Folks Of Interest What kind of car culture do you come from?

Chili Phil,
Born in '48 at Beverly Hospital, lived behind Garfield High and went to St. Alphonsus on Atlantic. Great times.

 

I was born in 1940 and grew up in West Los Angeles. My teenage years exactly matched the 1950s. Many car magazines were introduced, and I read them all. Cars were a pretty big deal in my high school -- hot rods, customs, and sports cars. In the mid-'50s hot models became available from the factories, and some wealthier classmates drove them too. I'm still just as preoccupied with cars today as I was 60 years ago.

 

I was born in a small (16,000+) farm and industrial town south of Toledo Ohio in 1944. . Got into cars my Freshman year of high school hanging around the only Custom car shop in town. Started my first build a 1929 tudor sedan in the summer of 1961.

 

The changes began at the end of the 1980's. I began to notice the local government became aggressive in their attempts to legislate old cars out of existence. I witnessed a bloodbath that happened to an older gentleman in So Cal that lived in an industrial zoned area for some thirty-odd years. By 1988, He had amassed a collection of Corvairs that numbered near 400 cars. Many were rare examples...Rampsides, wagons, convertibles, etc. He did not run an official business, but He sold crucial parts to many local people that were restoring Corvairs.

The trouble began in the mid-eighties, when legislators began to try and push him out. Neighborhoods of new homes had been built up nearby and some residents began to complain that the large lot filled with old cars was an eyesore. Finally, the City voted to rezone the area. The owner was given an ultimatum to move the cars within 6 months. The owner did not comply. He had owned the property for over 30 years, after all and figured he had every right to stay there. The Sheriffs dept finally showed up with a fleet of trucks and hauled off the larger share of the cars to scrap yards. In the end, the owner was left some 130 of the rarest, most complete cars. He was again given a date to move most of those.

I left California before that story ended. Before I left, the official clunker bills began. Union 76 was involved in the first of those that I recall. The California government offered a cash buyout with taxpayer money, for anyone who brought a car 20 years or older into a local Union 76 for scrapping. California was already losing its mind as 1990 rolled in. Heavy handed gun legislation was in the works as well. I relocated to Nevada and i've been here ever since. The problem is, Californians have been moving here for decades now and bringing their politics with them. Nevada hasn't "lost its mind" as of yet...but some of the most recent Bills introduced have been disturbing.

 

I grew up in south west MI. and hell we make them here In high school 1960 -64 there was every kind of muscle car you wanted at any cruising spot anywhere, I remember a beautiful black 32 Ford 3 window and red 34 Ford 3 window that were local. US 131 dragstrip was just nine miles from us and I practically lived there and seen all the greats, The track is still open and completely renovated and is state of the art. Seemed like every garage had something cool in it. What a great time to be a teenager I now have a 32 Ford 3 window.

 

I grew up around Lowriders and Harley's! I tend to gravitate more towards patina style oldies now. I was born in the San Fernando Valley in 1970. I've always been into cars, trucks, and Bikes. I was in OLDIES CC for some time and have since moved on. I have and always will Love the Car Culture of So.Cal. Do now for myself and the love of it!

 

Myself and my circle of friends were alway more interested in builing cars for performance and drag racing and didn't care too much how they looked. I've never been a fan of customs, always thought most looked F'd up and worse looking then they were originally. Attached is a 36 Ford drag car we built as 16-17 year olds in my Grandpa's garage in the early sixties. Ill never forget him saying "you kids are crazy, you spend hundreds of dollars to win a 59 cent trophy". Initially it was flathead powered which we later swapped for a 327. The picture was taken by a local newspaper at the West Hampton 1/4 mile Drag Strip. I'm the skinny JD in the middle.

 

My Mom,-----She started it back then.

 

To this day I'm not sure what stoked my interest in cars, but as a little kid in the early '60s, living in a small town in the Black Hills of South Dakota, I lived for spending my paper route money to buy Hot Rod magazine. (They covered drag racing back then) The cars in our town included a "telephone booth" Tee with open engine bay, bicycle fenders on the front and a great sounding V-8, a red '55 Chevy with blue tinted windows that dry hopped up Main Street, (trying to impress my older sister no doubt). One boyfriend she had drove an early '50s Chevy Kustom. While I thought it looked cool it didn't have the sound of a V8. My favorite was a buddies older brother who had a red '55 or '56 Ford, chrome reverses and a wicked sounding Y-block and 4 speed, nose high and no front bumper as many were at the time.
Following drag racing at the time the Gassers and Altereds were always my favorite, still have my model of Ohio George Montgomery's Willys.
Started learning how to swing wrenches from my dad at around 10, by the time I was 18 drag racing was in my blood and still is to this day. Over the years I put in bigger cams, better carbs, clutches, replaced drive shafts destroyed by hi rpm launches etc. in my daily drivers, did a bit of street racing, and more than once was working late on Sunday night to get to work on Monday.
At 64 I still love it as much as I did then, though I can't understand why I can't get the front tires off the ground in my Explorer.