Motion Pictures My first Hot Rod

Awesome! But you couldn't find a bigger radiator?!?!

 

Hey, that was cool. Great video.

 

best post ever!

 

No, that was the biggest I had !

 

Man, that was great! I literally laughed out loud when you put your foot up on the tire!!

 

Priceless footage!!

 

I love hearing stories like this!

 

Share a secret with you.
Don't tell anybody.
Sometimes, I like when the radiator is a little too tall.
Cars like yours are the reason why.

 

I shouldn't have cut off the bottom of the body, then it would have been a better match to the Cad radiator.

 

I see by your Avatar, you do like feet on tires !

 

It was a learning experience

 

Marty ,You are the Best.

 

That's so cool!

 

Man, that is so cool. You are super lucky to have some video footage of it.

 

Cool video Marty. Crazy how after all these years you still look the same. Thanks for sharing.

 

Steve, your kindness is appreciated !

 

Bet that lil sucker was a handful with that Caddy. So great!!!!

 

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing. I had a smile the whole time.

 

50 some years later and I bet still remember ever detail of building that car. And the things you learned to do and not to do, Priceless. Great video

 

Yeah Bill, I started collecting parts in 1963, 60 years ago ! And I do remember the parts, starting with the Model A frame, that I bought for 10 bucks. It came with front fenders, splash aprons and running boards, that I removed with a cutting torch, and they got hauled off for scrap ! We pulled the front suspension, out of a pretty decent 40 deluxe sedan delivery, that got scrapped as well. The rear axle was a 50 Olds, bolted to the top of the frame.

 

. . . we must be cousins.

 

I have seen this photo before and always wounder what the rear was, it looks like some kind of floater.

 

That great stuff, but I do have to ask was there a little know speed secret to having a stock manifold (or header?) on one bank and zoomies on the other?

 

Robert, I hadn't built the RH header at that time, and the rear was a stock 50 Olds bolted to the top of the frame. Those Olds axles are easy to spot, as they have a stylish X in the end. Note also reversed 15" Buick wheels on the rear, early Fairlane 13" wheels on the front.

 

I figured I was just razzing.

I see it now, I have seen the axels to they have a very swoopy, roundish X

 

Wow, so amazing that you have that footage! I am sure it helps keep the memory fresh in your mind.

I sure wish I had at least some pictures or movies of those times in my youth, I had many scenes that were very similar to that one, except the junk I worked on was reslly junk in comparison to what you had there! Although my cars are a lot nicer now than they were back then, I still sometimes wish I could go back to those simpler days of a stick welder, a hand drill, a hacksaw, a pile of scrap metal and a lot of sweat.

gotta get up to your place for a visit soon.

pete

 

Pete, and we need to get going on your stainless exhaust, and I can weld it with a stick rod, if you like ! BTW, you have my old Hemi looking good, see you soon.

 

I received an email from my friend of 9 years @Stan Back, telling me the story of his first Hot Rod. I met Jim, and also met my match at storytelling at Speedweek 2014. We had plenty of time as the track was flooded, but they hadn't called the race yet. I had just finished building a car for my pal Jim Lindsay, and we were in the motel parking lot getting ready to get it through Tech, and I struck up a conversation with Jim. I had heard a few stories about Jim from Pat Ganahl, had wanted to meet him. Well, Jim just got a new computer, and wasn't sure he could post this story and pictures, as I had asked him to. So please, if you like it, post the likes on his first post following soon.

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Story as told by @Stan Back

Ran across these old photos a couple of days ago. Fontana, about '61 or '62. Lots of memories. Holy shit -- that's over 60 years ago!

It started out as my first car in 1958 -- a 1931 Model A Pickup. He wanted $85 for it. I got him down to $50 (which I had in the bank). I went to the bank, I could only draw out $49 and keep the account open. My buddy Ed and I got all our soda bottles together and got 90 cents for the deposits. Sixty-five years later I still owe the guy 10 cents.

We towed it home with a rope. The engine ran, but there was something wrong in the drivetrain. I somehow figured out that it was the rear end. I had never, ever, worked on a car before, but I got it jacked up and took the rear end assembly out along with the torque tube. There was a wrecking yard about two miles away that had a few Model A's in it. It was over 100 degrees out, but I left the rear tires and wheels on it and pushed it (until it locked up and jabbed me in the stomach several times or alternately pulled it until threw me toward the ground) over to the yard. I took another rear end assembly outta a coupe and put my tires on it (and maybe swapped my tires for some better of them in the yard). I was pooped. I borrowed their phone and called my stepfather to rescue me. He came over and put me in the trunk of a Plymouth and I pulled it home with the trunk lid slamming me at dozens of intersections.

The truck was in a kaleidoscope of colors. I went down to a discount paint place and bought a gallon of red primer and a 4-inch brush (I'm not sure I washed it before painting it). My mother sewed up a snap-on white canvas roof cover. Got some Port -A-Walls, and installed a 2-foot gear lever extension (with an 18-inch supplement when the roof was open). Boy, is that the tits or what! With the extension on, you could shift from 2nd to 3rd by just putting the clutch in. Wow!! It was in our high school weekly hot rod and/or custom weekly feature in the last issue of the year. It was personally selected, photographed and written by the editor (me).

Took it out to the Colton Drags (at 16) and entered X Stock. Damned if there wasn't another Xer -- a Willys station wagon. Put his ass on the trailer with a 52 MPH run. But the trophy was for X Eliminator(!). Damn! I knew I was in trouble. There was a fast GoKart entered in X Dragster. We took off and he disappeared out in front of me. Wait -- he broke his chain! I was kind enough to put his racer in the bed of the truck and haul him back to the pits. Oh, the irony of it! I still have the 6-inch trophy!

I went off to college at 17 and found a Blair's Pasadena speed shop and bought a Cyclone head and a 2-pot intake for it. We'd cut off all the fenders, the splash aprons, the bed, the hood and the top of the cab of the pickup. Couldn't get it to start except one time we pushed it (couldn't figure out why the starter wouldn't do it) on nearby 30th Street when it ran for a block. It quit and I took the head off and noticed that No. 4 piston was not going up and down with the others. End of that project.

Couple of years later, kept the frame and front end to build the drag roadster. Lightened the axle, lightened the frame, used the A steering, bought a fiberglass T body, painted it with 4 spray cans (Scotty had it lettered for us) and used decal numbers. Picked up a 283" Chevy in Fontana {won a bar bet about putting the V-8 in my new 61 Monza (up front) and built the drag roadster. '39 Ford box, 2nd and high. Six 97s (they were $2) on a cross ram. My buddy Jim drove it -- I had the habit of waiting (courtesly) to see the other car leave.

Never kicked ass -- had a lot of fun. In those days we had a (legal) 180-degree scattershield with an aluminum transmission adapter. Blew the clutch one time at Fontana. It took out the trans adapter and the headers dropped down on the steering rod and turned the car left into the weeds. Hard to hold the engine up with the leverage of a 12-inch chrome steering wheel.

Anyway, that's what happened to my first car !

 

Awesome Marty ! you had me cracking up with the trunk lid smacking you on the way home

 

Lumpy, that is @Stan Back 's story, and he has plenty more.