Best car related experience

I was just thumbing through a magazine and they had a page with fellas best car related experience. I had to think about it for a minute. How many of us are there? bet there are a lot of good car related experiences on here.

I'll start with an abbreviated version of the best for me: was about 4 or 5 years old, I woke up on a creeper in the Ol man's shop after his buddies and him spent the night overhauling the nail head in his roadster so we could make a trip North to Oregon. I was wrapped up in Sonny's motor cycle jacket. Uncle Sig hollered, "hey the kid is awake!!!" then he shoved a cup of coffee and a donut at me. The Ol Man lit the nail off and let it sing while the new cam broke in.

What is yours?

 

Thats just plain awsome.

 

Rough time in my life but friends and family showed me light in the midst of the times.....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=499192

 

I'd say finishing my '37 Terraplane was my best experience, as far as HAMB-friendly cars go. Itr was bought as a painted shell with engine and trans installed, and I finished the car out (with help). It was very satisfying to see it complete, running and fiinished.

 

Just being able to spend some quality time with my father and brother at various car shows this last summer.I wasnt able to get my pile of parts roadworthy but it didnt matter as they both had something to drive.It was a good way to get away from everyday problems and just do something we all have alot of interest in.

 

James
That is a pretty good story, or maybe a pretty bad story depends on the total outcome of it I guess.

Hard to believe that more prople here on the HAMB don't have memorable car experiences. Hell they don't have to be anything special to anyone but the poster, it aint a competition.

 

O/T I know, but the first time we pushed this thing off and heard it run.
I still get a cheap thrill every time my driver hits the mag switch and the car pulls away from the front bumper and disappears around the track; and I can say "Yeah, I built that...".

 

one of my best is really kinda boring to most but here goes.this past sept. my whole family went to the redneck rumble in tn. we live about 3/4 hrs away in al. when we first got there i remembered i forgot to get a awning for much needed shade. im not in the best of health and the sun and heat kills me. well i guy and his family that i had met just a few weeks prior to the rumble brought theirs down to wear we were parked and started to set it up but decided we should move to where they were.spent the whole weekend with them and it was great.to top that off a friend ive not seen in almost 26 yrs came to see me while i was in tn. we last had seen each other when he lived in chicago and we moved up there for awhile. we had been friends since grade school up north.didnt know he had moved to within 5 miles of the rumble until i saw him on facebook and messaged him.we decided to meet up at the rumble.he was there both days so that was great.he hungout with all of us.but the best part was the ride home in the 62 galaxie. my wife and i hadnt had any time alone out on the road in a long while. we just talked some and got quite and enjoyed the road and the car.she sat next to me and id hold her hand or have my arm around her.god i love that old girl. of course being in my old car sure helped the mood.lol

 

Certainly not OT for the thread my friend.

 

I have several, but thats just because I'm old. One of the best was parking the flathead roadster under the big sign at the casino in Wendover during Speedweek. I got out, walked away to checkout the other cars. When I came back, there was a new Ford GT40 parked in front of my roadster, and nobody looking at it. There was a group two deep looking at the roadster. I thought "score one for home built cars, none for the 150,000 dollar special".

 

I was 16....maybe 17..Driving home in the rain when I spotted a broken down Rambler with 6 cheerleaders inside........................

 

The one with the best longest lasting "results" was when I went to the 1981 AHRA winternationals, I drove my truck there, and raced. This was in Tucson, where I lived for 20 years. My brother wanted to come out and watch me race Sunday, but I had the truck so he didn't have a ride. He talked his girlfriend's roommate Janet into giving them a ride, it's at least 10 miles to the old dragstrip from the university. I ended up marrying Janet....we have 3 great sons, etc.

 

Funny this comes up today.....

My Dad's been gone 3 yrs. and today would be his 82nd BD. Forty years ago next month, I stood outside Dad's Texaco Station in Northern VT gassing up my first car.

2 summers of 7a to 6p pumping gas and being the errand boy paid of in a 63 Falcon s/w with a rebuilt engine, new paint and tires, and reg/ins for a year!

The special part was as He handed me the keys, put his arm around my shoulder, and said...." You did a pretty good job helping,Kid! I'm damn proud of you."

Thanks for starting this, PB.......makes the day easier!

Marty

 

Lost my virginity in the front seat of a 57 chevy, wow to be young again.

 

I took my son to the rod run in Huntsville TX in my T roadster. He was 4 or 5 at the time and always rode in the roadster hollering "Faster, Daddy, Faster". We left quite early in the morning in order to get to the park for business. He enjoyed the day so much and was exhausted when we finished packing the swap meet trailer and headed for home. About half way home it started drizzling rain. He was bundled up in my foul weather jacket and started laughing when it began raining. In about 10 minutes he turned to me and said he was sleepy so he unbuckled his seatbelt and curled up on the floor and was quickly asleep. When we pulled into the driveway and I shut the engine down, he awoke and wondered why we were stopping because he wanted to go "faster, Daddy, faster".

 

Its 1968 summer time , iam eight years old feel a sleep on the way to the races at kcir in the back of a 1963 impala wagon. the old man left me to sleep, i woke up no dad in sight , walked thru the gate like i owned it, lady selling the tickets says where are you going? to get my dad. sat in the stands most of the day alone it was funny when he found me, got a shirt, coke,candy and a threat not to tell my mother, EVER DAD always looked at me diffrent after that. track had there last day11/27 /11 GONE BUT NOT FORGOT.

 

At Fontana Dragstrip in the mid 60's with a good friend. we had flat towed his funnycar from Pasadena. at the end of each run I took his tow car to the finish line pulled him back to the pits. one run going to the end of the strip another buddy of my friend wanted to ride. going thru the pits he threw a Budweiswer bottle out of the window. the Officials demanded that I. being the driver was responsible had to leave. I was prepared to hitch hike home. My good friend insisted that I take his tow car and just come back about 9 that evening and pick him and the race car up.

The tow car was the now semi famous "Bob Porter/ Doyle Gammel" 32 Ford 3 window coupe. the race car was Mickie Thompsons A/FX Pontiac Tempest that Bob converted to an altered wheel base straight axle car with a 389 Pontiac stroker motor 422 ci. Bob always called it a 422, not to be mistaken for Thompsons 421 factory motor

So I was forced to take this 427 L-88 powered, 4 speed, 32 3 window coupe up and down route 66. Stopping at every tavern to be found for 10 hours. it was a day the could never duplicated. Even though the current restoration is kind of mix between Gammel and Porter. there is nothing you can do to hurt such a great Rod


I hear Chris Shelton has an article on the dark side of the Bob Porter coupe in the new issue of SRP.
Jim Arnold

 

1.
I was about 10. My old man told me to take the pit bike and meet him on the return road after his next pass on the drag strip. I was usually in the pit or in the stands, so this was odd.

He made his pass and motioned for me to get in. It was a '78 Malibu wagon with a 468, spool, glide, etc. I thought he was going to just let me ride back with him. He smiles and does a full launch, stops, and tells me to ride the bike back. I was still planted in the seat.

I'll never forget my first launch in a 10 second car.

2.
1992. My first solo in my first car. It was a very low mileage, original, '63 Chevy II. Pretty simple, but I remember stopping at the cross-roads at the end of our street and thinking, man, I can go anywhere I want!!

Freeeedoommm!

 

One of my older brothers was into cars like me but being older could actually do something about it. He and his buddies didn't run me off when I'd hang around (long as I refrained from asking very many questions. One nite, after a long afternoon spent on a car with me hang'n round, it was time for the guys to go running around. Imagine my surprise when my bro told me I could go! Two high school guys and me, still in elementary, keeping my mouth shut and taking it all in. They smoked their cigarettes, had a couple beers, went by to say "Hi" to their best girls, Even got a "who's cute little brother?"

Thanks PB!

 

Porknbeaner..classic!
I'm sure alot of us on this board have memories of holding the flashing or fetching the left handed cresent wrench...Not sure I have one memory, but lots of cruising with my uncles listening to tunes...and greasy little hands!

 

Cutting cars up and building engines with my dad are some of my best car related experiences. Grew up in the shop.

 

I have two. One is just plain good ol time and the other is THAT feeling and you get the itch for more...you deside which one is which.


1. I was driving a midget car for Johnny Murdock, the first time I went around the track with a real hard hitin pontiac with that direct drive, just...holy shit.


2. I was under my wagon rebuilding the front end at 11 at night in the driveway so I could get to work the next day. Guess my girlfriend at the time though it was a nice sight, she joined in under the car with me. I broke in the underside of my car before the back seat.

 

Ditto - losing my virginity to a Russian photo model on the front seat of my Morris, parked up on the beach.

 

Rebuilding the Peter Beater with my daughter and wife....

 

Well it's hard to Top Jim's story of meeting his wife.

One of my all time favorite car experiences that I can actually tell about without having someone gunning for me is of the road trip to Chula Vista from Toppenish Wa in summer 1962. We had just moved back to Toppenish, from Bainbridge Island and my sister and I had just gotten back from Longbeach Wa with our grandparents when dad picked us up in his jet black lowered to the ground 57 Olds four door hardtop running a J-2 tri-power for a trip to Southern California.
We made a lot of miles and dad claimed to his last day that every time we stopped for gas I jumped out and ran around front of the car to see the look on the gas attendant's face when he opened the hood of the car to check the oil.
We hit Disneyland and some other hot spots, there is a photo of us kids with the car going though the Redwood tree that you can drive through (have to find that one hope my soon to be ex brotherinlaw didn't throw it out.)
After a few days at my aunt's house in Chula Vista we headed back and came back though the desert up to Reno and across to weed and then back up 97. Some guy at a gas station out in the Mohave desert threw a fit and wanted to trade my dad out of the tri power setup then and there but we kept it and came on home.
That was the first time since my folks divorced when I was eight that I got to spend more than three days at a time with dad and it was where we really bonded and became more than just dad and kid.

 

I was a senior in high school in 1959. There was an old rock quarry about 7 miles from my old home town where we all went to swim and party. I don't remember exactly why but I ended up having the only car out there and when it came time to go home there were about 20 of us still at the quarry with no other way home. My car was a 48 Chevy 4 door (I know all to well it was not cool but that was what it was) and we decided we could all fit in or on the car. Any way we drove the 7 miles with all of us in and on the car all the way back to town. Crazy!
Another time I was taking my date home and the road to her house was being worked on. They had built a new bridge and I thought it would be O K to drive on this road. Any way, same old car but by then I had dropped it as low as I could get it. I ran off the end of the bridge and they had back filled but not enough. The car came to a screeching assed halt and was sitting on the frame. It's about 1:0o AM and I had to walk about a half mile to see if I could rouse a farmer I new to get his tractor and pull me out of this predicament. That was the last time this girl would go out with me.
Later,
Dick

 

Finding my merc.Finding out my merc was in Car Craft in 1957 thanks to the H.A.M.B. and 00mack.Getting an invite to the Merc Gathering & Customs Now & Then from Axle. A photo shoot for the book "Lost Hot Rods" from Pat Ganahl and a photo shoot Mad Fab 6 dvd from Evel.

 

While I've had a lot of good car related experience, ie. shows with friends, road tours, working on 'em, etc., the "best experience" was in an OT car, and involved a girl from Galax, Virginia. That's all I'm gonna say..........

 

I remember visiting relatives in Georgia shortly after I received my learner's permit in '76. My uncle Tony had a wicked cool GTX with a 383 that sang very nicely. It had a lot more juice than my old 283 powered pickup that I had been driving around the country roads. Tony let me drive it and said get on it. I muffed my takeoff from the stoplight and he just laughed and said try it again. Still not up to snuff. He decided to show me how to do it properly, in front of my grandparent's house. The ensuing smoky burnout down the block pissed my grandmother off so bad that she was in the process of calling the cops on us, when my dad and grandpa intervened. That's one that will always stick with me.

 

Does this include having many good times at the local X rated drive in?