What's the first car that ever lit your fire?

For me this is a tough one....My dad was the motor man for a lot of local race cars, and there were a lot of local hot rodders who looked him up to do motor work to their cars...including a really cool model A that had a 409 in it some where around 1964. Another guy had a 41 Chevy pickup with a 427 in it and like I said all of the race cars, but I think the one that permently set the hot rod bug, was a neighbors 36 Ford 3 window coupe with a 283. That was the first one I actually got a ride in and the feel of the car rumbling and when he hit the gas it was just an unbelievable feeling. I kept my eye on that car for many years and tried a few times to talk him out of it, but never did. Then he passed away a few years ago and talked to his brother about it, but because of the family ties he wanted to keep it and maybe one day restore it, so it sat in the garage. Two years ago the garage caught fire and burned to the ground with the 36 inside (and was completely destroyed when the top floor and all its contents fell on it)...broke my heart to see it die that way. I still see a 36 3 window and it brings back all the memories.

 

My uncle Roger's 64 Lemans. Fast for us and loved it. First drove it on the way to Arizona as a 14 yr old. Out in Kansas late at night/early morning. Everybody asleep but me.

Harm's Way that is a great looking car. Hope it does get built before long. Maybe would see you at the HAMB Drags with it. Too cool..
VonDad

 

The start was fuzzy. I had a lot of different influences. I lived on a busy street. There was always something cool driving by in the summer. The first car I remember paying any attention to was an Austin Healey, 100 series or 3000, don't really remember, I was about 4 at the time. It pulled up and parked in front of my house, and I just had to get my dad to take me out on the street to look at it. It looked so long and low compared to everything else at the time.
Not long after that I discovered a '56 Chevy, 150 or 210, around the corner. It was bright green with a white tuck and roll interior, baby moons and dual exhaust, chrome tube bumper on the front (if I remember right). That really hooked me.

 

What got me started in this whole carzy hot rod world was a picture of a channeled 32, 5 window hi boy with the guy looking out the side of the 1/4 window in a early 50's Hot Rod Mag. when I was in high school in the early 50's. Been hooked ever since.

 

I never really thought about it until now, but the earliest reccolection I have would be of two matchbox cars. One was a '34 coupe and the other was a ~73 Vette. The Vette was orange with graphics on the hood and I believe the '34 was purple. I was always into anything mechanical, but I believe that was the first time the aesthetics of a car truly grabbed hold of me.

Then there was my cousins late eighties camaro. Ugly blue paint, ultra hot sticker in the back glass, and a trashed teenagers interior. But...the '70 1/2 LT1 under the hood showed me for the first time what power really felt like. I can still hear the motor and feel the way it slammed me into the seat.

There were many after that, but oddly the car that makes me tingle to this day was a friends early 90's mustang. green metal flake paint, factory wheels that were chromed and everything you could do to a 5.0 at the time and still drive it everyday. I am not a mustang guy, nor do I want a car like it. But, it was the first fast car that I was ever able to just flat out beat on. I will never be the same.

Now, I have come full circle. '34 coupes are what I dream about.

 

I was 15 and my friends dad had all kinds of old cars and Kustoms. He had an old bombed out 50 Ford Coupe. No grill no hubcaps and a little beat.
He spent a day cleaning it up. Fender skirts, whitewall tires and Fiesta flipper hubcaps. It was already lowered.
I said to my friend as he was driving away that looks good.
Now IM 40 and own a 49 Ford sedan. He brings that fact up now and then. I remember a skinny kid looking at my beater ford saying that looks good. I knew right then you were screwed haha.

 

its a toss up between my dads 55 chevy gasser or maybe my uncles 68 hemi roadrunner he bought after his tour in the grass ..or my 68 impala SS i still have

 

In 1954 , I was 10 years old and was in Naples , Italy with my family , my dad was stationed over there in NATO , I came out of the apartment building we lived in one afternoon and parked in front of our building was a new, bright red Ferrari , must have been a 53 or 54 model, I was so impressed , I knew then I was hooked on cars,,,,,,

 

My 1966 Chevelle. Still miss that car to this day and plan to have another someday.

 

grandmas 1950 2 door buick-damn what a cool car

 

when i was 14 i saw the duece from American Grafitti at some event and it changed my life forever, at the time i had a 91 honda and had plans to "rice" it out, but when i saw that beutiful piece of americana it made me hungry for horsepower, peelin rubber and pomade.

 

Mooneyham-Sharp Coupe... I was 11 years old at the March Meet @ Famoso Raceway with my dad. Watched this car smoke em through the 1/4 and never let off. This is the car that ruined me...




-Troy

 

When my dad rejoined the Air Force after being out a few years after WWII we moved to Savannah, Ga. The neighbor, after seeing how I was always hanging out whenever my dad or he were involved in anything mechanical let me borrow is collection of Hot Rod magazines to read (he had every one from issue no.1). The first one I opened had the article on Bill Neikamps Model A roadster with the track nose (first winner of America's Most Beautiful Roadster trophy). I had never seen a real hot rod coming from a Pennsylvania farm and I just stared at the pictures in that magazine for hours. It left an impression that lasts till this day and the Neikamp roadster is still at the top of my list of favorite hot rods. That was over 50 years ago, I think I'm hooked.

Frank

 

1949 lincoln 4 door that my uncle was restoring. i think this was back in 1990 but he had 2 of them and had dreams of getting both going. thats what realy sparked it for me.

 

My dad's car... I was a very young, impressionable head full of mush. Been ruined ever since!!!

 

after learning how to drive on 216 and 235 chevys when the chevy small block came out it was like a whole new world to here the rpm these cars would turn one in particular was a 56 dual 4barrell solid lifter 245 hp that was just wild.

 

my grandpa's 40 ford dirt tracker , his 58 t-bird with a mildly warmed up 390 , my uncles 55 fairlane , pearl white with flames a 390 and a 4 speed , my uncle buds bought it brand new off the show room floor , 70 torino 429 super cobra jet drag pack 4speed rocket ship . thats only a few but these are the ones i most remember .

 

This is what started it for me.
1942 Dodge WC-54

Went with some friends to see the old guy in the woods that had all the cars. ended up becoming good friends with him and hearing alot of stories. Never did get my hands on one though. Still looking.

 

Hey guys, I'm new around here so I figured I'd dive right in. First car to fire my sparkplug?? Don't know what year it was, but it was my dads Baja Bug. It was built up and had one of those "stinger" header pipe thingies stickin' up in the back. Loud as hell, perfect for a 13 year old kid and his little brother to listen to while slidin' sideways around grampa's camp trailer doin' like 25 whole miles an hour. Dad wouldn't let me out of second, though I did occasionally sneak another gear(or two)! Good 'ol days....... Still manage to slide sideways from time to time!

Later-
John

 

Milner's coupe. I liked planes when I was 5 or 6, but at about 7 years old I realized I wasn't going to own an F14 so I lowered my goals and took an interest in cars. American Grafitti was coming on TV and Dad sat my brother and I down with him to watch it. That's all it took.

 

My BROTHERS 53 FORD RAGTOP. He was 16 -I was 12, Saw him do the whole custom thing to it. Nosed & Decked, Frenched headlights, custom grill, tunneled Olds tailights. new interior .He had "the Old Guy Who knew how"..at the local body shop do everything in lead. Great dark Blue Metallic paint. Watched him drive off to the high school every morning pealing out with the duels and glasspaks roaring, chirping second . Then I'd ride bike to my school. That did it for me and I started building the AMT 3-in-1 models , Had them all over .

 

Either the 1938 Ford Deluxe my uncle worked on while I was little or a couple of cars (in the pics) that a guy in the neighborhood where I grew up had. I spent a lot of time in his garage when I was young.

 

ROFL,,I thought that sed "what's the first car you ever lit on fire"
I was like WTF !!! the second thought was ,,"oh ok I was'nt the only one to do that "

 

Had to think hard on this one, because my first years in life was a 1/2 a mile away from Shuffletown dragstrip, Charlotte, N.C., and I saw and heard that stuff every Sunday. The first thing that really blew my mine was the Munster Coach and Dragula on that new tv show , The Munsters. The slicks on the back were a big thing to me back then. Also , the Batmobile. When it would come out of the cave and come out on the road, that would get to me. I never really noticed the sirens or the other bullshit on it, it was that black paint and the neat lookin front end that kept me coming back for more. I guess I was 5 or 6 years old then.

 

The Starsky and Hutch Gran Torino,Rockfords Firebird,the Bluesmobile,and of course The General.

 

Went to watch a movie ( Drive a Crooked Road)with older cousins,and saw Mickey Rooney build a full dress flatty and drop it into a Forty sedan.he then went out and drove it as a gettaway car....I had a deep respect for old Fords for years after that and wasn't really satisfied until I had owned a 39'V8 ,I must have been about 4 or 5 i think.

 

I must have been 5 or 6 when i first saw the movie christine.I was and still am obsessed with that 58 plymouth fury.

 

For me it was a '69 Z/28.. I was only 11 when I first laid my eyes on one... Then it took 8 years of finding one that was afordable.. Fathom Green with white stripes.....

 

well it was one of these

my moms 60 thunderbird
my uncles 69 roadrunner
my dads 70 dodge charger
my dads primered 55 chevyhardtop....... and 4 door daily 55
my dads 57 poncho
my dads 65 impala
my moms 68 firebird,became my first car
my family has had a bunch of cars

tv , movie cars
california kid
falfas 55
milners deuce
bullit charger
dirtymary,crazylarry charger
hot rod willys
thunderand lightning 57 chevy 4 door hardtop
macon county line 57 chevy

i cant put a finger on just one

 

The first car that sparked my addiction to all things mechanical was a neighbor's boyfriend's chopped F-1 . Hadn't thought of that truck till just now for 40 years talk about stirring the grey matter. Later I remember another neighbor having a 1969 Z/28 and his buddy a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger .
Another neighbor was taking a car engine and my Mom found me in the oil pan taking a used oil bath, so you could say its in my blood...haha. Rob.