Being in the 60+ years, HAMB members, I look back on my teen / early 20s years and shake my head as I recall the total waste of old American iron, for our weekend entertainment. My 4 buddies, including myself, all had 1937 - 39 Ford V8s, which we removed the bodies from the frame, added roll bars and ran them on the beach, or any farmers land that would let us through their gates. Man, those memories, the fun, so cool, but its also a shame to visit the river edge and see the old bodies still lying where we dumped them over 40 years ago.. How about you other "older" HAMBers, got any stories to tell???
I shudder when I think of all the really nice old cars I ruined from the time I was 12 until I was 18. I didn't know what I was doing so I would take off a bunch of parts and never get them running. After a while my Mom would get tired of too many cars sitting around and would call the junkman. Among them were a Model A Fordor, a 38 Ford Fordor, a 37 Dodge four door, three Crosleys, a 600 Fiat, two 53 Studebakers, probably 4 50 Fords, one was a convertible, a 59 Caddy, a 57 Pontiac, a 34 Ford roadster ex drag car, and lots more I can't even remember. Most of them were really nice and only cost about $ 25- $ 100 each. What was I thinking and where is that time machine. Don
I just try not to think about it. Luckily it gets easier with age but somebody always has to remind me!
Back in the mid 70's when I first started building hot rods my buddies and I would find a nice muscle car to part out for the drivetrain. Gas crunch days, you could buy a muscle car cheap and it would have all the "good" parts to make a fast hot rod. I cut up some pretty nice cars, 71 Boss 351 Mustang, 70 Z/28, 70 SS396 Chevelle. All relative low mileage and probably number matching. Pull the drivetrain, maybe sell a few parts and send the rest to the scrapper. If I only knew then what those cars would be worth today!
I don't even want to think about all the HAMB cars I cut up to make oval track race cars......let along the O/T cars and trucks........
I bought a brand new 1972 Corvette LT-1. I drove it for one year then tore apart the motor and had it built to 1970 specs. Raced the hell out it, put a stuffer supension on it. I autocrossed it, and did some street racing and dragway racing, sold it five years later, bought a 61 corvette from a old friend, had that for about a year and a half, had a bad wreck. Sold the remains. Make a long story short I wish I still had the 61 Vette today it was a awesome car to drive, and it got a lot of looks even back then..........
man this would not be a good one to get talking about , i want to have a good day and not upset myself or others , way to many, thats all ill say
cool thing was my dad didnt let me ruin my cars. But it is a funny thing to look at these days as the youth cars guys ruin there rides.... especially the tuner guys with there giant fart cannon exhausts and quad stacked wings and air ports placed all over the cars where they dont even need it...
Donated a bunch of 57-58 Ford 2 door posts to the Gods of Speed on half mile dirt tracks in the early 70's.
Back in the old days, I could only afford one car at a time, so it was my daily as well as my race car. Never cut one up, just made it faster.
.......I'd rather think about my two exwifes than think about all the cars that got ruined has a young man....
In the 60"s I worked at a wrecking yard and destroyed 1 right after another. The ones with wood we set on fire to burn the wood out of them but the others there was a TD18 tractor to smash them flat for the trip to the scrap yard.
Scrapped a Model A P/U to get money to go to Mardi Gras. No biggie back then...I knew where 4 or 5 more were out in the county that I could have for next to nothing. Blew the DynaFlow in my '54 Buick and left in Grandmother's yard when I went into the military. She got tired of looking at it and sold it while I was at Tuy Hua. It was a beautiful 2 dr Hardtop with a rolled and pleated burgandy and white interior. Car was refrigerator white..full moons..long lake pipes. I still have dreams about that car.
I only ruined 60s and newer cars,my dad would have killed me if I destroyed anything older then the 50s.
Dude, why did you stop? There is millions more of them nasty things to cut up, don't give up yet!!! Doc.
I cut the floor out of an excellent 46 Ford 2 door sedan and put it in a 47 Ford convertible. My Buddy still has the doors that came off of it. Wish I had that one to do all over again! 48 Poncho
Bought a 40 Ford 4dr sedan for $10 in the late 60's. No engine, trans, or front clip, but the remainder of the car was dead perfect. Original burgundy paint, not the slightest hint of dents or rust, perfect interior where the original owner had installed (or maybe it was a factory option) clear plastic covers over all the door panels. I bought it for the trunk lid to use on my 40 2dr sedan. Local guy who owned a body shop saw it sitting in the yard and offered to buy the front doors to use in repairing a restored coupe someone local had wrecked. Got $250 for the 2 doors, and I was rich. Took the rear doors and front seat out, and they still sit in my dad's basement today. Cut the rest of it up and hauled it to the junkyard. Dumbass. Got a 68 olds 442 convertible in the mid 70's for $150. Drove it a couple years. Car had a few minor dings, but it had come out of Georgia and didn't have a spec of rust anywhere on it. Had all 5 of the original magnum 500 type styled steel wheels. Scrapped that one later too for the running gear. After all, who the hell would ever want a muscle car that had air, power windows, power seats, AM-FM w/ factory 8 track, tilt wheel, and every other option Olds had in 68. Back then, the only muscle cars anyone wanted were the ones with minimal options. Double dumbass
I never really had it in me to destroy anything. Money was always too hard to come by and I appreciated everything I ever had unless my memory is selective. Only cars I ever really scrapped out was a 67 Mustang that I used every conceivable part off of to put on a 32 Ford coupe I had. And a 68 T bird that was a pos and I liberated the 429/c6 and everything else I could off of it. A friend of mine told me they used to drive a pretty nice 55 Crown Vic to school. When the motor crapped out they used it for target practice with deer rifles. He said now the thought of it makes him sick.
Looking at your sand budggy remineds me of one that we took down to nuthing and shortened to make a sand buggy when I was on highschool. it was a '55 or '56 desoto with a hemi. Cut the body off shortened the chassis to the max, drive shaft was 10" long. Granted it was just a pink fordoor hdtp but today someone would give a nut for it.
57 Chevy convertible, bought for $200.00 in 1970, shortend with no doors,sat in back seat, we did several wagons , still have a 57, at that time convertibles were greaser cars,nobody wanted them! I have pictures ill post if I can figure out how. I wonder where that car is now? sure would like to know what hapened to it,If anybody has seen that car let me know. THANKS Chris
Oh man, that brings back memories! When I was in the Navy in the '70s I had a 1970 340 Duster. Rebuilt the motor and 4 speed and drove the car for a few years. Hooked up with the wrong woman, burnt out the clutch and the car sat until the mid '80s. Parted it out to help pay bills while I was in college. Motor and trans were fine, the body was a little dented but no rust. I need to kick my own ass over that one. My friend had a '64 Mercury Marauder, according to the VIN it came from the factory with a 427 & 4 speed but had a 390 at the time. He ran into hard times and had to decide between keeping that or his '54 Ford Country Squire. He sold the Mercury for $400 and the new owner parted it out. If we only knew!
I watched my dad destroy more cars than I ever could. Guess it caused me to try and save as many as I could. The last two trucks I bought (Kurbside milk truck and 67 c10) were headed for the crusher. My kids on the other hand............. peace
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