Neighborhood hot rods what was in yours??

Neighbor boys. Gearheads. Greasers. Late '40s Ford coupe. Vrooooom!!! Vrooooom!!! Mom didn't like it, but I did...lol. I was only 3 years old. My first hot rod memory.

We lived right across from the old Catholic church. Even at 3 years old, on warm summer Sunday mornings, I'd be sure to be sitting on the porch to see all the beautiful late '40s and '50s cars pull up and line the street. This was 1960.

Neighbor Larry. Gearhead. Late '40s Ford coupe. Non running. Mostly sat on the property line, sunk into the lawn. Lots of primer spots. I still thought it was cool...lol.

Very elderly neighbor couple across the street. Bone stock, light gray, creampuff 1937 Chevy coupe. They never seemed to drive the car except to go to church on Sunday. I'd watch them sloooowly walk down the sidewalk to their little old wooden garage. She'd wait outside while he opened up the heavy wooden doors and back the car out. She'd get in while he closed the doors. And off they went. It ran so quietly, I could hear the slight whine of first gear as they took off.

There was a guy that lived 4-5 blocks from us...the father of one of our grade-school classmates. He liked to restore late '50s early '60s Corvettes. He'd drive 'em too. They'd look kind of rough for a while...primer spots and stuff. Then, all of a sudden, he'd drive by in it and it'd be all painted and pretty. And then he'd sell it and get another crappy looking 'Vette. I saw him do this 1/2 dozen times through the '60s. Every single one got painted red with a white cove. Awesome.

And I can't remember all the times my little brother and I would see some street beast rumble by the house as we'd be playin' in the front yard. We'd yell, "Lay a patch!"...and they often would...lol.

 

In the 60's Dad had a 59 Impala 348. [Course it was a 4 door Flattop. Would love to have it today] Next door neighbor had a brand new 64 XL 3904 Speed A friend and I rode in it the day it came home I was 9 the fastest car i was ever in at that point. A guy across the street gave me a ride in his 62 or so Corvette the first ride in a Vette. Next street over 2 Twins built a nice 55 2 door Chevy. Drove it a little while and some Asshole stole it and was never found. The Gas Station down the street [I own the Station now] had employees that had 55 Chevys 62 Chevys, An old Model A I believe called the Little Brown Jug had a Olds Engine. And another guy had a 62 Galaxie 406 4 speed. Oh to have some of them today.

 

Super Pumpkin came over to the UK in the early seventies. Within a couple of years some friends bought it and I crewed on the car. For a 20 year old gearhead it was a dream come true and left an affection for Tri Chevy's that has grown and grown. I was extremely privileged a few years back to make contact with Bill Casey and a nicer man you could not meet. He shared his tales of the car and even sent over his collection of old cine film kindly loaded onto a dvd. Sadly he passed away a couple of years ago but for me those last few years of contact had filled in the missing pieces of the story and made this old man young again.

 

Forgot to add that there are some fantastic photos of the car, and information, at the Dover Dragstrip forum. It currently lives in Sweden where it is slowly being restored.

 

Tony drove a 8" channeled Y-block '32 & a real clean Nassau Blue '46 sedan.. Chris drove a white '46 sedan. John a channeled '35 with 283.
But my favourite was the cat with the XT Falcon with hoodless cammed & rammed 289. He'd test & tune it Saturday arvo's- Come around the 90° street bend sideways, smoke pouring off that super stock Ford.

 

There was a deeply chopped and channeled 30 A coupe that was nothing but a body and rolling chassis that sat around the corner for several years under a rotting tarp. It finally disappeared.
A teenager moved in the next block with a 46 Ford coupe. Black primer over rough body work and apparently suffering a blown-up flathead. At one time there were 5 flatheads in various stages of disassembly in and around the garage. They moved, the car and engines dissapperared but the Exxon Valdese style oil slick was on the driveway for years.
"Hotshot" Gaynard [never knew his real first name] had a super clean 51 Chevy 2 dr. hardtop. Peach with a white top, skirts, spots, and chrome way better than new. I think he worked at a chrome shop. Interior was redone in black, gray, and white. Never got to see under the hood but it had a split manifold and duals that sounded great! I can't figure how a guy that got that dirty every day at work never ruined that snazzy interior. It was a mystery how he kept that thing so car show immaculate no matter how rotten the weather was and he had no garage!
There were two cars that were built by the same guy, both metalflake green with white interiors and chrome reversed wheels. One was a 40 Ford coupe chopped and channeled and a full custom. Resembled the El Matador in style. The steering wheel was cut down to some airplane style just two spokes and two grips. Watching him parallel parking that thing was a riot. Worked up quite a sweat. Taught me a life long lesson about style over practicality. The other was a 55 Ford 2 door post done as a mild custom. Lowered, nosed, decked, shaved, tube grill, frenched lights front and rear, and had the little balls around the windows. The aspiring hoodlum next door bought it but was confounded when it was too low to get up their driveway. He didn't keep it long.
Three brothers a few blocks away were GTO freaks. Between them they had four. A 64 a 65 and two 66's. The 65 and the 66's were mainly street cars raced some, the 64 was a full time drag car. Saw one of the 66's in a very light rain after they had put slicks on for the weekend. It would spin the wheels just easing the clutch out at idle. About never got it up the incline at the railroad crossing. Like a sheet of ice.
Came home from school one day and there were 7 55-57 Chevys all lined up on the street. One 57 convertable, four 55's, and two 56's. Over the next few weeks several more showed up. One day they were suddenly gone. All were stolen and the cops towed them and arrested the offender.
Had a bike around for a while. A chopped BSA with real long fork tubes but no raked frame. Kinda reminded you of a step ladder. Could have used a sissy bar to keep the rider from falling off the back. He was hanging on for dear life. Another high school guy had a 48 Panhead bobber. No front fender, sawed off short rear fender and a straight pipe. The owner was a high school art major. He welded the gas tanks together and brought them to art class and used modeling clay to mold the tanks into an Ed Roth monster style head with a tongue that went up and over the headlight. Weird. Sat on a curb once and watched him try to kickstart it one day for 30 minutes. My buddy and I offered to push him but he insisted it'd catch. He was right,.........eventually! Sorry post too long........

 

I was born in 1960 so my car meter turned on about 64, Two brothers on the corner owned a Chrysler Plymouth dealer and while the early sixty's performance cars they brought home went unnoticed by me the purple, orange, green, winged cars that were in that driveway every night took me to my knees. Around late 66 a young guy that lived with this parents started to drag race this Bitchen marina blue Camaro ss, every sunday evening he would write in shoe polish his race results on his second floor bedroom window, 12.32 Winner and so on, that car parked in the carport w/a towbar and NMW tow hubs on the rear was killer.

 

Irving (Pre Las Colinas), Texas - mid to late 60s. The HOTTEST CARS in our neighborhood belonged to Bill Heilscher (Yes that Mr. Bardahl/Green Valley Raceway Heilscher). His hot rods were race cars. Down my street, Bill Neal kept ordering AND trading in 409 SSs, the nicest and newest muscle cars in our immediate area.
Spreading out a bit, David Stevens '39 Ford coupe and the SBC powered Henry J of Butch Fry's Dad qualified as hot rods. Jim Deaton and Terry Duggans had some BAD Pontiacs and Larry Bailey's '66 396 carried the bowtie banner. One of the hottest and best looking cars in town was Wayne Boyd's '55 post. The Harrington's had their own private dragstrip. Next closest rod was a Honduras maroon '33 Ford coupe from N. Irving. This one had a BIG influence on me. Of hot rods built in our town, the nicest would have been built by Jerry Fain. Without Fain's help, my projects would surely have taken much longer or worse.
This brings me back to my neighborhood, where I believe I was the only hot rodder who kept building pre 49 street hot rods. My first car was a '48 Ford Super Deluxe coupe. 75 Bucks! Drove it for at least a year, even with a cracked block. Water would shoot out of the scavengers when I fired it up. It got a 303 Olds and hydro installed right in our driveway. Now is probably a good time to apologize to our neighbors and THANK my parents for everything. INCLUDING, the '50 Chev five of us cut apart to build a "dune buggy"/drift car. When the tires were not smoking, it lived under a black plastic tarp. Sorry.
I built a steel '27 T w/short A bed with a hack saw, Car Craft plans, and Fain's help in that garage. My visiting aunt got blasted with trans fluid the first time I ever fired it. They never came back. I think most of the neighbors did finally get rides after the Candy Red went on. They had witnessed burnouts, but only a few wanted to experience one. This car qualified as one of the most driven street rods in North Texas, often seen at Green Valley Raceway.
My first sled was a '47 Olds bulletback. As usual, I drove it for hours in every direction. I believe I learned about wiring on this car and found the pencil diagram just recently. Would love to have another one of these.
After my parents were gone, I came back from Cal. and built a few more cars there. The last was a '33 Willys coupe ex-A/GS which I still own and drive. Somehow, I still get along with all of our neighbors. I'd say that's a credit to them.
Anybody remember any of these? Know where they are?

I think I may have found the 33-4 Ford coupe mentioned above over on the 33-4 coupe thread. Looks right and was sold by a Dallas guy. Power of the HAMB.

 

I guess I just lucked out. I am surrounded by neighbors who are into cars. Within a half mile there are several hot rodders, two big-time restorers, major drag racer, and just car collectors with everything from E-type Jags, to Corvettes, to Mopar muscle cars. I see something new (interesting) in someones driveway or garage nearly every day.

 

In 1964 my parents bought a slightly used black on black 63 Ford XL with the formal Thunderbird roofline. It was a 390 4speed car. To a nine year old car crazy kid, it had the most beautiful interior I had ever seen. The combination of black, silver mylar, and chrome with all the interior trim was heaven on earth. I would give big bucks to get that very car back.
Across the street the neighbors had four daughters and they were all lookers. There was always a stream of boyfriends with hot cars, some might be considered hot rods today, but they were just used cars then. The classiest to me was a 32 Chevy five window coupe, painted dark blue metallic with a hot small block chevy under the hood. I distinctly remember the 32 racing a 56 Chevy side by side down our neighborhood street one summer Saturday afternoon. It was just a friendly way to see who had the fastest car. Around the corner was a Grabber Blue 70 Boss 429. Next door neighbors son had a 69 GTO, a 69 American Motors SC/Rambler with the "A" paint scheme. Same guy also had a round track shoe box Ford he raced parked on the street for one summer. My most vivid memory was the 56 Chevy that my bosses son owned. His family was what we called "well to do". The Chevy had a hot 283 with dual quad tunnel ram, and a flip front fiberglass front end. I remember it ran in either Modified Production or Gasser class at our local strip. I got one ride home as passenger in that car from work. As we turned the corner and straightened up, he nailed it for all it was worth. For two blocks I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The sixties were a great time to grow up.

 

Neighborhood hot rods don't really exist in my area. Only old cars are in my own yard, but mainly stock.

 

The guy around the corner from us, back in 61 I think, had a 32 full fendered coupe with a 283 "poked" to 301, "3 pots" (hey, that's the way we talked in 61)and a 3 speed on the floor. I seem to remember riding on the running boards. What? No Mom, not me!

 

I was a student at Iowa State in Ames from fall of 66 to fall of 70, and I remember seeing the Weasel 55 Chevy a couple of times on the street in Ames. It was a red or orange 2 door sedan with radiused rear wheel wells and "The Weasel" lettered on the sides as I recall. In 69, I had a red 59 Corvette that you may remember seeing. I had bolted in 6" I beam risers in front, flipped the shackles in the rear, and had air shocks on it, so it sat gasser style. I had Firestone Indy tires on the rear, on 10" chrome rims. With a hot 292 small block, it was an interesting car, but there were lots of interesting cars running around back then. I still have a thing for cars that had that kind of look. You may remember Bob Palmer's 57 Vette, which eventually ended up totalled after he sold it to another guy, and the 427 proved to be a little too much. Remember The Pizza House on Lincoln Way, right across from the campus? I worked there for a while, and those guys were heavily in to hot rod stuff and drag racing. Some good memories.

Anyone remember

 

One block away from my house was Albert Waites top fuel small block Chevy dragster. A few blocks away was Q Ball Wales top fueler Chrysler powered rail. Also in our neighborhood was the Sieffert and Sons AA/GAS Willys. Striking out in the general area were several very competitive Comp racers as well as other fuel racers. Every other Sunday
they rocked The La Place Dragway. It wasn't unusual to actually be able to hear these guys doing street crankups on a Saturday afternoon. I would burn up the streets with my Cushman Eagle to get a snootfull of nitro fumes! I do wish someone would do a comprehensive story on the racers from a 50 mile radius of New Orleans!

 

About 2 blocks away was a super clean '68 Roadrunner with a 440, 4 speed and aluminum slots. You knew spring had arrived when you heard it get fired up. It was awesome sounding and I would just stand at our house and listen.

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Add to the hot rods in your neighborhood.

 

Milwaukee Wi. area, mid-late 60's, not many Hot Rods, mostly us kids with 50's cars, modified, swapped out engines, etc. a ton of that stuff, lots of car guys and 60's muscle cars up the wazoo. One 40 ford coupe SBC and a 27 Ford Sedan with a hemi is all that I can remember in my neighborhood for Hot Rods. I cruised all the popular places, street raced some, did see Hot Rods at car show at the Arena in winter, but I never saw any on the street. Its a big town, I'm sure they were around somewhere. I have many great memories of all the fun times from my youth and STILL having fun and enjoying the Car Hobby. John

 

the last neighborhood I lived in they had a fella with a nice resto-mod 56' chevy. and a neighborhood I lived in a while back a guy had a really cool vintage Ferrari collection. other than that, nuthin.

 

Late 50s, early 60s growing up in little town of Rhinebeck, NY (pop 1250), there wasn't a lot of hot rods around. I remember a '57 Ford Ranchero, lowered, 430 Lincoln, painted hondouras maroon with Lee taillights and white tonneau cover that had an ace of spades on it to match the tailights.

 

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I grew up in Highland Park a neighborhood in Louisville, Ky. there was a guy that drove a 40 Chevy coupe that was called the kid. I think he worked for V. V. Cooke Chevrolet downtown. That was the baddest car in the neighborhood. There were other nice cars though. Had a guy Named joe that lived down the street from me. He had a black 50 Ford 2 dr. sedan Called Black Diamond. It was previously called the Cherry Picker, but the cops made him remove the name. There was also a nice 55 Chevy hardtop in the neighborhood. Had a guy named Joe Keller that had a beautiful 58 Chevy Biscayne, white with green candy panel paint job with white rolled and pleat interior. You can see a picture of it in The Rodder's Journal issue #55 pages 42 & 43. One sweet ride. If you went over near Iroquois Park and cruised through the Jerry's Restaurant parking lot, you saw a lot of nice cars there. In the 60's a guy had a brand new 62 Impala SS that he had lowered to the ground and all white with white interior, pin striped, chrome reverse wheels with the spider caps & Chrome dummy spot lights. I thought that car was cool. Later in the mid 60's I myself had a bad ass 56 Chevy 210 sedan with a 58 Corvette powertrain in it. A buddy had a robin's egg blue 57 Ford 300 Custom, 272 v-8 with 3 on the floor, and another friend had a 58 Pontiac with a 301 v-8 automatic. Probably the baddest car I ever rode in in the 60's was a friend's 40 Ford coupe. It had a Chevy 327, 4 speed and he took the curve from the Airport to the Fairgrounds at 60-70 mph. The car leaned over on my side, and I thought I we were dead. I made him promise to drive the speed limit on the way back to where I worked at the Standiford Motel the speed limit. I had to go to the bathroom and check my shorts when I got out of the car. Fun times though.

 

Very few "traditional hot rods" in my area growing up. Tons of modified Tri-five chevies, Chevelles, Falcons, Chevy II's, a few Anglias, Morris Minors and austin A-40s, Firebirds, Camaros, lots of muscle era Mopars, but thirties era hot rods were not common in Maple Ridge in the sixties.

 

In my childhood, (the 80s is the earliest I can remember), my house was the place where I saw the most customs and hot rods. My father is an upholsterer and that's what I always saw at home and at the shop 24/7.. I grew up around classic cars like 56 ford trucks 55-59 Chevy trucks, 55-57 belairs, impalas, ford galaxies, VWs, econolines, Novas, 32s, chevans, all in mostly mild customs. Most of the hotrods were honestly the ugly 80s type of street rods though. And I always can remember my older cousin's '49 AD Chevy slammed on 5.20s w/ crossbars, beige color and LOUD straight pipes! I thought I was the coolest kid in 4th & 5th grade when he'd pick me up on my way to school and drop me off right in front of the school for all to see! Anyway, in the Inland Empire area of southern California in my days it was all about the customs and lowriders back then... To this day I still wanna get an old AD Chevy and do it up just way that old '49 was back then.... I'll try and post some old pics of some of them soon..


TRADITION NEVER DIES!

 

I do remember in high school in the 90s these twin brothers had a pair or '66 Chevelles all nicely restored. One green and one red! Man! They were the envy of the neighborhood!


TRADITION NEVER DIES!

 

Four houses down from ours was George Sally with his Black 49 Ford with a Caddy Motor / LaSalle trans and a Monster painted on the trunk.

 

across the street from my house was Gus with a bright red 60 chevy convert., in the next block were two brothers who had a 38 ford coupe V8 hot rod, later they had factory ThunderBolts & 64-1/2 427 Galaxies. across the alley was Ray with a 57 Plymouth convert, w/trips. next door to him was Walter with a 57 BelAir convert, power pak, skirts, duals. Bronze & Ivory, offered it to me for $125, my dad wouldn't let me buy it. then on the next street was Flash who had a 57 BelAir 2-dr hdtp with trips and a 4-speed. spent a lot of time at Pankas' Mobil, where Yanni was building an early 30's Plymouth coupe. but, i grew up in Canonsburg, Pa and Yenko Chevrolet was my hangout in high school.

 

A friend of mine in high school that lived 2 blocks from me drove a 57 Chevy 2 dr sedan with no trim just holes and no bumpers. He ran a wicked 301 small block with Hilborn inj, on it. He drove it to school! Another guy had a 56 T-Bird Gasser style with a straight axle and ran a 429 CJ motor. That car pulled the wheels a foot of the ground at stop lights. It had a crazy fade paint job as well.

 

'63 Studebaker Lark cut to make an ElCamino W/Cadillac engine.

Austin Healy 3000

'40 Ford coupe,customized with 4 headlights and probably other stuff I didn't notice when I was 10.

'57 Chevy wagon shortened to a 2 door.

 

Well I born 10 years to late to enjoy new muscle cars of the late 60's to early 70's ( born in 1962 ) but I remember d collets 71 hemi cuda rag top ( yep ) he also had a 70 Acadian with a LT-1 4-speed , ron ozzons 1970 340 4 speed yellow cuda, they were others but when your 8 years old u don't remember everything , I remember one 32 -34 tom hookings had was a hot rod truck but that's about it, when I got older and went high school there were more muscle cars , but not many hotrods around these parts that I can recall .

 

No Rods in my neighborhood during the mid 80's (north end of Bothell, Washington), lots of muscle though. We had a legit 69 1/2 Road Runner with the 440 six pack, a '57 fuelie vette that had been mildly customized in the late 60's (1970 LT1 with '65 injection, Hydromatic, some bodywork mods), a '57 sedan delivery as a daily driver (black on black, 454, th400), a '68 GT350 convertible, a couple of hot Mopars and a Chevelle owned by guys 4-5 years older than I was. Most of the cars were pretty standard stuff for 1986, but we knew the road runner and the gt350 were special. Everything was owned by blue collar middle class guys back then.