History I'm curious-How long you been at this??

I'm 43, been messing with cars since I was little. model cars, slot cars, stuff like that. Got my first real car at 18 - bought it myself- modified it, raced it, had it 8 years. Been an ASE Master since 1987.

Still working on cars.........................

 

I'm 26yrs old and have been going to Hershey for 27 years
figure that one out!

grew up with race cars in the basement, going to and then working at a dirt track, built bicycles, always through life I wanted a flathead ford....wasnt sure why..... then got real heavy into 30's-40's hot rods about 4 years ago

Zach

 

Seems like forever. I can't remember when I wasn't into cars. I have pictures of me when I was 2 years old playing in my grandfathers shop. He used to build and race midgets. When he passed away, I was 5, but his passions for all things motorized stayed with me. My dad, on the other hand, had zero interest in cars, and could never understand why I wanted to drive around in what he called junk on wheels. I'm 41 now, and the passion hasn't faded. If anything, it has gotten worse!

 

Another greybeard here...I'm 74 and have been doing the ONLY thing to do since I bought a new 46 Whizzer to throw my paper route on...Soon as I got my drivers license bought a 36 Ford 2dr humpback.($25.00)..next was a modle A coupe($25.00)
also..then found the almighty 32...Have had most all models of 32 since.in the late 50's got off into drag racing and was with Bobby Langley and the famous Scorpions
Still attend the CHHR and Bowling Green with The Scorpion cars..Made my living in the
"Hot Rod Industry"from a speed shop to finally a Manuf.Rep where I Got to know many of the pioneers on a personal basis...I retired in 1982 and have spent the remaining
days building 32 Fords...Still at it today..This is a wonderful hobby with lots of wonderful people in it.....I count my blessings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm rapidly approaching 64 years of age and have been 'interested' since I was 13 or so. Started with hot rod models until Dad brought home the full scale Model A Sedan.
Learned to drive on that machine in the back yard and can't get them out of my system. It's a horrible 'addiction' but such a neat hobby. You meet all kinds of people and hear all kinds of 'stories'. I'll never give it up!

 

I've been beating on 'em since '87. My dad got me into it when I was 15 (and he started turning a wrench back in '56). If I ever have a son I hope to pass the torch.

-Lee
Atomic Radio
www.atomicpinup.com

 

I'm 60, starting sweeping the floor of my Dad's small shop as soon as I could push a broom. I got just enough allowance to go to the jalopy races on Saturday nights. Raced a go kart on dirt ovals back in the midwest, the whole family came to Calif. in 1962 where I found all sorts of hot rod stuff to grab my attention. Drag raced through high school at the old San Fernando Dragstrip ('57 Ford). We used to drive to Lion's in Long Beach, take my Casler cheater slicks out of the trunk...race and then drive home.

I got drafted in 1966 but ducked into the Navy where I became a support equipment electrician just for the education but ended up in DaNang for a year.

After I got out of the service I got involved in circle track racing at Ascot (Gardena) then spent a few seasons at Saugus Raceway before a brief off-road racing (6 or 7 years) stint. I learned fabrication & suspension during the circle track days and honed my skills building off-road equipment. I've always worked in the automotive industry, mostly at dealerships. I don't think I ever owned a daily driver that was stock, unmolested.

My wife of 35 years has been by my side constantly and is a pretty fair builder/fabricator in her own right. One of my sons has a chopped, slammed shoebox Ford and a 1941 pickup....a regular chip off the old block.

 

Geez, People ask me this question all the time and I really don't know how I got addicted to cars. I'm 44 and from day one tore things apart to see how they worked, and put them together. Whenever someone asked my mom what to get me for my birthday or christmas, she would say "Just get him anything to do with cars". I had hot wheels and models etc. Never got into planes and such.

My mom and dad got divorced by time I was 5. I do remember going to fremont raceway where my dad would race his Metalflake green 55 ford truck. Was 312 powered and would beat most anything on the track. I know I have a pic of my dad and I standing next to tht truck. My step dad raised me and he was into f100's too, although he was a truck driver so he really didnt have much time to build them.

LOL, I had a 69 chevelle and was told dont mess with that car. I went for a ride on a buddies car that had a shift kit and had to have one. My dad said no were not messing up a good car. So I snuck to my best friends house and installed a shift kit. Never had a trans apart in my life. When i pulled the valve body and all the stuff fell out my friend looked at me and said "Were dead!" ROFL, I said no turning back now. I got it installed and we left the driveway chirping gears............Worked great and I loved it. Never told dad till years later what I did.

Oh by the way I was raised in Petaluma where american graffiti was filmed. I used to race on Frietas road(aka paradise road). I got caught once racing when the quarter mile laid out was right in front of the truck stop. My dad saw my green chevelle. Luckily I got out of that one because I said that must have been Cliff, Cliff had same exact car and green to, was just a tad different green, but my dad couldnt tell because he was color blind

 

I am 55 and caught the virus in 1959 at the tender age of 6, my older cousin John Trenton, put a wrench in my hand and had me hold it on a nut while he loosened the bolts on his header flanges. He was going drag racing that night at Shufflrtown Dragstrip(now closed). Been afflicted ever since that day. Bought a 55 Chevy at 16 and have never looked back. My mom tried to discourage me but it was to late. I am a life long gearhead and proud of it.

 

I am 24 and contracted the disease at 14 when I bought my 57 chevy bel air. But I showed symtoms way earlier than that... my parents should have quarantined me. Because of there negligence the disease is now full blown, I own a 57 chevy, 27 t, 27 dodge, 2 31 model a's, 41 lincoln zephyr coupe, and thats not counting the bikes. Oh well its too late for me. . . try and save yourselves

 

I'm 50 this year. I've always had old cars because I was poor and that was all I could afford. After college, I taught and made no money so the wife got the good car and I still had old cars. At 18, trashed my Harley into the front of a cop car and bought a 59 truck cause I needed transportation....and I had no money.

I learned how to work on cars because I'm too cheap (and didn't have the money) to pay a mechanic. I wanted to go fast because, well, boys want to go fast.

In the latter part of my life, I still have old cars because, well, I'm cheap and like old cars. At 50, I've never personally owned a new car, mostly junk, so for me, it's a way of life...I'm cheap and so are old cars...a match made in Heaven.

 

I went to that too! My first drag event. Won two tickets through the Revell Master Modeler's Club and my dad took me. Still have some crappy pics I took with my mom's 135 Kodak. Forgot all about that until I read that post!

 

I'm 59. My dad told me that when I was 3 years old I could name almost every car on the road. I started building model cars around the age of 7 and I bought my first car (a 1948 Ford Turtle Back TuDor Sedan) when I was 16. I got my love of convertibles form my dad, his first new car was a '47 Ford Convertible and he traded it in for a '49 Merc Convertible. Over the years he owned a bunch of cars, mostly convertibles and I have two of his cars in our collection, a '66 Lincoln Continental Convertible and a '68 Jag XKE Roadster. At the moment the other cars in our collection include a '39 Lincoln Zephyr Convertible Club Coupe, '39 Ford convertible Sedan, '47 Ford Convertible (like the one my dad had), '49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Convertible, ’51 Ford F-1 Pickup, ’53 Ford F-100 Panel Delivery, '53 Ford Crestline Sunliner Convertible, '55 Studebaker Speedster, '63 Studebaker Avanti. Yup, I love convertibles.

 

I'm 45, my dad was a hot rodder who joined the Airforce and ended up in computers when they were as big as refrigerators. He could fix absolutely anything manmade, he built our first stereo and TV. I remember him rebuilding carbs at the dinner table, and my mom being less than thrilled. I grew up riding on the hump of a 56 Corvette that Dad bought out of a junkyard for 1200.00, (on sargeants pay too). Sadly he was killed in that car when I was 6 years old, but the genes were already working on me. my mom to this day says I am a clone of my dad. By 13 I was "working" in my uncles junk yard, and by 14 I had a 66 Nova with mags on the back, that I used to sneak out and drive around the block every now and then. Now my 9 year old son knows most every car by sight, and loves to be in the shop, so I guess i'm a carrier of the desease too.

 

I'll catch 70 this year. Still have my club plaque from 1954 on my '34 Cabriolet.. I feel 16 when I'm on the road. Owned a speed shop (B&R Speed Supply) and did the drag racing thing in the sixtys.

 

I was exposed to it by my dad. That's me and my dad's Ford in 1960. Cars as a hobby (and the last 30 years as a living) have been part of my life for as long as I can remember also. My 24 and 28 year old sons have carried on the tradition....something I'm really proud of!

 

I am/will be 21 in a few days and started at 14 with my first car build, a 67 Bronco Roadster. I guess you can say it started when I was about 12 I snuck out my Dad 68 J code Fastback on the weekends when he was working shift work and autocrossed against my friends trucks at a pipe fab yard across town.

 

was "bit" around age 8 (models, magazines, slot cars), bought my 1st car (57 Chev at 14), and never took a break.
My story to the T... Still have some parts from that '57. I'm 46 and have a 2 garages and a Semi Trailer full of stuff and cars - guess I got it bad like lots of us on here...

 

I'm 41 now and got this from my dad. I can remember him taking me to car shows as a kid and I loved toy cars when I was little. I can remember taking apart walkmans and installing the electric motors in cheap toy K-Mart plastic trucks and press gears to the axles to motorize them.

We used to build our own "dirt bikes" (bicycles) in the back yard out of parts before you could buy BMX bikes and jump ramps we made from stolen sheets of plywood and blocks. We would line up whoever wasn't attempting the jump, have them lay on the ground and jump over them. Somehow, nobody ever got their ribs crushed in.

My first car was a family handmedown Fiat 128. I hated it at first but growing up in Asheville NC I got to love it racing on the winding roads in the mountains as it handled great. The car was old and broke alot so I learned how to fix it.

I owned about 50 cars, mostly Italian or German and used to race autocross. Messing with cars has pretty much always been part of my life. About two years ago I was surfing ebay looking at "other makes" and ran across a pickup that I couldn't get out of my mind. I'm working on getting the parts to build my own so this will really be the first hot rod I ever had (not counting a long string of chevy pickups). I'd call myself a newbie for hot rods I guess.

 

At 52 years old i can remember sitting on my Dads lap looking at a Hot Rod Magazine I must have been around 5 or 6, we would order stickers from all of the speed parts companys and stick them on our Farmall H. My Dad would work on the tractors and equipment around the farm and I would be by his side handing him wrenches and asking alot of questions on how stuff worked.
I am proud to say that I am a gearhead, but not to proud to still ask a lot of questions

 

Im 52 bought my first car at 14 62 Rambler for $100 put ahead gasket on it & sold it for $500 My dad was a mechanic he died when I was 11 but I had all his tools so I put them to use Mom saw profit off the first so she let me buy more Wish I still had some of them like the 55-56-57 chevys 2 65 impalas & my favorite 69 camaro since then I had to get real jobs turning wrenches got ASE certified got tired of working for THE MAN & started my own buisness 20 yr ago Now i make my own schedule & turn down what I dont want to do. The locating business is doing good dont have to do much work on them just take pics & get prices Larry Henry vintageozarks.com

 

I'm 56. My dad was in the car business, and I built about a trillion model cars when I was a kid, but it wasn't official until my dad's parts manager, Larry Mills, took me to Lions one Saturday evening. Saw Stone-Woods-Cook AA/GS match race Hugh Tucker's AA/SR. Never been the same since.

 

I am 31 and got into cars as soon as i was able to walk and carry tool's my dad's got the picture some were, he taught me how to strip down parts cars for his packards and when i got old enough i was playing with go carts and mopeds and motor cycles. got my unlces old 77 chevy pickup when i was 14 and by the time i was 16 built my own truck and had a lot of great memories in that thing.. went to ford school became a ford tech and now i work on ford diesel's my son who is 8 now helps me with my projects and it is great he also helps my dad out with his. its like a family tradition

 

I got started when I was 11 (1959 ) my brother and I started with models. never did build one stock. My brother and I and our freinds built our first car in 64. It was a 25 T roadster with a junkyard 265 SBC. We run the wheels off of for 2 yrs, then I moved to Montana, never saw the T again. I mostly build Mopar Powered stuff now, anything I can stuff a Hemi in. The wife tells me to grow up ,I tell her if I grow up the toys will get more exspenive and plentyful. I will be 60 in the fall

 

i started getting in to car two weeks ago and i love it

 

I'm 64, when I was 3 or 4 years old I wanted to go to the junk yard instead of the playground. There were roadster guys in the neighbor hood that used to tune and test their cars in the aley behind my grandmothers house, I had a ringside seat!
My parents did everything they could to disourage my passion for old cars, they didn't want me to grow up to be a "garage mechanic". I won the war after losing a few battles.

 

Been into cars since I was a kid. My pops was into cars and working on em. Now he enjoys seeing me work and build cars.

 

My first burn out was with a lawn mower

 

Went to the US Nationals in 1968 at the tender age of 8 1/2 and started tinkering with bicycles and stuff around then. Parents divorced a year and a half later so No father around and no money to buy things and learn. Started messin' with cars @ 16, Drag Racing @ 18, and been at it ever since. I'm 48 now........

 

I'm 50............
Since the beginning of time.
Started with matchbox cars or something before that and i can't remember.
It's a life time, life style and always will be.