Hot Rods Before 1-800, catalogs & the Hamb (back in the dark ages)

I built my first ground up hot rod in the early 70's with junk yard parts and some parts that wouldn't past muster here.

I started with a rough 1930 Model A pickup that had been started previously and then abandoned, I started cutting and taking it apart.

The truck was powered by a Buick engine & transmission, a 66 Mustang rear end, a couple of Jaguar coil over shocks, I made a 4 car setup from 4 Impala sway bars, I cut one end off 4 of them, thread the bar and used female spherical rod ends for adjustment, I made the axle mounts from plate steel and a fire wrench, I cleaned them up with a side grinder and welded it all with a are welder, up front I had a Corvair front suspension with a Colt rack & pinion controlled via a pinto flex shaft connected to a shortened Chevorlet Caprice steering column w/t a Vega GT steering wheel.

I had narrow 14" wheels on the front and 7" x 15: wheels on the rear, 135's up front and 235's on the rear, topped those with moon disc.

Inside the transmission was shifted by a Mustang automatic floor shift, the seat was a Datsun pickup with 12" cut out of the center, I had a honest to goodness Chris Craft boat dash insert and since it didn't have any window mechanisms I cut up the donor cars power windows and made them work.

The truck was a hodge podge of parts gathered from where ever I could find them, I had two kids and a wife and little extra money like most of us at that time, I was proud of the truck and to be totally honest it handled like a slot car, it was probably the cheapest car I ever built but it was a ball to drive, at that time there was only a hand full of guys in town that drove a hot rod and mine was a daily driver for several years.

This truck was responsible for the moniker HOTRODPRIMER

Care to share your first build. HRP

 

Impressive... that you can recall all those details! And the car, too, recognizing the hurdles of the era and family obligations. So far, I've not fabricated a car from bitsa this and bitsa that.

 

It's funny, I can remember most things about hot rods, birthdays I'm not so good at. HRP

 

It has a great look, nice stance and moon disks.

 

Back in those days, I never really finished anything for myself. My next door neighbor at the time was married to one of my wife's cousins and was the source of most of my stuff, his cast offs. I did a lot of work for him and he paid me in car parts, got some good stuff. I built him a couple of 1st gen Camaros, a 67 Chevy II, a 67 Mustang fastback, those are just the ones I remember. He was a good old boy, not really mechanically inclined but loved hot rods, as well as women and dope. I did a lot of motor work, built several SBC's and a couple of SBF's. He knew a lot of folks in two different counties and was always buying and trading stuff, got a few deals myself. I always ended up having to sell whatever I was working on to pay bills. Sux to be poor.

He eventually went his own way. Lost track of him for a few years, then found out the women and dope finally took him out. Still miss that guy. He just couldn't keep his pants on and couldn't get off the dope or he'd still be here.

By the time my youngest son got interested in cars, we had the net, and it started being fun all over again. And we had about 6 years before we lost him in a wreck. I have kept the flame alive, slowly but surely. But I miss riding the country roads with either one of them, "I know a guy who has....." Now I look for everything on the net and have it sent to me. Not as fun, but the chase is still exciting.....

 

In the dark ages as you put parts acquisitions was word of mouth, swap meets, junkyard cruising and the Auto Shopper or Trader. I miss the junkyards and pouring over the pulp pages.

 

It also helped at that time to be a member of a car club, we pooled our information and helped each other with the build.

The only big swap meet was at Charlotte Motor speedway on the spring & fall, but the junk yards were our main source for parts. HRP

 

On the other side of the coin, before the internet, it was damn difficult to get rid of parts you didn't want or need anymore. I tossed or s****ed a few items that could be turned into cash now-a-days.

 

I built this during my junior and senior years of high school, 1967-1968. I was 17 when I graduated. I drove it to school the last two weeks as a senior. My dad was a white collar guy. He liked his Buicks and had a 1966 Buick GS with a 425, but wasn't a hands on car guy. He was very generous with his garage space to accommodate my hobby though, as I took over his 2 car garage for about a year and a half. I didn't take any auto shop cl***es in school as they made me take the college prep courses. I worked sweeping up in a production cabinet factory after school to finance this project.
For tools I had a very limited selection. Any metal that had to be cut, I used a hacksaw. No grinder... old dull files. A 1/4" electric hand drill motor. A borrowed old tombstone welder. A small box of ***orted wrenches and sockets. Pretty sad. But I made it work. 16-17 year old p***ion and obsession got 'er done.
I built the frame from 4" channel iron. I spent a lot of time trolling junk yards lugging my tool box around. 4.56 Olds rear with homebuilt ladder bars and cheater slicks. I think 40 front end. Started as a 265. I remember grinding a notch in the rear cam journal of a 327-350 cam to stick in it. Ended with a 327 with crane cam and cross ram dual quad wcfb carbs. Started with a Saginaw 3 speed. Several of them in fact. Ended with a Muncie 4 speed. Hurst compe***ion plus shifter.
I did a lot of racing with that car, street and strip. It ran a best of 11.34 at the Bunker Hill Dragstrip and had quite a rep on the street. Back in the day 11.34 would smoke most anything on the street.
Of course this was all pre-internet. I don't know how I got that car built without it. I believe it was HOT ROD Mag that had a series of articles detailing how to build a T bucket. That was pretty much my Bible.
I didn't think any pictures of my first hot rod existed, but a few days ago my wife discovered these pics. Made my day. Brought back a flood of memories. Sorry about the shape of the pics. I know they are fuzzy, but they are clear in my mind. I think they were the kind you waved around while it developed itself.
This car really was pretty rough. My skills have improved since then.
Thanks for listening. I got excited.






.

 

I had 2 good speed shops close by, 1 is still in business. We had papers like the Selling Post and Buy Lines. Loads of car parts in those, even parts cars were there. I'd buy parts cars just from driving around and looking in people's yards and driveways.

The 1 remaining speed shop still has a bulletin board where people post sell-want ads.

 

That is a cool looking pickup.

 

Thank you sir. HRP

 

Thanks for that comment, I almost forgot the old girls B'day.

 

Nice Chebby

 

I had a lot of fun back in the day, going to junkyards and searching for parts. I used to find a lot of cool stuff cheap. Usually priced randomly, you had to learn who to ask. If the owner was there, and I offered cash, that was the best deal! But it could be frustrating, too. I remember phoning every junkyard in the book looking for a 9" rear end with a 3.50:1 posi in it. All I got was no's, or super high prices. Finally, a yard in Minneapolis said, yes they have one, $30.00. SO me an a buddy drive to Minneapolis, I go to the desk at the yard and tell them I was the guy who called, and am here to pick up the rear end. They point to a pile in the yard and say: there it is, go grab it. The pile is about 75' in diameter, 20' tall of rear ends. Every kind imaginable, all helter-skelter, just as they dropped from a crane. No order to it. I say, "where is the one I need?" They said they didn't know exactly where it was, but with that many rear ends, there had to be one in there somewhere. We dug thru the pile for a couple hours, then gave up. I finally gave in and paid the big bux to a yard that had one inventoried on a shelf. $75.

Another time, I was in a yard, back over a hill where I couldn't see the office. I got my parts removed, and got to the office right at 4:00. They were gone and the gate was chained shut, with me inside. Luckily, I had a hacksaw in my toolbox...

 

350/350 used drivetrain.
Toyota radiator, must front end, junkyard fuse panel and a roll of wire, junkyard Chevy tilt column, more formed sheet metal from s****ped Volvo/Gm heavy trucks than I can count. Junkyard 9 bolt rear end.
Aftermarket rear roll pan and bed parts.
A few I can remember to get this reliable truck on the road.

 

That's a darn nice truck. HRP

 

Many adventures going to look at parts listed in the cl***ifieds. Followed directions, and read maps! A good co pilot helped, and at least a six pack for the ride back. Good times.

 

Every Part Of My Fordy Delivery (1966-1978) Was Made From Parts Found In Junk Yards And Swap Meets (LT1/Saginaw OD/1957 Rochester Fuel Injection)...

 

Nice truck Danny how did you fit in it I built this out of parts left over from early broncos and mustangs that I had restored . Also had help from a neighbor Frank and Bob for his kind advice and parts.
This was just a early 70 bronco rearend and driveshaft, mustang engine n trans c4, master cylinder ,steering box column and the bucket seats. This was a daily driver and that was close to 30 years ago.
A local Junkyard Andys was great for other parts and had lots of old cars in it. He was a great guy and loved to help old car guys. Living near a big city helped as we had a ton of boneyards ..

 

Thanks John, I was a little lighter back then and a little shorter, it was a tight squeeze though. HRP

 

Damn - you think you had problems with all current production vehicle's and parts - try walking up to a counter and saying Studebaker in the early 70's....gezzzzz.

 

First, 1961 I was 15

 

I had a pinto flex shaft on my 39 Deluxe Ford Coupe. I had read stories about them braking, and guess what? That Damn shaft broke! I’m just glad I didn’t crash the car

 

"International Harvester? Who makes that?"

 

This is my 39 Deluxe Ford coupe. I built this one and started driving it in 1976. It had a 400 Pontiac engine, 400 TH transmission. I drove the hell out of that car, sold it in 2002. Sometimes I wish that I still had it

 

That’s a nice looking car. Everything that was built then used junk yard parts, the aftermarket hot rod parts wasn’t here back then. We all built what we drove and used a hodge podge of parts. We all did it that way had a lot of fun building and driving them

 

I guess I was that other guy, the one with parts to sell.

My buddies and I started dirt track racing just out of High School. I discovered really early that I could buy parts cars cheaper then I could buy parts for cars. A $100 could buy you a running but pretty ****py car that had the transmission (a $75 junk yard item at the time), or other parts you needed, and a whole lot of parts other guys were looking for. The first couple of years I was pretty generic, buying all makes of cars and selling the parts. After that, I became specialized buying mostly Mopar stuff.

I would buy that $100 car, take the parts I needed, then sell off what ever I could in a few days. After a few days, I would pull the small stuff I knew would sell eventually and put them on a shelf on my back porch. Then I would s**** out the rest of the car at one of 2 local junk yards that treated me really good. I'd turn the car in 3-4 days. I'd strip it right in front of my house! I had 3 - 4 days before the cops would be around to give me ****. As time progressed, several of the cops would buy parts from me.

After a couple years stripping the cars in front of my house, I rented a big garage. That gave me more time to take parts off the cars before I had to get rid of them. Eventually I bought a place out in the country where I had a running inventory of 4 or 5 parts cars.

Our little town had 4 or 5 real junk yards. All of the junk yard guys knew I was selling parts from cars I'd bought to part out, most of them were racers as well, and they knew I funded my racing by selling the car parts. Several of them sent people to me if they didn't have what someone was looking for.

It was great fun, and I supported my dirt track racing then later my hot rod habits from the money generated for the sales of car parts. It really helped that it all started right at the end of the performance era, and about the time gas prices doubled. I could buy those beat to death and fuel drinking performance cars really cheap and they provided a lot of very usable parts guys were always looking for. It really worked well up to about the early 1990s. Then the guys looking for performance car parts expected them to be in new condition for pennies on the dollar. Gene

 

Hey, I have one of those too!!!!