Art & Inspiration When did you realize that hot rods were cool ???

When I was about 5 years old and got this for Christmas.

 

My dad was taking me to school one snowy morning, December of 1961. I opened the glove box of his 54 Belair and there it was, an AMT Craftsman Series, 57 T Bird... I went nuts.. All day all I could think of was that car.... My dad would buy me a new Craftsman Series model every Saturday when he worked at my uncles store Fairhaven Market in the Brookline section of Pittsburgh.

 

My older brothers always had muscle cars, my mom and dad both owned nice 40's and 50's cars/trucks, I put an oil pan on a 66 chevy ll SS when I was 10, but what got me into rods was my dad's friend James.
James was a cool cat with a shiny red 52 ford p/u with a built Pontiac 455 under the hood, this was the 70's and he always had good looking women with him when he stopped to visit my dad, bell botoms and halter tops got my attention ! I put 2 and 2 together that old cars got chicks, with halter tops (.)(.)

 

Probably 8-9, before that my whole world were 67-73 Muscle cars and the 94-96 Impala SS, as that's what we had. Now that I've had the chance to find my "forever" Impala SS at 22 I'm bound and determined to find a 32/36-40 sedan to build on for a traditional. There wasn't really a "Wow, I'm into those" kinda moment, just spending a ton of time around them has increased the drive over the past few years.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Hello,
We normally don’t think things are cool until we get our favorites in line. When we were very little kids running around a government owned trailer park, our choices were limited. But surprises do pop up now and then. Being a good little tyke and following directions was my scene.

It was a wide open area and no fences or barriers to keep us inside or strangers, outside. I played where I was told to play as I was a good kid. But my dad saw that I was limited, since other older kids were more mobile with their trikes and bicycles.

Excerpt from a previous post, now gone…

After several other trips to this same toy store, the scenario was the same, run over to the Pumpmobile to sit and dream about rolling around near our trailer. I was about to give up hope of ever getting this vehicle until one Christmas (1948)

My dad rolled out this Pumpmobile out of their small bedroom covered with ribbons. There was no way to describe how I felt about my dad smiling, while rolling this Pumpmobile toward me that Christmas morning in our little trailer. He did not have far to go, but the Pumpmobile took up the whole 12 foot long, narrow, walkway from their bedroom at one end to the small tree and seating area at the other end of the trailer. The trike looked bigger than the small Christmas tree.

In the 1950s, it was cool to see guys (my dad) smoke, but we did not want to do any of it until later. My dad let me steer his 41 and 49 Buicks from the corner all the way to the spot in front of our house when I was 4-5 years old. I thought that is what every kid was doing, something fun, with our dads. But little to my dismay, we had to find out ourselves what was cool or not. Cool to whom or what purpose? The answer usually came from our friends liking the same things as we did.

There were a couple of “hoods” or rough guys in our neighborhood with slicked down hair that presented themselves as cool guys. Were they cool? Not in our opinions. They looked awful with that greasy slicked down hair. They always interrupted our basketball games and took our basketball, until we ganged up on them to get it back. (with one of us usually getting whacked in the process)

But, we formulated our opinions as to what was cool and or not. We did get a lot of things that had to be classified or separated. Older brothers and sisters had the first attack at being cool, so things they did or liked were usually in our lists, too. As soon as we started seeing the outside world with elementary school and playgrounds, then that opened up a different ball game.

Jnaki

As far as cars or hot rods were concerned, again, it was like or dislike that made them fall into the cool class or just a bunch of junk. These days, the rat boys fall into the junk style while the other end of the spectrum, street rods are finished show quality style of cars. Which one is cool? Those are the extremes with tons of likes/dislikes with tons of misinformation in both camps. So, normal, not out of the question, hot rods and sedans are what most people think of as cool. A simple look that is functional, sounds, and looks to go with the “traditional” look.

Most cars of our time growing up were stock appearing hot rods, with the custom car guys finishing up their creations. With time and money as barriers, our own hot rods were styled as being cool vs. the beat up look that most did not like. If we had more money, then we added a few more things to look "cool." By this time, it was our choice and no others.

 

Pretty well , right off the bat. My dad had his ‘30 roadster since 1946. Here I am in it in 1960 with mom at the wheel. First pic is the old Winfield cammed mule as she sits today :

 

When we got sent to the principals office in 5th grade for stealing the rubber locker stoppers off the girls lockers at school to cut down for our Hot Wheels cars.....would've never got caught if them girls wouldn't have been trying to get us boys attention by slamming their lockers..........one of my buddies dad was actually the principal....we still laugh about it with the those girls....it was kinda a big deal that year......see avatar..........

 

Lemme see, I’m 47, so 37 years ago when I was 10 my father found a 1934 Plymouth Deluxe PE 2dr sedan. From that point forward I was hooked ( addicted that is, plum crazy) . And I’ve been happy ever since.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Prolly the first time I seen a Matchbox / Hotwheel car..

 

probably in 57 when I turned my uncles gas powered lawn mower, that I used to make money mowing lawns with....75 cents a lawn, into a go kart not fast but fun for a 12 year old.........and as they say the rest is history.........Shit I'm still messing with flatheads after all those years...........

 

Inherited it from my Dad... he might not have been a rodder, but he loved his A Model Fords. Granddad was a bodyman for Ford in Detroit... so, Dad must have gotten it from him.... Great Grandfather was a career Southern Railroad man.... cars were just appliances to him, it seems. Southern paid him enough to let him buy a couple hundred acres of Virginia farmstead, though.

 

Born into it . My dad owned the local garage and all the guys hung out on the weekend .
My dad was always swapping engines into something else. He put a 57 Caddy motor out of the county ambulance after they rolled it right in front of our house after blowing a tire. He put it in a WW2 surplus power wagon. Made his own adapter. Fabricated an O/D for it out of a Ford trans.
The weirdest was when a guy brought him a 54 Pontiac and had him put the straight 8 in a 28 Model A coupe.
His favorite engine were Cadillac's and Olds from the fifty's and sixty's. He swapped them into everything. There was 3 or 4 Studes that he did.
I had my own 51 Chevy 2 door hardtop when I was in the 8 th grade.

 

When I first moved here from Australia in 1971.....

 

1st time I ever saw one...whoa, that didn’t didn’t roll off the assembly line!?

 

Some great stories here guys..Keep um coming!!!

 

My neighbor had a 1962 Corvette that was bright red and had a rolled pan in the front with no front bumpers. It had something built in it, maybe a 283, but it was fast. It was the first car I was ever in that pulled a wheelie. What an awesome feeling! I was about 13. My Dad had a 1931 Dodge 3 window coupe in the garage and all I could think back then was like this....yep....I drew it. I got better at drawing....

 

I grew up in a junkyard with my cousins and their dad. So I would say childhood. We would play in and on the cars most of them were 60’s and back. I’m forty the junkyard still exists and I still play in it. Some of the same cars are still there. He keeps anything pre 80’s and crushes the rest.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I guess about 48-49 I was about 10yrs old. A WW2 vet in our town built one. It was different. My father, an engineer, thought it was a crime but I never forgot it. I've built several race cars and rods over the years. Nostalgia can really tug at you so at 75yrs I built the rod in the icon which is a pretty accurate copy of that rod.
Phil

 

It was about 1959 I was 9 years old and my cousin 15 years old who I looked up to took me for a ride in his Candy Apple Red 1940 Deluxe Coupe. It was a flat head with three carbs and shorty lake pipes.

 

I've always loved hot rods. My dad owned a junkyard when I was a kid. Once he had about 200 cars he would bring in the crusher. I remember me grabbing wrenches and pulling as many parts off of them as I could. I would beg my dad not to crush the ones from 30s 40s 50s ams 60s but he never listened. I've always leaned to 40s 50s but as of late the 30s peak my interest.

 

When I came out of my mother


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

When I was 12 a 32 Woodie with a Chrysler would drive past my house on his way to the drags at Convair Field in Allentown , Pa. I asked my Dad what kind of a car was that , he said a Hot Rod ! I said to myself I'm gonna get me one . Two years later I bought a 39 Plymouth 2 door which became my first rod . I was 15 when I painted car white with red wheels and w/w tires , split the manifold in shop class for duals , milled the head and made a dual carb. intake . Lowered the back 6 inches , all before I could drive ! After I got my license a guy asked me how many girls came over in that Mayflower , Took me a while till I figured out what he meant!

 

When I was 8 ,my dad handed me a dustpan and broom to cleanout his 34 sedan delivery. He told me if I kept it clean I could have it when I got older . No motor or seats,kinda rough , but it was mine !, well ,,that baby was spic-an-span at all times , it was a cool fort we could hang out in . One day a mean ol IRS Man came to the farm and started putting seizure tags on just about everthing ! He put one on MY car and I ripped it off in front of him an said THIS IS MY CAR ! Well you know how that goes , my dad was lucky to get his 35 roadster and his 64 sportster back at the auction (friends bidding ) but I was not .,,bummed out Hell yea !,, I remember running my cleaning rag ,up and down the front fenders like it was yesterday That started it for me !

 

I would press the like button on every post in this thread...
... just would take too long.
But I like them all.
Good to hang out with like-minded people. You know... with gear lube for brains.


Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

When I was 12, I caught a ride in a full custom 49 Ford and a 32 Ford 3 window with an Olds engine, hit it off with both. JW