Little Red 50. I lived in Neosho, Missouri in 1978. I really think I remember seeing that truck. Glad you still have it. It looks sweet now as well. Sam
Thanks Sam, I'm sure you do remember that truck it was on the street a lot back then from about 1974 till 1978 when I bought it. When my uncle built it he originally painted it grey. It was known as the "Grey Ghost". My uncle could have been your mailman, he worked for the post office for about 25 years. He still lives there in Neosho and has a restored original 1953 GMC.
I was only there a couple of years-attending the Water School. My brother (WZ JUNK) still lives there. He has owned the flamed truck for a long time. If you've been to the HAMB DRAGS you've seen us going at it. I traded my AD truck off and now for the truck in my avatar. Hope to meet you somewhere.
Love some of the cool cars in this thread,more then a few I would of beeen really happy to of owned. I had two rides in highschool. In the mid 50's my Dad told me" be a man, get your own car",but he was going buy one for my siss,later he got her a new Corvair. That was OK with me,I had $ saved up from cutting lawns,paperout an art work I was selling,striping an T-shirts under my art name of "The Bat" out of hell. Colleted parts for a hotrod a little at a time,found a 1928 A roadster body in super bad shape to play with, an got started, knowing that was going to take more time,I got 51 Henry J with a blown tranny for $75 as a dayly,fair other wise. So working from one to the other an Dad bitching about too much stuff around,I also had to build my self a leantwo out back for my A roadster fun. Got a tranny for the "J" 4$25 an had it running in a week{1959,had help from my buddys Steve n Rob,Had been helping them too,Steve had a 30A sedan n Rob a 50Ford coupe. Just could not leve the "J"like it was,so when ever I was out of parts on my roadster preject,I do custom stuff to the "J",Bob gave me V8 Olds Rocket ,so we powered up the "J", A good freind gave me a 55 T-bird folding top,then cut the top off the "J"and before too long the "J" was a full custom. I always liked my roadster the best,but the "J" was pretty cool too,got "J" into CarCraft mag in Jan 1963. I still have my A roadster,but the "J" was stolden in 65. I did thread on my rebuild of my old "A" http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...ng-on-my-hotrod-28a-from-1959-rebuild.793393/
My first year in high school I had to hitch a ride with a friends dad who either picked us up and dropped us off in his tow truck or his old 50 Chrysler. Next year I got a 56 Ford Fairlane 2 door.
BudHR is my UNCLE - the reason I am so deep into hot rods today. That is ME in his roadster when I was 4??
First was a 66 nova , 327 72 X race car Vega With NOS 350 then 66 Chevy c10 with NOS 350 Then 75 monza 406 67 Z 28 12th grade last two mounths , A 69 Camaro 327 , 406 Blown , occasionally drove my fathers 1940 PLY with Blown SBC
This recently discovered photo of my first car helps me to answer the question “Where were you in ‘62?” The 1948 Pontiac was running, but just barely, when given to me by my sweethearts’ father. My dad named it “Big Bertha” when he first saw it and, while not a racy name, it fit and it stuck. The original, very faded, black finish was restored with lots of rubbing compound, paste wax and a whole lot of energy I seemed to have had in my teen years. The original rear skirts were removed and, with more of that boundless energy, I cold chiseled out the rivets and reversed the rims. White walls and beauty rings along with the original caps finished the wheel treatment. My older brother and his friends were firmly on the Olds side of the Olds vs Chevy rivalry, so it was destined that Bertha get Rocket power. I was able to cobble together a mostly stock ‘53 V8 with a .030 overbore and hooked it to a tightly rebuilt automatic. Prior to the engine swap, I converted over to a 12-volt electrical system and I swear I got more RPM’s out of the original straight-8 from the starter than when it was running. While the older guys were fussing and cussing squeezing Olds engines into their Fords and Mercs, this engine fit under Bertha’s hood with lots of extra space for tinkering. I was even able to use the original drive shaft. Bertha obviously wasn’t going to win big at the strip but she did provide a few surprises and was a great cruiser. And cruise we did, out US-40 on the west side of Baltimore, to “The Varsity” and then “Champs” and then back again with an occasional trip to “Amechie’s” and “Gino’s” on the other side of town. However, those days were done too soon and when I needed more time for studies (yeah, right) I sold her for $250.00 and started driving a VW bug to the U of MD. That was a sad day for me and my 100-piece set of Craftsman’s but it is great fun to think back on those good times.
1st car 1952 Olds 88 junior year in high school rolled the rear pan frenched tail and head lights nose decked, bored 57 Olds engine 41cad trans. Blew up the engine never finished. 2nd car 1955 Chevy, senior year in high school, nosed, decked, some side trim removed. Painted black cherry just before graduation in 1962. Again never really finished.
Pic from 1973 , a hot 301" and plywood floors (3/16" steel put in 1976)...= wild ride then or now! 439923.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:26 PM
1955 Chevy 210 2 door sedan. Bought it in Jr. High and installed a 283 bored .080 with 12 1/2 Jahns pistons, Muncie 4 speed and 4:56 gears. 90% of my H.S. classmates couldn't understand why I wanted a crappy old 55 Chevy, instead of a new Pontiac Trans Am. Here are a couple of photos of what it looked like in H.S. These were taken a couple of years after graduating in 1981. Yeah.......The 9:20 dial in was for a 1/8th mile drag strip in Havana ILL. Still have it, with the same driveline, although the 283 is now bored out to 301, and it is turning mid 13's in the 1/4 mile.
The year--1958. The ride, jet black '48 Plymouth 2 door Special Deluxe. Black / white vinyl interior. '55 Plymouth "HI-Fire V8. Ass kickin ride. Ate tri-five Chevy's on a daily basis. I only helped with the build, it was done by Kenny Wofford on the Yakima Indian Reservation, just North of Wapato WA.
The year was 1967. Six of us were seniors in high school and put are funds together and built this model a to drag race. Engine was a 283 with a speed-o-motive stroker kit and ended up 352 cubic inch. My friend who lettered it lost his life in vietnam. We didn't know he spelled aggravation wrong until someone told us. The car ran c/a and turned in the 12-s, not bad for a bunch of kids! We flat towed it with my dads 57 ranchero. That's me with the water can.
Hmm, was thinking I had posted my HS ride in this thread, but it was in this other thread. Not a single photo of this car, you know none of the guys I hung out with back in the day had a camera, there is simply no photo documentation that any of it happened!
Hello, If I am somewhat correct, there are at least 3 threads about "cars in high school." We all got our starts with the group we ran around with in high school, I was lucky in the friends I had because they all drove nice cars and liked drag racing, girls, parties, and surfing. High school was a gathering spot to solidify those friendships, have fun in classes like metal/auto shop, and make new friends, but the coolest thing was driving to school and cruising to the local drive in. My high school saga started with several seniors bullying me during a club initiation. But, they all got their paybacks later on because I was equal in height and weight to them and they did not see it coming. My interest in cars started early with influences from my brother. His older group of friends had cars and they were just starting to make them into hot rods and cruisers. Iit was a good time to learn and be a part of that scene. Jnaki here is a post from somewhere on the HAMB: Hello, Back in 1960-62, I had a 1958 Chevy Impala that was the coolest car at my old high school. That is until I also bought a 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery in my senior year for $360. Reprint from the 1962 LONG BEACH POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL’S “HIGH LIFE” NEWSPAPER: L.B.POLY HIGH LIFE NEWSPAPER FEATURES A 1958 CHEVROLET IMPALA COUPE OWNED BY SENIOR, JUNJI NAKAMURA Featured in this week’s school newspaper is, senior, Junji Nakamura’s classic 1958 black Chevy Impala. This Chevy has a stock 348 cubic inch engine with three Rochester carburetors for a total horsepower of 280 h.p. It has three chrome air cleaners and a pair of Moon alloy breathers on the chrome valve covers. This stock engine is connected to a “beefed up” C & O stick hydramatic transmission. It also has 4:56 positraction gears in the rear for superior traction off of the line. The exhaust was slightly modified with straight through tube mufflers for better performance. The car’s interior is completely stock except for a Sun tachometer on the dash and seat upholstery in clear plastic seat covers. Junji’s black impala was timed at 98.86 m.p.h. in the quarter mile with an elapsed time (E.T.) of 14.68 sec. He is currently undefeated in the stock car drag races locally. He is to be congratulated on taking such fine care of this classic beauty. Not original photos from the high school newspaper. Hard to scan 54 year old relics… I was heavily involved in drag racing until 1960, when we had our drag strip accident with our 40 Willys. Then, it was keeping the race car feeling by making our street cars the coolest in our stomping grounds. The 58 Chevy had a stock motor until spring, 1962 when we put in a Racer Brown Cam plus solid lifters. Now, it was equal in HP to those higher hp 348 cars from 60-61, but still was a stock car to most. In 1962, the Impala was the fastest and one of the nicest cars at my school. But, I was getting into surfing and the reception at the surf hot spots with my board stuck in the back of the 58 Chevy Impala was not the most endearing. (If I took the board out and cruised to the same beach towns in the 58 Chevy, it was accepted, but put the board sticking out of the trunk to go surfing…well that was not good.) The 40 Ford sedan delivery took precedence in the local cruises until the girls did not want to go out on dates smelling like burning oil from the Flathead motor that burned more oil than gas. Everything I tried to stop the leak without tearing out the whole motor and starting over was tried, but there was too much fun to be had just driving the heck out of this cool cruiser. I did drive the 58 Impala when the word went out that people were looking for some hot racers at our local hangout. But, by the time the graduation came around, I had to sell the 40 delivery and concentrate on the 58 Impala for my reliable daily driver to the local college. Besides, my main passenger to college was this girl that I had known all through high school and she did ride in my delivery, but liked my Impala better. We traded off driving to college in our cars…my Impala and her small, Renault Dauphine 4 door. So, in fairness to my pocketbook and friendships, the delivery had to go…awwww… But what about surfing? I now went surfing in my brother’s VW van to be cool at the beach and look like all of the other radical surfers in VW vans. Almost every beach parking lot looked like a VW van convention, so we fit right in the local scene. cool times in the 60's to be a teenager...
56 chevy 1981 1982 by ratster posted Dec 12, 2008 at 6:36 PM radical 56 by ratster posted Dec 12, 2008 at 6:22 PM
Coupe 39 box, loaded flattie, mom sold it in 62 to my best friend for 50 bucks while I was in the service to get it out of garage, along with tons of speed parts..........didn't talk to her for about a year over that one .........haven't talked to him since.....
Hello 56CK, That is a great question. Before I went to college in Northern California, in 1965, I sold the Impala to a younger guy that worked at a Shell Gas Station. He needed a car and liked my car ever since I gave him a ride in it back in HS. He liked the look and the power from the modified 348 and C&O stick hydro. As far as I know, it is somewhere in So Cal. I needed the money for my new 65 El Camino and college, so it worked out fine. The new owner kept marveling that the interior looked and smelled new for a 7 year old car. But, I had just taken off the Sure-Fit clear plastic seat covers that had seen its days keeping "stuff" off of the original red interior. I used to wipe off the carpet and vacuum everyday. The black paint still looked new because of many coats of Blue Coral Wax weekly. The Impala ended up with black Buick rims on blackwalls because my Buick Skylark wheels got stolen. So, if you ever see a 58 Impala that can't put on Chevy wheels, check to see if it has a Buick bolt pattern. It also had a bullet proof trailer hitch below the license plate. (to tow our 40 Willys to the drags) Oh yeah, in the right rear fender where the antenna should be, I had the antenna removed and "leaded" in, not Bondo. Jnaki It was the most fun car that I have ever owned, driven, fixed, modified, and it kept me sane trying to keep it in good condition. It was a definite So Cal cruiser/racer. (check out the older Impala posts at the drags) Many teenage hours were spent in that car all over our cruising grounds.
...ever since American Grafitti, I've loved the '58...but it just ain't right if it doesn't have the taillights in the roof.
Class of '68. First car was the 36 Plymouth in the avitar. Still have it. When I felt the need for speed I picked up a '55 Chev.
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