Who influenced you to this lifestyle?

hot wheels
and my old landlord mark in oklahoma city

 

Aren't you forgeting Bob Falfa?? Those two started it all for me when I was 8.

 

Lifestyle? Hell, I just dig old cars! I don't grease my hair, I only cuff my 501's when I wear sneakers instead of boots, and I like/have owned VW's and tuners, too. If you're worried about the lifestyle, you're just a scenester, IMHO.

 

Gary Jones, a neighbor kid
Hop Up magazine (the old one), HRM, R&C
Janohn's Hobby Store
High School car guys

Lifestyle? I thought we were talking about cars?

 

It was my uncle that got me into cars. He is my dad's brother and he lived with us when I was a kid. We FOUGHT alot when I was a teenager. Then, when I was 13 my ol man passed away. After my dad passed my uncle and I became close and it was this hobby that brought us close. He bought me my first car (65 vw notchback) and started teaching me how to wrench. I have been hooked ever since!


FONZI

 

I don't really know. Hot Rod magazine? My dad messed with stock-ish VW's back in the day. I bought by model A out of the classified in '94 "for shits and giggles" I guess. The HAMB has definetly inspired the last couple of years.

 

Robert Petersen and Wally Parks.

 

I grew up on a cattle ranch in Eastern Washington and I had to build my first car with the help of some of the Winos that worked for us and it has been an uphill battle all the way to here. Gumpa

 

Alcohol, cutting tools and a welder. Sometimes I think if I had sense I would have gone to law school instead!

 

Isn't he the son of Al Falfa?

 

my pops, my uncles, hot wheels, models, and spending summers in turlock and the modesto area as a kid.the smell of gas, oil, and old interior are about the best smell in the world. -jimmy-

 

American Graffiti & my Dad. Saw the flick then asked my Dad if I could get an old car and fix it up. Found out he was an 'ol rodder from back in the day. Pulled out pics of him and Sam Barris at the races. We've been building cool cars ever since.

 

My Dad was an over the road hot rod trucker and my first influence and then it was the older neigborhood guys, Bob Rhoades, Lyle Rabe, Gary (Slim)Werner, Curtis Watson and Jim Nelson, to name a few.

 

It started in the late 50's with some local guys in two clubs; The Barons and the Vagabonds. Then it was James Dean, Elvis, Rick Nelson, Norm Grabowski, Dean Jeffries, Tommy Ivo,the Alexander Brothers, Blackie, Ed Roth, and many, many more. The one thing they all had in common was their unique taste in cars. Oh yeah, Route 66 & cast, plus 77 Sunset Strip & cast!

 

Unlike most car nuts I know, it doesn't run in my family, the bug bit me and me alone, but after meeting/working with Cyclone Kevin when I was 16/17, that was my first living proof that a person could surround their world with it, to have it as their natural persona.
We went out for lunch one day in his '34 coupe, elbows hangin' out the chopped windows, springy bench seat 'n cruisin' slow in "regular" midday San Gabriel Blvd. traffic to a burger place, and I thought, "this is no car show, this is LIFE for this guy. I want that life." Now I've got automotive parts in the kitchen and a car club that's a priority like church.

 

I grew up in Bell california,with the Roth family.His wife ,sally and my mom were best friends.I spent all of my time at car shows and at thier house in Maywood.There was always some badass cars or bikes around at his shop.Von Dutch and Dirty Doug were regulars.The only t-shirts I had were Rat Finks,I still have some of them.Ed gave me a plastic German helmut when I was 7 or 8,and I still have it.I've been offered some big bucs for it,NOT for sale at any price.Not because it's a Roth item,because it survived my childhood.Hotwheels also had a big influence.I still have ALL of them too,about 5000.We used to set up a ladder and attatch our track and race all day.The old Bell Auto Parts was by my house also,if you can remember that place...you're OOOLD school!I'm still friends will Darryl,the youngest son of Big Daddy.We went to Jr. and High School together.He's always trying to get my Roth stuff.I was almost giving up on the dream of having my dream car,then my dad passed away and came into some money,bittersweet!So I went out and bought a '49 Merc,bought the '49 shoebox for my younger son,and recently found a bitchin '68 Impala,custom for my older son.Now I can share the love of cars with my boys.Too bad they could'nt have met Big Daddy.

 

Definitely NOT my dad or family. As a matter of fact my dad kind of hates cars, he just has them to get his boat, and duck hunting stuff from point A to point B (although he did just buy my mom a Vette so maybe hes coming around a little). I really have no idea why I love cars so much but it started young, my toy collection was about 95% car related.

I think for me its a combo of the appreciation for all the mechanical bits on a car that make it work, the style and body work of cars and the feeling you get driving the ones you like.

 

I grew up wrenching on cars with my brother and dad. They drug home a '40 Chevy pickup around 1980, 250 miles with a towbar, behind a Chevy Luv. I ended up witht he truck a few years ago, started stripping it down for a frame up. Ended up selling it a couple of years ago.

About 10 years ago, I moved across the street from a guy in Tulsa that does pinstriping. Some of the rods that show up at his place really got me wanting to build one. Monkey's '41 Ford pickup is one, as is Ronnie's '57 Ford, and several others that show up to get striped.

With a little luck, my project will be on the road before the end of this month. I'm waiting on a distributor I bought for $16, including shipping, and a few other small details. I'll probably use my digital camera and shoot a short movie when I fire up the slant 6 with a straight pipe the first time...

 

For me it was my grandpa he would always try and make me learn the different cars. He really couldn't afford anything back in the day. He grew up during the depression. But he had Buicks and Pontiacs in the 50's. Then Caddys in the 60's. That was big to him as Caddys to him were the ultimate car. My dad didn't influence me much he had Mustangs and Amx's growing up. It was my grandpa who influenced me the most talking about the Ford's in the 30's that he couldn't have. Made me always appreciate them more.

 

Palmer. I was 3. My father had a shop a few doors down from his, and I'd always walk down to watch him stripe, paint, chop etc...

It's amazing... I remember little to nothing from my childhood, but yet I vividly remember the toothed Chevy grille (later changed to Plymouth,) linc pushbuttons, bubbleskirts, 55/56 Lancer hubcaps (sometimes 55 Buicks,) and his tripower scoops with the insides painted red (wasn't tall enough to see much under the hood) on his '54 Ford. I also remember the ride in his '50 Olds coupe among many other stupid details... like him peaking the sides of the fender on the Olds for Cadillac headlight rings..

I hadn't seen him in like 8 years, but one day I saw a guy driving a green '49 Ford and it brought back all those memories. So the next day, I was searching for an old car. I ended up with a Chevy since I remembered the Chevy grille in his Ford.

 

My Mom and Dad for shure. They have always had awsome cars around and stories about others. My dad drag races a 57 Bel Air and my mom drove a Beracuda with a six pack that she built herself when she was in high school. So you can say its just in my blood...

 

The craziest High School kid I ever knew!!!
He got the Chief of Police's youngest of 3 daughter's (17 years old) pregnant in the back of his '56 Chevy!!!

He used to tell me about all of the drag races he had in this car and how this little 283 was just singing with the first B&M Hydro shift kit in the state of New York.

Back then the Chief of Police of a small steal town could make people just disappear with no questions asked. I just called the Chief of Police Grandpa. Yes, my Dad is the craziest high school kid I ever knew and he is still alive and well. I was concieved in the back of a '56 Chevy, so it is as close to in my blood as you can get.

 

hehehe!!! That's the best one yet! I wish I could say I was conceived in a '56 Chevy.

 

Third Generation Car Guy, First Generation Real Car Guy. My Grandfather Owned A Gulf Station, My Dad Worked There. He Hated It! Those Two Didnt Get Along. My Dad Had A Passion For Cars, His Dad, Business Owner. So I Rode Home From The Hospital In A 396 Chevelle. I Was Driven Around The Block To Be Put To Sleep. As Soon As I Could I Was Out At The Dragstrip. Yes I Am An Auto-holic.

 

Billy Vukovitch, Robert Peterson, and the model standing next to the cream and maroon Oldmosbile hardtop with the K-H wires, Saturday Evening Post 1954 edition.

 

My Dad....always had a wrench in his hand, or a lawnmower motor or something gas powered in bits on the bench in the garage....

Been gone almost 2 years now....I miss him every day.