Motion Pictures Do You Remember Your First Taste of T?

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Do You Remember Your First Taste of T?

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@Jive-Bomber Jay -

Thanks for featuring @Marty Strode's My First Hot Rod video in today’s TJJ Blog.

NOTE: There’s more info about & vintage pics of his T in his thread (i.e., click the link above).​

- @HEMI32 Todd

 

Very cool!!

 

Holy Cow! Hard to beat a dirt burn-out, I know it brought a Smile to My face. Thanks, Jay.

 

My earliest memories of Model T's was Norman Grabowski's car used in the television show 77 Sunset Strip.



And the Monogram Model I got for Christmas in '61 or '62. HRP

 

From this to this. Actual pic of the first spin around the block in my old touring. Mort used it in Hop Up as well!

 

My first hot rod a 1922 Model T and as the story says was all I could afford to buy at the time, just a body and a frame. Built it when I was 20 years old and about 3 months with about $3,000

 

When I was a teenager ('50s) I decided that a T roadster was the ultimate hot rod, especially if it had the flavor of a track roadster. Eventually I found a completed car in the style I preferred. Built by Larry Mitchell, it was a '24 roadster with a 350 SBC in it and a very traditional appearance. If I had bought it when I was 40, it would probably have been a perfect match, but I was more like 65, and driving it hard scared the **** out of me. I changed a few details, drove it for a few years, and then sold it and moved on. I still remember it as huge fun:

Rick Amado photo

 

the first t i recall ever seeing was in a hand-me-down copy of hod rod mag, september 1964. i was no older than ten so this was the early 70s and i still have that ratty, parchment-like, copy tucked away.

 

I'm with Danny, watched 77 Sunset Strip hoping to see the Kookie T (although the girls weren't Too bad) and I got the Big T for Christmas around '62!! Oh, I still have the kit with the box (both a little worse for wear)

 

I did have this one for about 12 years (actually kind of miss it)!

 

love it! what a great little film, it really captures the joy and excitement of the moment,
the first time you push the loud pedal, hear the roar and feel the pull
-then stab the brakes and it actually stops!
and captured on film, how rare is that?

to answer the question, do I remember?
yes, it was a lot like that, only no cameras to record it
all the more reason this movie is so special,
it let's us remember the joy of the moment

 

Back in 71 and in our early twenties my future brother in law had a 23 T bucket with a chrome
beer Keg for a gas tank. No front brakes, small spoked front wheels and huge rear tires. Not sure what kind of rear end it had. It was powered by a 392 dual quad Hemi with a 4 speed. You talk about something that would scare the Sh*t out of you when he got on it!!! Trying to stop it was another thing! Not too many guys would want to race us after seeing what motor it had in it! That was my first time riding in a T-Bucket and I'll never forget it! We rode around in that all summer long, what a great time!

 

Of course 77's Kookies' car. But then It wasn't as much the T factor as flames, carbs, and the jump-in entry.
The T love came from kit advetisments in the mags.
Idea of being under a grand seemed reachable.
One mag I had ( lost 3 boxes worth to a water heater ), was a special edition.
A b/w photo of a dry sandy California beach, Jacked roadster with '15 style ws frame.
The thing was pointing South. I could not remove it from my eyesight.
I would sit in school and dream about it. Get home, and get it out and stare.
Yet today 6 decades later I can visualize it

 

Her is my first hot rod in 1974 and when Tom Beatty ran it in 1948.

 

Just hauled home my first taste of T last week ! Its all there believe it or not, ***le too..

 

The one my dad got me for Christmas.Liked them ever since!

 

Awesome to see that! Where is it now?

 

Marty, Is that Earl Floyd with you in the video? Kinda of looks like a young Earl. You were such a pup too!

 

Her sure is.

 

In '69 I was starting college at the same time as my friend's dad was moving. He sold me a 1926 Model T tudor project that he was ***embling. One of my good memories was sitting in the car with my dad. He was showing me how the throttle and spark were adjusted. He went through along how the transmission shifted through the gears and the hand brake worked. I think he was reliving good memories and we were had a good time. My dad was good with cars and showed me a lot growing up.

 

Way beyond freaking cool…and have it on film, unbelievable!

 

so cool. I try to always get the first time making noise and the first time driving, on film. maybe my kids will appreciate it some day.

I'm 3300 miles into my first taste of T.



lovin every minute of it.

 

My first intro to T buckets just as a lot of the older brigade was Norm' s T when it was on 77 Sunset strip and was the prime reason many of us in our early teens at the time watched the show at all.
First attempt at build one was when I drug what was a real nice 27 roadster body out of a field two or three farms west of my granparents farm. I was out bird hunting in that field and it was sitting in the tulies next to a slough where it had been dumped years before. The farmer was on his tractor a ways away and I flagged him down and asked if I could buy it and he said if I wanted it to haul it out of there. An hour later I had my grandfather helping me load it on his 48 Chev 1 ton flatbed. I got to yacking with my Buddy Bill Omlin and he said that he had a ch***is he had put together but decided not to use. I never got the flathead running and don't know if it would and sold it as it is in the photos. The frame was set up a lot like Marty Strode's was.

My T that I built in Texas in the 70's had a 23 body thatI drug out of a field one piece at a time and hauled home in the trunk of my 62 impala.
We had a lot of fun with that one and my wife would sneak it and run around town in it after she got home from work.

 

I saw my first T Bucket in about 1977, in a Fourth of July parade in Westphalia, Michigan. I was about 10 years old, and I fell in love with it. I finally started building one in 2017. (Only 40 years later.) I’ve been driving it for three years now. It has 15,000 miles on it. It’s even more fun to drive than I had hoped it would be. It has an almost bone stock small block Chevy. Cheap and reliable, with plenty of power for this little car. I especially love Marty’s video because his car looks so similar to mine.

 

I saw the thread ***le, but missed looking at it until just now, thanks for the post. With a free body given to me, by my brother Tom, and donor 53 Cadillac from my stepdad Jack, my total investment was around 50 bucks. 10 years after this movie was shot, I built an Altered style roadster, then followed up with a T-tub 3 years later. Then came my Track Roadster building, that produced 10 cars and another Tub. The rear engine Modified Roadster for Bonneville came next, and then the Spalding copy I built for Pat Ganahl. So Model T's have been a big part of my life, and now a Model A, is the current challenge. It has been fun, and a real learning experience.

 

Dale, that was my buddy Dave Wallace, he owned the white Studebaker Hawk in the background. At that time Earl Floyd was a one of the best Top Fuel drivers in the northwest, and drove the "Northwind". It would have been a dream to meet him. Fast forward 20 years, and we would become good friends ! He did wear a hat like that, for sure.

 

Hello,

When we read every Drag News weekly paper starting in 1957, it was an eye opener. We had seen drag racing up close and participated in its truest form in the way of just racing our Impala. But, the lure was seeing all of those early racers, their home built cars and the sound that permeated the air every time the raced.

Of all of the race cars we saw in person and in the early papers, the most intriguing roadster was the mid-engine Speed Sport Modified Roadster. The articles were showing a low slung roadster that looked as fast as it seemed to go against all comers, including the top gas FED cars.

Once we knew the roadster was coming out West to go against all of the top Westcoast racers, it was a place we had to go and see for ourselves. It was a long road trip on surface streets to get to the inland Riverside Raceway. Almost two plus hour road trip starting at 5 am to get there at the opening gate time. But, we knew it was going to be a gathering of the top racers in the USA versus the top Westcoast racers. This was an event not to be missed.

Jnaki

The December 1959 race location was perfect. Cold in the morning gate opening time and for the first several hours, jacket weather. But as we walked to through the pits, a sight we had been waiting for popped up for a closer look.
1959 Riverside Raceway
The 1959 version of the famed Speed Sport II Modified Roadster in all of its glory.

We saw it in the pits, the staging area and racing down the unusual dragstrip. from the up close and personal starting line take offs to later on, high speed runs down the long valley toward the end of the quarter mile, it was as spectacular as it could be. The unusual sound from the rear facing pipes at the line was impressive. Then the blast as it took off was more impressive. It hugged the ground, did not get out of control and ran a straight line race.

In later runs, we were up on top of the valley cliff top for a different view of the races. We could see the starting line and the racers coming down dragstrip. as the speed sport took off, it was a blast heard every where. But from down the dragstrip, we could hear the loud noise and as it approached our location on top of the cliff, just got louder, as it whizzed by.


It was like a powerful locomotive coming from our right and whizzing by going to our left. The powerful sound followed the red modified roadster as it went by on its single and elimination races.

Jnaki

Two brothers in the Pits 1960 My brother was already looking at the "next" project? He could not stop talking about how cool the build was and how fast it was during the races.

The 1960 version of the Speed Sport II Modified Roadster up close and personal:


We did not have to wait long, as a few months later in March of 1960, the next big Westcoast drag racing event was happening at the Bakersfield Smokers March Meet.

Speed Sport II Modified Roadster total...

Now, we were impressed and could not wait for more. Check out the :38 mark in the above film.

If it were not for this bubble head, beehive hair, lady standing next to me, there would have been more films in clarity. She kept sliding down the fence pushing me while I was filming. When I stopped and held my ground, she had her boyfriend step in place. He smelled awful, was pushy, and I did not want to demoralize an older guy, with a bad encounter for him, in front of his girlfriend, so wiser decisions allowed me to move to another location.

As always, it was and still is impressive in any static display or in motion. One day I will find some original sound to go with the original films that I took and we can all be impressed with the actual motion and sound. YRMV

Note: Anyone have verified, actual, original sound of the Speed Sport II Modified Roadster from this 1959-63 time period? In LP form or digital form that I can use? Thank you…

 

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