Folks Of Interest Was Your Dad a Hot Rodder?

Yes, it was bought by a local collector friend. Great guy I still see it cruise around town

 

Yup. Even had a pro sponsorship in NHRA from Dr Olds for the 1970 season. That paint scheme in my avatar is a tribute to his Olds that year. Then started hanging around some of the names that would develop into The World of Outlaws.

 

Now, that is cool! Have seen many Ranchero / El Camino conversions over the years, mostly bad ones but that one really works well. Never saw a Mercury crown vic ranchero before!

 

My Dad was always into cars. He owned a body shop an did some custom stuff when he was younger but he was mainly into racing. Mostly roundy round stuff but he did have some neat street cars. I remember a 1963 Chrysler 300 that had a 4speed an 413 in it that was one badass car. He also had a old 50 Chrysler trhat he put a 354 hemi in that was quite a hand full to drive an he had that up until 1974. I don't have any pictures as my older brother is a total non car person an all of those images are gone from when my parents died in the last few years. So guess I got it from my Dad

 

my dad isnt a car guy at all. it is kinda funny he worked for chrysler for about 30 years and he also had an upholstery shop on the side for years. but he could never understand the car crazy 2 of 3 kids he had. my younger brother is more in line with my dad---guns and shooting them.

 

My dad sure was, I lost him on the 16th of December 2020
I learned everything about cars both building them and driving them, he truly was one of the last of the “true hot rodders “


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Motorcycles too!!!


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Dad raced after the war, they called them Hot Rods, everything I know about cars was learned hanging out with him. Sure do miss you Pop.

 

Nope,he could car less,a car was something that got you from point A to point B.

 

Your Dad was a "Cat" chopped deuce 3 window, chucka boots, skinny little roll on his jeans, Kool Kat indeed.

 

Priceless

 

No. He called spining the tires " deliberately trying to tear it up". I think if it was possible, everytime I did a burnout in the dragster, he rolled over in his grave.

 

My dad wasn't a hot rodder at all. He talked me out of my first project of putting a 283 in my 65 nova so we rebuilt the 6 it was born with. That being said, although not a hot rodder, he was a Lincoln Mercury dealership mechanic for years, ran his own shop for a while, could design, weld and machine nearly anything. He actually had a few US patents he got while working for Polaroid Corp and commendations from NASA for the work he did on the Polaroid equipment that the company supplied to NASA for the SkyLab. He taught me everything I know about cars, fabrication and machine tool metalworking.
Toward the end of his short life (55) he finally got himself a small block 4 speed Camaro. He lived long enough to know I was already bitten with the hot rodding bug. I can't help but think what it would have been like to have him build the 40 in my avatar.

 

Yep and still is at 82.

by Roothawg posted Jul 7, 2008 at 8:37 PM

 

Mine dad wasn't. But he was a car man and drove like the fighter pilot he had been (see my avatar). He did have a Model T and later an OT Mustang convertible. My favorite car he had-and the hottest- was a '63 turbocharged Olds F85.

 

My dad had this 41 Ford Ragtop when he came back from the Army Air Corps late in 1945 and was driving it when I was born as far as I know. It got traded for a 41 Buick 2 door fast back after I was born though. The ragtop was said to have the loudest pipes in the area according to the local Chief of Police.

 

My dad loved speed, but not cars: he drove jets for a living. On the ground he drove a stock VW Beetle. WTF?

I got the bug from a high school friend with a ‘69 GTO.

My little boy’s on the fast track program, and already has a thing for old cars with three pedals. There’s hope!

 

My dad has been flying for many decades and loves hot rods to this day. He is 78 and enjoys speed on land,sea, or air.
It's all about the thrill of controlling big power.
He sent me a video of a supercharged hemi powered T bucket leaving a show.
IT WAS SICK.
He loves all the cars he see in AZ.

 

Sadly no... my father had zero interest. This is something I picked up on my own. One big regret that I have is when I lived in Boron, California..... I was driving by Gene Winfield’s shop in Mojave fairly regularly and didn’t have a clue who he was. I only lived 45 min away. Pretty embarrassing to admit but I got interested very late in my life.


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Yea, I see what you mean. He wanted to win.

 

My dad was a boomer, he was born in 46, and grew up in San Francisco and Seattle in his high school years. He had a Norton and a Triumph in high school, "back when you could ride a motorcycle safely"...his words...even told me about riding the Triumph though the front hall of his high-school on the last day of school. He had a buddy with rich parents that had a 409 impala and bel air drag car that he helped him race. When he graduated, he enlisted, as it was "better to enlist than be drafted." He ended up flying helicopters, Huey Gunships to be exact. He was with the 116th AHC(Hornets and Stingers) , based out of Cu Chi. He was in country 67-68 and earned his distinguished flying cross during the Tet offensive. He didn't talk about the war much, but when he did, it was about flying. I learned, after he passed, from some of the men he served with, some of them owing him their lives just how good of a pilot he was. From what I understand, the 116th were some real hot shit. Anyways....I guess long story longer, yes, I think he was a hot rodder at heart. He never had a coll car, but he certainly enjoyed the thrill of speed. And I imagine after piloting a Huey at full speed, that a measly old hot rod didn't do much for him.

 

Great history, you should be proud.

 

When I was a wee child of less than 4, I can remember Dad racing go-karts at this asphalt track in the middle of a Kansas wheat field. He had a pink one and one purple - on a single axle trailer. When I was in high school he raced bikes at Wichita International Dragway. He had several for different classes, and hired local guys to ride them. He modded a Kawasaki 750 triple into a long and low ride with wheelie bars and Hooker headers. I think the fastest he ever went was 140. So while not a hot rodder - he was a racer.

 

GREAT story!

 

Hot rodder? Uh, no, he passed at the age of 85 and had never driven a car so I grew up riding public transportation. I did take him for a ride in my '32 5W one time and I could tell he didn't like it even though I drove very sanely. I think he was afraid of getting in an accident in a small, channeled, no fendered, overpowered car.
On the other hand he did support my model car hobby, there was always money for my car magazines and he had a two car garage built when I started driving and building my coupe. What I didn't learn from him about tools or cars was more than made up for considering what he taught me about life, relationships and doing the right thing.
Thanks Dad.

 

That rings true more now then ever.

 

My dad passed away on the 26th of January last year and I’m doing the same thing since I have everything he ever got, he wasn’t a hoarder, he just didn’t like to throw anything away! My dad wasn’t a Hot Rodder, he looked at cars as tools to do a job. His passion was airplanes, he took me to the Reno Air Races every year when we lived there and to the Watsonville Fly-In many years. He also took me to Laguna Seca many times to watch CanAm cars race! Going thru his stuff I found this picture of my 16 year old dad with his nice nearly new 51 CrownVic...

What is really cool about this picture is that far in the background is the only image of my uncle’s 31 Ford Sedan. He’s the hotrodder of the family! He drug that home when he was 13, got it running, and then got busted hauling ass on the newly finished but not yet open freeway by their house in El Segundo, Ca!

 

A HS friend who enlisted a couple of months before I got drafted flew helicopters. Said it was like riding a dirt bike but you could go up and down as well. Not sure I would have had the huevos to be a pilot but it didn't matter. My eye sight would have disqualified me.

 

My dad was a car guy. I noticed a scar on the right side of his scalp and he told me of racing his y-block FOrd against a 57 chevy and was sideswiped and put in a ditch. Limekiln Pike. He loved cars, (mostly Fords) He worked in the industry as a repossour, then a store manger for MUNTZ in Philly. He sold the 4 track player and TV's. He had a 1964 small pattern Pontiac Grand Prix when he died in 1970. He smoked at least 2 packs a day....
He took me to many races, dirt oval at Willow Grove, I watched car #15 win. I was on my father's shoulders as they came around and got covered in dirt. I met the winner of that race about 25 years later, Jim Hurtubise. My father drag raced his Pontiac at Niagara Drag Way a few times. About 15 years after he died I took my Chevelle to the track and ran it in his honor.