While sitting here thinking "How the hell am I going to pull this off..." I'm wondering, how anyone else did. How did you get your first classic? What was it? Were you a gear head, before or after ownership and if not how did you manage get her 'er all done up? I'm curious to see where everyone else started in this addiction.
First car, or first Hamb car? First car I ever owned was a 1973 Vw squareback I bought with a siezed engine my neighbor sold me for $250. I traded that without ever working on it to a kid at school for a 1967 Vw bug which I first turned wrenches on.
I grew up in and around old cars. I have never liked new cars. My first classic was a 65 Impala that I bought, minus an engine and transmission in 1995. Since then, it's been one car after another. Some get sold soon after I start driving them, some, I don't ever get to drive. They have all overwhelmed me. THe excitement of driving them keeps me going but really, I have yet to work on an old car and think, "that went smooth." Nope, they are all a head ache to build and maintain. I'm currently working on a 1950 Chevy pick up and believe me, as simply built as that thing is, it has presented me with so many problems. Honestly speaking, money is the biggest problem pertaining to my current project, as well as the rest of my life. Just my opinion.
My first car was a 47 Plymouth 4door sedan. $125 and no brakes. My dad was not a car guy and in fact thought it a foolish waste of money. I got it home across town in Fayetteville NC and spent my next paycheck on parts, jack, jackstands, and tools. I only knew what I had read in magazines and books. I did a full brake job, changed the water pump, belts, hoses, vacuum line for wipers, and only got in trouble when I tried the new brakes without brake drums on! HAAAAAAA.
It wasn't considered a classic at the time, but my first car/truck was a '49 Chevy 3100, 216 with a 4 speed (granny first gear) that I got from my Dad. Funny story, the truck was never registered to us. My Dad worked for a company in Indio, when he left, they owned him money, so he took the truck. The truck was blue then. He gave it to a friend, that had it for years. One day, he brought the truck back and it had been painted green. My Dad then use it to commute to work, 5 miles, each time. It was our only vehicle till 1964 when my Dad bought a '62 Ford Ranch wagon. The truck sat until '67. when I got my license.
My first car was a 54 Dodge. Being a 16 year old california kid, of course I wanted a Corvette, but i only had a hundred dollars! I doubt it will ever be considered a classic, but that flat 6 refused to die. We drove that pile over the hill to Santa Cruz a hundred times. 1971
My first car was a 1971 or 72 AMC Gremlin that I bought for $200 and drove until I crashed it into the back of an International Travelall. I will let y'all decide if thats a classic or not (i think they are kinda cool). My first nice car was a 1971 Mustang Mach 1. That car turned me into a gear head. My first HAMB friendly car was a 1964 Galaxie 2 door hardtop. I can't find a single damn picture of any of those cars anymore.
A '54 Bel Air 2dr post, for $125 in pretty good shape, but of course that was way before it was a classic, it was just another "10yr old beater", but I thought it was cool even then! Mod'd it a bit, cleaned it up alot, and when Uncle sent me overseas I sold it to another GI for $185, ...a $60 buck profit not bad. Sure wish I coulda bought the '53 I'm working on now for $125, ...on top of which, I know better'n to think I'll ever sell this'n for more than what I've put in it, Damn!
NO ONE in my family is really into classic cars but me. I don't know where it came from. I passed by my first car a thousand times before I actually bought it. It was sitting on the corner in front of the hardware store in my hometown in NJ. I was about 13 when I turned to my Dad and said "That's going to be my first car..." He just shook his head and said "I don't know why you would want that big old car." Then one Saturday morning, just before my 15th birthday, I was awakened by the sound of dual glasspacks crackling in the driveway. I went to the kitchen window and looked out, only to see the 66 Buick Special I had been eyeballing for almost two years, and my Dad revving the engine with a big shit-eating grin on his face. I ran out in disbelief, and he said "I went to check it out, and it runs great. It isn't overly fast (300 2V engine), and it's safe. I think with a little work you could have something here. I hope you don't mind, but I took out your savings from the Credit Union, added a little to it, and bought it." Now, we didn't get our license until we turned 17 in NJ, so I had some time to work on it. Almost immediately I began a frame-off resto. I cut lawns, shoveled driveways and walks, and when I turned 16 took TWO jobs out at the mall after school and on the weekends to finance my project. When I turned 17 and got my license, I got to drive a BEAUTIFUL 1966 Buick Special show car to school every day. I don't know HOW I knew I wanted the Buick, or where my attraction to classic cars (especially 1966 for some reason...) came from, but Its been part of who I am ever since. I'm currently working on restos number 11 and 12 (yep, at the same time...). Number 11 is a 1966 Galaxie 500 I'm building for my son, and number 12 is a 1953 Chevy Two-Ten I picked up two weeks ago. Don't ever wonder WHERE it came from. If it makes you tick, just go with it. You'll find a way.
Hey folks I am a new member from Minnesota. My first car back in 79' was a 72 Nova 2 dr. I was 15 then paid $300. A rash of Camaros, Vegas, and Ford trucks followed one about every 6 months. After a 20 year break I am back into the hobby. Hoping to make a rod out of a 1917 Olds roadster.
i was born a bred a car nut my firstcar was my moms 68 firebird she bought new my first "classic" was abadly rusted 57 ford sedan 390 top loader posi ended up trading it away i was too young and too inexprerienced to takle it at the time ive owned close to 200 cars and about 10 of them were newer then 71
Born into a family of body men (cursed to a life of driving bad running cars with great paint jobs- guess that's why customs have always been my faves). 1st ride was a 71 Cutlass that had been used as a parts car to restore a convertible 442; I got the left-overs.
Well my "real" first car was a '61 T-Bird and my second car was a '64 Impala but when I had those I didn't have a license yet. Now the first car that I had on the road was my '65 GTO. I was destine to have something with wheels all my life. From building models to banana bikes with "stick" shifts to slot cars to mini bikes to Harleys to Hot Rods. Everything I know I either learned from old timers or trial & error. I enjoy every waking moment and wouldn't change my life (past or present) one bit!
First car in 1961 was a 1950 Ford 2 door sedan, paid $125.00 Flathead 3 speed, black, no grill and with scavenger pipes. It did 110 MPH, once, after that, all my lunch money went to gas and head gaskets. I could change a head gasket in no time before going to school. Sold it when I went into the Navy, it was soon after that it was totaled around a phone pole. After Navy it was 1957 Chevy 2DrHt, then 1957 Chevy 210, then 1967 Camaro RS/SS and then..........
My first car was a 1965 Plymouth Fury III with a tiny 2-barrel strapped on to a 318. This was no 440 Commando! The only claim to kustom hotrodship was reduced back-pressure when the muffler fell off, then filling it with Sunoco 260 (102 octane), racing around windy state forest roads with the 3-speed-auto in 2nd. (You could wind the piss out of those things!) But, perhaps being a bonafide dirt-broke 16 y.o. hoodlum on summer school vacation keeps me in the HAMB game... Still, it was my first car, and like my first kiss, I will always remember it! Who could ever forget?
1958 Impala 2 dr hardtop my grandmother gave me when I was 14,that my father said I couldn't keep,because it ran and he figured what I would be doing with it. The next year he bought me a 59 Anglia,to build a gasser out of I put a 2x3 front clip with a tube axle in it and sold it.
Gear Head from the first Tonka Trucks and Matchbox Cars. My nephew has all of my 1967 Hotwheels in a box at his house, I traded them to him for a Dodge 315 Hemi. First car on the street was a 53 Chevy 210 4 door (bad motor) I traded a Corvair van for that someone had given me. My oldest brother found a 54 Chevy 2 door 150 with a rebuilt 235 and no title for $60. The 54 was from the rust coast Texas and the bottom 6" was gone. I hated pulling a 2dr down to fix up a 4dr but when your 16 the best body wins. I literally spent the 2 weeks before I turned 16 putting this car together, and no it wasn't in the snow, uphill both ways. Circa 1974. Don
1958 Opel Kadett, cousin gave it to me, it had a bad cam gear, it cost me $5 for a used cam, got it running myself at 15 years old
1956 Ford 2 dr customline, bought it for $350. The next car was a "62 Ford Fairlane 4 dr. I bought that car with a rebuilt 260 V8 for $100!
Before I had my license I was given a 1989 nissian truck with a blown motor that was towed to a asian guys shop waiting on a rebuilt motor, And in the mean time i bought my 54 ford as seen in my build thread below my post, then received my license ,then the truck finally got a motor after sitting at the shop for 6 months, so technically i owned the truck first, but the first car I had in my possession was my 54 ford, and most likely will never sell it...we have had a long rough relationship together! haha!
first car iv had was a 68 gto... car what unsaveable from everyone els car hit a tree bent the A pillar and bowed the frame bad well proved them wrong i saved the car took a few years to do it.... god i miss that car got that car when i was 11 years old
My first American car was a 73 el camino with a bigblock. Only had it for half a year, cuz I couldn't afford the gas. Then a few years later I bought a 57 Chevy for way to much money in way worse condition than I could handle. A few more followed till I finally found what my heart beat for, my current 53 Chevy.
I was 17 when I bought my first car. I paid $100 for it in 1966 and it was a 1940 Ford coupe. It had a 324 Olds Rocket V8, Caddy LaSalle transmission and Olds rear. A good friend helped me make a tow bar and we flat-towed the car from Easton, Massachusetts to Penobscot ,Maine. Quite an adventure.
My first car was a 63 Fairlane hardtop Vintage Burgandy with a White top .An old man took it apart to change the water pump and it sat under a pine tree for 3yrs when we bought it with my paper route money.The paint was so sun baked you could drag a paint scraper across the hood and take 3inch strip of paint off down to the primer. First time I actually drove it was after school it was for track practice and I was sitting on an old roll of carpet because the seat was getting recovered.One day sitting across from our school stadium was a 67 Mustang Fastback that had hit a phone pole sitting behind a body shop. The Fairlane got sold the Mustang was bought and the track team lost a good distance runner. I went to work after school at a welding shop to finance my second car project. . . . ect. . . .
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