How did you get hooked on to old cars ?

as many others here i had hot wheels , built models etc but i think what really hooked me was my dad and his brother allways were working on ,buying selling cars and the thing that really hooked me

was a gray primered 55 chevy hardtop that my dad had for ashort while ive allways thought id have one someday ...hasnt happened yet

 

Yer killin me!!!

 

Went to my first portland roadster shop in 1957. The car that built the fire was Al Drakes '29 ford roadster. Still have the picture somewhere. Norm

 

When I was 14 years old, a normal kid interested in sports and fishing, I heard a really nice rumble coming from behind as I walked up the street with my friend. I turned around to see what it was and saw this fire engine red 5 window deuce cruising up the street right beside me. It was full fendered, channelled and oh so low.
That did it. Right there. I was hooked on old cars for the rest of my life. I am building a 30 Ford coupe right now and you will never guess what color I am going to paint it.

 

When I was about 5 years old, my mother bought my father a 1928 Citroen 6 sedan for 5 pounds ($10). It wasnt much and dad wanted a roadster & heard that one came down a river that was in flood about 5 hours away, so we went over with a trailer & hooked the body and headed home.

It was a Hupmobile body so my father & his mate got the specs for a Citroen roadster and modified the Hup body till it was sort of nearly close enough. He really was a crap vintage guy and wanted to go fast. The local vintage guys were appalled of course and called it the Citroen-mobile.

And that lead me to a life hooked on cars.

 

Just grew up with them ... Hell I didn't even know there were new cars, we never had one. Growing up my after school and saturdays were generally spent helping my dad work on the "Sunday special". The only day there was no work allowed just going for drives (I think some of those were to look for the next "Family special").

 

My parent's first car, before I was born, was a '47 Lincoln Continental Coupe, yellow with a Buick metallic green top, powered by a very hot '53 Cadillac V8. It looked cool, sounded cool, and moved with authority. I had my soft fingers caught in the door, latched that is. To this day, I can't figure out how my fingers fit in there. But I remember their using orange cream cycles on my swollen fingers. Oh, and my dad was rear-ended by a '63 Falcon (in '63). Totaled the Falcon, bent the rear bumper on the Lincoln, and my head cracked the windshield. That left a good impression on me. Always been an old car nut. My first words used frequently were "Adillac" and "Thruck", whenever I went for a drive with my mom or dad, for every car and truck on the road. Drove the Lincoln during high school, which led me to buying a pink '53 Cadillac hearse just to replace the blown motor in the Lincoln. The Lincoln rots in my mom's backyard, and I still have a lot of parts from the hearse... and lots of old car stories.

 

I would have to say that it is in my DNA. I can't otherwise explain it!

 

Started building models in late 60's then in '71, I was 13 and my uncle built a 30 model A coupe that would scream. Pulled the tires off the ground in second gear. He gave me a ride and the rest is history.

 

I honestly can't remember when I didn't love old cars. Even as a little child I remember loving to look at the old square built cars from the 20s and 30s. I liked to watch The Untouchables on TV just to see the old cars. Then we moved across the street from a guy who had a red 32 Ford hiboy roadster with a Mercury Y block engine in it. That sealed it for me. I started saving up and buying Hot Rod magazines after that and planning for the day I would have one. My passion sometimes fades a little for them, but never goes away. I have just learned to wait it out if I lose interest for a while and it will come back and I will still have my projects waiting on me.

 

I think I was born loving old cars. I can't remember a time that I didn't look for them. I remember as a kid, riding in the back seat of my Dad's '50 Chevrolet with a pair of binoculars, looking for old tin in the fields and behind barns. There was a lot of it around back then. My Dad was never into cars, but never discouraged me from playing with them. My first encounter with a real hot rod was about 1963 when one evening I was walking to my Dad's grocery store that was a block from our house and I heard a loud car coming down main street. I ran to the corner to see a red '32 vicky going past. It was LOUD. I was hooked from that point on. I will never forget that night.

 

Circa 1980 in my dad's bodyshop was a '55 Chevy 4dr sedan ready for paint, I saw that car and it was love at first sight. I knew I had to have one. Forward to '84 and my first car ( first love) '55 BelAir 2dr sedan. And I've been accumulating more beautiful cars ever since.

 

Well, I was brought home from the hospital at birth in a '67 Beetle and grew up around that and my dad's '69 Lotus Europa for many years. Folks even took me to the local hot rod hangout growing up. I just liked cars.

Been in the VW scene for more than two decades now...and I kind of feel like I've done everything I want to do with them. Really have the itch to sell it and find myself a vintage wagon of some sort...58-61 Rambler wagons really have my eye right now.

 

Not really sure. My dad was not into cars, and only one of my 3 older brothers was, but never to the extent that I am. My oldest brother told me that I could name and give the year to just about any car on the road when I was five or six. I guess i was obsessed at an early age.

Maybe I was dropped on my head as a baby. That might explain it.

 

Father son project. Built a 58 chevy biscayne and got hooked. Didn't even know what a 58 Looked like so we watched american graffite. I Was really excited to have a car like toad drove in move. OTHER THAN it wasn't a IMPALA. I didn't care. Still have car. Painted it lexus pearl white with chrome reverse wheels. 327 With borg warner close ratio four speed. FUN FUN FUN

 

I bought my first Street Rodder magazine in 1977 at age 14. Inside there was an article on Hawaii hot rods and in that article was a purple 27 T tub with a white interior......Still on my bucket list.

 

I was ten when some local bearded thugs (hot rodders) started renting a large shed out the back of my home. Took a year or so to get the courage to poke my young nose in the door, only to see another bearded hoodlum leaning over a 383 Chrysler with uncapped headers, reving the crap outa it. 383 was in a black Model A tub with flames. Rick, the owner and talented hot rod builder, (still buildin em ) would get me and my buddies to wash it eventually, and took us for rides. The mad sickness was set from then on. Hence why my 29 Hudson is black with flames.

 

My love of old cars came from my Dad,He was in the gas station business!
I saw him every morning He whould wake up so see us off to school Then by lunch time he was gone he only had to work half a day 12 pm to 12 am, His partner worked 6am to 6 pm.
Sunday was my day with my dad. He was always playing with some kind of car.
The car he had in my youth that was my favorite a 1934 Ford tudor sedan He paid a double saw buck for it (twenty bucks) spent a sunday afternoon getting it to run.
That was the time Bonnie n Clyde was at the movies.
I was sad to see that car go. It was very clean in the early 60s for a thirty year old ford,He got 450.00 dollars I often tell him out of all the cars he had thats the one I wish he hung on to.

 

That's an easy question, from Dad. My folks first car was a '57 Chevy wagon with a 283 4-barrel that dad drag raced at the original drag strip in Kansas City, and constantly street raced. His shop truck was a '49 GMC with a warmed over 331 Cadillac, witch was the first vehicle I ever started at about 5 years old. I've been on this path since day one.

 

There was an old plumber living on my corner. He lived above his old shop (probably passed down to him from his dad). He used to sit in front of the shop with the old wooden barn doors open just a crack. That shop was packed with loads of old goodies and you could catch a glimpse when ever you passed by. Right there behind the door sat an old truck cover with junk. It was especially odd since there are few old cars where i grew up. I always wanted to dig it out and get it to run but it never happened. Years later I found one for myself.

 

I guess back around 72 a friend of dads had a Model A coupe, 283, 4 speed but the coolest thing to me was the blue plexi glass roof. Anyway he took me for a ride, stopped at the beginning of a straight stretch put it in first dumped the clutch and the rest was history.

 

Pop


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

What a interesting read! HRP

 

I was standing in the back of Dad's 38 4dr Oldsmobile, a New 49 Ford Coupe went blasting by us, I said Wow Dad, look at that, a brand new 49 Ford ! He looked at Mom and said, how's he know that ? I kept saying look at him go, I was 4 yrs at the time, and yes I have a 49 Ford coupe, and a 51 Ford sedan in the shop. happy motorin sandy

 

I just like ART, rolling art

 

I got hooked thru my whole family. My Dad, Uncles, older brothers, older cousins. My Dad started out with cars in the East L.A. in the 40s and he had everything from 49 thru 60 Mercurys, Model As, Model Bs, Impalas, Rancheros, F100s, El Caminos, Plymouth, Nash, Rambler to a brand new 65 Mustang. And the most he ever paid for a used car is $500 when he bought a 56 Corvette for my Brother. And when he got tried of a car, he would just give it away to some family member and buy another car.
My 2 older brothers got into Chevys exclusively in the 60s and that's where I picked up my love for the bowtie. I started off with those O.G. Hotwheels, Cox gas cars, Eldon slot cars and model kits. When I was 15, my brother gave me my first car, a 55 Nomad which need alot of work. No Motor, trans, front seat (I had a milk crate for awhile until I got one bucket seat and then I got a original front seat)
What really trips me out is the prices now days of any old car. They are way over priced even for cars guys wouldn't ever consider buying 30 some years ago.

 

Growing up in southern Michigan in the sixties, our neighbors restored stock model A's. One year they were decorating a couple of the cars up for a local 4th of July parade, and invited me to ride in the rumble seat of the one car. I remember that day well, even though I was only 6 or 7.

---John

 

I got hooked after hanging around with some older teenagers in my neighborhood who were building hot rods. Once I went to the drag strip with them there was no turning back.

 

10 years old and got to spend a week in the "Big City" with my grandmother. On wash day I went to the local laundrymat with her. Being an overactive kid. My grandmother offered to buy me a magazine to set me down and be quiet. She bought me a Hot Rod Magazine. The real thing, late fifties with dragsters on the cover and great hot rods inside. I read it till the covers fell off. Then into building AMT, JoHan, Revell and Monogram models. A BIG "T" kit and the old see thru engine on a stand. Showed them at the 4-H fairs.
First ride, like many farm boys, was a Ford tractor. Found out how to bypass the governor and go fast. Then a John Deere green brush painted 56 Buick Roadmassa. To tear up the back 40 with and herd the cows in for milking.
Helped the neighbor kid build a nailhead/47 Mercury coupe and a Y block 56 Ford coupe. I bought a 60 Studebaker Lark and installed the old 56 nailhead with a stick trans in it.
A fellow HAMBer (Old Swede) bought a T roadster pickup and he and I resurected it in 1966. What a blast. Got me expelled from school for three days.
Then I went to Central Michigan Dragway got drag racing bug and the following years have been a good life. Lots of good times and my addiction is to Rust, noise, smoke, and anything that moves under its own power.