Folks Of Interest Was Your Dad a Hot Rodder?

Mine wasn’t, but that never stopped him from taking my brother and I to shows when we were a couple of car crazed kids. He always liked the T-Buckets. Dad passed away on the 26th of January, cleaning out his place today I came across this framed, poster sized photo of him that I took almost 50 years ago. It’ll be awesome to have it hanging in the shop.

 

Sorry for your loss. Here’s my dad (gone as well)

 

Here's my dad, pre war Muroc dry lake racer with 1932 flathead 37V8 pointy nose high boy and 1926 Turtle back T with DO Fonty head, home made tubular steel rods. custom ignition and home made fuel metering system. He said it did 113 in the quarter at Pomona drag strip. Also pre war. I guess I have to believe my DAD. ( Also member of L. A. Idlers)

 

My dad wasn't a hot rodder but he had fast cars.
My dad was a machinist by trade and worked for Dempsey Wilson in his shop grinding cams and eventually was on his pit crew.

 

My dad used to drag race my uncle down Broadway in Paducah - he was driving the family's '49 Plymouth and my uncle was driving his '49 Frazer. I assume they never got caught because nobody could tell they were racing.

 

Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1948. Dad is leading the main. He was a "hot rodder" to the max his entire life.

 

My dad is 89 and in good health. He was not a Hot Rodder. But has always put his family first. He sold his old H.D. Knucklehead to pay for me, when I was born. Best dad ever. He helped me get a Corvette while I was in high school. Loaned me the money, and even helped to insure it. He's always supported me, and loves my Hot Rods. Here's a recent photo of him playing slot cars with his great grandson. { Thanks Dad } Ron....

 

My dad ran open wheel modifieds back in the day and our garage at the house was a hangout for the local kids and their hot rods . He would bitch about it , but I really think he was a little jealous of them.
He had to work 7 days a week to support us and didn't have any free time for racing or hotrodding with 4 kids to raise. The county didn't pay mechanics very much back in the 50's and 60's , but the they did plow our driveway in the winter time so he could get out and go to work.
Saved us boys a lot of shoveling, we had a long driveway.

 

Loved Dad till the day he passed, but we were nothing a like. His thoughts on a car was “To get from point A to point B.” When he came home from WW-ll new cars were very scarce. In late 1946 he bought a new 1947 Pontiac Silver Streak Torpedo. He was very proud of that car! I recall seeing a few pictures of it! She would have made a great custom!

 

Definitely not a hot rodder. (His tool box consisted of a 12” Crescent, a hammer and two screw drivers). He was a golfer.
3 out of 4 of his sons are hot rodders though.............
Strangely enough, of the next generation, my son is the only one interested in fast cars (and is the only golfer also).

 

A hot rodder his whole life. Passed on the disease to me He is 82 now and still tinkers with his cars.

 

Dad raced in the Central Valley of Ca. In the late fifties and early sixties. Drag racing and dirt/ pavement ovals. Stockton, Merced, Madera, Kingdon Drag strip in Lodi. Mostly Chevy and Chrysler sixes. Notable names were McCoy, Bell, Suzuki, and "Oakball".

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by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:15 PM

The car/race gene was passed on to me. The one thing my Dad loved his entire life was auto racing, came home from WWII, Navy veteran, built a Midget race car, drove it some and decided car owner was his deal, 1948 till his passing away 1987 a Midget racer in his garage. Growing up going to races was our Father/Son deal, I drove his car 1970-75, then I went off on my own through 1991, a great 21 adventure, memories priceless. He was not a Hot Rodder but an old car guy as he was always buying some older car fixing it up mechanically, never financed anything his entire life except a home loan, both parents were from depression era, I am lucky man, had pretty good parents.

[GALLERY=media, 501515] by wicarnut posted Jan 16, 2014 at 3:15 PM

by wicarnut posted Jan 20, 2014 at 5:27 PM[/GALLERY]

 

My dad pictured here was always into cars. He raced stock cars in the late 50's-early 60's. He always had a great ride for the street as well. He had a 60 chevy impala and 65 GTO that were real nice. Dad always took me the the races after he quit and we would go every Saturday & Sunday to a dirt car race in the northwest Ohio area. In the winter time we would go to the Autorama in Detroit and Toledo. After I started racing in the 70's dad kinda quit going as he said he was to nervous to watch. One of my first car owner/ partners once told me that he seen him at one of my first races and he had a cigarette in each hand! RIP dad I love and miss you always.

 

My dad's opinion of cars was that of just transportation. He often said that a Rolls Royce, and a Ford both were just transportation, it was just a different degree of creature comfort. He did tell me that in his youth he had a 1932 Ford 5-window coupe that he painted turquoise and orange, with a brush, as that was the free paint that he had acquired.

 

My father was a mechanic and raced stock cars back when you took something out of the north forty and slapped it together in the barn and headed out on Sat. night to the track. He had 8 children so by the time we were old enough to recognize cars he had no extra money for playthings. I think I got the mechanical gene from him tho and from a young age loved fast things and building and tinkering. Used to build my first bikes from parts found at the dump!

 

My Dad was not a hot rodder, could do basic maintenance but was a great woodworker, and I don't ever remember
seeing a repairman till he found out that he could have a roof put on our house for little more than it would cost for him to do it. However one of my fondest memories was going to visit him in Ocala Florida, and he took me to the Garlits Museum. He was in awe of the innovations shown there, and he never stopped me with my car obsession.

 

My dad was a scientist. He worked at Oak Ridge after the war. Was awarded 2 patents related to the atomic and hydrogen bomb development that are still classified. Not much of a car guy but he had a '51 Ford woodie that he talked about up until he died in December at 100 years old. He did however help me completely rewire an Italian motorcycle when I was in HS. The process was Greek or should I say Italian to me but it didn't faze him a bit. I'm getting ready to rewire my '54 Ranch Wagon so I'm guessing he'll be looking down on me and enjoying my struggles since wiring is still a PITA to me. RIP dad.

 

My dad was a wannabe hot rodder. He had a '47 Ford super eight convertible as long as I could remember, he had at least two sets of high compression heads, two dual carb manifolds, half a dozen stromberg 97s, a set of headers, and never got around to putting any of it on the Ford. Dad loved anything with a piston. We had a ww2 Jeep, several antique tractors, at least a dozen hit and miss gas engines, and lots of motorcycles. Maybe he wasn't a "hot rodder", but he was definitely a "motorhead"!

 

My father was/is an oval tracker, chassis builder these are a few photos in the back ground of him at Fonda building and a couple of the car he built.

IMG_0089 by Robert J. Palmer posted Apr 3, 2018 at 6:10 PM

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IMG_0091 by Robert J. Palmer posted Apr 3, 2018 at 6:10 PM

IMG_1779 by Robert J. Palmer posted Feb 16, 2019 at 2:33 PM

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IMG_0092 by Robert J. Palmer posted Apr 3, 2018 at 6:10 PM

 

My dad passed in 1995, by chance today would have been his 100th birthday.
He was an electronics guy, video and audio tape, color television, working for NBC his whole life. He would be totally blown away to see me using my handheld computer (that also takes photos and makes phone calls) to send this message to my rodder friends all over the world.
While he wasn't a rodder, he did help me reassemble things I had taken apart and couldn't get back together.
He took us to races and car shows which I now really appreciate. But I was the guy who took the family sedan to the drag races.

 

My Dad was not a car nut but, he supported me in most of my car adventures

 

Yes. My dad is a hot rodder, so is my Uncle, constantly building cars, at the drag strip or shows and looking for projects.

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My dad was a car guy, he liked them stock though, he was fully supportive of my car adventures. I lost him when I was 19, way to soon. He taught me an awful lot of what I know about old cars and fixing them. Even though he wasn’t a hot rodder he always had something with a big block in it.


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Cars were transportation to my dad although we always went and looked at the new models at the Chevy dealership. He was not a fan of my hot rodding activities until one day at the local coffee shop a regular attendee brought in a 1979 Hot Rod magazine he had gotten and my deuce coupe was prominently featured inside. Gave him a little pride and changed his attitude toward my cars.

 

Nope, but he always encouraged my car hobby and house remodeling interests. He was not a mechanical person. Truth is, if I wanted to be a cowboy, he would have helped me buy a horse. I was lucky to have him as a father and can't believe he's been gone for thirty years already. Thanks Dad!

 

My dad was a writer and had no interest in cars for anything other than transportation but as a kid the first new car we had was a 61 Falcon 2 door wagon and the next a 71 Maverick. What this did was give me my passion for the little 60s Fords. I go with dad on his travels to interview the governor and congressman of South Dakota and he would buy me HotRod to read. I got my first ford in 74 a 66 Fairlane at the age 14.

 

My Dad was not a hot rodder, but he did get Hot Rod magazine that I would read as a little kid. He did all of the maintenance and repairs on the cars, where I helped and learned a lot. Dad bought a 68 GTO brand new, it was our family car. Not set up for drag racing, it was more of an optioned up cruiser. I still have that car, got it when I was 16. Dad helped me rebuild the engine and repaint the car. Still have it 41 years years later now and will never sell it. He also helped me when I built my V8 Vega senior year of high school. In later years after I moved out of the house and on my own, he got a nice survivor 1917 Model T touring car, which he rebuilt most of the drivetrain and added a few upgrades to make it better driver (brakes, elec starter, water pump). So while he was not a hot rodder himself, he did like the hot rods and older cars.

 

My dad was one of those guys who could fix anything. He was a carpenter, trained at CCC camp, although he never had a job as one. He could fix cars, but that wasn't his main interest. However, he did replace the crankshaft in a 54 Merc I bought when I was 14. Mom drove it until I got my drivers license. Dad always kept an eye out for an old car for me to fix up. He found a cheap gas furnace for our garage so I could work comfortably in Illinois winters.

He did like circle track racing. I can remember going to watch the stock cars when I was very young. When I bought my first sprint car, he fixed up the garage to accommodate it. Later he built a small extension on one side to house my tires.

 

My dad wasn't a hot rodder, his cars were for transportation and that's it, I would love to have the 1956 Chevy sedan delivery that was his daily driver.