How did you get hooked on to old cars ?

I got hooked by all the Lowriders in the neighberhood and at the house. The lowrider movement was huge in the 80's, especially in San Jose. I was probably about 8 when I became the house gofer. Getting tools and beers for whoever was working on their car at the house. Ever since then I was hooked. Always thought the transformation of a car from beginning to end was freaking amazing. Never grew out of it, lucky for me my wife is understanding of it, and it gives me and my boys something to do to bond over you know. I mean we got sports and shit like that but their aunt nothing like banging knuckles with your kids. Probably one of the greatest things I have gotten to do with my kids.

 

the 49 and 33 Chevy's were my older cousins cars and that is me in 1949. Still drive a Roadster and carry a gun

 

In the mid 80s HRM published a special issue on classic chevys....It was my first car mag - It contained the entire flashback 57 buildup and a feature on ron flinkins Black Death (my favorite hot rod of all time) as well as a bunch of other cool tri-5s.......I knew I would own one someday - a couple of years later at the age of 15 I did....the rest is history

 

I was working with a guy who was into rods and he took me along to a couple of runs. That was in the mid-70's.
We started a rod club and ran some events for a few years, but over the past 20 years, I've been away, working on business, growing a family, but now, my only excuse is living away from home (in London, UK) because of work.
Time for my cars when we head home.

 

My first step dad Bill had a 55 olds 88 black and flamed and dropped he lived 5 miles from Simi Valley around 58 or so after that I never had a chance.

 

For me it is a genetic disease passed down from my Dad. There is no cure for it either. My Dad said when I cried in my crib it sounded like a stroked and bored Flathead. Over the years I tried several diffrent types of Therapy to cure this Disease, Tryed football, baseball, many other sports No luck. I also tryed drugs and women, still No luck! However women did help a little, (provided temporay relief) But still was not a cure. At this point in my life I have just decided to accept the fact I am a hot rod junkie, And will live out the rest of my days with this disease.....LOL

 

I think it started early.My mum said that some of my first words were "car"
and "Van" for the Vanguard sedan my dad had.By about 3 years old I could name several cars.
I started seeing Hot Rod magazine(when it was hot rods) and some other publications around 10 years of age and I was hooked on T Buckets and
roadsters etc.Purchased my first car at 13,selling my bicycle to fund the purchase price of $30 for a 1938 Ford Club Roadster.No licence but we drove it around the vacant block a few doors from our home.
Also acquired a 1933 roadster that I pulled apart but didn't do anything with, eventually selling it.In the meantime I had a 1938 4 door sedan and a 1946 4 door sedan.Purchased my first hot rod,a channelled Y block powered 1929 Model A roadster.After a year or so that was rebuilt and repainted.
Went on to a 1932 Ford 4 door sedan,a 1929 Ford Model A Tourer,an Essex sedan with a 360 Mopar/Torqueflite.The I got into starting from scratch with a pro street Model A Tudor,then later the Hudson and now the recently finished channelled 32 roadster.For some variety I also have a 63 Riviera.
So here I am after nearly 60 years of involvement and still loving it.

 

Similar to Rustyfords...I was born!

 

I have no idea how I got the bug. About the time I became REALLY interested in pretty girls I also noticed hot rods and motorcycles. It's been over 50 years and my interests have not changed much.

 

couldn't afford a new car....

 

The one and only......

 

Some guys said something about DNA. I think that might be true, literally in that there might be a genetic propensity to get into old cars or something in some ways similar if such a thing should present itself. And it displays that same way of being suppressed in some generations and expressed in others.

My dad has it and so did his brother, even though my grandfather didn't have it. My nephew has it, even though neither my sister nor my brother in law has it. Admittedly, my nephew spent a lot of time with my dad growing up, but his younger brother - who is if anything closer to his grandfather - doesn't have it.

And of course I have it.

Some of the first words I spoke were the names of the parked cars we passed when my dad took me for walks. A VW was a "Mamagen"; a Triumph was a "Dumph"; a Chevy was a "Heppy" (but then I apparently called my sister Erica "Trit"). We had a Fiat at the time, but nobody seems to remember what I called it.

Hot rod culture did not really exist in the world of my early childhood. I think my dad had heard of it but was not particularly impressed. My dad is a great guy but he isn't creative; I on the other hand can't let a thing pass without stamping it with my creativity. There was simply no way hot rods were not going to spark my imagination.

It happened at last when I was seven, and I happened to see Tom Daniel's box art for the Tijuana Taxi in the window of a toy shop. But in the absence of any understanding of a hot rod movement that went back to the '20s, much of the appeal lay in the juxtapositioning of old and new; the humorous, outrageous, iconoclastic, irreverent act of putting modern, dynamic, vigorous running gear in an old-fashioned, staid, inert car. I did not understand how relative those terms were. What can I say? it was 1970. I knew nothing of counterculture, but it was in the air. I breathed it in ...

That's how I got into hot rods. I got into old cars as such when the new cars betrayed me. In 1985 I still kept track of new models, be they American, European, or Asian. By 1995 I really couldn't give a shit. By 2005 I could gladly attack a new BMW with an axe (even though I'd make off with the brakes and the final drive unit afterwards ...)

 

When I started driving, old cars were all there was. The new junk hadn't been built yet.

 

My Father did it. Built me a go cart and he was always working on sometheng old. Two Hollywood Grahms, Jeep Station wagon, Jeep Pickup, 56 Lincoln Mark 2, 55 chevy wagon, 66 Olds Toronado. Great Father. I miss him.

 

I was born into it. My dad built dirt track midgets when we lived in Indiana. Sold the last one when we made the move to Texas.
The whole family was into cars, motorcycles, racing of some sort. Go-karts in the late 50's early 60's, motorcycle flat track. It was fun.
My sister was older than me by 7 years, and ran around with all the gearhead/rodders in high school. One of my earliest memories of hot rods is being shooed out of her boy friend's 32 five window on the driveway. Red and white roll&pleat, Moon discs.
A total of ten years of counter parts sales, and 30 years with Deere in their parts distribution system.
I've been around some kind of motorsports all my life. Crewed on a Top Fuel FED in the late 60's early 70's, now crewing on a winged sprint car.
I haven't participated in a hobby that is more satisfying, or a family of enthusiasts more endearing.

 

I grew up with old cars. I still drive my dad's '32 Chevy as a daily driver. The '41 Century is still in our family and was my grandfather's car he drove until he passed. We still have a '48 Style Line too.
Normbc9

 

Was never really into old cars. Anyway, most of the old cars that were around when I was a kid in a NSW country town were old Morris' and FJ's and old Belmonts and Falcons. Never really saw many American cars, except this old woman in town used to drive around in an late 60's Caddie, which I didn't think much of at the time, except to wonder how the hell she managed to park it, as it was the biggest car I'd ever seen.
I remember my first introduction to an old car was when I was about to get my driver's license. A friend of the family took me into his dark, musty garage and showed me his old jalopy. I can't remember what it was. It was big and black and had swoopy lines and massive fenders. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but peer pressure forced me to buy something a little more modern and sporty, so I bought an early 70's Torana (Holden). As I grew up, my appreciation of old cars increased (particulary American ones), but they were always prohibitively expensive.
I guess it really became a passion only a few years ago. In reaction to the sterile, modern Japanese hi-tech car I had been driving for the past six years or so, I began to realise the pleasure that could be had from old iron. Whilst I appreciate the incredible reliability of my Japanese car which never falters, I have become somewhat captivated by old cars. I don't think there will be a time when I never have an old car in my driveway. I hope not, anyway.

 

I grew up around old cars. My grandpa restores old BMW's (yes, I know... Off topic) but still beautiful cars nevertheless.





I learned to drive on a 1968 Willys Jeep J-200. Non-stock 302 Chevy V-8, 3-speed floor shift. Double clutching all the way. I wore ruts in all the old logging roads in the mountains of Northern Idaho (where I spend my summers) sometimes playing with the Canadian border. I was 8 at the time and it took most of the pillows in the cabin to get me to where I could see over the wheel. Didn't drive an automatic until I got my learners permit at 15 and a half.



The main thing that got me hooked on old cars though is listening to my grandpa's stories about the cars he owned in his youth. His '35 Buick dragster. '40 Chevy (Currently in the process of recreating that car.) '56 Cadillac Series 62 just to name a few.



Another big one is this website! In the year or so I've been on here, I have learned more than I ever could have expected. The Jalopy Journal's daily ads get me really fired up about these things. Same with everyone's build threads. Thank you all for that. I'm the stereotypical Newbie "sucker" right now, but hopefully I'll learn enough to start contributing here in a little while...

Anyway, I've probably rambled too much and put up too many pictures for a story that's not worth reading. Sorry.

There are some great stories on here! I really enjoyed the read!

Thanks!

Pete

 

It all started with building and customizing model cars

 

Its a disease. you get it from sharing . . . Hot wheels cars and model kits. Very addictive stuff. Adam

 

I got hooked about 1958---when I was 2 years old, watching the Demolition Derby from Gardena Stadium on local KTLA-TV channel-5 in Los Angeles. The derbies were on Sunday nights after the afternoon jalopy races and were taped and shown a few days later in prime time. I was hooked at a very young age, so I started to watch the live Sunday jalopy derby races as well. The demo derbies were common on KTLA-TV in 1958 and 1959. The jalopy races lasted until 1965 on TV.

 

They used to sell posters of hot rods at local book sales. I'd always buy one or two to hang up because they were shiney and aggressive looking. Plus, when I was old enough to drive, I wanted something that stood out from the crowd. But, before the internet in a 200 person town in the middle of nowhere, there weren't too many options for hot rods. The only one in the town I tried to buy when I was 15 and the guy wanted too much for it. I eventually got hooked more on older trucks because of how simple and complicated they were all in one package.

 

when i was young these cars weren't old; now the cars and i are both old...

 

I was into cars period. Then the new crap began to be made. I guess that makes the cars I like old by default.

 

older brother would be to blame (or forever thank!), he's 10 years older than me, 2 sisters between us. around 1969 ? he bought a 64 2dr chevy biscayne with no motor for $400, first put a 327 in it, then found a 348 for it (like everyone else he tried to pass it off as a 409). his buddies and him changed the motors under a tree in the yard where me and my twin brother were always trying to help out but they always chased us off and called us monkeys. i remember being sick and staying home from church and he had to watch me and my twin bro while the rest of the family went to church, of course he was not happy about it. just as soon as they left his buddy scott pulls in with his 57 chevy, thet throw us in the back seat and took us to a junk yard! it was a religous experience of a lifetime! we got a new seat for the 64, wish i had some pics of that car, not 1 of my favorite cars but it was a nice ride, blue/green color with radar wheels, real clean. he sold it to 1 of his buddies who wrecked it racing. nexy came a 66 malibu, then 68 lemans, 73 nova. today he has a couple v8 s10's, a 40 ford coupe and 36 chevy truck. and his son is ate up with just as much as he is. me, my twin bro and my little brother will always be greatful to him for turning us on to cars!

 

Grandfather - the one in the middle





Dad's first car



The car dad brought home unexpectedly when I was 14 years old



This guy - Bruce moved in around the corner from me when I was sixteen - he was a car crazy kid from California and we were the same age and both nuts about cars



We did things like this: Pontiac 389 V-8 in a bugeye Sprite



Another one from the close circle of friends who continue to get each other in trouble after forty years of playing with cars - Ernie and his 1956 Porsche Spyder

 

When I was 6 years old my father bought a new Pontiac that had a amberglass head of an Indian that lite up for a hood ornament. I was so amazed that I fell in love with cars of all types.I still like Bling as far as cars go.

 

Personally, I blame Mattel and Revell. I was an innocent little kid until Hot Wheels came along. I would race them on that orange track until I got in trouble and then mom would whip me with a piece of of it. That stuff stung! Then it was Meyers Manx model kits and various other models. Then SSP cars with the big wheel in the middle and the pull cord to make them go. Sometime around there, my uncle started building circle track racers on the side and I could just picture myself driving one of those, winning races and covered in glory, like the guys on Wide World of Sports. I was about 9 and mom laughed at that idea. I've been hooked ever since. I'm more enthusiast than builder due to a lack of skills, patience and money, so I still get most of my car building done in 1/25 scale. Sadly, my boys don't have any more interest in cars than they do toasters. I may be the end of that particular line.

 

I don't really know how it happened but I am glad it did because of all the nice people I meet when I am driving my coupe

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I'm the 8 year old kid in these pics,
nothing more to say.