Hot Rods .....how did you first get involved

What were your early influences, what got you started,I started building models in the early 60's.
Show pics if you got em'

 

Good thread similar to this topic started last summer....
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=599839

 

my old man had a 41 chevy that didn't run....I was 5 years old at the time and he had another six banger lined up to get the old girl back on the road...so he picked me up...sat me up on the fender with a bunch of box wrenches and told me to have fun...he went into the house for about an hour or so and when he came back out I was covered head to toe with black nasty grease....the valve cover came right off..and whatever else I could undo...there were bolts everywhere...my mom freaked out when she saw me covered in grease....of course I had no clue as to what I was doing...but I will never forget the very first time I wrenched on a car....back then a 41 chevy was just an ordinary used car...a dime a dozen...I wish that chevy was still around !!!

 

I was born in the early 70’s to a mom and dad that were (are) cars nuts. As a kid my dad drag raced a 65 Plymouth, A/manual class, I think, and from what he said they were running right on the national record. Then they closed the local strip (that was 4 miles from our house) and he quit racing the next year because he said it was getting to expensive for him to keep up, plus the nearest strip was over an hour away. My dad was always into hot rods also and at that time he had a 34 Ford with a 392 in it. Over the years cars came and went, BUT they always had something to do with hot rodding. They never had much money so most of my dads cars were hot rods he called jalopy (style).

Have some pics of me as a kid (maybe 4 YO) "helping" change the slicks on the car. I'll have to try to find them.

 

Hot Rod magazine, hanging out in my Uncles shop as a kid in the mid 60's/early 70's, and just hanging around the local service station and other car guys. It's amazing what an impression those things can have on a kid.

 

Single Mom. Let me buy a 1947 Chevrolet for $60.00 back in 1970 when I was 13. I guess she figured it would help keep me off the streets... May have been a bad idea on her part.

 

I'm still fairly new (OLD) here but I have answered this same question many times. My answer is really DON'T KNOW !
Dad didn't drive or care for cars. Mom drove the old 34 Chevy 4-door then other generic cars. But she didn't know a dip stick from a jack handle. Can't remember any other relatives or neighbors messing with old cars. As a kid in middle school something snapped when I found my first "little pages" Hotrod mag. Don't even remember what brand it was. At around a quarter an issue I used my paper route money to buy every one I could find at Mauries magazine store. That place is still there in beautiful downtown Pekin, Ill.
Those "little pages" fit nicely in my school books and I was getting an early education about rods and customs.
Still have around 50 of those little books and still foolin with old junk. I've tried for years, but just can't shake the nasty habit! The magazines are bigger and I am a few years older.

 

Born into it! Dad was a car nut and still is. I had been drug to all the car events every summer since I could walk. When I left home I gave up the cars for a few years and played with bikes but the car fever came back. Now I spend most of my time playing with the cars and just ride the bikes.

 

My Dad would stop at Santa Ana drags on the way to the beach in the early 50s. A few trips to Colton sealed the deal.

 

When I was 8 (1956) my family moved to La Mirada, Ca. Across the street from us was a family with a teenage son who had a hot rod roadster. I remember helping push start it in exchange for rides. Not sure what it was, but my current '27 roadster is a tribute to that car. Changed my life!

 

When I was 7 or 8 I would go to the store with the folks and I would look at the car magazines. No one in the family was into cars what so ever. I guess somethings just happen. JC

 

born in 70 my dad was a backyard hillbilly grease monkey and most of my uncles had some musclecar or other i started building models about 7 years old and had hotwheels all my life
bought my first car magazine when i was like 10 or 12 it was one of those old hotrod "specail issues" about streetfreaks been buying mags ever since got a pretty good collection of pre 1971 mags now

seemed back at the end of the musclecar days about everyone older was into cars to some degree that all changed around 1980 or so

it was easy to be into cars back when i was akid

if i hadnt gotten into cars when i did id probably be dead or in prison now (yes ,im serious)

 

Born in 1969. At first I was into VW's, but a family friend who lived down the street turned me on to muscle cars and tri-5 Chevy's. He had a 69 Road Runner Six Pack car, a 57 FI 'Vette and a 57 sedan Delivery as drivers (the delivery was his daily driver). I ended up buying a rust free Bel Air hardtop from the neighbor that never saw the road legally (my uncle now owns it) and a 4 door 210 that was my daily driver in high school. The early Ford stuff is a recent interest for me.

 

saw Easy Rider when I was 9 when it came out in the theater. wanted a subscription to Street Chopper for my birthday a few years later, but my Mom got me Street Rodder instead. who knows where I'd be if Mom had got me Street Chopper.

 

Surrounded by car people all my life! Hooked beyond redemption when Rolly Stod fired up his gasser Willys inside his shop and it sucked all of the air out of all of us couldn't hear for a week...screwed since and love it!

 

My Dad loved a fast car and he drove fast but wasn't a mechanic type. I started customizing my bikes, building model cars and racing hot wheels. Went to hanging around painters and mechanics and then saw American Grafitti in early 70's. I've just got to modify everything that moves.

 

My Dad would drive around my brother and I in his OT 69 ss Chevelle he said it would make us fall asleep! I love the sound of a Big Block! Later I just helped around the garage change brakes, oil etc. Im growing up in a car family anyways. Now (14) I just got a 53 ford like my Dad had gonna start workin on that and drive it to Highschool .

 

born into it. I came home in a flamed black 54 olds 88 and riding the rocket since then

 

I think it was magazines.. a Hotrod was art that I connected with

had neighbors and friends who explained what was what.. learned to drive stick in a 60's car, just felt good..

 

My Dad (he's 72) has been into the car thing since day one because of his older brothers. After my parents divorced (1980) Dad didnt have anything to do and bought a '27 Ford RPU project in '83. After the RPU project started every weekend I spent with him was either at a show or swap.

 

its in my blood, got it from my parents, my dad was always buyin , tradin, fixen and sellin em, and mom really liked the fast one, if it would lite the tires it just made her smile more.i remember a 62 - 327 impala convertable my dad came over in, i was like 9 then(in 1967) and i would cruise around with him sometimes. I played some sports to kill time and use up some energy til i was like 15, then my dad brought an old pontiac to the house and said, do what you want to it just make sure it stays runnin. i gutted the interior, cleaned everything and put it back together. at 16 i got a 56 -210 2 door sedan and the rest as they say is history. thanks for asking

 

Never knew any better, I was surprised when I started school and we were the only family with a HotRod! Always thought it was normal, my Father may be my Step Father but there is no better 'Dad' on the planet.

Doc.

 

I don't know...born with a toy car in my hand and been doing it ever since...never did "get into it"..i've always been in it..!

 

grew up in dads shed and rod shop

 

I can still picture in my mind the day that a friend brought a Rod and Custom to jr high school. 1956ish You could hide the little pages inside a math book and I was able to borrow it for a few classes. I was immediately infected with a terminal disease. Since I'm still alive, I still have it. Yes the AMT 3 in 1 kits lit my fire and when they came out with the 32 roadster kit, I was beyond hope.

 

Mmmmm involved or infected?

From a biking family i've been around bikes and cool cars most of my life and been going to the drags from a young age. When i was 14 i started doing custom fade paint jobs on my friends push bikes for £2 a pop using rattle cans If i had to capture a moment when my paint and paint FX obsession started, i think it was then. Same time i fell in love with hot rods and 40/50/60's cars. 1967 is my cut off, when i was born and Kustoms are my thing and whats had the biggest influence on me.

Having just today ordered a heap more Kandy, Pearls and Flakes for my hobby airbrushing set up i'd say nothing has changed 30 years on. I'll never be a painter, signwriter or a pinstriper but it's fun trying, all good learning and keeps the artistic juices in me flowing.

Saving up for a late 50's / early 60's longroof for next year and will provide a great base to do some paintwork on and cruise about in. Hopefully by then my skills should be up to scatch.

Dan

 

Im from the state of Wilkes N.C. "land of moonshine". Growing up in Wilkesboro on the Brushy Mountains in N.C. to me was a blast. My dad worked for a welding supply company but wasnt much into cars although he liked NASCAR. I used to go to work with him as a kid and we would deliver supplies to Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliot back when they drove for Maxwell House and Budweiser. Everytime we went I got to sit in the cars or hear them run and I loved it. We also made several stops to shops all around town that were mostly car repair places and I always liked seeing all the cars getting worked on. So thats probably what started it all. I can remember from very young that I loved anything with wheels like any young boy I liked fire trucks and played with matchbox cars.

My Grandfather lived down the road from us and has a huge obsession with old cars. He has two garages full of them. Thats when I really started learning what cars were what. To name a few he has '55 chevy hardtop, model T, '77 Black and gold Trans-am, '50 merc custom, '57 T-bird, '64 T-bird, '64 Vette with custom lace paint, '65 Riviera. So it was ALWAYS a blast to visit Grandma and Grandpa, I spent alot of time there and still do today. In my teenage years I took skateboarding pretty seriously and kept my obsession of old cars and the culture that goes with it. I still get out and rip it up every once in a while, but now I drive my '53 olds to the skate spot

My first car was my Dad's '85 Nissan 720 pick-up, he bought brand new. Through my years of high school and a bit after I graduated I turned that truck into a complete custom mini truck. Fully shaved, frenched lights, full custom chassis on air ride. I still have it and cant bring myself to sell it being my Dad was the only owner besides me. Yes I know most hambers are not fond of mini trucks but its all I had at the time. Gramps sure wasnt gonna let me change anything on the Merc haha. For a long time I drove and showed my Grandpas '50 merc and kept it up for him. I decided after saving up enough money in the Air Force that I would buy my own, then comes the '53 olds super 88 I purchased in 2009. I enjoyed the Hot Rod shows and the cruise ins much more than any mini truck show so it was time to have my own vintage auto. I drive my olds almost everyday, and most road trips out of town. Later on I want to get something thats more of a project for me and my son to work on when hes older.



Thats pretty much my story of how I got into it... mostly copied from my Bio on my profile

 

Sounds just like my story but I had to give up the bikes.

 

my dad wasnt into cars . he liked the factory style muscle cars but he didnt build anything.i started pittin models together around 65 and that was it.then in 69 i saw easyrider and it was on again.now i have 2 addictions.fast cars and choppers.been that way ever since.ive spent well over half my life in shops. 16 hr.days was light work back then.but never really cared. just wanted to build.

 

Always into cars since I was a little kid... as a stupid idiot teenager I wanted a "hot rod"... bought a piece of crap because I buy with emotion instead of intelligence... learned everything on it because everything went wrong...

Some 25 years, 25 cars, and 40 kazillion dollars later, I'm still a stupid idiot who can't seem to locate his intelligence when buying a car.