What was your most gearhead wish as a young kid?

My biggest Birthday wish was to be let loose all day in a junk yard.

It was 1962 my 14th birthday.

I begged my dad to drive me and my 4 closest friends to a junk yard way out in the boonies of Boxboro Mass.
The place belonged to a fellow my dad did business with, John Downey.
Dad was a Lincoln-Mercury dealer and John came down to his dealership once every week and hauled away the stuff no one else wanted.
I remember John hauling away 49 and 50 Ford coupes, 53,54, and some 57 and 58 Mercs and Chevys that rusted prematurely or just needed tranny or brake work.
Makes me sad to think about those cars now, being scrapped at such an alarming rate in those years.
Anyhow, we spent the day there fondling the rusting metal, buying from John whatever we wanted, slipping stuff into the trunk that we had no idea what we were going to do with , but it just looked cool and we had to have it.
John even introduced us to his state of the art security system...............a huge goose that must have stood over 5 feet tall.
I love those days when you could wander a junk yard with your dad and your best friends..........and the goose.
It was my best birthday wish come true.

 

I've mentioned this before... I wanted to grow up to be Keith Black.

 

I wanted my grandpa's '64 Impala SS hardtop from the day he brought it home new, to the day he GAVE it to my older brother, about eight years later. Of course, my brother trashed the damn thing in short order. His luck with cars has been for shit ever since. A just punishment for farking up such a fine car!

 

when i started looking at hot rods as a kid I wanted a 36 3 window coupe. I was on my uncles place growing up and he had one down by the creek and he gave it to me I was like 17. I couldn't figure out how to get it out. After he passed away I figured I was out of luck. 18 years later i drug it out and hauled it home.

 

I wish I was old enough to remember my late uncle. He ran York US 30 in the '70s. He would probably be the only family member that might understand me.

 

When I was about 5 my neibors son got a '67 Mustang GTA.I still want that car!And relax A-BOMB,we've all got the old iron bug.You're in good company.

 

Drive my dad's FED and pack my own chute!

 

wanted my grandfathers 63 1/2 ford galaxy 500 that i "helped" him restore when i was young. by "helped" i mean i was probably in the way

 

Always wanted to work on my dad's 64 galaxie. Used to play around that thing all the time as a kid as it just sat in the garage. When I was 12 I got a friend to come over and we tore the whole front end off of it, fenders and all. That was great motivation to get my dad to teach me how to turn wrenches. The thing's got a new motor now but still only ever leaves the garage when I come home to visit between semesters at college. I'm beginning to think he just loves the fact its there, doesn't care about driving it, but just likes it being around. He swears the earliest I'll ever get it is when he's dead, he promises I get it then, but that's the earliest.

 

57 Chevy Belair pro-street (early eighties) or a my dad's friends Jeep CJ-5 on 44's

 

i wanted my dads 34 coupe , now i hope it is many years before its mine..

 

I wanted a 55 Chevrolet....still do

 

my own garage with my own tools! Im getting there.

 

I wish my Dad's girfriend will move out so I can get more space to work in the basement.

Also, that the days were 30 or 40 hours instead of 24! haha

 

My own P-38 "Lightning"...

 

To work for Jessie James and drive a hopped up Model A.

 

Back in 1969 I wanted the burgandy chopped 36 3 window hotrod that was for sale down the street at the local Standard Oil gas station. Had a 283, 4spd with black roll and pleat interior
The guy wanted 1,800 for it.
All my step dad could say was, "son, General Motors pays their engineers millions of dollars per year to design those cars, you don't need something like that". Sometimes he was an SOB like that.

 

I wanted a 23 t buckett when I was 15. My wife bought me one for my 35th birthday I have took it apart and still have it I guess I'll keep it and redo it this winter.. I have a grate wife ( Is she still looking over my shoulder or is she gone now ) LMAO......

 

Probably something involving Daisy Duke, but it's been a while.

 

It was in the early 1980s and it was Cadzzilla the Boyd Coddington had built for ZZ Top. When I finally got to see that custom in person,I stood there for hours and just stared at every angle of that hand crafted beauty. RIP Boyd and Thanks for all you have done to this industry.

 

I wanted a '70 XKE Jag when I was 16 in 1971. I bought the magazines to read about it, built the model and drooled over it.

All I had to drive back then was the spare car, my Dad's 2 door station wagon. Today, all I want is to turn back time so I can drive that canary yellow 57 Nomad again. I'd take it the drive-in and re-live some great times

 

One of my many young kid gearhead wishes came true, when I built a twin-engined mini-bike when I was 13. Just a pair of old iron Clinton one cylinder motors that I scavenged over the years. They sat one behind the other, with a chain connecting them together, and a clutch on the rear motor. The sprockets were not the same size, I think one had 18 teeth and the other 16, so they were not synchronized. But it sounded cool, especially through those chrome bicycle-handlebar exhausts. Jeez, I wish I had a picture of it, it was ugly as a sack of assholes, but it was fun to ride......

 

When I was growing up my neighbor had (and still does) an 70 LS6 Chevelle. I remember riding to the grocery store with his wife in that car, they both left a lasting impression on a young boy.

 

When I was getting to hotrods in my late teens, the hotrod hotty was the Hurst lady Linda Vaughn, but I can't repeat my wish on the HAMB. (family show)

 

I could add a 5-speed yellow Schwinn StingRay like my bud Ron had.

 

To one day have a straight axle car with a big block and 4 speed. I was 15.

 

This is going to sound kind of strange, but its true. When I was in high school, we had an assignment in drafting class. The assignment was to draw our dream home, with build plans and everything.
Twenty three years later, I live in that exact house.

When I did the drawing, I included two cars in the garage. One was a fender-less 32-34 ford pickup. The other one a luxury car, Caddy.

Guess what my projects are. Yep, a 33 ford pickup and a 64 Cadillac.

Thoughts become things.

 

my brother in law would take me to the chicago auto show. i remember bringing home literature on amx's and gremlin x's. before that it was a k model mustang. and i always had a weird attraction to those hippy vans. then american graffiti came out and triggered my desire for chopped customs and fenderless hotrods.

 

I wanted to drive for NASCAR and NHRA. Work for George Barris. Design muscle cars for Chevrolet. Be a stuntman and set the world's record for rollovers.

 

Well I always wanted to drive the Falcon which was a twin engine 1935 chevy pulling truck and I always wanted to drive Don the Snakes ARMY funny car. JOKER JASON.