Folks Of Interest Your first attempt at hot rodding / racing

I was looking through some old pictures today and found this. i think i was about 6 or 7 years old when i first attempted to build some sort of car. this is my first front engine dragster lol anyone else have any pictures of your first attempts


kind of hard to see with that camera flash

 

My first attempt was rear engine!

 

Damn, Gasser! That looks like a Rockwell painting! Very cool!

 

I tried putting a lawn mower engine in my radio flyer wagon... It involved a wooden motor mount and a bicycle sprocket screwed into the plastic Big Wheel wheels... no brakes.

 

I'm diggin the bubblegum pink A-100 myself.

 

that is cool

 

Well my first attempt involved my little brother, a Radio Flyer and a plastic chair. I put the chair on the wagon and had my brother push me around. It wasn't very fast and my brother ran out gas pretty fast so to speak Second attempt still involved the wagon and the chair and my brother. But this time I decided to go high tech and use a performance piece of wood paneling as a sail. My brother held it up and down the driveway we went. It picked up speed pretty fast and then I got into my first accident. My contraption smacked right into the back of my Dad's Buick Century. I remember watching that piece of paneling fly way up into the air and then disappear into the neighbor's field. It was quite windy that day.

 

BigFoot powerwheels with a interstate (mt34) car battery. It didnt hook very well though!

 

My first effort didn't amount to much. As best I can remember (62 years is a long time to try and remember) it handled good, stopped on a dime but wasn't very fast.

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When the roller skates were not fast enough, we made "sidewalk scooters" by citting in half each skate & nailing each half to 4 corners of 2x4's & a 2x8 in the middle to set on. For steering, you relied on your two feet on the front 2x4 with a single bolt in center of 2x8 & 2x4----And for comfort---A back rest of 2x10 & 2 side pieces all nailed at an angle!-------1941 style!!-----Don

 

What year Century? They were B.A. cars in the middle late 50's.

 

Haha, my first attempt involved a fiberglass 34' ford roadster pedal car, a steep grass hill with a fire pit at the bottom and a 70's dirtbike helmet, Hugger orange.
I got tired of ridding the car around the driveway and stuff, it was all gelcoat black with 'Fancy' vinal flames on the sides and hood, & what looked like centerline wheels. i thought to myself, "This is a hot rod like pappa's, it should go fast!". So without telling my parents, i snuck the car behind the house, strapped on my dads old helmet and went for it. At the bottom, i went one way and, the car another. Covered in soot and a bit teary eyed from the scratches, i dragged the car back up...and did it again. Got pretty good at keeping it straight down the hill over the summer, then next year i got a old 6.5 HP Go Kart.
You could say it was all, "Down hill", From there.

 

The ingenuity of kids is awesome.

 

I had an uncle who made farm machinery, built me a 'billy cart' in steel with a steering wheel and brakes. I built a Hemi from cardboard boxes and 'chromed' it with salver foil. Wish I had a pic but everything from my childhood was lost in a bush fire.
Doc.

 

My first modification took place with my new "Big Wheel" that had a serious lack of traction. Using a bicycle tire and some nails was as good as some cheater slicks...

 

we built billy carts to but my first motorised machine was a 26 inch push bike that i put a villiers 2 stroke lawnmower engine in when i was 13. i made up an engine plate and had the local mechanic weld it in. never got the gearing right, but sure had fun reving up that 2 stroke with no muffler!

 

radio flyer........... hurst slap shifter........... can't remember any more.......not fast......bandaids

 

Had it when I was eight. Went like shit. Had a little Honda GX motor can't remember the size. I raced it in Langley B.C. car was sold somewhere in the States a bunch of years back.

 

This is a cool thread , I was never a tinkerer when I was little so I have a lot of respect for you guys that were .

 

thats cool.

 

This was my first sucessful attempt. 58 Dodge Regent , 61 313 with ported heads and 4 bbl installed. Three by the knee with a Ansen Posi-shift 4.10 gears Raced it at Cedres Drag strip 1966. Did it all myself prior to my 16th birthday. Engine was puked so i got it cheap ($15), rebuilt in myself and installed it in place of the old flat head six. It drove my parents nuts but i had a lot of good fun in this car. Drove it for a couple of years (HARD Real hard!) Sold it then bought it back once.
Don

 

that was a pretty cool truck. i should of restored that one

 

In the late 50s ihad a cart made out of wood and had rope to steer it. We used that for years. We lived in Phila that had driveways behind our rowhouse that ran for a whole block it was ok till i pushed my pal Anthony one day in it and rope broke and he went into a neighbors garage door. He was ok but that was the end of cart.

 

I had the same problem. Friends and I would race at the Babysitters, and I was younger so I couldn't get as fast. However, we all spun out in our Big Wheels. I duct taped the front wheel for traction and roasted everybody.

 

In the early 1980's I raced a 1/4 midget with a 7hp Kohler.

 

any one else?