Hot Rods First car... how old were you?

It was 1967, I was 16 and I bought a 56 Chevy 2dr sdn for 75 dollars, that I got from my Mom and Dad.It had a perfect body,except for a dent in the right quarter panel.It was a 265 with a 3 speed on the floor.The engine was shot,It didn't have any compression,but it did run,barely.I thought I was smart when I sold it for 150 bucks,that is until my Dad pointed out that I had bought tires and a battery for it.

 

Great story, Hotrodprimer. Goes right to the heart of who we are and how we became H.A.M.B.ers. There's no cure.

 

I was 14, paid $500 for it.

 

Very similar to my first car story... same age and time frame but mine involves a '32 Chev coupe that was used to haul empty oil cans and used oil filters to the dump by the local Mobil station owner. It was painted red with the big "Flying Horse" on each door and I thought it was beautiful.

I found out that Mr. Snodgrass was closing the station and retiring so asked him "How much for the coupe?" He said that $35 would take it and that he'd charge up a used battery so we could drive it the 2 miles to my folks farm.

Here is where things went a little differently for me than from HRP's experience... I asked my dad, got told "Hell NO" and that ended that. So no belt involved for me.... I don't know what happened to the old Chev coupe.

Move ahead a couple of years; I'm 15, living with my grandparents in the PNW and finally get my "first car". A '52 Studebaker for $15, split three ways between a couple of buddies and I. 6 cylinder and overdrive; but that's a different story. I know what happened to that one...

 

15 yrs old bought a 55 Buick Roadmassa... Mop painted John Deere green and yellow.. Used it to herd cows. Built a roundy track on a way back field next to the woods and creek . Ran the hell out of it till the trans died. Pulled the nailhead and used it in a Studebaker coupe.

 

When I was 10 I started working as a helper at the local Schwin shop for 50 cents an hour in 1967. Bought the 1st Orange Crate we got at the shop in 1968. Worked my way up to 1.00 an hour ,by 1969 and bought a Rupp mini bike, then a McCoulach 91A powered kart. In 1970 talked my Dad into letting me buy a 1952 Ford Customline 2dr sedan ,within a year ,I had put chrome reverse , a 2x2 Fenton intake ,headers and a Fartomatic 3spd floor shifter in it.Not exactly the hottest thing around ,but I learned a lot on it. Real hot rods came soon after... Still have all of the aforementioned toys...and a few more.

 

I bought my first one at 13 for $350, a 1957 Fargo that I still have but have still never driven it! It was supposed to be a quick fix up to drive which turned into a major project, hopefully next year it'll move under its own power. The second one came a year or two later and was a very rusty 53 studebaker that I paid $100 for!


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Twelve, the neighbor farmer's widow gave me his '39 Chevy, two door. Hid it in the woods from the folks, drove it on dirt roads around the corn fields.

 

I had been working with my Dad and the older guys in the neighborhood on cars and go-karts since I was 10 (1960) and Dad began teasing me with a car of my own at 13. Sometimes on weekends we would go look in the window at Shell's in Santa Monica, Ca. In the back row of a nearby used car lot, he found a '53 Stude for $150 that he wanted to buy for us to fix up. When we finally went to buy it, we kneeled down to look under it and he saw a hole in the oil pan - too far gone for him to mess with at that price. I was broken hearted. He bought me a 354 Chrysler Hemi from the junk yard to play with instead.
At 15, the surfer guy next door told me that his buddy had a '40 Ford coupe for sale. He had had the engine rebuilt and was getting ready to paint it when his Mom drove over the side trim that he left in the driveway. Then his new engine locked up. He was disgusted, $65 was all he wanted. I borrowed $30 from Dad and we towed it home with a chain. Dad insisted that I leave the flathead in it (he was a big flathead fan) so we pulled it out, sat it on the garage floor and rolled it over. We heard something fall, inside. It turned out to be a clutch bolt that had come out and wedged between the flywheel and the block. We returned the bolt to it's proper place and my Dad showed me how to torque bolts correctly. We checked all of the bolts and put the engine back in - it ran fine.
I started working in our neighbor's Shell station on Saturdays and slowly added chrome wheels in front,black wheels and Inglewood slicks in back, a Thickstun intake with two 97s and I had Earl Scheib paint it Robin's Egg Blue for $29.95.
So now I'm in high school and being a 6v system and me being too young to know much, it wasn't very reliable. I sold it for $300 and bought a 1960 Pontiac Catalina with a huge back seat.... very important for a H.S. kid.......

 

I was 14 in 1995. Bought a 1965 Volvo Amazon for about 100 bucks.


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In 1958 or 1959, I was 12 or 13 when I got my first car, a family hand me down, that my father originally bought new in 1929.

Still have it, just got it back to good condition.

 

At 12 I got a '51 Stude two door, took the muffler off, rattle can flat black, snap on moon disc....I was king of the road

 

1962 I was 15 when I found a 1952 Pontiac straight 8 3speed standard 5 bolt selector for $20 at Westlake Chevrolet's used car lot in downtown Seattle. Learned a lot about wrenching on it. Sold it for $25 with the trans broken. Years later ended up working for Westlake Chevrolet from '77-'81.

 

[emoji1][emoji106][emoji41]Good read

 

15 yrs old, 1969, 61 Impala, 348/3 speed/column (soon replaced with Hurst Syncro-Loc shifter).
My best friend was (still is), six months older than me so he got to drive my first car (legally) before I could, man, that was a painful six months!

 

""My 41' Ford pickup""-----photo taken in 1971 in Oregon when I was 12-----my ''first'' vehicle I called my own! It was mine ''ONLY'' after I paid for it, cutting firewood and keeping everyone's yards clean & multiple chores on the farms in the entire family of uncles and aunts, for 6 months. I finally paid for it, and eventually got it running in my junior year (sorta), and drove it to the Junior-Senior prom, blowing clouds of smoke behind me, with no gauges, faulty generator, and run out of battery power for headlights after the dance.

Ended up walking with my date to a service station couple miles, where my grandfather came to pick us up after midnight...alas, no kiss goodnight to remember my prom with!!!...she WAS NOT as giddy I was that it even run on it's own power, apparently!....she had choice words to say to me the entire walk....the corsage?, forget it...she flung it at me first thing, and then stomped on it multiple times for good measure....not a good night to remember to much upon!!!

I then parked it when I went into the Navy in 77', and stored it at my mother's house till 2012....it's in pieces and completely torn down now, but....I'm starting the process of ''positive'' movement to put it all back together again....bigger job than I anticipated, but I feel grateful I even still have it!

 

15 in 1955 -- a 1936 De Soto Airstream sedan -- $100 -- Drove it another 200,000 miles!

 

I was 12, traded a dirtbike for a 1956 cornet with a hemi. Needed a radiator and a battery to run.
After months of cruising the world with never leaving the driveway, traded it to my brother inlaw for a 63 lincoln that ran.
My brother inlaw was going to scrap the lincoln for spare cash, the 56 dodge was heavier so good trade.

 

13 years old. 1930 Model A coupe.

 

In 1958 I was 18 & bought a 49 Olds 88 convert. Doing the mechanical work & bodywork was a great learning experience. I nosed & decked it, frenched the headlights, 48 Ford tail lights, had the hood louvered, dual baby spots, red clearance lights under the louvers, spark plug after burners on the twin pipes. I bought a wrecked 50 Olds ragtop, a Calif.car, it had a naugahyde interior from Carson company. I put that cool gold & ivory interior in my 49, sold the 50 and man was I cool! Lowered front & rear , lakes pipes. It was worn out mechanically. I overhauled the engine, milled the heads .125. The machinest growled like hell, said it would never work. I put on a 4 barrel & higher lift rockers. Hot Rod mag (my bible) had an article:,Hot Rod your Hydramatic, so of course I had to do it. After removing that big hunk of iron in the back yard, 2 or 3 of my buddies lugged it into my basement where I received my first experience into the world of planetary gears, clutch packs & hydraulics. Later I hopped up a 324engine with Engle cam & Thomas rockers. I really wanted a J2 371 but could not find nor afford one. Good memories with my chick magnet! Greg

 

18 yrs old ...fell in love with a '47 Crosley wagon for $35 & drove it home (1963). Rebuilt the motor (learning curve/several times LOL) moved on to '53 Lincoln, & then on to Fords, Studebaker PU, etc......

 

Bought a 2 door 6 cyl rambler with crack in the block for 50. Jb welded it up and hammered on.


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12 years old..... traded a 22 Mossburg rifle and $10 I earned killin pigeons for the neighborhood farmers for a 57 Wartburg 311 with three cyl. two stroke engine. Used to rip thru the aisles in our neighbor, Mr Thompsons grape vineyard. I could barely see over the dash. Mr Thompson was OK with all this till I took out 2 rows of vines cuttin a corner a tad too close. Pissed my dad off so 2 of my buddies and I tore the body off to make a dune buggy outta it. In typical pre-teen fashion, we decided to test it out but hadnt figured out how to rig a throttle, so we used a chunk of bailing wire I found in the garage and down out thru the grapes we went, me steering and Jerry pulling on the wire...everything was great till we lost control and took out two more rows of vines. Worst part was standing in the driveway, tear in my eye, watchin my dad haul my Wartburg dune buggy off to Turners Auto Wrecking. My dad felt bad so he bought me a Honda 90 scrambler, which I plowed into the grape vines several times but never did much damage...........and once again, all was good in the Browns neighborhood.

 

16 and a 1930 Model A 2dr sedan I gave $30 for. I drove it home. Had a solid body, relatively fresh engine and rotten fenders that flapped like a bird. Had 16" wires on the front and 28" wheels on the back. Left rear had a 3" hole in it that let the tube hit the ground if I went over 15 mph...[took a while to get it home.....lol] Had bare springs for seats, looked like hell but was paid for and most importantly was "all mine"!! Wish I still had it.....lol

 

14...My dad's cousin gave me a 28 ford coupe with no motor/trans/rear end but the body was mint! My jr hi buddy and I'd ride our modified bikes the 8 miles up Mill Creek where the pavement ended and ride another 3 miles on the gravel....take a few parts off [garnish moldings, radiator shell etc etc] and ride back home to clean/sand and paint the parts...we moved away the next year before I could bring my car home.
After I got home from the military in '69, I drove up to see if the car was still there...nothing at all was there..no house, no barn and no cars.

 

First car I owned at 2 years old was used and handed down from my two older Brothers.
I was around 15 years old when I bought my first car. It was a non running blue 56 VW complete with hand painted flowers on it and a few bullet holes. Had fun working on it then sold it to a friend.
The first driver was when I was 16. It was a 51 Dodge that some old guy in the neighborhood offered to my buddy Mike. He would not let him take the car unless he had a license. Since I had mine, I went and got the car. We zipper plated the old Dodge and would cruise around in it. Another friend liked to ride around with us and had a neighbor with a big Pontiac that he parked by his back yard fence. He sometimes would syphon gas out of his neighbors car for the old Dodge. When Mike got his license I turned the Dodge over to him.
My first licensed car was a 64 Impala SS that I got from my Uncle who owned a collision shop. He had repaired the quarter panel on the car and when the owner did not pay up, my Uncle put a mechanics lien on the car and ended up selling it to me for only the $400 cost of the repair. The picture is not my 64 but is the same color and had the same wheels.

 

17, 66 Pontiac Tempest.

 

A '62 Rambler American. Was dads work car. He wanted to trade it in but was only offered 25.00. So I ended up with it. Drove it around my grandmothers farm. Guess I was about 13.

 

I was 16 whem I bought this 1951 Ford Convertible, customized it withan Olds grill and fender skirts. The body was so badly rotted and the steering box worm gear so badly worn that at at around 40 MPH it hit the sweet spot and would start to shake causing the doors to fly open. I never got any speeding tickets but had a lot of of fun. I never forgot that car and eventually replaced it with the red one.