K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider.... no, wait, that started the nausea.... My dad's '55 Chevy... it was loud, fast, and led me down the path to automotive fixation. Being pinned back in that Camaro bucket as he'd powershift that beast changed my perception of life in general...
me around 1978. Was Dad's forever project... now its mine. I got to look at it every day. Uncle Nick's 32 former coupe now a roadster. I remember riding in it when I younger. I rode in it 2 years ago for the first time in 20 years... I can't describe what I felt that day. If I had $10,000,000 to buy any car... it would be this 32.
Bob Falfa's 55 Chevy in American Grafitti was the start of my obsession. I searched for a car like that, but found they were to expensice even back then for me to buy. Then I got a good look at pictures and movies of my dads 55 Olds one night, and I knew that was the type of car I wanted. I ended up getting one a year or so later.
My grandpa's '46 Chevy truck. It sat in the front yard as far back as I can remeber. I grew up looking at it everyday and telling myself that I would drive that truck someday. I am still trying to get it from my uncle who owns it now. I dont think he is going to be doing much with it since he is in prison for the next 15 years. I can remember as a kid playing in this truck. Sitting behind the wheel and driving all over the world and never leaving the front yard. I will drive this truck again.
milners coupe, brian setzer's coupe (on the cover of the "rant n rave" album) , and the beach boys coupe.
A copy of Drag News got mixed into my reading material sometime in my childhood. Then I used to see the Jesel's (or was it Supinski's?) sedan delivery on my way home from school. Then I began my magazine addiction.
our dad's '67 Vette- nothing like being 4 or 5, stuffed with your brother in the luggage area of a 427 Stingray going 135 MPH!
Bill Neikamp's AMBR roadster. Our new neighbor let me look at the first few issues of Hot Rod Magazine when I was about 7 years old. I knew nothing about hot rods but after seeing his car I knew I wanted to own one someday. Even now that I'm too big to comfortably fit in a Model A roadster it remains my all time favorite hot rod. I was thrilled when Jim Jacobs found it and restored it to it's former glory. Frank
Here I am in 1972 sitting on the nerf bar of my dad's '40 Deluxe. The car was originally hotrodded in 1959. This was the first hotrod I ever got to ride in. So I guess you could say it "set the hook". I could tell right away that hotrods were bitchin'. Remember, this was all prior to my being influenced by movies like American Grafitti and The California Kid. When he sold the car in '73 (to replace it with a '34 Tudor) it looked like this. I was sporting a 409" / Glide, fully chromed '57 Chevy rear end, upolstered running boards, and pinstriped flames. It was the 70's you know. Fast forward 30 years to 2003. With some help from some great freinds in Colorado, I located the car in a barn near Greeley, CO. When I first saw it, I actually got goose bumps! It had remained unchanged (except for deterioration) since 1973. After three years of price negotiations with an owner who didn't want to sell it. I finally got to take it "home". That dude was stubborn! If my Dad were still alive today, he would probably kick my ass for paying so much for a hotrod with that much "patina" and no drive train. But, where else could I find that kind of a "childhood momento"? So now I am just finishing up a new dual quad 409 to put back in it and will soon be going through the rest of the mechanical stuff to get it back on the street.
in junior high my dad had a flamed/metalflake 69 ranchero (this was in 1979), it was real low and had shaved door handles and fuel fill. my friends thought it was crazy. about the same time my neighbors had a 64 gto "stealth" street dragster, I remember riding in the back seat and he punched it, the scenery became a blur and I swear I couldn't move my arms, I was pinned in the street, that thing was a damn carnival ride!
Well, I was into machinery almost from the time that I was walking. Dad was racing go-karts when I was pre-school age, by age 6 I wanted to "run the mower". My grandad had a '51 Stude I used to sit right in front of looking up at the bulletnose and pontoon fenders and think about airplanes. I also liked to ride in the combine with grandad at harvest and grab handfuls of wheat through the rear window to chew. When I was age 9 Mom bought a spankin' new '64 Galaxie 500 that really put the hook in me. Shortly after that the Mustangs started appearing on every street, then the muscle cars started coming out - I didn't have chance!!
Hands down it was the Frank Mack T. Eighteen months after I saw a picture of it I was driving a track roadster.
That's my dad. I'm the dirt devil at the left. The truck cost $10, was owned by sharecroppers in West, Texas. Daddy bought the motor already assembled, but it barely ran. The morons forgot to put rings in it. Got Offy heads and a 2 carb. intake. He still has it, with the flattie, but it is really nice now. He said he had to re-weld everything, as it was done with coat hangers the first time.
When I was about 10 years old, a freinds dad had a '40 Ford with a 427 Fe and multiple dueces. It had a 4 speed, faded blue and grey primer finish, original interior and cheater slicks. The dad gave me a ride in it. That was 1972 and the buzz is still on.
This one right here. I was like 8 or 9 and it used to sit in a chicken coup' out behind this dude's house. It was already chopped and channeled and had been a drag car back in the late 50's. I used to go sit in that dirty bastard and jerk the wheel around like a maniac. This was THE car. The real kicker was when I was asked to get the thing back together. I actually got to cut and weld on this badass piece of Americana for my friend. During the build he ended up passing away and it has since set in the corner of my shop waiting for it's next chapter in time. That part is yet undecided...
The Jalopy Journal
