Hot Rods The Real Hot Rods,blue collar guys, hard earned squeezed dollars, No Frills that started it all!

That's you, @CME1 and your hot rod at 15 years old? That is so cool, I can't stand it.
Look at you... man... lol.

 

yes ! walking to school (about 1959_60) little yellow 35 ford pickup sat out on the street in front of this guys house . i now have a 35 p.u. to fill that void of so many yrs ago. what great simple times !

 

First post reminded me of this, - around 1964 in NZ

 

"Tuffy" .... saved by Kisam here on the HAMB ... the story starts here 13 years ago: Features - My Survivor Story.... 32 3-Window...the build begins | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)

I love this Hot Rod

 

My dad and uncles when they pulled this one home.

 

I was born in 1943 and the thing that started it all was a 1941 Ford Coupe. It was owned by a guy in my hometown Aliquippa, PA. To this day I can remember drolling over it. He had a gorilla painted on the firewall with lightning bolts coming out of his hands. It is still fresh in my mind after all these years. And by the way, it had an Olds Rocket V8. Semper Fi.

 

AHotRod, I have really enjoyed this thread ! This is the car that hooked me at a young age.

 

Back when I had my first Hot Rod experience that I told you about at the beginning of this thread, the only images are in my head. So, a few months ago I obtained a model car kit and decided it was time to create that cars memory. A good friend of mine is majorly into modeling brought me a SBC and some related components so I could create it as accurately as possible. The kit came already with a chopped roof where the real car was un-chopped .... oh well, close enough.
It was bare-bones ..... and I loved it.
I just snaped a few pictures (in B&W) to share with you all:

 

The picture of Pete Chapouris, reminds me of something he wrote. When he was building that Model A, he drilled the rivets out of a pair of wheels, reversed the centers and lined them back up, before having Art Chrisman weld them together.

 

Here are my first two hot rods...the yellow '37 sedan my brother and I pulled out of a guys backyard, Bought it for
$5, spiders included. Painted it myself in our carport, got a free 265" with a 3 speed and rearend. No money for
any kind of flashy wheels or hubcaps. This happened in 1962 when I was 14. Sold it to my friend and bought
my brother's orange '40 Chevy coupe in the picture for $200. 283", 3 speed. Was working for 95 cents an hour in
highschool to pay for gas and used parts. Still working cheap and buying parts. Life is good.

 

Thank You .... feels good to share it with you all

 

I Love your Coupe Ron .... but you know that... I never get tired of seeing it. Do you have any current pictures of the engine bay?

If I could just afford some period correct wheels for mine, I could post pictures of it

 

His Coupe is AWESOME Tim .... perfect to me, I love it.

 

$$ was not a hold back, as a teen [ 1950s ] I had been saving small amounts,but total $ was not even in the thoughts.
Most of all a good hunter for free old parts.!! Woods n weeds for dumped cars with usebible parts. Was key.
I love them all ,I saw in little books/n mag.,but also knew that in many photos,it's only a photo of that hour of the day it had been taken! Same with local rods.
Very likely same rod had changes with in a short time later! Point ;I'm trying for is,too often some one seeing a old photo,may think it looked that way a long time? Yet,also likely got new shiny paint job not too long after! Primer was not a finish!!just a prep.
In the early 1950s,I was saving some of my lawnmower an paper rout $,plus any other odd job $ I could=put it in a jar ,I had marked "Car for Highschool". The dream car was a hotrod of my own making,drew it on paper lots of times in different ways. Took about all of 3 years to hunt an find enough free or traded old parts,to make pile in the weeds out back. Were the newer drawings of my hotrod ideas started looking like some of those parts in the weeds,the old 28 body was all mashed in the trunk bad,so I cut the rear off and used the good part=rod is a bobtail.
By the later part of 1959,I had a running 28A hotrod,that could go around the block" not pretty yet" but running!
Did do some free shiny paint on her{Looked wow at first,but faded fast;do to,it was leftover bottom of cans,free from body shop I worked at part time mixed together. Next paint job I did lasted a few years,gloss black ! Though chrome was mostly out cost wise,I polished too high shin any thing that could be!
The best speed equipment that made my rod fast,was not too buy new aftermarket,but;"Dad had always said "Find out about things before you do them,it will cost you less an work better!!" So that was knowledge* that I had researched an gained over time,before trying to build my first rod.
My speed parts = Using good engineering*,tuning*. made my rod faster then one with store got speed parts that were not tuned as well.
I did a few years later,make my own 4x2 log,an after that did better headers.
Over the years I built a number of rods,to sell an custom builds for others.
I kept my first baby,still.

 

Great stories!!----At 89, I have passed down to my son my roadster to enjoy as I have since finishing it in 1963. Made 5 trips across the USA to many NSRA events Racked up over 300,000 happy miles.
Back in the late 50's I had this Model A pickup with a "Flattie" & '39 box & juice brakes which I drove to work daily.
I called it my "FREEWAY FLYER" When living in SO Cal.

 

A Boner .... that would be all the inspiration that I would need, I love it.

 

Thank you for sharing your story, most excellent!
Glenn

 

Thank You .... hopefully inspiring to someone else too !
Glenn

 

Agreed .... fun and faster trumps pretty and shiny for me.
Glenn

 

I'm sure that there were, I personally only saw one and that was at a drag strip back home in Iowa. Try and dig up old phots from us old Hot Rodders and get them scanned before we kick-the-bucket and loose the REAL history forever.
Glenn

 

Truth Dennis ..... then and now .... just enjoy the memories.
Glenn

 

Awesome photo and story .... you lived the dream.
Glenn

 

I would agree .... nice Hot Rod with lots-of-punch
Glenn

 

Agreed, same here.
Glenn

 

Love the thread!!!!!!!
Every one of Ron's cars have a great story to go with them.
When it rains Ronnie backs out the cars and washes them in the rain.
This current shot must have been after a rain lol
Tim