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History Your first ride in a Hot Rod???

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by jakespeed63, May 18, 2014.

  1. tiquer
    Joined: Oct 21, 2010
    Posts: 65

    tiquer
    Member

    My first ride in hot rod was in 1967 . I was 15 at that time . It was a 32 tudor full fendered in a dark charcol grey primer. It was running a ford 289 and C-4 auto with grey five spoke mags. The interior was all origanal even the headliner was nice.The owner was a freind of our next door nabour who was building a 35 ford pick up.
     
  2. old round fart
    Joined: Jun 9, 2008
    Posts: 134

    old round fart
    Member
    from Norman Ok.

    My first ride was in my '23 T roadster with a blown 350 and turbo 400. It had 144" wheelbase and looked like a front engine dragster. I was a donk for "Sneaky" Pete Robinson and had to have it like his! Drove from Atlanta Ga. to Memphis Tn. on my honeymoon for the Second NSRA nationals.
     
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  3. I think it was a old 50 shoebox hot rod i bought with no motor or front sheetmetal, chrome dash, white pleated interior which was i tough shape, hogged out rear wheel arches. I put a 390 4 spd in it from a cyclone. Got it running and snuck it down a road. Scared the hell out of me. Never actually finished it or registered it.Early 70's
     
  4. LWEL9226
    Joined: Jul 7, 2012
    Posts: 339

    LWEL9226
    Member
    from So. Oregon

    Don't really remember first ride, but remember first chance to drive one, a T bucket with a 429 Ford..... awsum ride.... :) :D :D :cool:
     
  5. I had ridden in some fast cars; muscle cars, and some 50's customs when I was young but the first real HOD ROD that I ever rode in was in the late 60's in my friend Terry Short's 32' Ford coupe with a 427" Ford w/ 406 tri power & Borg Warner 4 speed. Probably the fastest car I had ever ridden in......until he totally redid the car with a (hate to say it ) a brand new Chevy 454. Ungodly fast!
     
  6. bucketmouth
    Joined: Apr 7, 2006
    Posts: 148

    bucketmouth
    Member
    from Australia

    The first hotrod I ever rode in was a 34 sedan when I was 16 in the early 70s,I had only just started working as an apprentice mechanic and was walking to work when Neville the mechanic stopped and picked me up.
    I was so lucky back then that I was working in a shop that had real hotroders with hotrods I was so blessed.
    I rode in his 34 coupe may times on a friday over the years as it meta-morphed from the 318 to the 351 and then the blown 350 as we drove to the local bar during our lunch break.
    After all these years he still calls me his apprentice hahaha
    I couldn't have had a better introduction to hotrodding as a kid.
     
  7. lucas doolin
    Joined: Feb 7, 2013
    Posts: 541

    lucas doolin
    Member

    1961. In Las Cruces NM where I started college. Friend had a chopped and channeled 32 Ford three window with an early Chrysler 331 Hemi. We were going about 30 in first and I remarked the Hemi sounded about wound out so he floored it and that Hemi wailed, shifted the '39 Top loader into second and we were off to the races. I was hooked.
     
  8. flatheadpete
    Joined: Oct 29, 2003
    Posts: 10,479

    flatheadpete
    Member
    from Burton, MI

    Guy around the block had a red '39 Chevy coupe with a tri power 350 and a four speed. Got a lot of miles in that car....Started when I was about 10. That car owes me a lot of $$$!
     
  9. johnc451
    Joined: Dec 2, 2008
    Posts: 147

    johnc451
    Member

    In 1951 or 52, my oldest brother, then in high school, used to cruise all the time with his friends in all their cool cars. One afternoon he grabbed me and wedged me between him and his buddy and off I went in a 32 5-window, 3-2 flattie, etc, and the effect and the effect on me at age 6 was stunning! The next year an Olds went into that coupe and by now I was a regular in the crowd-mostly because all the girls thought my brother and Jim were"sensitive guys" taking such good care of a little kid! Did not mind being used at all.
     
  10. Admired hot rods since old enough to walk 'n talk.
    The first ride in a real hot rod was a '33 3 window coupe belonging to a friend. He hooked me.
    The second ride was in a chopped Model A full fendered coupe. It rattled unmercifully, had about 180 degrees play in the steering wheel, no side windows, 2 dead out of eight cylinders, rear brakes only, and seats occupied by mice and not bolted to the floor. Side pressure from the doors (when closed) kept them stationary.
    That ride almost sent me back running to muscle cars.
    I stuck it out for the long haul though, still owning and driving rods today.
     
  11. I dunno is a nailhead powered '41 Willys pickup a hot rod? Came home from the hospital in one.

    First ride on a bike, just to get it out of the way. Henderson 4 cylinder about 3 months old (last ride on that bike I was about 5), first time on the salt Aug the year I was born, born in June.

    Have we covered all the bases?

    These threads are always so lame. Obviously those first rides didn't make me want to be a rodder, racer, or scooter tramp. Maybe the best question would be first ride that had some effect on you.
     
  12. rick finch
    Joined: May 26, 2008
    Posts: 3,504

    rick finch
    Member

    In 1956 my Uncle Jerry came home on leave from the Marine Corp driving a '51 Ford Club coupe, jet black with a California rake & twice pipes...gave me a thrill ride bangin' the gears, been hooked ever since.
     
  13. Depends on what you refer to as a hot rod. I've ridden in my uncle's '55 Chevy two-door post and his '77 Corvette (getaway car at my wedding), as well as my parents' '72 F-250 (which really started the bug for me), but have yet to experience in person either of the two cars I want to own, a shoebox Ford and an AV8.
     
  14. I had already been hooked by a fast ride in a 67 Corvette roadster, 427 powered, then had a ride in a 34 Chev coupe. This would have been about 12-13 years old. Been hooked ever since.
     
  15. tommy
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 14,757

    tommy
    Member Emeritus

    59 or 60 My older cousin took me and his brother for a ride in his 46 Ford business coupe A nail head Buick up against a 39 trans. (he claimed to have removed every 39 trans in SE Penna junk yards.) Glasspacks that sounded so great echoing off the walls of the many tunnels under the Main line railroad tracks. Always down shifting into second for the best sounds. I was hooked. I got a subscription to Hot Rod for Christmas and I've been afflicted with this terminal disease ever since. There is no cure but I'm not hunting for one either. I kinda like it!!
     
  16. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    Back in '79, my uncle gave me a ride in his '72 Vette. He over heard a bunch of friends and I talking about fast cars and offered to give me a ride, "So I'd know what fast REALLY feels like."
     
  17. paul55
    Joined: Dec 1, 2010
    Posts: 3,490

    paul55
    Member
    from michigan

    I was about 3 or 4, when I climbed up into dad's 33 Dodge cpe with a 327/4sp. in 1965/66 and turned the key and into the fence we went.
     
  18. Lou39
    Joined: Dec 7, 2007
    Posts: 128

    Lou39
    Member
    from Cedar, MI

    1954. At a gas station I used to hang around I befriended an older guy ,19 (?), I was 15. He had a '40 Chev coupe with a big inch GMC truck engine. I still remember the noise, the smoke, the smells, I was hooked. I was a great street racer... to the manhole cover. A year or so later he came by the house and gave me that engine as he was going in the Army. Never saw him again. Kept the engine for years.
     
  19. I had a friend that pieced together a 1950 Ford chassis and added a shortened Model A sedan body with the top cut off,,think in the style of a roadster pickup ,,only crude and a wooden bed.

    What it had going for it was a pretty peppy Flathead with 3 deuces and aluminum heads,actually the engine was nice looking the rest of the car/truck was just a jalopy but it did have a nice set of chrome rims.

    So I guess this was a hot rod,I was 15 years old. HRP
     
  20. ol55
    Joined: Oct 1, 2008
    Posts: 499

    ol55
    Member
    from Virginia

    I was about 13, trying out my new skill of hitchhiking at the beach in South Jersey. A guy picked me up in an (late '30s?) sedan with a "Chrysler" engine. It looked stock (old) but it was unmistakably a hot rod. What I remember most on the short ride was him taking a long time to stop! If your on HAMB -Thanks for the ride.
     
  21. I'm going to assume we're talking about traditional pre '48 cars here, in which case my first ride was in a '37 Chevy gasser. I'd already had the bug for years though. My dad owned a Texaco station and was a drag racer so there were several '55 to '57 Chevy race cars, his daily was a '67 Corvette coupe (this is all late 60's early 70's time frame). First drive was a heavily chopped '40 Pontiac sedan owned by Rick Love (now V.P. of Vintage Air).

    Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
     
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  22. midnightrider78
    Joined: Oct 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,285

    midnightrider78
    Member

    I believe my first ride in a hot rod was when I was 4 or 5 in the '56 Chevy that I am currently redoing. I can't remember much about it unfortunately. I've been around cars my whole life but it was mostly muscle era cars I was around when I was younger('67 Firebird 400, '62 Corvette, '65 Impala SS396, etc.) These were already old cars then to me though(graduated in '96). My son got his first ride(up and down the driveway) in my '65 Falcon when he was about 19 months old and he's been obsessed with that car since.
     
  23. shivasdad
    Joined: May 27, 2007
    Posts: 584

    shivasdad
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Texas

    I was 2 or 3 and deathly afraid anytime my dad fired his racecar, a 1952 Chevy called The Underdog. Open headers on a straight six, probably a 292 Chevy. The story goes that he hated me crying so he grabbed me up and took me around the block. By the time we got home I was laughing. Now in my 40s, I'm hooked on sixes for sure.
     
  24. 33sporttruck
    Joined: Jun 5, 2012
    Posts: 530

    33sporttruck
    Member

    My most memorable ride was in my 39 Chevy 2-dr Sedan. In 1967, I (with help from an older friend) dropped a 1964 283 and Glide into the car. It was beam axle and 55 Chevy rear end.
    It was memorable because it was my first build and I worked my Butt Off during the conversion. The 39 became my everyday driver. It was not a Rocket but it did surprise a few people between traffic lights. I loved the reaction at the gas station when they checked the oil.............. Jeff
     
  25. fatboys69
    Joined: Jun 19, 2007
    Posts: 277

    fatboys69
    Member
    from Tennessee

    Mine was with Bob Knaack in his roadster that he and Cotton Werksman built. It ahs since changed hands but it still looks awesome !!
     

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  26. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    My first was in Santa Clara (CA)... Grandma's house was a large Los Angeles bungalow, right on Lincoln St. There were lots of street roadsters (and some coupes) running around then, (1953) but the main one was a black '32 Hiboy with a 6 inch windshield, and red flames on the front of the hood.
    Lots of chrome, this was a 25 year old's daily driver/weekend race car, at the new San Jose drag strip...The highboy had white canvas side curtains for rainy weather, I'd stare open-mouthed as he splashed past Grandma's house, with this tiny windshield wiper swishing for all it was worth....
    Al would drive by most every day, wave, and honk the 'Ooga horn', or rev the big flathead, one day he stopped.
    "Hop in, let's go for a ride..." Wow! This 11 year old was livin' the dream, everything I'd read in Honk, Hop Up, R&C all came to life!
    Al Marceline was the rodder, surprised at my knowledge of terms and Ford running gear...
    We were friends for life. Andy Southard photoed Al's deuce thru 3 different guises...
    I was riding with Al the night he blew Cliff Ambrose's 296 inch '32 Five window away...Coleman Avenue, right in front of FMC Corporation. (I was 12 then)

    After many, many years, Al ("Boof" to his pals) called me up and asked me to lend a hand removing the Halibrand Quickie. (he had borrowed it from a friend in 1959, and was asked to return it...this was 1981!
    I went to his house, his brother "Moose" and I removed the '36 rear, disassembled it, and replaced the center banjo that was under the bench for 20+ years.
    Al said they were putting the fenders back on. (???!?) It had always been a Highboy. He said that when he bought the Hiboy from Sid Owen in '51, he got fenders, running boards, headlight bar, and everything!
    They were drinking wine when I left...
    Two days later, my new wife and I were at the Watsonville Swap meet. We ran into "Boof" and "Moose"...Boof said they brought the roadster. I had to show wife Joey the famous Hiboy (now fendered) and Moose said, "Don't look too close, we were drinkin' that 'Dago Red'...and laughed.
    We went around the corner of the building and laughed, too...
    Darned clowns had the Bigs on the front, and the littles on the back!
    Boof sold the roadster a couple of years ago, he and Moose are two of the sweetest guys I ever knew.
     
  27. I had to build one to have my first ride. It was a 39 Ply. 2 door, I shaved the head , put on dual carb . and split exhaust manifolds with glass packs. Lowered it 6 inches in back , primered it white with red wheels and w/w tires. First street race beat a 49 Ford flathead. That was in 1956 next car moved up to a 41 Merc. cp. with a 50 Merc flathead.
     
  28. stude54ht
    Joined: Dec 30, 2007
    Posts: 973

    stude54ht
    Member
    from Spokane WA

    Tsoto 1.jpg That's me, in the passengers seat for the first run of my friend John Fleckenstein's "T-Soto"
     
  29. V8 Bob
    Joined: Feb 6, 2007
    Posts: 2,966

    V8 Bob
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I rode in many "hot" cars, like Corvettes, 390/406 Fords, 327 Chevys, but the first real hot rod ride was when I was 16 and given to me in '62 by Jerry Hammes, who ran Romy Hammes Ford in South Bend at that time. :D The car was a '32 Ford roadster, built by Dick Brannan a few years earlier. It was really nice, full fendered, with a 312" Ford, '39 tranny and early Ford rear. Jerry lived a few blocks from my home at the time, and allowed me to drop in occasionally after school and "drool" over the '32, as he kept it at his home at that time. I always liked '32 roadsters before, but that planted a seed that never left, and knew someday I would have one. :cool:
    I had a chance to buy that roadster a few years later, but like many newly weds, had very little money for toys at that time. That's one of those that shouldn't have got away. :(
    Always wondered what happened to it?
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2014
  30. synchro7
    Joined: Jul 17, 2006
    Posts: 349

    synchro7
    Member

    It happened in the summer of 1958 when I was 11. The local Chevy dealers son had a black 32 Ford roadster, channeled, no hood or fenders. What got my attention was the Corvette engine (valve covers) with 6-2's. We got to chatting and he offered me a ride. Of course I jumped at the chance. We rode around town a bit, then out on an old 2 lane highway. When he stomped on it, it went sideways. Scared the hell out of me, but I was hooked.
     

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