How old's the oldest H.A.M.B. member?60+?Tell us a cool story

I met a couple guys at bonneville this past weekend that had a sign up that said H.A.M.B OFC. I wasn't sure what it meant so I asked. Now I can't wait to be apart of the OLD FARTS CLUB.

 

Rusty..When you get there and some young stud says 'Wow that's old" tell him those years are like money in the bank..I've got mine, hope you get yours!

 

There's still plenty of room in the Old Farts' Club, and we have a good time there. Just coming up on our first anniversary; we have 199 members and more than 16,000 posts!

 

I could tell the story about how me and my buddy were stopped by this motorcycle cop one night in Jacksonville beach while we were driving along drinking quart beers. The penalty was that he confiscated the rest of the beer in the back seat and we had to pay a fine by mailing him a check at his home address. And he took off and stopped somebody else while he had us sitting there. But I won't tell that story - this one is more car oriented...

When they first made those mag wheels they were actually made of magnesium - for racing only - all the kids knew that if you drive them on the street, they'll *explode* if you hit a curb. So I'm in my high school classroom in Fort Lauderdale and this guy Scott, who has a brand new 1960 Vette - hot - with a 4 carb setup sticking out of the hood - comes barreling down the street next to school and slams it into first and does this tremendous back rap all the way down the block - and he's got *American Mags* on the back!! First time I ever saw them on the street. And somebody shouted out "Psycho" - that was the name of his car - those days cars had names painted on with a striping brush. I was impressed.

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The plentitude of the past was not intended for us, but as fortunate inheritors, we can appropriate the often neglected legacies of that world.

 

I'm 63. When I was a kid I had a 50 Merc with an Olds 324 in it. Our little two blink town had one cop car and he used to set just off the main drag and try to catch us peeling out or without exhaust or whatever. One night i am cruising with a cute little thing with me. Probably out much later than she ought to be. I believe she was still in high school. Wanting to impress I wound her up thru the gears pretty fast down the before mentioned main drag. Out comes the bubble gum machine. I says "oh shit" and the girl says "Don't stop, keep going". I says "Huh, I can't afford another ticket" She says "Go faster". Now we are getting up in speed, the cops right on my ass. She is telling me to outrun him and I know that he knows my car so I'm toast. So, I pull over. The girl jumps over the seat to the back and tries to hide in the back floor. " What are you doing" I says. "Thats my Father, she says, and if he finds me out I'm dead". Oh shit says I If he finds you out I'm dead too!
So now shes under the car blanket and her old man is coming to the window. After the usual ass chewing etc with the expected yes sirs and no sirs he shines his flashlight around the car and DOESN'T SEE HER!! So we got a pass.
You know, I see her around to this day, 45 years later, and she still laughs about that night. She will say " hey, you remember that hot rod Mercury you used to have??"

 

65..got my driver's license in 1960...my dad loaned me $150 bucks to buy my first car, a 1951 Chevy Hardtop with 2 carbs and a split exhaust. I thought I was bad-ass. There was a drag strip only a few miles from the house but I knew better than to go there (my parents would probably find out) so in 1961 at age 17 I drove it to a drag strip two towns away and entered it in one of the modified classes. Winners got a trophy...no cash. Back then you ran for first place and after a winner was declared he went home with his trophy and everybody else ran for the second place trophy. I won the second place trophy...still have it. It was my first and last trophy in a car but it was the beginning of a 21 year career in drag racing motorcycles. Needless to say I grew up in the Muscle Car era and loved every day of it. Looking back 49 years, between some of my fast car stupidity on the road and Top Fuel Motorcycles on the drag strip I feel blessed by the man above to be posting this.

 

My older brother and I heard that Ford was bringing out a new model. The showroom where we grew up covered the cars until midnight and then pulled the covers off. We rode out bicycles to downtown to wait. The new model was the 1949. I was 6 and my older brother was 10. Good thing our mother never caught us out at midnight.
I'm 66 ,will be 67 in March. Just starting another build a 1932 roadster pickup.

 

god damn thats funny shit don,
thanks, i needed a smile..

 

I am 60 now never thought I would make it. In 1957 my dad loaded the family in an old fors panel truck. Toronto and we headed west to Vancouver. 21 flat tires we had.we where sort of poor shitty tires. mom dad 3 kids and a load of personal stuff. A big part of the country was gravel roads and a lot where under construction. I was 9 at the time. The old truck had a bad trans she kept jumping out of 3 gear. The ol man tied his belt around his leg and around the shifter to hold it down. But she still jumped out when he got tired. He let me try to hold it down for awhile. I could get maybe 10 minutes at best. But I remember pumping lots of flat tires helping patch the inner tubes. The ol man found a good tire at a gas station dump he was happy. The story goes on. I grew up around lots of old hot rods. They where our daily drivers.

 

im only 26 but, my grandfather used to tell me about have to use reverse to backup bigger hills in his old A, and also during fuel rationing they used to blend in some diesel (from the farm)into the gas to go a little further, said it smoked like hell and you had to drip some straight gas down the carb to get it started but once you did you were off and going.

 

I'm 67, bought my first car, a 49 Ford Tudor Sedan, in 1957 for $200. They were the hot, cool cars for the teenagers in that era in our Central Illinois town. We did not have a lot of money to spend on them; I made $.79 an hour at the local Piggley Wiggley store. Lowering blocks in the rear, fender skirts, dual exhaust, glaspacs, fender skirts, blue dots and fuzzy dice were all you needed for a cool ride. The old flat head V-8s really sounded good with glaspacs...rap, rap, rap. My buddies and I cruised the drive-ins continuiously on the weekends looking for chicks, drag racing and listened to rock'n roll on the radio. Drinking and driving was not smart, but we all did it and somehow survived. The cops seemed more concerned about loud mufflers. We drove the hell out of those old cars thru rain, snow, sleet or hail...pushed them when they wouldn't start and did most of the repairs ourself. I totaled that old 49 on a rain-slick intersection in 1959 (cold sober), and then I bought a 55 Ford followed by a 57 Chevy, but that 49 Ford lived on in my mind. I've had a lot of cars since then: college, marriage, raising a family and finally retirement. A year ago 2008, I rewarded myself by buying another 49 Ford, a Club Coupe, a beautifully restored car, much better than the one I had in 1957. At 67, the Mrs. and I are re-living those early years and having a ball going to cruise-ins and talking to all the old guys about those crazy, care-free years in the 1950s...those were the days! Oh, by the way, I also have a 2006 Porsche in the garage next to the 49 Ford, but it doesn't compare to that old flathead Ford...she's my first love!!!
Once a car-guy, always a car-guy!

 

I guess the 70's gotcha- Heard that disco stuff was nasty!
Lucky I was cruzin a schwinn!

 

ZZFORD dont tell the younger guys about the package problem. They will be up all night exercising it so as it dont quit

 

Born in 48. Got my drivers liscence the day after I tured 16, but needed to get insurance before, I could drive, or think about getting plates for the car my cousin gave me, a beat and battered 52 Plymouth 2dr. So since it was apple season, I decided to pick apple on weekends to fund my needs. Back them they paid 25 cents a buschel. After a couple weekends, I made a goal for picking 100 buschels a day. 25 bucks a day 50 bucks a weekend, for the next 6 weekeds, got me the 300 bucks I needed for plates, a couple tires that had some semblence of tread, and insurance. With the money left over, I went to Sears and bought some hand tools, and a tool box. With the tools I was able to get a job at the local dodge dealership, after school and saturdays, doing oil changes, grease jobs, changing tires, and doing new car prep. That's how it all started.

 

I'm 64 and my cool story is that i'm still doing it,weather and health permiting

 

1968, (I was 17) had a 55 Dodge with the exhaust kicked out the side in front of the rear tires. My cousin and I were out goofing around one night when we see this guy coming out of his apt. His brand new Vette is parked right out front on the street. I was doing about 25 in low (2 speed automatic)
so I ran it up to about 40 and shut off the key. He was just getting to his door when we got beside him and turned on the key. It lit him up big time. He was a really big guy and we were punk kids so as soon as it fired I floored it, ran up 3 or 4 blocks, killed the lights, and made a left turn. It didn't matter though because before we even got around the corner he was right behind us. I drove around all the residential areas weaving all over the place so he couldn't get around us for about an hour before he finally calmed down enough to figure it wasn't worth his time. I always kind of thought he might catch up to me later because I had the only 55 gray primer Dodge around. Good Times.

 

first of all-60+ ain't old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I grew upin the big city at the time. greasers and jocks. they say if you can remember the sixties-you really weren't there. all kinds of crazy shit going on in the country, moon landing, kennedy-king-kennedy assasinated. cities burning with riots. Nam, protests. a time of REAL CHANGE, not the would be bull shit of today. No computers, cell phones, twitter, texting. You wanted to call someone, you went to a phone booth. gas was dirt cheap, cigs were cheaper. Family still meant something and social services wasn't called if a kid needed a spankin. 283, 327, 409 chevies, gto's, . ya, i know, i'm bitchin about where were at today, but i'd go back in a heartbeat. THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND.

 

how old 60+????????? Hokey dodel! I figured none of us was that young! 60 aint old. It is just off the platform of fun time of life.
Don

 

I can't remember if I posted in theis thread,shit.........I turned 62 ,semi retired and collecting SS.Still have my health and strength and generally feel like 25 years old.Well,when I flirt with a young waitress girl the look she gives says something else...........For you young guys,don't use tobbacco,even after ya quit ya always wonder if and when it will come back to affect you in a bad way............
17 years old in my 56 Ford with a girl in the back seat.Things are moving along as scheduled when it's time for the condom.Yup,I was smart about that at least.I fumbled with the package,the rubber slipped from my hands and got under the front seat.I found it,Yuk,a Lucky Strike butt was stuck to it.No back up protection,the young lady wasn't into other ways of doing things,wasted wood....See,them fucking cigarettes are bad!!!!

 

Well i'll be 60 in 5 months so i'm gonna tell one. Back in the 60's where we all hung
out and raced there was a train track with a big ditch running along the side. It had
been raining and the ditch was full of water. Along came a buddy of mine in his 55
chevy. Man he had it opened up and rollin. There was a train coming and he was
going to try to cross the track and beat the train. The train was comming on strong
but his 55 five was flying. The track wasnt flat with the street it made kind of a mound you go over. Anyway he hit that track, he beat the train, 55 went into the air
lost controll spun and went dead back across the track comming at us. This time he didn't beat the train. That train demolished that 55. Some how by the grace of god
he was going so fast it threw him out and he landed in the ditch full of water. Now heres the funny part when the train stopped the conducter came back where my
buddy was still sitting in the water kind of in shock and said, well i have some chevy parts for sale looks like your gonna need some!

 

At 16 we ended up with a early 50's Pontiac,decided to visit Jellystone park over a three day weekend. Fuel pump went out so we mounted the tank on the hood ,ran a hose from the drain plug to the carb and headed for home. Well halfway home she hung the rods out ,we then figured out she had put a bunch of gas thru the pump into the crankcase before we switched the tank. I don't remember the details ,I was young and with my brother and his friends and they took care of everything.

 

I am 67 years. Have had several cars over the years. Was a dragracer in my earlier years. Got into streetrods several years ago.It is interesting how my interest has changed thru the years. Had a 56 chev hardtop in high school. 283 hi lift cam,an a 4 11 rear end. One of the fastest cars around in this area.Was cruising the street one night when a big buick pulled up beside me, wanted to drag. Went out quarter mile. With my low gears i beat him bad. Afterwards he pulled up becide me handed me 20bucks and said thank you. Never saw him again.

 

I'm 68 and my first car was bought from a friend in 1959 for $110.00. It was a Model A coupe with a flathead V8 and 39 Ford Transmission. The picture show the car after I had it painted. Other than paint it was just as bought. The interior was white tuck and roll everywhere. I later replaced the flathead with a 322" Nailhead and Muncie 4 speed and a later model Ford rearend. This was the first of many cars to come.

 

I'll be 66 in a few days and have had a wonderfull life so far, looking forward to the next 66 years.

Summer of 1956 I am visiting my uncle in Atwater MN I am 12 years old. He was a farmer/rancher raised a few dairy cows pigs and sheep. He also had a 53 White 3000 tractor and pulled a 35 foot livestock trailer.He made the trip every week to the Twin Citys to the stock yard for the other farmers hauling their live stock to auction.Unloaded the live stock and went to the feed mill and loaded the trailer with feed for the return trip 9after cleaning the trailer out UGH) any ways he started to teach me to drive this monster on the roads around the farm 6 cyl flathead gas engine 5 speed trans and a 3 speed brownie and a 2 speed rear axle Oh was thyis a fun time I never knew anything could have so many gears ! Well after about a month of drivers training I could drive that thing pretty good.
So the uncle started taking me on these weekly trips. On the way back we had some sort of DOT station just out side of the Twin Citys after clearing this he climbed in the mini sleeper and had me drive home. This was the start of a life long love affair with cars and trucks

Donn

 

I'm 65 and I haven't quite grown up yet. Growing old is inevitable, but growing up is an option. I spent my teenage years in a small town in the mountains of Colorado. We had two Colorado highway patrol guys in our end of the county. One was a "nice" guy and the other had the rep of being a real dick. One night I got caught drag racing in the town where we went to high school by the less pleasant of the two. I had a '34 Ford pickup with a '41 Merc flathead (my first car). I managed to elude him on my way out of town and continued home on the gravel back roads. When I got home, much to my amazement, there he was sitting in front of my house waiting for me. He told me that the reason he was always down on us for our escapades was that he was trying to keep us alive. Quite an eye opener for a 17 year old. He also said that since I had the only early Ford pickup in the county it wasn't real hard to beat me home. He turned me loose with that lecture.

 

Uncles are great. About 1955 one of my uncles would drive from Faribault MN down to Texas to pick up Black Diamond watermelons for Prinzings market. He let me drive some. To a 12 year old, it was a big deal. Those watermelon runs were the best part of summer. Of couse we always dropped one in the loading or unloading. So we had to eat it. Still love watermelon.

 

I'll be 62 in July. My first road trip memory is of our family trip from Michigan to Arizona in 1952, in my dad's nearly new '51 Merc 2 door. I remember stopping to put chains on in the mountains and sleeping on the package tray. Most of all, I remember my 2 year old brother locking the keys in the trunk and watching my dad remove the rear seat and crawl through to unlock it!

I wasn't allowed to own a car in high school, but in college my first car was a '65 Mustang 2+2 K model; $1,200 in 1968! Great car til it was totaled by a Rambler crossing the center line on Thanksgiving Day, '69.

Of course, I've owned a bunch since then, including a '69 Z28, Austin Healey, Jag sedan, Buick Turbo Coupe, '70 AMX, and many others. I competed, off and on, for 30 years in SCCA's Pro Rally series, building all my own cars. I started attending drag races, at Central Michigan Dragway, in 1961. Got to see Garlits, Karamasines, Kalitta, Az. Speed Sport, Ivo, you name it.

In 2001 I returned to my first love when I bought a '53 Stude and built the faux Studillac which I own and drive (as much as weather will permit) today.

 

:d

 

I'm 63...My dad took delivery of a new Mustang convert( 260/3spd) in May of 1964 when I was a junior in high school and I lost my license from speeding tickets for one year.....Bummer.............

 

I'll soon be 73. Dad bought a new Plymouth 2-door sedan in 1947. Took it on a trip to Iowa that same year from Dayton, Ohio. Used 17 quarts of oil there and back.

Every night there was light to light drag racing downtown on Main street in 1955.

Cruised past the Lowes theater on Main street about midnight Christmas eve in 1955. Chopped Carson topped 52 Chevy siting in front of the theater. Stone black, white top, lowered and wide whites. Looked up and an old lincoln was stopped dead in front of me. I hit the brakes, nose dived and crashed under his rear bumper. Totaled the Plymouth (yes the same one and still using oil). Dad had ordered a new 55 Ford 4-door and the trade in value for the Plymouth was $500.00. Paid my dad the $500.00 from my car savings and started saving from my paper route again. Worst part I had arranged to buy a 48 Ford coupe with my savings. So much for that purchase. In June I bought a 48 Chevy coupe for $250.00 that only had 12,260 miles on it.

Jim