Hot Rods First car... how old were you?

1964,Age 15 (no license), bought a non running 1940 Ford coupe Deluxe with a '56 Olds motor with TRI-POWER for $150. bucks. Never got it running right ( carbs were junk) got gas all over the Old Man's lawn and ruined it ( his pride and joy) and had to get rid of it. Sold for $150. bucks, and I figured I was pretty slick getting my dough back! ( that's a lot of Boston Globe newspapers delivered back then!).

 

10 1/2 66 Nova $600 still have, cut grass to buy, $ 5 a yard , started when I was 8 yrs old,
2nd car 13 year old 72 Vega X race car put it on street & bought my first nitrous kit ,stage 4,5,6 cheater kit

 

I was 15 in 1962 and saved all my cutting grass money for 4 years to buy a 1956 Chevy belair 2 door hard top, aqua with a burnt carb spot on hood, 265 engine with a 3 speed floor mounted mystery shifter, and mean a mystery shifter. Thank goodness Hurst started making shifters. I guess you never forget your first car I sure have not.

 

1946 at age 13,,,$25.00 for a 1936 Ford 2 door..

 

59 Ford ranch wagon, 292, 3 on the tree, $35. I was 15.-MIKE

 

16, a 47 Ford coupe for $125.

 

14 - sat on a milk crate and steered it with Vicegrips as we towed it home. 1962 Nova two door hard top which had been a former drag car.

 

my "college education" was a '57 chevy 2dr hdtp at age 13 in 1985.....i was attracted by the shiny black paint. little did i know it was a pile of bondo, flashing, pop rivets and roofing tar.....i eventually sold it for a profit and bought a rust free 55 (which is what i really wanted) and kept that for many years...

 

Started driving my Mothers 64 Ford Fairlane Station Wagon by pulling it out of the garage and around to the front yard for her as she had a tough time backing out of the garage. First car was a $25 Chevy
station wagon, a 56 that was bought by a dealer as part of a lot of 56 Ford Trucks that he wanted. I could not afford the $125 2 door 57 with a 265!

 

My pop gave me my first car when I was 4.


I bought my first at 16. Paid $45 for this fine 1929 Ford pickup. Home was 50 miles from the seller and the head had a huge crack so we filled some water jugs and pop followed me home. This was my DD through High School.

 

Summer of 62 (me at age 11 with my grandfather); my grandfather surprised me with this little Crosley racer. Still have it with a spare Crosley hot shot motor. Picture is pretty dog eared as I carried that picture in my wallet with pride for a few years. My grandfather had probably a 1/2 mile track around his business buildings-front stretch was asphalt and back stretch was cinders.

 

Your Grandfather was Barney if I am not mistaken. If so; Was there ever a complete list of all the cars he tried to save?
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F & J, yes my grandfather was Barney Pollard. I oversaw his business (athough he was retired so it was what was left of them pretty much) and he put me in charge of all but the first of his antique auto auctions in the late 70s (after the first auction was a failure and I could tell him I told you so). I still have a lot of the auto related paperwork so I suppose if I wanted I could come up with a list of cars but tons of work. People still send me requests. I personally titled 700 cars prior to the auctions in the late 70s and we had some titles already. If I had to guess we easily had 900 cars-maybe a 1000-he never really counted and we all took them for granted I suppose. I wrote a 10 part article on him for the AACA magazine a few years ago. He was the quintessential car guy in my opinion.

 

14....Neighbor down the street sold his house and moved out of state and left a 39 Chevy coupe on the property telling the buyer of the new house that he would pick it up in a mouth of so. My school bus went by that house every day and I could see the Chevy sitting there causing visions Hot Rod in my mind. After about a year of watching the car sit there and having been working on a friends farm I had some cash saved up so I thought I'd take a ride on my bike over to the house to see what was up with the car. I knocked on the door and the lady opened it and asked what I wanted. I told here I like the old car sitting on the side of the house and ask if it was for sale. She said that her husband was trying to get in touch with the guy who sold them the house to tell him to get the car out of the yard or they were going to junk it. He had gone to the local DMV and they told him to send the guy a registered letter and if he did not respond in 30 days they could either dispose of the car or apply for a title and sell it. She said that the 30 days were almost up and she couldn't wait to see it go to the junk yard. I told her that if they could get a title for it I would give them $25.00 for it and get it off the property. To make a long story short it did work out that I bought the car for the $25.00 and got it home and played around with it for a number of years and finally got it on the road when I turned 18 with a 241 Dodge hemi in it. I had about as much fun with that car as any I have ever owned and wish I had never sold it...Have no idea where it is today.

 

I was 10 as well, earned the money from pumping gas at my Dad's Texaco station and sorting soda bottles at a family friends ice house (kinda a combined convenience store and bar in one for those not in the south), and bought a Berry Mini T dune buggy. Wish I still had it!

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Great thread. Keep it going. These stories are gold.

 

I was 15 with no drivers license............'53 Ford sedan $25 ran (barley) 1st gear was shot as was the clutch. Bought it from our corner garage/gas station. Don't remember where I got the 25 from........
Sold it the next day for $50.

 

I was floored when I saw all the articles and photos in Old Cars Weekly back then, as well as read all the stories with photos since then.

Most people reading the above quotes, likely don't know how old and how rare those cars were, and how long ago that he started saving them. Stuff I'd never even heard of back then.

Fascinating history beyond description.

.

 

12 years old.... 49 ford Bus. Coupe .... 25 bucks .... I was a mascot for a local club called the Ram Rods - I met them at watsontown skating rink here in Jersey. I had filed the wood wheels on my skates a little flat on one side and they sounded line a PAIR OF GLASSPACKS when I skated ... put tiny flashlights in the front and seeing as my dad was a plumber and had some chrome 3/8' pieces of sink supply pipe in the garage I made 8 header pipes and screwed them to my skates ...... One of the Ram Rods grabs me by the neck and says " hey kid -- you're kinda cool- wanna' join the CLUB "!! Well--- HELL YEA !!! I got to skate with ALL the 18 year old girls and I was in HEAVEN !!! Even got a TINY Ram Rods JACKET --- believe me I WAS THE SHIT !!!
Back to the car .... The club guys came to my house every Saturday and told me what to do each week ( I (we )was puttin' a 303 olds and laSalle trans in ) .... they did NO wrenching on her but told me what to do until the next week and I got a LOT of kid you f'ed that up .... do it again .... anyway ... was DRIVIN' it at 15 ALL BUILT by My young hands .... cars and GIRLS --- THANK YOU Ram Rods where ever you may be now ..... this was all 59-60 YEARS AGO ..... WHAT a memory that will stay with me till I'm GONE !!!

 

I was almost 14 and my dad let me buy a 40 ford 2dr from a friend of his who owned a service station/garage. It was $ 65 and would not run , so dad had it towed to the farm. The wrecker operator charged us $ 3.00 and my dad gave him a pint of whiskey !! Rebuilt the carb and put a gasket on the fuel pump bowl and got it started. Then I relined the brake shoes and rebuilt the brake cylinders using parts from J C Whitney . It had a tag on the motor ,was a Sears and Roebuck rebuilt engine . I must have gotten a gross of used condoms out from under the seat. I drove that 40 all over our farm. Later l sold it to my dad and bought a 57 Chevy. I remember this as it happened yesterday instead of 1960. I still love 40 fords today.

 

At 15 years, in 1978 I had saved enough to buy a convertible 68 Firebird from a neighbor and drove it home with a misfire. #7 cylinder was burning oil in the tired 350. After a few spark plugs and a few months I saved enough to buy a junkyard Catalina 455 2bbl motor for $75.

Today's tip, don't drive a fast car with a 10" 3 spoke steering wheel at 16 years old. Catastrophe.


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It was in 1973 when I was 18. I got leveraged into buying a 1964 Olds Dynamic 88, 4-door for $275. The body and interior were mint. But it had a very leaky transmission and needed a valve job right away.

I learned a lot on that car but it nickel & dimed me in the year that I had it. Everything was wrong with it. Exhaust, fuel pump, starter, choke, electrical gremlins plus the major issues above.

 

I never really thought about it before, but I never bought a car myself, until I was married. Strange. But I got a few from my dad. The first one was the 61 Impala convertible, he bought it for $32 in 1970 (I think I was 9 at the time), and said we boys could take it apart when it quit running. It kind of quit running in 1975, so I took it apart, and put it back together again, and we drove it for a few years. I sold it in 1985 after attempting to restore it, before I had a big enough place to restore a car.

 

I think it was 1948 or early'r I was 14 I when't to the Junk yard
that's were you would Buy Cars back then.!
I bought a 1936 Ford Conv. Coupe for $15.00 & Drove
it home & worked on it for about a year
on its Madden Voyage I Sold it, this guy made me a offer that I
could Not Refuse $300. Wow that was a Lot of Money back
then.

Just my 3.5 cents
or when the Cows
come Home.!

 

I don't know if this qualifies as a first car, but that's what I thought it was at the time.
At 13, I read somewhere that streamlined bicycles could go 60 miles per hour. I rode a bike just as good as the next guy, I thought. Here was my big chance to drive myself off the farm and into town, any time I wanted! I could keep up with cars! I took the rear wheel off my ten speed and two front wheels and some steel tubes to weld up an recumbent tricycle frame. After realizing how much effort it took to pedal, I realized it was just a bike and not a car. In spite of my misconception, it did turn out to be loads of fun to ride down the giant hill we lived on.


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Detassled corn for money and bought my Rambler for $650 in 1991 at the age of 13. Still have it and drive it often.

 

High school junior.

 

Thought the '53 Willys Aero Ace I overhauled at 15 would become my first car, but Mom insisted that my Dad sell it because it didn't have seat belts and she thought I'd kill myself in it. Had to wait four more years, worked three jobs to afford a '29 Model A coupe and also make enough money to pay for college for two semesters. The A had no glass, no roof, only enough wiring to run the engine and three of the four brake rods either broke or dropped a clevis pin on the 15-mile drive home through rush hour traffic. Wish like hell I'd kept it, but had to pay for last semester of college.

 

l've told it before but here's the story.

Back in 1962 we had a neighbor that lived behind us on a corner lot,Mr.Burton was his name,never knew his first name and from the time I was 1o years old I cut his grass during the summer.

He drove a 53/56 Ford truck to work and had had some kind of accident and walked with a bad limp that's probably why I cut his grass.
Anyway,I would go to his barn and get what I needed to do his yard work and there half covered with a old canvas army tent was a 32 Ford 5-window coupe.

I always looked forward to entering that sacred tomb each summer until that day in early June he told me that my services were no longer needed,he explained that he was moving up north to live with his sister,he ask me did I want the lawnmower to go into business cutting other folks yards,I gladly went to the shed to retrieve the mower and gaze one last time at the coupe,which had not moved the whole time we lived next to him.

I ask him was he gonna drive the old car to his sisters or pull it,His answer was,No son,I'm gonna have to sell the old gal,with that reply,I fired back how much?

His answer was already established because 75 bucks came back as quick as I ask.I'll buy it,I said.
He looked at me and said we need to talk to your dad,not wanting my dad to say no I told Mr. Burton I would talk to dad tonight when he gets home from work.

Next dad I sat outside Mr. Burton's front door,it seemed to be forever but I knew he worked second shift and I didn't dare wake him up,It just might screw things up.

Around noon he exited his house and ask how long had I been there and if I had discussed the sale with my dad,I told him I just came over a few minutes ago and dad said it was ok with him,

BTW,I never once said a word to my dad,I really didn't need the money,I robbed my cigar box and with my grass cutting money,birthday money and my entire life savings I had enough money and some change,enough money to buy the coupe and fix it up,Hey I was 12 years old and I didn't know what I do today.

So,I handed Mr. Burton my hard earned cash and we proceed to unearth the coupe,man That car was a nice original black paint,flathead V8,and all 4 tires were shot and rotten,but I had the biggest grin on my face and as I fought with all my might trying to guide it as Mr. Burton pulled it behind his truck across his yard into my parents side yard.

I was the happiest kid in the world for about three hours.

That was when my dad got home,the first words out of his mouth was what was that junk car doing in our yard? from there it got ugly,he called Mr. Burton,woke him up(remember,2nd shift),he was a little more than annoyed and he and my dad got into a debate about not clearing it with him first and that I was 12 years old and had no business with a car and for him to come and get it out of his yard and if he wanted to,keep the money Danny gave you for lying to us both,and he would take care of me.I knew what was gonna happen,they don't call this part of the country the Bible Belt for nothing.

Heavy on the belt,long story coming to a end,Mr. Burton gave me my money back and had a big laugh,a few days later both he and the car were gone,, never to be seen again.

Many years later my dad and I talked about what had now become known as the ol' ford coupe incident and how he never dreamed that I would ever be able to restore and build cars from the ground up and how badly I wanted that car and how he was proud of me when people would stop by our business and ask about the different cars that
I would drive to work.

At that time the 32 Ford coupes were already reaching unheard of prices and he just couldn't believe it.

A few weeks before he passed away the subject came up again,he said I sure hope you find a ol' coupe like that one someday and I told him,it was probably a good thing he didn't let me keep it,I would have made a hot rod and might have gotten myself killed in it,he smiled and said,I don't think so but nobody will ever know son,we can't go back,but if I could I would let you keep that car.

All you guys got is my word on this tale,all the players are deceased,except me and nobody knows the where the 32 coupe ended up,but I'm willing to bet the owner ain't 12 years old!

BTW,4 years later I did get to keep my next ca,,I was 16 years old and I did clear it with dad,a 1954 mainline.

So to answer the question,I was 12 years old when I bought my first car.HRP