A family thing?....Are Hot Rods in your blood?

My dad was an Air Force pilot, but he couldn't screw in a light bulb without an instruction sheet. My grandfathers were raised on the farm and I never really knew them.
I read my first Hot Rod Magazine when we were stationed in Japan in 1956 and I was fooked. I still have the very first set of Craftsman wrenches I bought when we got back to the US in 1960.... all of them.
So everything I know or ever learned was on my own. My first car was grandpa's '51 Chevy with a stripped timing gear. I bought the car for $100.00 and my dad said I could have it if I could fix it. Six weeks later I drove it out of the base hobby shop. I couldn't have been more proud if I had been driving a Ferrari.
I think you either have it or you don't, and there is no vaccination to help you if you get the gear head virus.
Skip in Houston

 

My dad is the real John Milner.He had the bitchin'ist (and fastest) car in the valley in '62,only the valley was the Ohio River town of Marietta.Dad is 68 now and hands down the greatest guy I've ever met.His mechanical knowledge is astounding,nothing he can't figure out,yet he is very humble.I've been at this since elementary school and I can't even come close.

 

My Dad and Grandpa were both arrested for drag racing ,each other. My Mom had to bail them both out of jail,cause Grand ma was so pissed(it wasn't their first time) but it was the first time it made the paper "Father and son arrested for drag racing". Yeah I was born into it.

 

Pretty much on my own like the rest of you. All of us guys in high school (1956) helped each other learn. Here's my first ride, a flamed '40 and 55 years later, here's my son's ride and my daughter's sprint ride so I guess it got passed on.

 

I was hooked from birth, my sister and I were nearly born at Bowman Gray Stadium! Then there was my uncles and my dad always racin each other! This is me on the fender of my dad's 40 Ford coach, J2 olds, 3-2's, lake pipes, no wonder I'm ruined!!!LOL!

 

My dad was into cars and all things mechanical his entire life. My fate was sealed at birth!

 

Dad was a bodyman and dragracer so we grew up in the garage, and I can't seem to leave anything alone. My six year old son is a LEGO wiz and builds his own cars, boats, planes. Doesn't really care about the kit on the box, has to do his own thing.

The boy and my daughter both love early morning rides in the RPU and want to help in the garage too

 

i got both. everybody born after my grandpa has the knack and the want. got a cousin doing truck pulls right now, another one racing fourwheelers. grandpa did everything, we all started driving tractors in the field just as soon as we were old enough (bout 5-7) and driving the truck back to the house for things not long after that. i've kinda gone my own way with it. everybody else is building other things, i like the old stuff.

 

On my moms side of the family. my moms brother built a '27 "T" at our farm, in the early '60s..Moms cousins were roger and larry Jongerius, bellflower cali, AKA as J&J chassis in the '60-70's....yep these are the guys that gave Boyd his start in building rods, built rods for the stars.I saw pictures, these were strange creations,

any one with any info on J&J ?? I saw a catalog of custom parts 35 years ago

 

Thats me in front of my dad's ford sometime around 4 yrs old. He took me to a goodguys show and someone fired off a blown alky car. Scared the hell out of me but hit something inside that fired me up at the same time. It was all over from there. I'll never forget hitting the swap meets at the ass crack of dawn or him bailing me out of jail when I got busted in the 12 second duster i built in high school with what i had learned from wrenching with him. Definatley in the blood for me!

 

Yes, dad was a drag racer wehn I was born, had a full factory ride my first year of life. Earliest memories are of the sandbox at the racetrack and the drive in theater. First movie I remember, I was 4 or 5, it was AG. Folks took my in my jammies thinking I would sleep, yeah right!@

 

My dad was an original member of the "HORNETS" SCTA from Redlands, CA from 1938. He introduced me to a few of his club member friends over the years, Johnny Vesco, "Scotty", Multy Aldrich and others whose names I have forgotten. He took me to the old Colton drag strip before I was a year old and El Mirage the following year. (I have no memory of either event.) In the fall of 1957 he took me to Ascot for a CRA event, Nick Valenta won the feature in the Lakewood Auto Ardun sprinter. The next Memorial day we went to Riverside to see the CRA run 500 miles on the stock car course backwards. Later in '58 at Riverside I got to see Phil Hill in the 412MI Ferrari duel with Chuck Daigh in the Scarab, to this day the best automotive duel I have ever seen. Many other experiences after but I guess it just rubbed off.

 

i will take yes for a hundred ! Dave!

 

Well, I was just at my dad's house over the weekend, borrowing tools and buying wheels for my '35. The pictures are just a little of what he has right now. Didn't take any of the cars/parts in storage. Literally hundreds of cars throughout the years...I have always loved them and have dad to thank for my life long passion! My sister's first car was a 65 fastback, my oldest brother got a 67 chevelle, my other brother a 65 tempest convertible (still has it), and me a 64 skylark (still got it!).

 

After I was born, I rode home from the hospital in a resto-rod '34 Ford tudor sedan and I've been around old cars ever since. They're all I've ever known, and I can't even image having a life without old cars. Here's a couple of my favorite photos from when I was a kid.

 

lucky family

 

Born into it. My Dad was a body man when he was young and later became a truck driver. I was always around something mechanical. When I was 10 he got his '38 Chev sedan and started to restore it. He and I have spent a lot of time together working on cars and trucks. He's now helping me work on my '38 pickup.

 

Picked it up on my own. Not sure how, must've been from the pages of Hot Rod magazine back in the mid-fifties sometime.

A car to my dad was just something you needed to get to work and back. In high school I had a '48 Olds and one afternoon I was pulling the grille out because I wanted to "customize" it. My dad came home, saw what I was doing and hit the roof. Made me put it back in.

"They designed these cars a certain way for a reason and you shouldn't go changing them around!"

He wouldn't let me go to the races either. Before I could drive I would have a "sleep-over" at my friends house because then I could go to the races with him, his dad, and his uncle. After I was driving myself, I would just sneak off to the drags on Sunday afternoons.

 

as a kid i was always into cars, but rodding wasn't in my blood. as i got older, i put a lot of blood into hot rods.

 

I had to look for it , but its in me for sure .... learning every day ! my pops was a great man but not in the garage ..

 

My dad had old pick-ups because they were cheap but he was no mechanic by far. I did race stock cars for a while like pop's did but was not a chop shop car thief like He was. I did hear some crazy stories about police car chases thoe. So if I got my hot rod habit from anyone it would be from Dad.

 

its definitely in my blood, my dad and uncles all had something cool or old going on when they grew up in the 70's. my uncle had a chopped 55 chevy truck, my dad is the youngest of the family, so he had a 65 mustang coupe, it was built for speed. my other uncle had a 57 chevy mild custom with 60 chrysler taillights. seeing pictures of all these cars they had infected me bad!

 

Dad started out modifying cars when he was in high school. He and his buddy Lyle Browning even built an underslung out of something then. He had a 41 Ford Rag top when he came back from WWII that was noted as having the loudest pipes. I came home from the hospital in that car in a snow storm. The most fun one to me that he had was the jet black 57 Olds J2 4 door hardtop that we went to Disneyland in in 1962. One of those great road trips that I still remember fondly. My favorite thing was watching the guys at the gas stations when they popped the hood and the three chrome air cleaners stared them in the face.
Later he was there for moral support in my hot rod an custom adventures and we made a trip to Texas and back to Bonneville together in 1988 in my 51 Merc coupe with the 350 Olds in it. A trip he both bragged and complained about for the rest of his life.

 

My mom and dad both grew up up buyin/sellin/restoring old cars for a living. And they met while working at car lots that were (I think) across the street from eachother! Then since I've been 7-8 (I am only 14) we have had 4 cars. (not including our dailys) We've had a 1968 mustang. a 1954 oldsmobile rocket 88. a 1955 GMC pickup. And our most recent. a 1927 Model T coupe! I finally got my first project! Its not exactly HAMB friendly but I love it! A 1974 Superbeetle! And soon we are picking up a 37 chevy!

Pictures of our cars:

 

we were too poor for cool stuff. The only time our car was a "hotrod" is when the muffler fell off. And that is the truth!

 

Damn, are you sure we didn't have the same Dad?

Mine used to tell me "General Motors pays their engineers millions of dollars a year to design those cars... What makes you think you are smarter than them?"

 

Yes definitely! My dad used to drive my mom nuts by brush painting the rims red on ALL of our cars the second that he got them home. Green car, blue car, white car... didn't matter! We could never afford a new car, so he had to "hot rod" whatever the (used) family car was.

My uncle (mom's brother) worked at an Oldsmobile dealership in the 60's and I distinctly remember him having a BUNCH of early / mid 60's Corvettes that he'd bought at insurance auctions. He'd work on them at night & weekends in the Olds dealership's body shop and would sell them and go out and buy more. He had as many as three or four Stingrays at a time!!!

My last name is the same as the guy who won the '53 and '54 Indy 500 and his family is from the same part of Europe as my family, so...??? Unfortunately he was killed while leading the '55 race, so I can't ask him more specific questions.

Now, my father in law is the same as the other guys that you guys mentioned! A car is a vehicle meant to get you from point A to point B and you should NEVER do anything to personalize it or to customize it... Good thing that I didn't grow up under HIS watchful eye!!!

 

Not in my blood. I transfused myself. My parents, and pretty much all my friends as a kid didn't get it, nor did they support me in it. I was the only one of all the guys pre 14 yrs old that was crazy about cars. They just thought I was crazy for being so into it. Magazines/slot cars/models, etc. In fact, most my friends from after getting a license were only into cars til they got married. Not all, but most. And I never got "that". I had to get a license and take myself to my first drag strip......................
Through the years I've met guys into cars for a few short years, then moving on. Only to find out that's normal for them. They would have different hobbies through the years that were not permanent-bikes/music/skateboards, etc. And I never got "that". For me, it's always been about the cars, since I got my 1st slot car set at age 8 or 9 (I'm now 55). Sure, you guys see me selling cars, like I'm not attached. Like I don't care. Fact is, that money goes immediately right back into another car. All the while looking for something to keep my interest levels up. So far, I've found 3 that will be by my side for a long time. Plus I enjoy a wide variety that I only dreamed of as a kid. I'd like to give big credit for my Auto Shop teacher, Mr. John Wilson (early 70's in SoCal). He was a huge influence

 

Yep, in my blood. Growing up as a kid my dad always had a project...we were always wrenching on an old car. We built my first car, a 70 SS Chevelle 396. Like a dumb kid, I sold it. Anyway, he and I still are building cars. Pops is building a 1930 model a sedan, chopped and I am building a 1929 roadster on '32 rails. I hope to get my son in cars when he is old enough, he is only 2 right now.

 

yup, my ole man was a street racer.. and some how I ended up doing the same.