Born in 51 missed the real cool days but seen all my buddys older brothers cool cars Thats what made me a gear head Photo is me with my 4th car since I turned 16 Taken in 1971 by my girl that became the other half, she sewed the ripped front seat back for me and the deal was done!!!!!!!
Great storys!! Don from Don,s Hot Rods!! Keep the storys coming,You could write a best seller!! I,m reading it!! I was born in 54 have a brother 10 years older, graduated in 62(doowap music),sister 4 years older(Beatles),Dad + Mom 1918(the American song book) Music-cars!! I,m Happy Pete
Born in '63 and have spent my life around the older cats. They all told me that what was hot on the street was what was the fastest thing for the money. That meant 55 and later big v8 monsters soon owned the early streets, followed by 60's iron. Hot rods were cool, but who could mess with a 427 4 speed in a 66 nova? Things move on and i love a lot of the new stuff.... but really... when they start making 1200 horsepower twin turbo 5.3 chevys, you just know that even the old guys would have jumped to up the ante and get into it as well. long live old iron... but god bless modern technology. - imho
Same stats as my Mom. You should see the big ole grin on her face when she rides in my '32. I can tell she's reliving some memories that would make me blush!
Born 49. Truman baby. First car and first motor in 1962. Ranch kid hardship license. Car was a 1956 Chevy 150 sedan and motor was a 1937 Harley 45, flathead, tank shift and suicide clutch. Each set me back $250. F'ing awesome days. Bood
Born Feb.42. Started working on cars at 14. Had several cars before I was 21 incl. my first car a 42 ford, then a 40 coupe with a "full race flathead" ,a 53 plymouth convertable, a 49 merc black 2 dr. ,a 40 ford 2 dr.with a hopped up flathead [not as wild as the coupe] I channeled it and left the fenders at stock height, a 51 merc 2 dr. , a 1955 ford 2dr.h.t. lowered too much [ a pack of camels laid on it's side would just go under the frame] installed a floor shift,3 94 carbs and a melling 3/4 cam. Also had a rust free 34 2 dr. that I got rid of before i got it roadworthy, and a rust free 40 4 dr. that I bought for parts for the 40 2dr. most hot rodders at the time wouldn't be caught dead driving a 4 dr.
I thought American Graffiti was cool, but Hollywood Knights came nearer the way it was for us. No Hollywood for us in the east of course, but the antics looked familiar. Cruise from the Dari-Delite up main street, around the college campus, down Greene street and back to the Dari-Delite. Occasionally there would be a side trip out to a quiet stretch of highway to see who really was fastest. But that was the mid-sixties. Now those quiet stretches are lined with suburban housing developments with SUVs and minivans in the driveways.
Born in 1945 and graduated high school in 1963. Everything from Elvis to the birth of the Shelby Cobra happened during that time and I enjoyed it all. Cokes were 5 cents, gas was 27 cents a gallon and movies were 25 cents. Two dollars on Saturday night would insure a great time. I owned a '56 Chevy convertible and a '57 Ford Skyliner at the same time during my last year in high school. Paid $250 for the Chevy and $400 for the Ford and they were both great cars - not junkers. Sold them and bought a 1964 Galaxie 500 XL with the 330 hp 390 in '64 when I started going to college and everything just seemed great until I got a letter telling me Uncle Sam needed me to help him out in Southeast Asia. And after my short army career I got married. So, there you have it - the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY!!
The draft slowed the show a bit but it really didnt have to shut it down. I wrapped up my '34 pickup the night before I reported and parked it for two years ... two years later and I unwrapped it like I never skipped a beat, just a weird dream I lived .... I did hit laguna seca from Fort Ord (basic) and then OK City fuelies from Ft Sill ..... just a 2-year "breather". LOL
I started taking pictures in Hs in 55' was the yearbook photog and got a job at the local news paper. Continued through today now 72. Know how enjoyment it is to take pictures J o
Born in '45. My first car was one of those $100 Model As that Southern California was awash with in the early 60s. Missed out on the 50s but the early 60s sure were fun. Redlands California 1962
I was born in '48..dad was a Harley rider until I came along and Ma insisted he buy a car..a "family car"...so he bought a 33 willys coupe. I built model cars 'till I was 14, when I harrassed my dad into letting me get started on my first car...a cherry-pie 29 coupe his cousin gave me..no motor or trans. I'd ride 11 miles each way on my bike to grab a grille shell, garnish moldings etc and bring 'em home on my bike to clean and paint.. We moved away before I got far on my model A..got a 75cent/hour job and bought a $50 50 crestliner with a bad block...old pops helped me build a $15 53 merc motor for it. Rings/bearings/gaskets were $36 with my buddy's discount and it got a pair of tube headers, Offy 4 barrel intake with a 55 buick rochester 4 barrel carb.. I wanted something "older" than my 50 ford so I bought a blown-up 41 ford tudor and I'd switch the merc motor back and forth between cars...took a day to do it. When I drove home in an $8, 40 ford tudor, my dad ,had had enough..made me sell all but one car which was my 56 Olds rag top...I was still making payments on it so it stayed. Man, that broke my heart to sell both 50 fords, my cherry 41 tudor and the newly aquired 40 tudor... The slim-jim tranny eventually blew up in the Olds so I scored a really nice 50 ford tudor and in went the Olds 324 with a tranny adapter for the ford 3 speed..big mistake! All through the army [66-69] in Europe we all talked of building our hotrods when we got back to "the world"..I went home in '68 on leave and bought a super cherry 57 Pontiac tudor sedan...with a factory manual tranny. When I came home for good in Oct, 69 I scored a wrecked 59 Pontiac parts car and grabbed the 389 with it's stick tranny setup...sold the 3 speed and bolted up a Muncie 4 speed. That was the beginning of a love affair with 50s Pontiacs....had 11 of 'em so far. Cruising Broadway in Portland, Oregon in the late 60s/early 70s was a blast! I'd gone "gasser" with my pontiac...taller springs, no front bumper, bigs and lilttles, chrome reverse wheels etc etc. The rich kids had GTOs, chevelles, camaros, GTXs and all kinds of muscle cars. It was fun to choose off a GTO or a road runner and spank his ass with my "old car"....heh heh. More than a few 64-65 GTO owners would come and ask "Whatch got in that thing?" when I'd beat 'em and I'd always say the same thing..."Same thing you have." but I'd tune on mine 'till it ran hard..3.63 rear gears helped too. AH yeah...those were really fun days. And I'm still having fun!
What I remember: Dear ol Dad racin ARCA with a 427 sideoiler in a 61 Galaxie 2dr. FLat Rock Speedway, Toledo and Motor City were his favorite tracks. Same guy stuffin an Eldorado engine in a 36 Dodge PU, and able to close the hood. Same guy droppin a 49 Ford PU cab on an Olds chassis with noisy V8. His buds bumpin front bumpers with their hopped up pickups havin a "push war" in the new paved alley behind Dad's welding shop. Seeing a Pro Stock match race at Detroit Dragway with Grumpy, Dyno Don, the "Motown Missle", and several other period racers. Also with me, lots of mid 50s Chevy racers. Stuffin a 429 Cadillac into another Dodge PU (a 38), including the driveline with PS, PB, tilt n tele, the works. Used it as my HS graduation rig. Building a little roadster out of electrical conduit and skinning it with aluminum. Built on a 59 Olds X frame, whacked out the X and made the side rails. I was just a pup and doin kool shit like that with Dad. Getting to drive a 34 Packard Club Sedan at the age of 14. Mom had a 62 Caddy conv, my aunt had a 64 Impala conv with a 327 4bbl, and my uncle had a 63 Galaxie conv, all black w/red buckets and a 390. My other uncle had a 63 1/2 with a 427 med riser and a 4spd. Dark Jade, buckets, scary to a lil kid. And 1 more uncle yet had an early CJ style Jeep with a 327 4bbl stuffed in it. To this day I swear he carried the front wheels pullin out of an A&W drive in. All of this influence shoved me into used muscle cars, street rods from a decade past, too many Model As to remember. I guess I was indeed there, and if I wasn't gettin dirty and learning I was reading the books, of course after Dad was done with em. He got all 3, Hot Rod, Car Craft and R&C, also got Hemmings when it was a little book.
I grew up in New Hyde Park, Long Island, NY, in my late teens and early twenties all we did was car related. We cruised, looked for hide and street raced every chance we could. On weekends it was the Westhampton 1/4 mile drag strip, Friday night we raced the 1/8 mile at Islip Speedway and sometimes we would go to the Montgomery County 1/4 mile drag strip. I still have a picture that appeared in the Long Island Press interviewing myself and two friends with our 36 Ford drag car. I can prove I was "there" I still also have a couple of class winner and 100 mph club decals that are water slide from Westhampton. I can still hear my Grampa saying "you kids are crazy, you spend hundreds of dollars on those damn hot rods to win a 59 cent trophy". He was right. We cruised to the legendary Big Bow Wow and street raced on Crossbay Blvd. and the Connecting Hwy. In Rockville Center L.I. we cruised to Schorr's drive in and street raced on the Jones Beach Causeway, It was just like Mels in American Graffiti. I believe the late 50's and early 60's on L.I. was the hay day of hot rodding. I feel sorry for the younger generation that missed hot rodding in that time frame. Right now there's no cruising and no street racing. No true drive in's even exist anymore. Unfortunately those day's are gone forever. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to experience real hot rodding.
Born in the late 40's in San Jose, CA. Had an AG license (14) and worked after school at a local garage. Mom and Dad thought it was a good idea for kids to learn mechanics early, so they got an old junker for me when I was 10 to play on and learn. First runner was a 52 Ford Vicki three on the tree. I wrecked seven cars before I was 21 racing on the highways and byways between San Jose and Santa Cruz. Spent a LOT of late nights out at 4-Lanes on Highway 1 north of the Wriggly's plant. Used to pick-up races on Beach street in Santa Cruz on Friday and Saturday nights. Mid-week it was on Second street in San Jose. Cruizin and street racing was a way of life. I liked blown Y blocks. My older cousin liked SBC Chevies and his younger brother had a 57 Ford with a 383 Mopar in it that was a STRONG runner. After High School, I went to JC in Santa Cruz and worked part time at a small race car fab shop. Mostly roundy-round dirt track stuff. But we had one serious street car - 62 406 Tri-Power Galaxy that hooked hard and ran well on the street. It could get beat at Fremont or Half Moon Bay, but on the street it held it's own. Especially since it had 390 badges on the fenders Kept foolin with that stuff up until the Arab Oil Embargo. Then got into smaller stuff and a pick-up so I could keep working. Now days I drive a Euro Turbo car and wince at feeding my BBC 1970 Chevy truck. Never piloted a rail, but did run some Gassers before all this HR-1 and other idiot classless rules. I like Gassers and modified Stockers. I know how to go the junk yard and pick a big motor to stick in a smaller chassis. Never built a blower SBC (yet), but I have some pieces laying around that will work when I get the urge I'm thinking about a blown 283 and a P-Glide or a Muncie in a 54 post coupe, or something along those lines. Chevan I Beam axle up front and a Dana 60 out back. Could be fun
The post by "Don's Hot Rods " strikes close to home with me ....born '45 in Southern Ontario right across from Deeetroit . It was a "kinder , gentler " time and , like Don says , you left windows and doors unlocked , key in the ignition , knew ALL the neighbours , and there was civility and respect all around . First car '55 Chevy 150 2-door 6 banger for $475. put about $500 extra for orange paint , carpeting , dyed vinyl interior and rechroming . Chrome reverse rims were $59.95 ( 4 ) in Detroit ....still had the gutless 6 . ( the girl in the picture was blacked out by the next girlfriend ) Terry
The best part about back then was everything was traditional. You could do what you wanted to your car and it was cool. Less wasn't more. WWs were cool on anything and "patina" was fucking rust that you got rid of. Todays cool has nothing on back then cool.
X-2 More was more, and too much....wasn't available. Nothing put on a show like a big block, 4 spd car with bias plies. Drag racing was fun and so was top end racing. New (sometimes unopened) sections of interstate were our version of Bonneville. (late 60s)
Born in 1946, got my license in 62. A farm kid, so I actually started driving around 58/59. As some of the guys said, it was a kinder gentler time. We never had a key for the house. Keys were left in the car or truck when we went to town(someone might need to move it). Seen my first HOTROD in 58. It was a 32 roadster, channeled, with a Corvette engine (that's what the valve covers said!!!!) and 6-2s. I've been hooked ever since.
"Two Lane Blacktop" shows the last gasp of the era...All of those small dragstrips were about to be overcome by the war and it would be _____ (fill in the blank) years before our car culture would be re-born...
So how many King's drive-ins were there in Lincoln, NE in the early 1960s? The ones with the most action were on O St. and C-pkwy at South. It was like a revolving car show. Exibition of speed was common on C-pkwy at 27th, the loup between the the two. Memory probably paints a much too good picture now. Greg Hornbostel
I was born in '34 and actually rode in a Hupmobile, Graham-Paige and a Terrapalne. My first build was a '30 Model and I used a Crager OHV kit (a lot of work too) as my first Hot Rod. Normbc9
Born in 47, lived some of my high school years in Bellflower, CA - cruised with my buddies in a 55 Nomad,raced at Lions,OCIR,Irwindale. Best cruisin memory: Harveys Broiler.
Yep, some great posts and great memories of the past. We lived in the good ole days and didn't even know it. Saw the beginning and end of many things car related. Drive-inn restarants with car hops, drive-inn movies, the first hotrod magazines, small enough to hide in Math and English books, pretty young girls in mini skirts and pointy bras. The first drag strips and some of the first circle track and stock car races, street racing and cruisin the Steak-N-Shake, A & W, and other fancy new diners. Telephones that sat on a desk with a dial, instead of a wooden one hangin on the wall, big screen TV's with oval screens sometimes 19" in a large wooden cabinet like the floor model radios, even transister radios we could carry in our hand. Fender skirts and poodle skirts, old Fords with fancy new Chevy V-8 engines, flatheads and flat tops. Yep, those were the good ole days.
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