point in the picture. Gene
First hot rod, 30 years ago, when i was 22. 1931 ford with a 364 nailhead and a muncie 4 speed. Built it from a body that my neighbor was using for a doghouse.
1954 ford customline. Spotted it walking to the fair with my parents. I was 14 yrs old so it mustve been 2002. Asking price was 3500, it had 88k original miles. i paid everything i had and dad made up the difference, 3 on the tree and o/d. I learned to drive in it, managed to install carpet before prom woohoo. Ran like a top, still sitting in the corner of our shop will likely sell it before long
My first hamb Era car is my shoebox. I owned 60s cars before that, and had 50s wood boats as my dad was a woody guy growing up, and had a beautiful 1954 Chris Craft Holiday he took to boat shows with mom. I ended up buying a house right across the bay from mom and dad and not long after that dad was diagnosed with Parkinson disease. Before long he couldn't get in and out of his boat, even with help, unless I had enough muscle to lift him in, which we did a few times. Anyway, I had been keeping my eye out for a 50s project for years, but when dad got sick I figured I'd better get something ready to drive. So I came upon the shoebox and bought it so dad and I could cruise some old stuff around still. He loved it, and he could get in and out by himself even with his walker. So the last few years of his life we did a whole lot of cruising. I drove him to hospice in it in the spring, and dad left us on 4th of July this summer. I took his Chris Craft out into the middle of the lake as soon as I heard, and just floated there for hours. Ended up buying that from mom, and still have it, many of you have seen it on here I think. Here's me n dad at our favorite spot to cruise to, Jerry's Pub, Egan hwy, Whamplers Lake MI.
My first HAMB friendly hot rod was/is the Chevy. Paid $800.00 in 1990. It was sitting a long time on a dirt driveway so it needed alot of rust repair. I learned how to weld sheet metal ( and how NOT to weld sheet metal) on that car. This picture circa 1975 before it was parked
In the mid 1950's,I was hunting for something,but not really enough $$ to buy anything running I liked,with the added prob. of Dad not wanting to sign* for the few I had just bearly enough $ saved to get ,or ones I though I could fix. <Did not meet his approval. So passed on a number of could of been COOL! I had my ideas formed of my own cool,hotrod an custom styling in my head pretty well. After all,I lived only a few blocks away from Dinner Key Auditorium,were many of the biggest car shows of the south east USA were held. I hunted junk free parts for a hotrod build from the time I was in 6th grade. Dad let me keep them in the weeds outback=my weed patch shop By 9th grade,I started putting together my first hotrod. Got it running by end of 1959 to have a cool car to drive to high school. I built a number of hot rods an customs after n some for others,but kept my first baby.* Still drive my first on nice weekends. 1928A bobtailed roadster powered by Ford Thunderbird "Y"
Every time a "my first hot rod" thread comes around, I kind of hedge around the issue. My first car is my 1947 Plymouth that is "sort of " in my avatar. I bought it back on January 1, 1971 so I've owned it for half a century now. In that time it has had engine swaps, top chopped, subframed, and subjected to all kinds of stupidity. It has sat neglected in the garage since about 1996 or thereabouts. While it is nicely finished in the avatar, that is just a painting I did back in 1988. Here is the real car. You can see it in this picture of the guys lifting the body off the T. It is that thing collecting dust in the garage. I really hope to get back to it before I'm dead.
My first was a 1957 Chev Belair 2dr. sdn. I bought it from my parents for $500 in 1968, with 67k miles on it. Proceeded to "ruin it" as my mother described what I did. My dad was more forgiving, and told mom, "It's his car now, and he can do whatever he wants to it."
The Jalopy Journal
