Hot Rods Do you remember driving your hot rod or custom the first time?

hee hee hee hee hee hee...

 

1939 Ford. First drive down the block which ended at a creek. Forgot I had disconnected the brake lines from the master. Hit the brakes and about shit my pants. Was able to slow enough to turn into the last driveway before the creek. Garage at rear of drive and not an attached one. Stopped just before the door. Of course, I was sitting on a milk carton.

 

That one turned out better than I feared. HRP

 

Hell, I remember riding in it when I couldn't see over the dash! It originally belonged to a good friend of my fathers and I rode in it as a child.

 

I remember driving Danny's falcon sprint for the first time, I blew the doors off a 1955 chevy that a smart mouthed girl that kept telling everyone that would listen how fast her boyfriend car was.

Danny's little falcon had a 260 ci engine & a 4 speed, his mentor Gene Cromer had done some engine work to improve the cars performance.

 

Always like this avatar.

 

Thank you.

 

Danny's one lucky old fart.

 

My first ride in my 51 Dodge truck was different than any thing I ever drove. I didn't know what to expect with a hard shift kit, 450 horsepower and 4:56 gears. I learned how to pedal it so I didn't spin the tires on the first shift. Lots of fun!

 

I got this one from the Ford store in San Diego Ca. Started the flathead sounded ok so I decided I'd drive it home, got about 50 miles and it started to miss etc. so I had my friend Frank tow it with my tow bar the rest of the way to L.A. . It didn't look like this it was all beat up with ripped fenders and grey primer. Great first drive.


It looked like this only grey primer

 

The first drive lasted til second gear, then the tranny gave up. The guy who built it had mixed things up so it kept building up pressure all the time until the clutch exploded at shiftning to second. I had to reverse back.

 

"Way back story time "
First ride,well not really,a pre ride maybe?;
It's rainning an I'm bore,so will write !
The car I don't count !,cuz Dad desided he had to have it* 1957.
When your young [ 15 yo},your Mom or Dad has to sign for it,to buy a car in Florida.
I was turned down on a lot of cars I found in my price range I liked a lot. The one he said yes on; A used 1949 Crosley Hot Shot,I'm pretty sure he agreed to buy it,partly cuz it was in bad shape n cheep and not likely I could make it run right ,any time soon. I'm guessing he thought it would stop me from asking so much about getting a car,just as a driver with my $75 savings. I was already collecting parts,in weed patch out back for my dream hotrod build,so when I get enough parts too actually put something together later.
Dad helps drag the Hot Shot home. Then goes off for a week of work off shore in Cat Cay-Bahamas.
The next week when he got back,I already had the little mess cleaned up a good bit,an now it ran on all 4 cly,brakes working as well. Still ugly rusty n bad seats,but I did drive it around our house in the grass.
Dad ask how I was doing on that pee popper ?
When I told him,he said he was surprised it ran. He then drove it around the house in the grass,again an again,faster n faster with a bigger n bigger smile as he went !!!> tell he had made rutts in the grass{ If I had ripped up the grass like that,it would of been my ass}.
Next day after him a his buddy did some talking,I'm told how it going too be fun building a SCCA H-mod sportscar racer with the Hot Shot !!!= Nope not going to be my car !
Took me tell 1959 too get my dream hotrod running,an drove it around the house one lap,fixed a few bugs an then around the block<That's the one I count !!!.
The real good part of story,is Dad did let me keep as much crap as I wanted in the weeds out back an build my rod.<
By early 1960 he did,with Mom;s input,go looking with me for a old beater car I could fix up as a daily driver for high school( with what he said was my $75). That's right,he did not think my hot rod to be a drive daily.
Again same game,every thing I liked was a NO, !!
Funny it turns out>>,
I saw when looking at others beaters,on a 36st. used car lot,in the very back row was a 1936 Cord 810 with flat tires n seat there was a Tiger fight in,when I asked,salesman said the engine runs,but tranny dose not shift at all. Very dual n a bit rusty paint with $100 as is sign in window. < I loved it*****,had gone over looking it over real close!!
Dad chatch's up, said " No way'forget that old thing! "It's a Orphan you can get parts for that"
The very next day,Dad buys me a old Henry J with a busted tranny,has it towed to the house!!= Yup it's Orphan,but he liked it !! Yes; I knew better then to point the Orphan thing out !!!
After I put a junkyard tranny in the "J"she ran OK,and Dad was again off shore for a few weeks helping to build another Hotel in the Bahamas.
By the time he got back,I had cut the top off the "J" an was doing custom work on it{ And using the J's auto tag on my hotrod,Oppssss, shissss.!
His only comment at first site,was"Well didn't take you long to mess up that "J".
Later in 60,I had my full custom "J" finished enough to win a trophy @ Dinner Key car show.

 

I bought my 1st car when I was 13... $20.00 hard earned dollars and my Dad drove it home & parked it in the driveway off to the side. "You can work on it and drive up & down the (150') driveway... no farther!"
So I tuned it & changed the oil. Then Mom & Dad went out for the evening. Now's my chance! I fired it up, let it warm and backed out onto the street, butterflies a buzzin' in my belly. I pushed the "D" button and off I went into the neighborhood. What a rush! Total freedom behind the helm of a 1959 Plymouth Fury convertible... even better than I'd imagined!! After a half hour or so I headed home and as I pulled into the driveway... yup! There was Dad's car in the driveway!

 

The first day I picked up the shoebox I got there and dude had the hood popped. He showed me his shop real quick and a few other cars he was working on, so I was absolutely comfortable with his work. I handed him an envelope with the cash and he said "don't you even wanna crawl under and have a look?" I said "do I need to?" and he just shook his head no. So I took off thru the countryside of MI with lakes blaring. Stopped for gas on the way in a little one horse town, felt like I was back in the 50s at the little mom n pop gas station. Filled up and cruised home. Took about two hours, and when I pulled in you couldn't have wiped the smile off my face with a shit soaked rag. That's before dad died, so went and picked him up, and we just drove around all day, stopping here and there for a beer or bite to eat. Damn good day.

 

At this particular stage in the game…. I had “driven” the bare frame in and out of the shop. No steering at all, but had brakes. And a milk crate. In the pic shown, I was itching and very anxious to take a spin. Mind you, me and the car have a long family history. Throttle was a cable through the firewall/ dash. Hell, it worked! Good enough for a spin around the block.

 

Dear goodness Jacksmith, I absolutely love that car.

 

I remember my first outing with my 32 back about 1977 or so. I had recently moved so it wasn't completely finished. I had put a 289/C4 in it and wanted to drive it to a car show about 30 miles away. I took off with me and three small kids packed into a 32 Ford five window, you can imagine how stuffed we were. About 10 or 15 miles down the road the original unpressurized radiator I was still using started spewing steam. I was a young ignorant first time builder so I just kept going. Just add water, right? It was a pretty easy trip on one highway so no real problems. Except I forgot to adjust the 40 Ford front brakes so if I tried to brake while turning it pulled badly. Had no shocks on the rear yet so it rode like a buckboard. But it was fun. I learned what all I needed to re-do. That was the first old car I ever drove even though it was kinda ratty.

 

April 15 2002 , The T had never seen the outdoors , drove it in short , bits , stopping , checking ,listening , next day the wife & I " drove around" about 150 miles ,permanent grin since every time I get in it , for 50k miles ...so far

 

The first time as an "enthusiast vehicle" was when we pulled out of the driveway in 1973 to head from McGregor, Tx to Tulsa for the 73 NSRA street rod nationals. That was painted and upholstered but actually a long way from actually being finished.
I had thrashed on it three months while driving what I bought as a 75.00 beater work truck to work every day after getting up in the morning and working on the body or another part.

That first trip wasn't without some issues, My buddy who painted it took the shiny chrome cap off the filler neck and didn't cover the filler neck and got paint in the tank that worked it's way to the carb somewhere around Fort Worth. The coil crapped out crossing the Red River from Texas to Oklahoma and Bob Davis who now lives in the Houston area but was an instructor at TSTI came along in his F100 and rescued me with a spare coil. Then just before I got to Marietta OK the yoke welded it's self to the tail shaft of the trans due to it not being the best yoke and I had a good yoke in the tool bag. Bought the tail shaft out of another transmission in a little wrecking yard in Mariettia and Bob and I swapped tail shafts, went back to the gas station where the truck was and put the trans back in with new yoke on the drive shaft and away we went. Ended up spending the night at the Will Rogers hotel in Claremore because the Holiday inn at Tulsa had canceled our reservation and the next day we got a motel room on the old motel row in Tulsa a few blocks from the gate to the fairgrounds.
A big highlight of the event for me was being in line for the barbecue with Tex Smith and some of his buds and listening to his stories for the very long time it took us to get around the building and inside.
The only problem we had the rest of the trip was that my wife got the bottoms of her feet sunburned by laying on the seat and using my leg as a pillow and sticking her bare feet out the window for the 400 mile trip south. She had a hard time walking for a couple of days after that.
Looking through some photos of the 73 Nats at Tulsa I found a shot of the 48 photobombing the car that was having it's photo taken. My 48 being the gold truck in the upper left hand corner of the photo.