What was your first hot rod experience?

I was a young teenager in the fifties and a guy in our small town (Rhinebeck, NY), now a long time friend, had a '57 Ford Ranchero, lowered all around, Hondouras Maroon, Lee ace of spades tailights, white tuck and roll toneau cover with a big black ace of spades in the center, 430 Lincoln V8, 3 speed with OD, 4:11 gears. Great looking, great sounding and damn fast. Having read the "little books" since I was 12, this was the first time I saw a real custom car like I would read about. Guys used to race on Route 9 near my old man's store, flat and straight, and our store front parking lot was a good turn around spot. Of course my old man wasn't amused when the gravel flew against the store windows but I was!

 

I've always been interested in cars--from Classics to today's technological wonders. When I was a teenager I was into Datsuns and rallying. Then Jeeps. While it may not be a true "Hot Rod" experience, it has changed the way I think and feel about cars. While my Dad and I were building my restored Woodie, we got to the point where we could actually drive it--no doors, windshield, heck the seats were not even bolted down. The first drive--a slight drizzle only enhanced the adventure--felt like nothing I'd ever experienced. The car was alive and so were we. We bombed across town and back--not even going that fast, really. Maybe 30-35, but Man, it felt like flying--good and right. We had grins from ear to ear that didn't come off for a long time...

 

when i was 18 my girlgriends dad gave me a ride in his chopperd 51 merc through pasadina california. ive been hooked on customs ever since. havent owned a new car in 20 years

 

My dad was a farmer, so things were ALWAYS breaking therefore I grew up in a lot of machine shops, parts houses, etc. and they would always be building some sort of hot rod or custom and I loved it. It wasn't until my aunt was restoring a 67 fairlane gt to be just like the one she drove in high school that I really got bit by the bug. I was around 12 or 13 when she started on it and would beg to go to her house to "help" then the best thing happened, she handed me a sander and a key to their toolbox and said here you go! I was in freakin heaven. She told me as long as I kept my grades up, I could come over any time to help her. Been a car nut/grease monkey ever since, thanks aunt Jeri

 

I've been a car nut as long as I can remember. My dad was a MOPAR guy...the neighbor brothers had a hotrod 53 Mercury....my cousin a hemi powered 49 Ford...an uncle with a fenderless 38 Olds 2 door sedan with a Cadillac V8....another Uncle who was building the little Crosley powered sportscar I posted in the sports racer thread. I have no idea which was first....50+ years later they all run together.

 

I've been a car guy all my life. Started out being into muscle cars and vettes having grown up in the late-seventies. Then my brother took me to an early Ty-Rods show. Back then they had a 1959 cut off date so about 90% of the cars were Hot Rods. Been hooked ever since !!!!

 

Growing up at Ft. Rucker Alabama, in the mid 50's, about 8-9 years old, i would ride my bike to the GI'S Hobby Shop every saturday morning and look at the GI's Hot Rods.One day this one guy asks me if i want to go for a ride, fenderless roadster. Anyway go do this, get home that day, tell my dad about this, he throws a fit, "Don't you ever get in one of those %&^R^E^% cars", funny thing is he didn't give me a time frame so 50 plus years later i'm still doing it!

 

I was about 11 yrs old and my cousin Billy who is about 7 yrs older than me comes by the house with his barn find hot rod. It's a 28 A coupe with a full house flatty,dropped axel,'39 toploader,light green metallic paint,red wheels and wide whites. We go for a ride and I'm hooked for life. Billy also took me for my first ride on a Harley. It was a old panhead with suicide shift. It popped back through the carb and caught fire. We put the fire out but had to push it back home. We had only gotten a few blocks away before it quit. It took a long time but my own A coupe is almost done. Both of these events took place in 1968.

 

In 1957 I was 9 yrs old and we lived in La Mirada, Ca. The neighbor across the street had a red primered fenderless roadster with a flathead. If several of us husky kids would push it to start it, he would take us for rides.

Later, back in Oregon, my cousins and I knew of a canyon where a bunch of old cars had been dumped. We would occasionally yard one out with a tractor and see if we could get it running, then strip it down and drive around.

 

Been a car nut before I could even say "car". Around '64-'65 I remember a few fuzzy memories from Glenview, IL:
-An older guy (like 18!) on Parkview Road who had a gray primered '34 Ford coupe - never saw it being driven, just sitting in the garage
-A '27 T tudor sedan, gray primer again, fenderless, channeled, no top insert or interior to speak of, V8, zoomie pipes, chrome slots, '64 plates that I remember were out of date
-A gold '58 Biscayne coupe, mags, jacked up in the front, radiused rear wheel openings, no front bumper, '59 Catalina taillights (which I thought looked really cool since I was starting to mix and match custom parts on my AMT kits)
-And one odd memory that stuck with me - seeing three cars (a black '58 Impala convertible, don't remember the others) pull into the driveway and around back of a house down the street. A little while later all three drove out with '57 Plymouth wheelcovers!

 

My Dad took me to my first drag race when I was 6 years old (1958) at
Dragway 42 West Salem Ohio. This became a regular family outing thru
1964,when we moved to SoCal and started going to Fontana Drag City,
Colton Morrow Field, and Pomona thru 1970.
...

 

Lived on the East Side of St Paul, Mn in the mid 50's, just a 12 year old kid. My neighbor was 5 or 6 years older than I was and was the real deal "Fonzie", black leather jacket, engineer boots, ducks ass haircut, in my eyes the coolest guy ever. One day he showed up with a 34 Ford 5 window, channeled, fenderless, 303 Olds, 3 twos, dropped axle, with a stock tranny and rear end. The car had a 32 grille shell, Bell 4 spoke steering wheel, a few SW gauges and for seats you would sit on cushions out of a boat. The Brake pedal was a hanging one (Master Cyl. on the firewall) and the Clutch was thru the floor. No paint, just primer, the coolest car I had ever seen. Every 2 or 3 weeks he would hatch the tranny, and one time when he was laying under the car putting in a new junk yard tranny he actually asked "ME" to help him. I was speechless! Spent a few hours listening to every direction he gave and soon we were finished. We then went for a ride around the East Side, to road test the Tranny. Everything worked, so we went back to his house. He washed the grease off of his hands, I left mine dirty for a while, they looked good that way. He thanked me for the help and drove accross the street to pick up his girlfriend who looked like a Playboy Playmate to me. She jumped in, snuggled up to him and away they went down the road. The image of that little 34 driving away from me is etched in my mind forever and is the inspiration for the chopped 32 3 window I am building now.

 

When I was about 12 ( in 1980 ) a neighboring abandon farm had an unfinished 33/34 Ford Pickup Hot rod in one of it's wagon sheds . I spent many hours sitting in the cab , wishing it was mine , and planning how I would fix it up if it were mine.

The Pickup was a project that belonged to the farm owners son "Glen". I was told that Glen started building the rod in the early 60's , was drafted and when he returned from the war, got married and lost interest. A relative stated the pickup was almost complete but many parts went missing over the years.

As of 1980 , I remember the pickup missing both doors, hood, grill, tailgate and engine intake / carb . I do know the Pickup was updated with Juice Brakes , two master cylinders on the firewall, an open driveline , Cadalliac OHV V-8 , 3 speed trans. It had cut down motorcycle style fenders on the front and Exhaust that came upward on the outside of the bed just behind the cab.
Around 1986 the building started to fall down on top of the pickup and dented the roof in 3 places on the RH Rear roof section. Someone pulled the pickup outside and behind the barn to prevent further damage. There it sat for about 2 years until one day It went missing.

Fast foreward to 2008 , I found myself building a 34 Ford Pickup similar to the one I had sat in as a kid. I started with a 34 BB chassis with a Very Bad cab. I was looking for a Better 34 P/U Cab on Ebay for almost a year when one was listed for sale about 20 miles from my home. The price was fairly high but some metalwork was done. It was chopped , channeled and Both Doors hung with hidden hinges and new latches. The Owner / Hobby hot rod builder was firm with his asking price and refused my lower offer.

To my surprise when I inspected the cab , It had the "Same 3 Dents" in the RH rear roof area as the one I new as a kid. It also had bad Swiss cheese rust pitting above the rear window. As a kid , siting in the cab , I remember saying to myself , how was I going to fix that ?

Now realizing that this may well be that cab I sat in as a Kid , I told the owner the above story and watched his reaction. The only thing I picked up on was him looking at his wife and raising his eye brows. A few minutes later he agreed to my lower offer.

Is it the same cab for sure ... who knows ... I didn't ask and he did not offer. But in the back of my mind , I am thrilled to possibly have the Hot Rod Pickup Cab on my project that I dreamed in as a kid.

 

My memory is lousy for some things but I don't forget cars. Probably the earliest "snapshot" in my head is of the 56 Ford P/U my father had with a Cadillac motor in it.

There was also a bright yellow 57 Chevy Bel-Air down the street that just sat parked in the driveway because the owner was in Vietnam - man I hope he made it home to that Bitchin car!

The first Hot Rod experience "in motion" was a ride in the red 1969 Mustang Mach1 with 428CJ that my uncle bought new when I was 8. My aunt divorced him and I can't remember what he looks like, but I sure remember that car!!!!

 

I was telling my father about this blog here and he reminded me about something that happned in 1968 at the auto show,it was held at the International Amphitheter on halsted.
We were there with my older brothers and dad to see these sport figures football baseball stars,he said you couldn't careless,but a little while later we were standing in line to get a coke,and I told him there's Big Daddy Don Garlits,my dad didn't know who the hell he was he said, so we went over to him,my dad told him out of all the sport stars that were here your the only one he was excited to see (there was nobody over there by him)he talked to me had me sit in his car gave me an autographed poster and a stack of wynn's stickers.
I remember it but not as well as my dad does,he's 87 .
He told me his favorite car I built was my 68 chevelle when I was 18,and what really makes him proud is when guy's come by with their bike's,and tell you so and so said you could strighten my bike out and get it running right.
He was never a mechanic just a Chicago policeman for 36 years and it was me that got him intrested in cars and motorcycles who would have known!!!!

 

In 1951 or 52, my oldest brother, then in high school, used to cruise all the time with his friends in all their cool cars. One afternoon he grabbed me and wedged me between him and his buddy and off I went in a 32 5-window, 3-2 flattie, etc, and the effect was stunning! The next year an Olds went into that coupe and by now I was a regular in the crowd-mostly because all the girls thought my brother and Jim were"sensitive guys" taking such good care of a little kid! Did not mind being used at all. As my immediately older brother moved up in the ranks, He joined the "Rod Snappers" out of Freeport, NY and our yard was a constant parade of roadsters and coupes or all sorts. By now I was allowed to wrench a bit and bench race with them ( I was a go-kart racer myself which earned some respect) and the sights and sounds were etched in me forever. One day he asked me to help him tow his 3-window to a friends shop to get the cowl vent filled. I had to be sure the steering straightend each time we went around a turn while using a tow bar. I sat in an army surplus bucket screwed or taped to a piece of plywood, held the wheel for dear life and watched the ground roll under my feet for the coolest ride of my life up till then. When that brother went into the Navy I kept his unfinished 3 window dust free in our Dad's newly built garage in which hung deuce grille shells and many 50 Merc parts, some flathead blocks etc. I hot wired it once or twice just to see if I could. The flathead would belch flames and roar as it revved. It was burning a direction in me for sure.My brothers both got out of "the car thing" as careers demanded but not me. Corvettes, sports cars, hot rods,endlessly through the 60-70-80-90s and now wonderfully my immediately older brother just picked up a A sedan as he edges back into the life. Of course I send him endless photos of 3-window 32 chopped and channeled coupes just to torture him. Its what little brothers do.

 

I started getting Hot Rod when I was eight, after having always loved cars. I took to rods early on and would love to have one at some point.

 

Yesterday... '32 5 window, blown flathead = COOL.

 

It was in a muscle car...

 

not my first but in 1962, when I was 12, I saw a young woman with a small child in the car, a 55 chevy gasser, pull a 6" wheelie by accident on the street in front of my junior high school

 

i suppose it was when i was just a little kid i was sanding the frame on my dads 40 ford.i wasnt doing much help but its the first car thing i can remember.

 

My first "hot" rod experience was REALLY hot. It was a ride in my older neighbor's 1962 Corvette that was slightly customized and had side exhaust pipes. I was 15 years old. Dave Campbell was his name and it was the first car-related adrenaline rush I ever got. He took me through the center of Royal Oak, Michigan and we then stopped at a light on Fourth Street. He says, "Check this out" and popped the clutch and I could feel the wheels come back down after he pulled the very first wheelie I had ever been through! After our ride, we pulled up to his house and without noticing that the protective heat-dissipating grille was not on the lake pipe, I rested my bare kid leg (cause I wore shorts all summer long) on that pipe as I got out. OUCH! That was a real fast lesson learned.

 

We never painted a start line on a road, but we did repaint someone's mailbox post with white reflector paint, to mark a "starting line", and no one ever seemed to notice it.
4TTRUK

 

Late '40s, Pasadena, CA...my father took my brother and I up to the mountains, forgot where...dirt parking lot, some guy in a roadster was turning doughnuts, kicking up gravel, later roared by us on the way back...my father cursed him as a dangerous hoodlum, from that point on I knew what I wanted to be...a dangerous hoodlum driving a roadster...