What was the car you wish for that burnt its image in your brain ?

I always loved the sound of a short stroke sbc with a solid lifter camshaft and a 4-speed trans....

 

Monster garage 54 chevy, gonna build my own version of it soon, and Coles 36


Sent from my iPhone 5 using TJJ

 

The California Kid , 41 Willys in the movie Hot Rod

 

Late 1963, sitting in the dentist's waiting room, scared, bored, looking through the pile of womens' magazines for something vaguely interesting to take my mind off the upcoming torture session, and I come across this...

Car Craft October 1963. I'd never seen anything like it in my entire 15 year life!

The little blue T bucket in the yellow square was the one that won me, the magazine left the dentist surgery under my school jumper. I kept the page with the T on it for years until it fell to bits, and I've got a fresh copy of the magazine I bought of US Ebay sevberal years ago in my 'treasure' stash.

Cheers, Glen.

 

All I have is a picture of the front cover.... Thanks!!

 

1941 willys

 

My dad's 68 RS Z/28.
It's been around since before I was. What else can I say.

 

I had just started a family and was looking for a start on a hot rod. A friend of mine bought an old hot rod, 1932 Ford 3 window full fendered with built flathead. That to me was the perfect Holy Grail. A year or two later I bought a 5 window 32 old hot rod that used to have an Olds engine it it. Loved the coupe but it still wasn't a 3 window. If it were a 3 window I think I would have kept it.

 

63 Impala: neighbor had one - lowrider style. always been a dream to get one.

53-4 Belairs: Almost had one but I acted on it too slow.

But by far the one car I always wanted and got me into cars was my uncles '60 Stude. I am finally getting to work on it. Hope to get it running by next summer at the latest.
Check the Sig.

 

It was January of 1961. Three blocks from our house was a Masonic temple with a windowless block 2 car garage behind the main building. The property was on a corner, and the garage fronted the side street. I'd walked past it most of my 13 years and never seen the inside until that winter day one overhead door was open. Inside was a '36 Olds straight 8 sedan, with sidemounts, up on cinder blocks, and a '49 Pontiac 4dr straight 8. The Olds wore '47 Ohio plates, and the Pontiac '56 plates. I had to have that Olds - it was the most impressive car I'd ever seen. The police station was across the street, so I went over and asked about the car's owner. The owner lived right up the street, so I knocked on his door and asked if was for sale. He said he'd let it go for $300.00. That was a lot of money, and my parents wouldn't even talk to me about it. I did become friends with the owner, and he let me visit the car anytime I wanted (he actually left the rear pedestrian door open for me). We moved 2 years later but I never forgot that Olds. When I was discharged in '68, I went to try and find the car, but the garage was gone, the car was gone, and the owner had died. Sixty years later, every detail of that old car is still so clear in my mind. I've never thought about buying one - I'm afraid the reality would ruin the memory.

 

52 Hudson!

 

stone woods and cook

 

Easy, the California Kid has always been my dream car.

Still cool to this day!
Cheers!
Mickm

 

What a great thread!

My dream car isn't exactly HAMB friendly, but it's this:



I turned 16 in 1969. I lusted after a big block Nova but like most kids, couldn't afford one. Over the years, I burned through a couple of third gen Novas and eventually sold them. I regretted selling each and every one of them. And they truly haunted me. So a year and a half ago I tracked down a really low mileage little old lady car and I've been slowly building it, in more or less the pattern of the car shown above. Mine won't have chrome window trim and mine's a radio delete, but everything else should be pretty close, although I'll likely use ET five spokes instead of Americans.

Currently, my car is in bare metal (the old girl who owned the car used the right side to guide her into the little one car garage by her house...L-O-L). The left side is flawless. The right side needed a quarter, a fender and a door. One of my pals is a brilliant body man and he's in the final stages of metal finishing the car.

I'm slowly picking away at it as my meager finances will allow. Its getting a big block of some sort, an iron case Super T10 and a Dana 60.

Sorry for the not-so-HAMB-friendly content. But I dig it. And at my station in life, I'm pretty sure that's all that matters.

Thanks guys.

'Beard

 

I was thrilled to see the build done recently.
Got me going and am now starting to collect parts.
Funny thing, I already had the hemi and was trying to figure out which of my current cars I could put it in.
Got a body & frame from Ravon.

 

As a kid on the bus home from school, there was always a 1972 Mach 1 Mustang in a body shop in the village where I lived. It was dark green with silver highlights and "Mach 1" down the side. It was ALWAYS up on a lift, and I never saw it driving. It was a rare site in Liverpool in the mid 70's!

 

saw a willys coupe do an exibition run in about 76. smokin the hides and liftin the front. Instant sickness!!!!
I have found a way to make my lifetime dream come true on a shoestring budget here in the poverty belt. That and a little Fate. 22 years of scratching for the cheapest parts and spending hundreds of hours trying to make something out of it.
Just started driving it on the street this year.(Legally) and made my first pass with a 1.94 60 ft and a 8.47 et @ 90 mph in the 1/8. I Was shakin like a dog shittin peach seeds! whoooo Baby!!!! What does that calculate to in 1/4 mi? and who has the best deal on Depends ? LOL!!

 

The '57 Chevy Tony Danza drove in Hollywood Knights. LOVED THAT CAR.

heh, its prolly the reason my neighbor hasnt sold me either one of his 57 Chevies in the 30 odd years he's had them rotting on the street/in the driveway...

 

twolane blacktop 55 chevy.bigblock 4 speed ?whats not to like?

 

that nova is my second place ,my best freind had one with a 12:1 327 ,muncie 4spd,with 4:11 gears.first time i rode in it and he powershifted it at 6800 i was in heaven.

 

For me it was the 49 Mercruy from Rebel Without A Cause and the Merc from Cobra.

 

hands down its a 55 chevy.its on top of my wish list.

 

No question for me. Kookie's T!!!

 

When i think of a hot rod that i wish i could own, its the Frank Mack roadster

 

It may seem hokey by todays standards, but when I was just a wee lad in the early 70's and this car was on the show circuit, I thought it was the greatest car I had ever seen. My dad had to pull me away from it at the yearly indoor show. It left such an impression on me that I own a chopped 51 Mercury today, some 40 years later, as a result. Even though today there are kustom Mercs that I like much better, I'll always have a soft spot for this one. (yes I know Don Garlits owns it now and it's been repainted in different colors)


And then there was this. My favorite version was with the steel wheels but without the sidepipes. These are the cars that burnt a lasting impression on me when I was a youngster.

 

32 chopped sedan,"Orange Crate" Nothing sweeter.

 

It's funny but you can tell the ages of the posters on this thread pretty easy by the cars - at least in many cases.
This one just burned into my head 1965 and Skip Hess' Anglia just blew my mind. It's the reason I own my Anglia today


For customs, no questions that the greatest Merc of all time had a big impact. Lake Arrowhead California used to have a really cool arcade. I would play Skee Ball for hours to win tickets that would be traded for prizes ~ in my case "hero" cards of Rods & Customs and this is the one I cherished - this would have been around 1962


As for HOT RODS, there have been many - Phil Cool's, Tom McMullen's, and Gary Kessler's all come to mind, but the First one that did the trick on my brain had to be this one - Doane Spencer's 32

 

I've two, both OT:

66 Toronado
70 Firebird TA

 

Exactly HotrodDon, the selection of cars really does show the age of the poster. Had I been a little older, the same cars you posted probably would have been something I would have chosen as cars that made an impression on me as a youngster, as those cars are among my favorites today. At the time, as a kid, I was unaware of many of the earlier cars that I now know of and appreciate.