Features Black & white photo of your hot rod or custom

^^^^I've been there^^^

 

1962 black and white photo from the Long Beach Poly High School Newspaper. Senior year.

Hello,

When I had my turn at driving and owning the 58 Impala as a daily driver and weekend drag racer, it was a big hit at the local drive-in restaurant parking lots in Bixby Knolls. When someone else wanted to make a run down the coast to Merle’s Drive-In Restaurant in Newport Beach/Corona Del Mar, they asked me if I wanted to go with the group of cars. Having a fast car and friends was a good thing to have, just in case. We made several trips up to Harvey’s Broiler, but for some reason, the folks there were not as friendly as those in Newport Beach/Corona Del Mar area.

Every year in high school the yearbook staff had a car show at our school. It had a low turn out due to most of the hot rods/mild customs having to use the time after school for work and on the weekends for other uses. But, they did have car shows that ended up in the yearbooks for those years. Our group was never entered in any of the car shows.

Jnaki

So, in the last spring semester of 1962, on the last publication month for the school year, my Impala was chosen to showcase as the “car of the month.” At least, we left school with something to show that we actually had fast cars while struggling as teenagers in high school. So, for me, it was the “car of the year!”

There were a lot of facts not in the conversation the reporter and I had. He had his facts from something else and was not listening to what I told him. I had Corvette tubular mufflers, not a 61 Pontiac muffler system. Clearly, the young reporter did not look inside as it was not a Sun Tachometer ON the dash, but a small black aircraft tachometer below the lip of the dash.

The topper of misinformation was the final laughing matter. A B&M hydro and Magnesium Wheels. Talk about high dollar items? He did not see the Racer Brown Cam Sticker and the fact that I told him we installed it. Or the bright Yellow C&O Stick Hydro sticker vs a red B&M sticker? That kid was not as good as he thought he was, in photojournalism and possible reality.

After the school paper came out and tons were distributed at school, that night at the local drive-in restaurant parking lot gab sessions were a laughing matter and a ton of ribbing.

If the printed school newspaper story were true facts, then I had the least expensive Magnesium Wheels known to mankind. Who could mistake small 59 Chevy Impala hubcaps and beauty trim rings for a custom set of Mag Wheels?

But, at least, the Impala finally got some recognition, however wrong some of the key elements were noticeable. Ha! 1962 adventures of a teenage hot rod kid/drag race/surfer ... good memories of high school escapades…

NOTE:
My flathead powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery was a different story, they would not even consider it for a "car of the month" feature. Although it was a one of a kind surf transportation hot rod and very popular at the local beaches/cruising scenes. For that side of the school students, the sedan delivery was not what was (in their minds) considered a cool cruiser... HA!

 

A thread from earlier this year, if I may...

 

Here's a couple of recent shots. Photoshop is a wonderful thing.

 

My car, about 60 years apart.

ironandsteele.com​

 

Somewhere in there is a hotrodder. Sure, he was made to stand straight, keep his hair short, learned to read, write, follow the rules, but inside was a rebel spirit.



Maybe a product of his environment, or maybe it was just from being cast from tough stock, but the path was set from the beginning and could have gone either way.



It's a 4 door.



Sometimes I jus thinks. Thinks about what was, what is, and where the hell it's all going.


Another time another place, things might have turned out different, much different. For some, it is just scrap, dross in a pail. Other see it, learn from it and discover more.



Following in the footsteps of those who had little, those who worked hard for it, he kept what his hard work acquired. It was an answer to a question in a time before googling.



It takes a lot to hang on to something for a lifetime. Most won't. And some things did get lost along the way. Better or worse, hard to say. But one has to wonder why it still sits there.


Because there is lots to learn, lots to do, and things to discover. Like how to restore the fasteners you got rather than replace with new stuff so you can afford to keep it all those years. The way Henry built a car, in assembly line fashion.



For some it appears to be, black, or white. It's old, I want new. Seems I've spent a lot of time on how to DIY.
It's a cheap screw or an expensive screw, but someone still gets screwed. That's hot rodding.



Car guys like to give advice. We rely on those hotrodders who hopefully through experience or learned knowledge, share with us. With that thought comforting the mind, keep up the good work.
While understanding and applying can sometimes be difficult, one is never too old to learn.



The best piece of hotrod advice was right here in this box. 29236. That's where it ended for this FORD. Seize the day.

 

Shameless repeat.

 

My Dad and his sweet '55...I came home from the hospital in it a little over a year later...

 

Mine...56 years later...

 

I did this in the garage when I was building this sedan, does it count as black and white?

 

I need to break out my 35mm again, I think.

 

My '39 Custom Mercury... getting some routine maintenance in the garage.


After the maintenance... it's all systems go !!!

 

Pickup I’m working on

 

My 31.

 

Just perfect !!!

 

Our 56 Merc.

 

I like it!!! by Bad Bob posted Mar 3, 2011 at 5:48

 

-Dave

 

-Dave

 

-Dave