Featured Hot Rods Where were you in '62?

I was 10yrs old. Grandpa worked for Tonka Toys in Mound Mn. Always knew what we were getting for Christmas. Dad was o/o in the trucking business and on weekends raced a 47 Hudson coupe on the dirt tracks of Mn. and Wisc. Great times to be a 10 yr old!

 

I was six years old and proud that I could identify most of the vehicles I saw on the street.

 

I've still got all my Tonka and Buddy L trucks at 77. How cool to have a grandpa working at Tonka!

 

Being born in January

 

I was 2 years old and '62 was an eventful year at our house. Six kids from 11 to newborn. I am fifth in the batting order. Bedtime hijinks. I got yanked out of the top bunk by my oldest brother, I hit the ladder on the way to the hardwood floor landed on my back. The ladder fell and hit me across the forehead; got my first s***ches. Later in '62, the same brother was pushing me on the swing set. (Ominous music here.) He pushed me too hard and I flew out of the swing and broke my collarbone. Luckily the break wasn't my friggin' neck. Also same year, Dad was burned badly in a gasoline accident and hospitalized for weeks. I have a photo of myself speaking with him on the phone while he was in the hospital. Rocky year, but all those wounds healed. Well, except my Dad's ear and neck and arm and leg - all had nasty scars. And his tattoo became a smudge of blue. Other than that, aces. Oh my sister was the one born in '62. Her granddaughter is named Shelby.

 

I was 11 and had been building models for a couple of years. My older brother and his friends were modifying cars by that time and I would help by keeping track of wrenches and handing them out. I also had a subscription to one of the little pages, maybe Rodding and Restyling. I was saving my money and dreaming of the future.

 

Living up in the hills and driving a land jet.

 

I just was reminded, not 1962, but two years later, I subscribed to Hot Rod magazine! I read that rag from cover to cover every month! That’s how I learned about hot rods! My Dad taught me about mechanics! Later I really enjoyed when the Hot Rod staff would go out and buy a muscle car and test it on the strip and get a time! Then every month they would do modifications and then run it on the track! Those were the best articles! No ********, add parts and see what happens! Some times the car slowed down, but most of the time the added parts made it quicker! Good times!






Bones

 

Geez…you guys are making me feel really old!

 

In '62, I had just gotten my first car. Still have it.



(Yeah, I was two years old.)

 

......Maybe stop by MAACO for a quote.

 

I was 1 in '62 nuthin to show here lol

 

5yrs old.
Yelling to drivers of any rumpety cars coming down the street...
"LAY A PATCH!!!"

 

My Mom and Dad were both 7...................

 

Working nights as a Linotype operator at the San Bernardino Sun. Had this roadster as my daily (only) car. Here at Fontana, waiting for the noise to drop down and drive over to the guy with the mike from the BBC. I'd explain that the car was made out of Ford, Chevrolet, Cadillac and more parts.

 

14 and driving my 10 dollar Plymouth everywhere I could and hoping there was no law around.
Pretty humble start. By this time, I was already working at construction.

 

I was born in August of that year.

 

Rick, that's a new one on me so ia looked it up

"LAY A PATCH" - generally means to repair something by adding a piece (a patch), like mending clothes or fixing asphalt, but it also has slang meanings: to ignore someone (like patching their message) or, in some contexts, to have ***, depending on the slang and community.

Around my neck of the woods we called out " GET A WHEEL"

I guess they both mean we want them to spin the tires. HRP

 

[QUOTE="HOTRODPRIMER, post: 15801094

Around my neck of the woods we called out " GET A WHEEL"
[/QUOTE]

It was just "BURN RUBBER!" for us.

 

"Light em Up!'
I was 4 and we were moving from Paramount,CA to Reno, NV

 

By 1962, our last Tonka Toy Truck bit the dust. Our mom realized we did not play with trucks since early grammar school and so she gave them away to our cousins. They were a lot younger than we were and still into those toys. Our new thing was life size moving cars that made good sounds and that we actually drove on the streets.


Hello,

When our granddaughter was around 8 years old, we used to have a garage sale in the Summer months she stayed with us. She made up a lot of stuff to sell and set up her table in the shaded area.

My wife and I saved all of our son’s Tonka big metal trucks hoping one day we would have a reason to get them out to play in the dirt or yard. Our granddaughter thought those trucks were cool for about three weeks and then they were garage/yard toys that never got used again. But, they had their place in the storage area of our garage cabinets.

So, one summer the community had a garage sale and she was ready with her things to sell. Then, our neighbor dropped by to see what we had. He went right up to our granddaughter’s table and bought some of her custom “fortune pops.”

He then looked around and did not find any toys for his grandson. So, he asked if we knew of any toys his grandson would like. Then all of a sudden, our granddaughter excused herself and went to the cabinet and got out one of the larger yellow Tonka Dump Trucks. She brought it to her table and asked if this truck would be ok for his grandson.

The neighbor’s eyes lit up and said he would buy all of the trucks we had. So, our granddaughter went back to the cabinet and proceeded to get the rest of the collection of Tonka Trucks. (a tall crane, a road grader, a cement mixer, and a smaller dump truck.) My wife and I were proud of our granddaughter’s idea of helping the older grandfather in need. The neighbor pulled his red wagon full of Tonka trucks loaded up, down the street to his house.

Our granddaughter earned a lot of cash on that day for her savings account … YRMV

Jnaki

35 years earlier, our old house backyard was large enough for me to make a custom sandbox for our toddler son. Clean white sand inside a polyurethane coated cedar wood planks made the custom surround. A green waterproof cover after each day’s use was put on to keep the neighborhood cats out at night.

When he started playing in the sandbox, he was in toy central. A slide to come into the sandbox was always used and then the digging/moving of sand began. His trucks at the time were the low cost plastic versions. So, until Christmas of the second year, he was using those plastic toy trucks. They were biting the dust with the hot sun and weather being left outside all day every day. Some of them we had to throw away due to cracking.

Then one Christmas, he got several Tonka Trucks to up his supply of sand box toys. Thanks to his own grandma and grandpa. They were beyond our reach at the time. But, he enjoyed the steel trucks immensely.
A lightweight beach umbrella was used when we were not at the beach. That saved his tender skin in the hot summer months and even the sunny days we normally get throughout the whole year in So Cal.

After that phase of growing up for our son, he moved on to the next older years. Those Tonka Trucks were stored in a garage cabinet for possible future use, that is what we told ourselves at the time. Who knew what the next adventure would be for those cl***ic toys? Our granddaughter knew... ! The Summer sale...

 

Sound like the, "Hold my beer and watch this!" family!!

 

That's right Danny...
"Lay a patch" of black rubber.

I'm sure I heard it somewhere.
Although, as a kid, I could definitely misconstrue and screw up perfectly good words and phrases.

I somehow got my wires crossed and started calling armpits "ditches".
And plenty of other incidents.
Until my mother heard me.
"WHAT did you say?"

 

Hahahaha...oh yeah.
Yep. 4 boys, 2 girls, so ****'s gonna happen. Same brother jumped off the roof. Just because. Eldest sister fell out of a tree and broke her arm. Same brother got our Dad's 389 6bbl Pontiac airborne over some rural railroad tracks, broke a ball joint in another of Dad's cars, wrecked the family "Country Squire" station wagon. Slid down a really big slide in Turlock on waxed paper - standing up - broke his ankle. Reckless as a mofo. But he won Valley's in springboard diving and graduated from college with honors and stayed married for 49 years.

 

Before Mother's Day '62, I was with Dad. After that, I was with Mom. Introduced in February '63!

 

Haha!! My wife is the 'lucky one' in my group. Fell out of a tree as a kid and broke her wrist. Fell off a ladder about 20 years ago and broke her knee, shoulder, and ankle. Fell in the bathroom and fractured a vertebra. Knee replacement, and a dozen or so operations in the past 3 or 4 years.
My only biggies have been a deviated septum playing high school football, and a heart attack in 2017. Got a stent installed, back to work in 3 days and been fine ever since.

 

07/1962 being born in Landstuhl , West Germany .. U.S. Army Hospital.. lol

 

In 62 I was also 12 and had a Hot Rod subscription since I was 10. In September I insisted my dad take me to see the new Corvette. The following year I swapped my 1/4 midget that I got when I was 5 for a 1928 Dodge. I've been addicted ever since.

 

no offense for sure--but i might prefer the 1/4 midget!

 

I was 15 and in May as Dad and I was coming back from the time trials in Indy, I spotted my '40 coupe in a gas station. I can't remember how many blocks we traveled before he turned around and went back to the gas station . I had $250 saved from paper routes and borrowed $150 from my sister to buy the car.
This is mostly how it looked when I bought it except the front bumper and It was black with steel wheels and stock caps with trim rings. Started my Hot Rod subscription in '63.