No, I'm no one famous. I'm not known by anyone but a few around me. But I grew up in this mess and I thank... and blame... my parents every day for it. My hot rodding life began ten years before I was born. In 1957, my dad was in junior high just starting to figure out how get a girl to second base. My Mom was way up in Colorado trying to figure out how to get her rotten brother to stop pulling her hair. Back then, Dad's family followed the pipeline jobs and moved more often than an army mule. The scene was Crawfordsville, Indiana and someone made the huge mistake of taking my 14 year old dad to the midget races. Before anyone could say no, he came home with this: This is what started him down his highway to hot rodding... and oddly enough, it's the only picture that survives of any of his cars when he was young. Within a couple of years, Dad would parlay his pipeline money into a deuce gasser and a '55 Chevy that he very soon had painted ghost white, put in a tube grille (I think) and started tinkering away, eventually putting in a hell raising small block. Bored, stroked, roller'd, and so nasty his own mother did a 180 in the street the one time she tried to drive it. If you ever pounded the pavement of Polk Street in Amarillo in the late 50's or early 60's, chances are you ran across him either in "Casper" or on his ol' Harley. Unbeknownst to his parents, he was also one of the many young 'uns employed by Bob Creitz to drive his fuel rails in the early goings of NHRA, eventually breaking the 200mph club. An accident at Amarillo Dragway put him in a position that just isn't natural for a car and his retina complained by detaching itself from the situation, thus ending his clandestine career. But Dad didn't stop tinkering. In the years following, he had a '54 Chevy and later a '56 Chevy. I used to cry BS when I heard this story, but I'd been told, and verified now, that my Mom even went into labor watching the drags at Amarillo Dragway (it was the finals, too!). When I was finally born and barely old enough to have memories, our family ride was a '55 Chevy Wagon. Dad's ride was a '50 Austin with another bored, stroked, roller cammed Crane headed monster set back so far in the frame that he drove from the back seat. I still can't get over the fact that he stuck with log rams.... my guess is back then he didn't have any of the gear he has now to go making himself a set of headers. This picture looks like it was taken before he did the 18" setback... maybe he was counting on not having much room for headers. The Austin is my very first memory of a car. I can remember riding in it to the old A&W Drive In. Back when they were REAL drive in's with REAL root beer and REAL hot rods pulling in to bench race. I can remember being in preschool and driving everyone around me nuts when I'd see it go by (we lived on the same street as the school back in those days). Flash forward a few years to when it's my turn. Did I even have a chance to have NORMAL tastes? Well yes. I do have normal tastes. As long as you think gassers, fuel, and hot rods are normal. What do I get for a first car? A Pinto? A pickup? No, I got that very same '55 Chevy Wagon that had been sitting in the back yard waiting for someone to want it. When my dad asked me if I was going to be that someone, I said HELL YES. That was followed by a backhand (they didn't lift the cursing ban until they saw it was unstoppable)... the backhand was followed by a handshake and "let's get it out of there and get started on it." It took me until I was 16 to really get pumped but once I got it going, I worked on it every single day doing one thing or another and there was no looking back. Dad was the kind to tell me what needed to be done and go so far as to show me how if it was something tricky, but for the most part, he was as good of a teacher at home as he was at the high school... he'd make sure *I* did the work. He also let me learn a lot of stupid things the hard way, which I have to admit is the only way I can learn some of them. Always ready with the tow chain, a quick "you dumb ass", and an explanation, Dad taught me a lifelong hobby and he taught me to never be afraid to tackle something just because I don't know how. But before you think this is just a tribute to my ol' man, what it's really about is it got me to thinking about all the kids who as the other post says "just don't get it." A lot of it I think is they get into what their friends get into, or as a lot us of are.... we get into what we grew up with. But I also see a lot of it as being the lack of someone to show 'em how cool it is and what it takes to make one go. They don't have someone showing them that it's not really all that hard to weld one up, patch rust, or even make a frame. Wiring is not some huge mystery. And most of all... no one is born knowing it. I look back and I feel blessed that I had my Dad and I wonder if I'd be some PT Cruiser driving poser if it hadn't been for the grounded gas-smelling upbringing I had. It got me to thinking that when I do run across the younger crowd that seems interested or I run into a fella that gets in over his head like so many others do, I need to push myself a little harder to give them the time and what little knowledge I have. So if I seem to be preaching, maybe I am.... I'm preaching the Holy Gospel of Horsepower, and the timing is TDC to go forth and bring the Good Word to the sinners of stickers n' wings. Thanks for reading. Now if I can just get one of my own damned projects finished.
Nice read Boz0: You were lucky, my dad thought cars were for transportation only.Couldn't figure out why his 53 Chevy was so loud. I had put a split manifold on it over the weekend. I had to learn my hot rodding from the older kids accross the street. They taught me well though and I'm still here and they have moved on to other interests. BB
My Dad had a Crosley Super Sport all the time I was growing up, plus Renaults Hillmans, etc. Later got a King Midget and a WW2 Jeep. My oldest brother collects Studebakers and Mini Coopers. Like a family black sheep I ended up buying strange stuff like 39 and 40 Fords and still have a 40 Fordor I bought 33 years ago plus a 39 coupe with a 327 and 4 speed .
Dads are great!! I hope if/when I have kids they will dig hanging out and learning from Me the way I do with my Dad, and yes, you too Mom! Parenting is a big issue these days it seems, I feel so luckey to have the greatest parents anyone could ask for. Being 31, I am also stoked on the attention and knowledge older guys pass on at car shows. They are excited to see younger generation people keeping what they love alive. Its great to say hi and shoot the sh!t and get 50 years of hot rodding in one evening!! Thanks to those guys who take the time to talk to us younger guys. Great Post!!
Great thread! I really enjoyed it. My dad wasn't into cars, but he did enough shade tree mechanic work keeping the family sedan going that it got me hooked. I tried to "help" whever I could. It turned around when I was a teen working on my first car - a 68 big block road runner - he would come out and lend me a hand occasionally. When I did my Model A, my son was six. He was out there every chance he got helping me, or at least watching. Now he is 16 and he still loves to help me on my Dart and my 47 whenever he can. Now my 16 year old nephew is getting the bug too. The tradition will carry on. There are good kids out there that really are intersted. My only regret is that I didn't pay more attention when my son was younger.
Great post, I have two kids, the girl isn't interested in cars at all other than for transportation. Our son is infected with the automobile virus. My dad claims to have beena hot rodder as he was growing up, but I think he just bought semi cool vehicles and did nothing with them. All I remember are 60's t-birds and vans in the 70's as his vehicles.
Thanks for the feedback! I wasn't too sure how it would go over. I know how you feel with the daughter - my son doesn't seem to be too interested at all. I'll give him time. Once I get my butt moved back down there, I can corrupt him face to face.
My Dad started mine also. When I was old enough to go out to his shop, he was working on a 30 Model A with a banger motor that he drove to work and drag raced on the weekends. Next was a 40 Ford sedan with a falthead and three carbs. He quit drag racing when I was around 12-13, but I will never forget what I learned from him. Before I read this post, I posted my experience with my youngest son who is now 22. I posted it as OT, because of the car that he brought home this weekend, it is a little too new for this board, a 66. But it still means he is following in my footsteps and I do not think any Dad can ask for more than that. I hope I can pass on to him what my Dad passed on to me.
You're a true Hamber! To the core. My best days are when my son and I are in the garage beating our brains out trying to figure out a problem or the next step. I wish i had another lifetime to spend doing this shit. My hats off to you sir.
that was awesome.....since i haven't talked to my dad in nearly 20 years, all i really know is what has been told to me of him. not much good, but i've been told that my love for the smell of tire smoke and fuel are as strong if not stronger than my dads. i wasn't so lucky as to have someone there to slap me on the back of the head. so i learned everything by trial and error. lots and lots of error. but, all in all, i won't complain about it. i guess its in my blood, same as alot of you, and that will never change. i love reading these threads that end up being more insightful than alot of us are given credit for being. maybe someday i'll be wise as well.
Now that I am at home, here is the one pic I have on the computer of my Dad and his cars. I have to show this one to him every time he ask's me, Why I have several?
Great read...Your one lucky SOB growing up the way you did.I would give anything to have an old man that was into the hobby Any other pics of that Austin floating about?
Love that shot! No more pics of that Austin that I know of. I think I've seen it wasting away in the background of some later pics... kind of a depressing "Cars in Barns" type picture though LOL I did try once to track it down when I was fresh out of school and hit a dead end. I do eventually want to scan all of my grandfather's stuff, too. No hot rodding for him, but a lot of really cool B&W shots from the late 40's and early 50's. One of the 10,000 little projects waiting for me to do. Dad's Austin is why I bought this one. The entire beltline is gone, the doors suck, but the fenders and hood are decent and it's already chopped: (yeah, it's a mockup. The picture hides a LOT of cancer)
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