Hot Rods What caused you to become afflicted with the hot rod/custom sickness?

I'm sorry Danny.

 

I suspect I was dropped on my head as a baby.

 

Must have been born with it , can not remember a time I was not hot rod , custom, motorcycle and girl crazy! They all go together , right ??? I will be 63 in Sept and I don't see anything changing! Oh and I like fast horse's, good whiskey and more money too! lol Larry

 

I think you are born with it inside of you. It only takes a little spark to unleash the passion. I was at a swapmeet and saw a lowered 47 fenderskirted Ford coupe drive away.

 

I blame Dad... his stories about his sports car rally racing adventures when he was in the army in TX - he had a '56 Austin Healey (& later a'57 vette). We always heard the story about the time he (a SP-4) beat a LT who was driving a (poorly running) 300 SL Gullwing....
- Going to car shows as a kid & being amazed at how he could identify what all the cars were....
& Hot Wheels - yep I blame Dad & Hot Wheels

Thanks Dad!!!

 

We had a dirt track on the edge of town from the early 40s up to a few years ago, when poor management got it closed down.
My mom tells me I was at that track when I was 7 or 8 months old (born in 56). From as far back as I can remember, I saw those old coupes coming off the #4 corner and going down the front straight. They raced the coupes there until 1966, when they introduced the "late models".
It so happens my dad had a friend that was racing the coupes. Probably by the time I was 4 or 5, dad would take me along when he went to his friends garage to help on the race car. I begged dad to take me with him all the time. I spent a lot of time there as a young kid. I also met a lot of other racers at that garage over the years. By the time I was 7 or 8, I actually knew what the names of tools were and could tell the different sizes. My dad's friend taught me the importance of understanding why things had to be done a certain way, and also the importance of finishing the task given to me. My dad's friend didn't live far from us, and I was allowed to ride my bike there to help on the race cars some nights, and Saturdays. By 10 or 12, even though they were now racing late models, I still enjoyed helping on the race cars. I got to where I would venture all around town and help anyone that had a crash or was going to need help. Nearly all the local guys would let me help. Free useful help that would finish the things that were assigned to me were held in high value to those guys.
Somewhere around 13, I had decided that owning and driving a race car was what I was going to do with my life. I got pretty serious learning how and why things were done certain ways, and I was a quick study. Anything to do with race cars was what I wanted to learn. By 15 I was working in one of the best auto repair gas stations in town, by 16, I could do tune ups, brakes and most mechanical repairs on cars and light trucks. I had 3 years of auto shop in high school (we couldn't start auto shop until 10th grade). All my buddies were into cars, but none were into them as much as I was. We all knew I was going to be a race car owner and driver, I had the background they didn't.

I met my future wife about the time I was 18, she was one of my buddies sister, so she knew all about me and my plans. Anyone that knew me, knew about my plans. She married me anyway!
We were married in May, by July, the 1st race car project was in the driveway of our rented home. Me and 3 of my buddies went into the venture together, each had a part to do. The one investing the money would drive, but that wasn't me. He turned out to be a pretty good driver. I was a better car owner then I was a driver. I raced as an owner for another 15 years before I was ready to move on.
Those old memories of the old coupes coming off that number 4 corner and down the front straight came back a few years later. I built a 35 Dodge 2 door sedan and many other cars & trucks, I opened my own welding shop 25 years ago, and that has lead me to where I am today.
The memory keeps coming back, it has been attached to many great things in my life. Gene

 

Watching my Dad build a 36 Dogde Coupe.....


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I got it from Tom Daniel's box art in an Italian toy shop window c.1970.

 

Started building models at about 8 or 9 around 1963, Airfix planes, tanks, ships, figures, then some of their 1/32 car kits, the 1st proper car kit, ie, 1/25th scale with chrome bits and vinyl tyres I can remember were some Johan AMT and Monogram kits, must have been 1965 or 1966.....after discovering US Rod & Custom magazine and Oz Custom Rodder magazine and chopping up models I convinced my parents that I could chop up a 1:1 scale car and in 1969 at 15 I bought a 1938 Ford Standard Sedan, sold it soon after and decided that a budding hot rodder needed a coupe or roadster and found this 1940 Dodge Coupe in 1970 and its been downhill ever since........lol.........this pic was taken of MY car before I bought it and pulled it apart and is the only pic I have of it complete and mysteriously appeared in Oz Custom Rodder in 1972, issue # 14.........lol........still have the 1940 Dodge Sedan I bought as a parts car in 1971...........Andyd

 

Like others have mentioned, I think you are born with the bug and it just gets worse as you get exposed to magazines, local hot rods and probably older siblings or neighbors and their cars. I don't know of a time since birth that I wasn't into cars on some level. Riding with my parents at age 6 or 7, I would call out the years and makes of cars we would pass. A visiting relative from Southern California left me a copy of Hot Rod when I was around 8 and I was hooked. Started building models when I got my first one, a '59 Ford convertible by AMT. There was no turning back after that. In Jr. High ('62-'64) I made arrangements with the school librarian to absolutely NOT toss away the copies of Hot Rod and Car Craft when the new ones arrived. Added those to my collection. When I was around 14 -15 an older neighbor had a beautiful Emerald Green '57 Olds hardtop and a '50 Olds Club Coupe that he drag raced and later, a '64 Corvette Red Roadster, 327/300 horse, 4-speed that he allowed me to drive around the block after he washed it, just to watch it!......All this before I even had my driver's license! Doug was a huge influence on me and my auto appreciation affliction.....Here's me, age 10, building model kits, the "gateway" drug to the addiction of the "real" thing. ....

 

First car, bought when I was 15. You would think I was going to be a Custom guy, but I've always gravitated more to Hot-Rods. There's no explaining it all............

 

two events come to mind......watching the opening scene when Martin Sheen drives the California Kid into town. My jaw hit the floor, I started shaking, and the universe shifted. Some years later I saw my first 41 willys coupe at a show, had the same reaction, and hot rods have consumed me ever since.

 

From before I was born until I was 7 my father had multiple mid year vettes, restored them and judged shows. Walk into the garage and see 2 or 3 lined up.

It stuck.

 

Playing cars and motorcycles is a family tradition. I am like Hank Jr. in that respect.

 

My 'addiction" story is actually written in my profile so I will shorten it and add a little to it. I was 14 and my older brother would get picked up every morning for school by his friend who was driving a '34 Ford 5W coupe....grey with red wire wheels. I thought that car was so cool. My brother had a 40 Ford coupe then. I loved that 34 coupe and started building models but didnt do much with cars then cause I didnt know anything about them. When I was in college my dad decided to build a t-bucket and thought I should learn to weld so I took my first "shop" class in college and that class changed my career trajectory and I decided to be an automotive teacher. I taught Vocational Auto shop for close to 40 years.
The additional part of this story is I still know where that 34 5W is and the same guy who picked up my brother every morning still owns it. In the early 60s he made that car into a show car called "Depression Born". He stopped showing it about 1968 and parked it and it still sits in the same shop. I visited him and his 5W about 5 years ago and took these pics... (the first pic is me and my dad and little brother working on the T-bucket)

 

That '34 is bad ass.

 

I have a funny "Be careful what you wish for" story of how I was infected. In the mid 70's my father was still driving a '65 El Camino (former drag truck) to and from work. On weekends (when my brother and I would rather be playing), he would force us to help re-pack wheel bearings, change brake shoes, and help get him tools to keep it running. He often held quizzes, pointing at anything in the engine compartments, and making sure we could identify everything! This continued on every car or truck until we were teens. Then at 14, I started getting Hot Rod magazine, and became obsessed with cars. My brother did as well, and by the time we had our own cars, we had covered our bedroom walls with car photos, and were so obsessed, that my dad was always yelling, "Jesus, is that all you guys can talk about is cars?!" "There's a lot more to life than F-ing cars!" He had to endure watching us get several speeding tickets, getting in wrecks, and always using his tools on our cars to build more speed from then on, until we left the nest! Lol.

 

Growing up in the 70's going to the Swamp Buggy races in Naples, FL. Then my uncle sold me a hot rod in high school. Whoops! There goes the neighborhood.

I sold it in college and for decades was a reformed hot rodder, driving boring Toyotas.

Then I inadvertently bought a house one door down from Pat Ganahl. He sneezed on me and I've been re-infected since. But I'm OK now; I found a treatment... (hint: my avatar)

 

Grandpa on dads side always talked about the hot cars he had growing up in the early 50’s. We watched nascar faithfully every Sunday from about the time I was 8 till 12. A few years later my half sisters uncle invites me to come to the drag races with him and his son. I was hooked!


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So, it sounds like we have all traveled basically the same road....just different times and people who have influenced us.

 

I saw AG when it came out. I saw all the old cars and loved it. But Milner's coupe hooked me. I started a subscription for Hot Rod magazine and the research began. Growing up with late 60's Camaros, Mustangs, etc. I wanted something different.

 

I was on my way home from 6th grade, in May of 1949 …. When by me on the street drove a chopped and channeled, Metallic Blue-painted 32 Ford 3-window coupe. I could describe every feature of that car to you, to this day. I simply have not been the same since. In 1950, I attended my first drag race; I haven't ben the same since. In 1954, while attending the first NHRA Safety Safari event in Michigan, I smelled burnt Nitro-methane for the first time - haven't been the same since. Therein and thereat lies the source of my compulsion. Thank you for asking.

 

I would think your enthusiasm for hot rods is still inspiring young guys to this day. HRP

 

I doubt it Danny. Just another old fart who has no clue about "traditional". You know, rat rods and flat paint. Like it really was.

 

And Mr. Lundberg, listening to you over a drag strip speaker can be extremely inspirational. Thank YOU Sir!

 

That in itself, is something not a lot of guys can say.

 

I have been car obsessed since at least 1949 when a salesman gave me a 1949 Plymouth promo. The Revell/Gowland Highway Pioneers got me into old cars in the early 50’s. Mid to late fifties saw a lot of poorly executed hot rod models that I still had to have, but the late fifties got me hooked with the AMT 3in1’s with their kustom and racing options in the kits. By 1959,I had my first car and modifications started shortly thereafter. A ten year evolution to hot rodding was complete and my favorite Christmas present was a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine.

 

I caught my affliction because of the feeling you can only get in a real hot rod. It's experiencing that melody of outrageously loud exhaust noise, all those rattles and squeaks, the smell of hot oil and gas drifting through holes in the fire wall, the discomfort of worn out seats in a cramped cab, that blast of air in your face at speed from open side windows.....and then there was all that raw power and speed! But mostly, I think it was the SPEED!

 

genetics ... the acorns didn't fall from the tree.

 

Wrote about this before here. By 1947 (I'm 79) my bud Buddy, and I could name every car and year on the road. You don't have to figure it out..... we were 7 yo. His dad had a neighborhood garage on the river bank, and we hung out there a lot. At 7 girls are taboo pretty much ya know. His dad took us to Seattle to a car show and Joe Ballions "Miss Elegance". was there with Joe. From that point on we were Car kids. Started customizing lots of cars that day...…………on paper anyway.