Hot Rods Quotes to live by...

"It's not for sale, I'm gonna restore it someday"!

 

Change may be constant, but don't ever ask for change. It just makes you a panhandler.

 

"We’re not here for a history lesson though. What we’re here for - at least for me - is just a simple and maybe not so simple little trip back in time."


Hello,

When my wife and I got married after college, we had been together for several years. As always, our parents always had a photo album out for perusal of guests to their houses. It was fun at first to see how the “other half” lives or lived in photos. Brownie photos vs Graflex Bellows Camera, it did not make a difference. It was new and family history right in front of our faces. OKC vs Westside of Long Beach made quite a contrast.

It was the idea that there was a life before being 20 somethings and both of our families had different way to grow up and experience various lifestyles. One was involved in intricate hot rod/drag race culture with weekly road trips in a fast cruiser sedan that was the most used car in our ****nal at the time. Then the surf culture was "knocking on our door..."

On the other hand, a 62 Corvair was the main car used by my wife. She paid for it from her hard earned money being a long distance telephone operator. It was a full time job, after school during her teenage years. Make a call from 5 to 11 pm? From the West coast to anywhere that was long distance? She probably plugged in a funky cord from one hole to another and flicked the switch for the connection. ha!

When we visited each other’s houses for family dinners, the photo albums came out and we all had a great time looking at the old (1946 photos for our family and 1920s photos from OKC for my wife’s family) it did not matter what kind of camera was around.

It was the fun fact that photos were taken of the family life from the past. Awww… “look at the cute little boy sitting on his pump tricycle in a trailer” to “…you also lived in a trailer in OKC, too?” questions, questions led to more investigations later on when we were involved in photography.

Jnaki

Our journeys were much like many others, but as we all know, it is difficult to get any info from our parents about the how and why of each photo at the time. For me, going through the old albums as a little kid, always made me laugh. But, the time period recollection was based on what was pasted in those pages.

When a new album from my wife’s family history popped up, it was the same… “we used to go to the Salton Sea for our… forced family camping vacations just before the school year…” that brought out a laugh and more investigations as we kept coming back for family dinners.
Surf adventures opened up a whole new world of activities… Thousands of miles in an old, underpowered Flathead motor in the original 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery got us where we wanted to go, as slow as it was fully loaded with surfers and stuff. But, the instant start every time was a sign that it was a good motor and set up for a young teenager trying to find his way in life…

So, one wonders why we have lived in So Cal since 1946 for me and 1956 for my wife. It is a great place to grow up and enjoy the tremendous extended all year around sunny days and great weather. But, if we want the seasons, a short drive up the local mountains to see the changes.
With or without the surfboard hanging out of the back, the 65 El Camino took us all over So Cal, Northern Cal coastline and down into Baja Mexico for our long road trips for surf vacations and/or photo shoots.

Yes, it is possible to surf all morning and then take a hour and a half to get up to the mountains to go skiing, all in one day. But those days were a part of our active lifestyles as teens and young adults. YRMV

 

Just because you got that monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town.- George Carlin

 

I get that statement , kinda often, in our bar! When some girl tells me to kiss her ***, I tell her, “ this ain’t no time for romance, we are in a bar”!





Bones

 

I stayed in contact with most of my teachers, after I graduated! I even called my math teacher one time when I couldn’t figure an angle on a frame I was making! She laughed and said I needed trig to figure that and when you went to school they didn’t offer Trig, so I taught it to myself, what I needed to know!
More than half of my teachers put a board on my ***, some several times! But I deserved….most of the time! Even with that I still thought the world of my educators!
I attended most of their funerals, with tears in my eyes!
They, along with my parents, shaped me into the man I am today ! Thank you!





Bones

 

Jim

 

As a wise man once said, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

 

Jim

 

The LORD is good and His mercy endures forever.

 

make mine a double

 

Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin.

 

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Hello,

Well, elementary school was a giant playground. Junior high school was a lot better, in that now specific cl***es were allowed to explore and learn things. Yes, Science, Math, English were all important for future uses. But, history, what the… the question is always brought out, “if I am a mechanic, how will the World War 1 trenches timeline affect me being a competent person?” there were plenty of questions during this time period.

Now, high school was another playground with big time sports, more students from other junior high schools, hot rods/drag races and tons of cute girls…ha! And, a specific curriculum that was a choice at the beginning. I wanted the vocational track, with skills I wanted to learn and possibly use after high school. Jewelry, Crafts, Wood Working, Metal Shop skills and of course, Automotives were all in the curriculum as electives. But, the counselor said I was not in a vocational track. A college bound track was offered to my parents and they accepted.

So, I started in the college bound track with difficult cl***es and more work than I wanted. There were too many things to do and places to go for a teenager. The coastal road trips were calling my name and I wanted to explore various job opportunities. But, no, Algebra 1, 2 and advanced were laid out on my chart. Then Trigonometry, Physics and all of the high end English cl***ess. I even had to take beginning Chemistry and a second year Advanced Chemistry. Yikes… for a hot rod/drag race/surfer who had other ideas about the track laid out for me.

But, since I learned as much as possible, I knew I was not going to law school and I still had a choice for subjects in college. So, I concentrated on varsity football and basketball. Football was a success, but as I learned all of the tricks and techniques of basketball, I learned that a 5’10 inch sophomore did not stand a chance at the guard position, going against 6 foot 6 inch opponents against me at every touch of the ball. That gave me a chance to do better in football, which I gladly did until I graduated.

Jnaki

Since graduation, the future looked brighter armed with high school cl***es. The pickings were more intense with more students all wanting a track to the future with their cl***es. I learned the right way to study, do research and write papers with do***entation. Now, I was getting to a satisfactory part and the turn around completely came in the last two years of college.

Quiet time with two 20 somethings talking for 1000s of road trip miles all over So Cal and coastal California driving made learning about each other easy and fun. We learned to adjust and work with each other in our quiet confines while seeing the outside world as it is/was… YRMV

I met my future wife in cl***es and as we got to know more things from our cl***es, the most important thing was how to get along with someone. She was an English Major with powerful cl***es and I was a Social Science Major, a fancy name for an all around information holding machine… ha! But, I learned while trying to stay up with the techniques I saw in my wife’s way of seeing things and learning as much as she could. This is the one starting point for the future.

“Do better” became a way of life for the both of us to this day…

 

I thought it was, "If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is."

 

Easy for you to say!

 

I have personally seen this recently. It is a wonderful feeling that at least one person (Step brother) I knew was recognized for being just this in his p***ing.

 

In appreciation of my Dad and all
the other Fathers out there who
do their best each day …



Jim

 

I’ll say it again,
“You don’t know what you don’t know”
Told to me by a very wise man
but
I had to think about this statement for quite a while before I realized exactly what it meant
then I knew ****

 

If it wasn’t for the last minute a lot of things would never get done. That’s for all the procrastinators
out there, including me. DoUg

 

Why do Toady what you can put off until Tomorrow!
Dan

 

Guys, you can date whomever you want, but marry a girl who can back up a trailer. - Michael Martin Murphy