If it weren’t for Hot Rods I’d never know…

I could get layed faster than the guy with the sports car .............

 

... the feeling of driving my roadster down a tree lined two-lane blacktop in the late afternoon with the open headers from the nailhead singin away.

... that the same afore mentioned pipes actually get drowned out from wind noise over 110 mph.

... that I just might be a complete looney for never being able to get an engineering obstacle out of my head until I come up with a solution.

... what it feel like the first time you drive a car that you (and a few close friends) built out of a bunch of parts you searched high and low for.

... that you can live on canned ravioli's and PB&J sandwiches cuz yer always savin up for the next part.

... that the first time I fire an engine, i just can't stop smiling.

... that very few women will put up with a hotrod obsession and the ones that will I tend to keep around for awhile. But the one that gets out there and helps is a keeper!

 

that when my inherited-from-Grandpa tool box was so full of tools I had to reshuffle them several times just to close the drawers, so after I pegboarded an entire wall in the garage and hung wall to wall tools on it out of the box and it would still be just as full!?!

My garage first aid kit would consist of a can of "wound-cleaning" acetone, a roll of paper towels and masking tape.

That the dirtiest chassis grease ground in a busted knuckle would (so far) never cause an infection,
and acetone seems to make small cuts heal almost over night.

(from reading the molecular description on one at a pharmacy I learned that Cortizone/Steroids are commonly in an acetone solution)

 

I would never know the feeling of taking a finished car on its maiden voyage that never leaves as I slide into the seat.
That feeling after helping friends with projects.
Its like you too have a personal attachment to that piece of history.
That it takes a car to come off a assembly line, being sold to some family and stored or used from day one to have soul.
That bringing a car from the depths of rust and pieces is alot more rewarding than buying a finished rod, regardless of how traditional and perfect it is. That its all about the journey.
After getting to the destination....its time to start over.
We are a sick group and need counciling.

 

AMEN! my favorite post as well.
and cars really do have souls.........

 

It takes experience for a car to have a soul.
Some cars want to live and building them is easy.
Some cars just want to rest, and make everything hard.

Finding a girl who will put up with me, and work on cars is nearly impossible. Nearly.

 

that owning a hot rod will help you keep your tetanus shots up to date.

 

if it wasnt for hot rods i would have never found out that a small block chevy intake will bolt on backwards... (dont work on hotrods when you been drinkin jagermeister)

 

the joy of having a dream - vision ad following through.
I haven't finished the 54 yet but when I do the shouts of joy will be heard.

 

speaking of the A.D.D., my wife makes me take this crappy natural pill to slow me down a bit. yeah, i'm 27 and full of piss and vinegar.

what makes americans americans, is old cars and guns i figure.

dad beat shooting into me at an early age. give me a rifle and a target, i'll take it out.

dad don't like my "old pieces of crap" he calls them. my 1958 apache and my '57 lincoln landau premiere.

i drive the apache, the '57 i'm working on, really, i am working on it.

i buried my 17 year old lab last summer, my 6 year old rottweiler is now my garage buddy. i put a futon mattress and bed frame in my garage for us both when we get tired.

i collect valve covers and mount them on the wall.

i have oil cans with oil still in them. my garge is a mess, not enough room. but it's mine.

if it weren't for hot rods, i don't know either. it's been a family thing.
aunt/mom has a 1970 corvette in the garage.

my first car was a 1957 chevy coupe 150, it was a rat rod. gave it to my uncle after his brother died, it was his brother's car. i got the car for my 19th b-day from aunt/mom.

it's a way of life.

"we can skin a buck and run a trout line. . . .

a country boy can survive."

"WHEN THE SHIT HITS THE FAN, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME AND MY M1 GARAND"

 

A car can draw several people together and yet drive the same group apart just because of varied opinions.
Cars can quickly overtake our lives if not kept in check.
You never build a car right no matter how perfect.

 

If it weren’t for Hot Rods I’d never know…
How far off topic noobies can get!

 

In a cold garage how much your old flannel shirt can burn, when welding, before you even know your on fire.

 

.... that the wrench you just dropped after getting into a stupid postion to tighten something means getting out , getting under and reaching to get it back
....that the parts you have been saving forever just knowing that they will be needed someday, but got tired of stumbling over will be damn near impossible to find again
....and that the parts you look for months to find because someone said that they will solve a problem are either to far gone when you find them or they don't cure the problem at all or the price is completely unreal

 

Just how generous, how helpful some folks are!

Four young guys, Model A and T, 1500 miles from home, with broken hitch. A welding rep. opens his garage, so he can weld up a bracket on the T, on a Sunday night. August 1973, somewhere outside of Indianapolis, he refused any money and wished us well.

 

How many times I have to bust the same knuckle before it looses all feeling!
How many walls I can ricoche a wrench off of!
What brake fluid tastes like! (similar to the parts store coffee, makes you wonder)
How long I can let the red hot BB roll around in my chest hairs before I have to quit welding while lying on my back under the Rod.
What burning sweaty chest hairs smell like!
What a rush it is to finally drive something that you thought was going to kill you! Now thats Success!

 

that i always stop at news stand to look at cars books when o lady is in walmart

 

That you can get a decent tan from weldin'! Chicks dig overweight guys, as long as they have tan arms.

 

Antifreeze tastes good.

I will never know enough.

 

...No matter how insignificant the piece I throw away today may seem, it will be the exact piece I need tomorrow.
...That battery acid and antifreeze are actually quite tasty.
...That no matter how many times I measure something and I am certain I have it where I want it, it manages to move right after I have welded it in place.
...That no matter how many times I've read them, I can never bring myself to parting with any old car magazine.
...That I learned the most about old cars as a kid reading Cartoons. Greatest comic book ever period
...That the cartoons in Cartoons looked awfully similar to the ones in Playboy.

THANKS TROSLEY!

 

Just how bad transmission fluid tastes,
Why you would ever need 6 toolboxes,
I would have to quit a job because I "ran out of swear words,"
How to wring every minute out of a day to try and find time to work on a old truck,
How easy it can be to find someone willing to help out when you need it,
How you can spend twice as much money to build it than buy it, and not want it any other way,
Buying a car doesn't make you a hotrodder, it usually means you own someone else's hotrod!
How proud I can be about making a bracket that no one will ever see,
CHAZ

 

That I could be down to my last $20, no job and nowhere to live, and still not give up the Hot Rod dream, almost get a plane ticket from the folks and give up altogether...and still, more than 15 years later, not know if I have `character` or a special kind of mental illness...

 

That my deaf buddy will still scream like a little girl when you catch a little air.

 

Some of the smartest, friendliest, and all around best people I've ever met.

 

1.The reason I have over $10,000 in tools, three tool boxes, and I'm only 22.
2.What it is like outside of prison. That's where I'd probably be as hot rods are more or less my one and only addiction.
3.What it's like to be broke, have bills to pay and still come up with money somehow to buy parts and tools.
4.What 140 MPH feels like.
5.The meaning of Respect, it's amazing what cars can do to bring people together, nothing else in the world like it.
6.The feeling after being up 2 days straight wrenching and fabricating just to finish one part up that crossed my mind.

 

How it feels to drive something I MYSELF BUILT and that people of ALL types respect that...

 

That I don't put much Faith/Trust in the hotrod shops or the duffess salesman behind the counter. Never pay for large items ahead of time and don't hold out faith that the Shop Owner will help you get your money back, or help you get the right part or supply you with the part at all even after you've paid them. $$$$

 

-


that you have to sleep in your car to fully appreciate it.

 

That as long as I own at least one old car, i never have to fully grow up.

 

The people you meet building hot rods are just as important as the car itself.