My Dad used to hang out in a shop called Mckeevers in Norristown Pa.,he was always telling storiesabout that,when I was in third grade he bought 2 49 fords a coupe and ragtop,my first brake job was on the coupe,he never built anything himself but he always encouraged me,I used to spend hours looking at his old (1957) coustom mags,thats where I got the idea to stuff the 429 caddy in the 48 F1,and he always took me to shows,it's funny,we were never close but when we were working togather on cars,maybe that was my main reason.
My whole life my Dad has always been restored model As, but the anal restentiveness of it makes me nuts. "In the latest MAFCA judging standards, the distibutor clamp lock washer was zinc plated through June of '29, then changed to black anodized. Since I'm building the car to be a July '29 model ..." I love cars, but the complete lack of original thought involved in a stock restoration turns me off. Dad better not leave his '29 tudor body in my shed too much longer; my sawzall finger is twitching...
I got my sickness from my Dad. He'd been into cars since putting an Olds Rocket into his High School 40 Ford coupe in about 1960. Some of my earliest memories are of my Dad's '33 Ford sedan and '62 vette (circa 1973). My first Nationals was 1976 in St Paul. And I still own the first car I started building when I was 14 or 15. Both of my brothers (who are HAMBers too) are also deep into old cars. So needless to say my blood runs thick with motor oil. C.F.
I got into hot rods on my own. No one in my family is big into old cars. Dad likes them, but wouldn't own one. He has had some cool cars in the past. 1956 Chevy 4 door, 1963 409, 1964 six-pac... among a few others. Only car he wishes he had back was his 409. He sold it for $500 with a bad clutch. I guess you could say I came around on my own. My first old car was a 1940 Plymouth 4 door sedan.. ya I know... never have left the more doors.... I'm on my 4th now... I originally bought my first 56 4door 2 weeks before my son was born... I kinda thought it would bring my dad and I closer together since he had one... it didn't.
Not sure how I forgot this but I got my first haircut and everyone after every two weeks 'til I graduated highschool at Jack's Barbershop in League City,TX. Jack had been a barber in the Navy, smoked like a chimney, and gave the best damn crewcuts and traditionals around. His partner Eddie had a sweet Mustang Cobra and most of the hot-rod guys in town got their haircut at the place. Between the dirty jokes, fishing stories, and tales of past hell-raising, I picked up a few things about cars, especially from Eddie, who used to be in the Pistons back in the '60's Damn- that was really cool my son probably won't have an opportunity to learn from his elders at Fantastic Sam's
When I was a kid, we were drit road poor. I went to high school from '60 'til I got booted out in '63. If I could have had a new 413 Dodge or 409 Chevy or Corvette I sure would have. What we fixed up were just old cars to us. Unless you had a duece or highboy Model A, you just drove an oldie. Back then a '40 Ford coupe with a mildly hopped flathead and dropped axle would set ya back about $200. A stock coupe with ratty fenders was easy to find for $25 bux or so. All the racers and well heeled guys were switching to SBCs and you could get real hot flathead speed stuff for next to nothing. A friend of mine had a garage full of heads, cams and intakes that we used to throw on whoever's car ran best that week and go looking for mama's boys in late models to take their betting cash from. After I grew up and began making money, I bought new fast cars, but I always have kept my hand on some type of oldie. So, I think that trying to beat the rich kids on the street and doing it often too, set my Hot Rod Upbringing. Now that I'm a bit long in the tooth, I'm building my keeper cars. The ones my grandbrats will inheirit. Oh and my pop had a sleeper, hot Hudson, and one of my grand daughters has expressed a real, enthusiastic interest in drag racing. So, there might be a genetic component to it too CP
I've been in it my whole life. I was going to rod runs since I learned how to walk and my first car I got when I was 15 was a 55 Chevy hardtop and I still have it today at 36. It's time to do it again but I still got it and always will. I hope my son will live, sleep, eat and breath it as I always have and I will help him build something cool and different than the rest of these rice burnin hunks of shit these kids are into today. It is still early to tell if he's gonna love it but at 4 he's showing real promise.
Mine is sorta in the family. My Dad has been a mechanic for 30 odd years and i was always at the shop. I still hang out there all the time when i am in from college. Dad is not really a big fan of hot rods though. I learned the basics from him though, and he has always fixed my junk when it was beyond my means. His Dad used to race stock cars in the 50's. Maybe it is in the blood. Who knows. O ya, my first word was actually "car". No lie. Lil Joe
Saturdays, back in the '50's, were for maintenance work on the ol' family jalopy so my Dad could drive it to work for one more week. I don't think we ever had a car newer than 10 years old. I started out handing him the (wrong, usually) tools, as he lay under the car. As the years went by he trusted me bit-by-bit to actually make the repairs myself. My own first real car was a '56 Chevy from the junkyard for a whoppin' $15 ! Bought a set of used tires for $20 and rebuilt the brakes. Drove it every day for 2-years and sold it for $75. Last car I ever made money on !! Here's me (driving) about 1954 or so. Damn! I was proud of that pedal car !!..................
I can remember my dad putting a Red Ram Hemi in a 53 dodge PU, and then him and my mom racing from the next town home one afternoon. Mom was driving a 60 T-bird. (Dad says he won, Mom says she won) I watch my Dad start that hemi beast on the floor of his shop after rebuilding it. He had both hands on it and the carb bowl was full, he had Mom touch a hot wire to the starter, I was about 6 (1964) it was loud and it jumped a bit, scared the crap out of me. My Dad is 83 years old now and is pissed that he cant build stuff anymore after his stroke. I just hope I make it to 83!
I guess I gotta blame my brothers more then anyyone else, being the youngest of 4 you kinda see a whole lot of stuff as you grow up..... guess I gotta blame them for the interest in nekid babes too My Old man was a Railway man and then after the diesels took over here became a Railway entheusist and was instrumental in setting up whats probably the best vintage railway in the country, so I guess we all got an appreciation for machinery from hanging around there with dad, my mum's father was a bit of a tearaway in his youth too so always heard stories about him doing silly stuff on his Indian etc.... So we ended up with the two oldest boys being into Rally cars and late model stuff and the two younger ones into bikes and old cars/hot rods my brother always had early 60's holdens (styled by H Earl and co at GM in the USA about the same time as my 55 Olds, explains why I love 50's GM cars) and when I could I bought on which i still have, we were always at the drags anf Hot Rod stuff asd young fella's so I kinda feel I have always been into old cars and rods, who knows what the next generation will be like.
My dad wasn't really ever into cars that much till I cam around. He worked on them himself, but he was never really into it as a hobby. He and mom had some cool cars when they were younger though. In the early 70's my dad had a '67 Firebird with a 350, and mom drove a '68 Malibu ragtop. I wish they still had them. I was always into cars from a young age. It probably started with my uncle's (mom's brother) '70 or '71 Mach 1 'Stang. I don't really remember the car, just that it was cherry red. He got rid of it when I was really young. I DO remember the jacked up CJ-5 that he replaced it with though. I always loved the Fall Guy, Night Rider, the Dukes of Hazzard, any TV show with cars in it. I have another uncle who's into '57 Chevies bigtime. He's got a pretty nice collection of original condition cars. He had one hotrodded one, it was done up old school, meaning it sat higher than my 73 Chevy 4x4 did before I lifted it. He had a narrowed D60, tubs, and huge Micky T steamrollers. IIRC, he was running 5.38's in it, with a Muncie 4 speed. It had a 'glass tilt front end, and a built 327 that SCREAMED. That car would lay rubber in all 4 gears. It was also primer black and had a full cage. As far as I know, he never got it to the track though. He sold it a few years back. I stared working on cars when I was a freshman in high school, I took automotive tech and bought the '73 K10 and worked on that all through high school. I've been tinkering ever since, although I've yet to build an actual hot rod. I'd love to do one, and have wanted to for years, but budget constraints and lack of a garage have kept me from it. I'm hoping to do one soon though. I'm still broke, but the folks just moved into a house with a big yard and 2 stall garage. Hopefully they'll let me park my junk in one of the stalls.
I got my know how frmo my old man. He ruled with an iron fist an all through high school I could find myself under a 69 GTO, 69 Mustang or even an 82 volkswagen. I hated it, mostly hated working with my dad because he was so hard on us. But come to find out we actually learned alot. Now I can't wait to get under my car. Weird how it works out that way. He was a muscle car guy and I am into older tin 30"s. I think it might have been more fun had I been working on older stuff.
My Pops owned a '50 Ford and a '58 Chevy, his favorite. He ended up selling them both when us kids came along so didn't really grow up working on cars and such but would hit some of the local car shows and such. When I got older and wise I started looking around for a 50 Ford just like "Pops." My dad retired and moved back to where he and my mom grew up and found a 49 in the local paper. He called me up and told me about it. I drove up that night to look at it and bought it. Pretty cool that I found my shoebox in the same home town that my mom and dad grew up and dated in. Anyway, here's the next generation of hot rodders' -HAM- Jr.
I remember sittin in my dads 62 bubbletop w/ the 409, his racecar and stories of his 55. That car was the shit, you can tell just by hearing about it. He got a 283 bored and stroked it to 301 and got a rochester fuel injection set up for free (a guy burned up his corvette for insurance money) He had more stories about racing cross-town from his step dad. my dad was drivin his 51 chevy w/ the 6 banger and his dad a mid 50's desoto w/ the hemi and my dad beat him! talk about a miracle HAHA. He also had stories of other guys cars like a studebaker that wound up to 8500 one night when they were racing. His 62 was in primer when he sold it bout 13 yrs ago, i was 2 and still remember the car. That car sounded tits w/ the 409. Then his race car was a 66 nova, had a 400 small block w/ ported heads and a few other mods; i remember climbing in and out through the windows like the nascar guys he sold that car also and i dont remember anything bout the car. The my uncle has his deuce roadster. I remember riding around in it when i was 4 or 5 at the street rod nationals in pueblo and my aunts deuce 5 window. that car was run to ride in as well. So i guess after that crazy ramble, 2 pepsis and dinner i've come to the conclusion that my hot rod up bringing was the "fault" of my dad and uncle.
My dad and his dad owned a Mercury dealership until 1967....neither of em were hotrodders, but they sponsored a local car club.." The Torrid Torquers" and let the guys use the shop to work on their own cars...I was the pesky kid on the stingray bike, but ...got to go with em everywhere...street racing, car shows, drag strip, cruisin the main drag....lucky me!!!
Here's how it all started for me..Check the speedometer. http://www.steakandcheese.com/downloads/170mph.wmv
I have NO hot rod upbringing. I'm an anamoly in my family. I'm from Pakistan where the gearhead is considered somewhere between a clothes washer and a toilet cleaner. A musician is the dirtbag that backs up Lata Mangesheker. No respect is paid to the mechanic or the fabricator. It doesn't matter that there are twelve year olds with lathes that can make a first gear for a Morris Minor out of scractch without using micrometers. My culture gives no credence to such mechanical follies, despite the fact that they keep your '77 Datsun on the road. I honestly don't know where my acumen (or lack thereof) comes from, all I know is that my life has been an exploration of the inner workings of devices, whether they be Bell & Howell Super 8 cameras or Puch mopeds. I'm no expert, all I know is that this shit's in my blood. I've tried to run away many times, but the allure of old oil and gasoline keeps me coming back. And for that, I'm eternally grateful. Rock on, fellow gear heads, you are all my brothers.
All my life ( Hell I think I was conceived in a car} My grandfather had a 1940 ford pickup in the mid 50s with a olds motor in it. (My dad bought the truck back two years ago) My dad always had some sort of a car while he was in High School and when he graduated HS in 63 he bought a 1938 ford that he Rodded in 77. and he still owns it today I took my first ride in it when I was 2 setting on milk crates with no exhuast. I guess that ride did it to me Ive been a Hardcore Hot Rodder since. now I have my own 2 year old that is only interested in cars and he loves watching the trailer for MFS I would say hes hooked on it also. Here is a pic of my father when he was 13 with his friends coupe that I now own.
Im 32, dad got me goin on old cars. He restored Model A's when I was a kid. When I was about 12 he bought a RPU with a super hot model B motor, high speed rear end and all kinds of goodies. First time my neck snapped in that thing I was hooked. He still has it and with his help I've built a few more. Dad is pretty quiet, but he gets really excited when the topic of our old cars come up. My daugher is 3 and she's already showing some interest. Her grandmother bought a Lincoln LS this weekend. Jenna was shrieking evertime we punched it. I can't understand how anyone could NOT be into this stuff. Im convinced that Hot rodders are the best folks in the world.
[ QUOTE ] Definatley would not have ever had a clue without my pops Dirty2 putting the scene into my head at a early age. I remember going all over the United States when I was a kid to all the big shows. It was a blast and definatley got to see some great cars and the way things have changed the last 20 years. Just glad I finally quit taming the bulls and can relax and enjoy my own cars with my dad. If you think it is a joke then you can look at my little sister in my pops 32 Sedan. It has open headers and she loves it. She is 2 years old and the louder the better. For all you guys out there that got involved through your dad should be very thankful and glad because you will one day get to relay what you have learned or are learning on to your kid or kids. It is definatley not a hobby but a way of life that is instilled in you. [/ QUOTE ] Here is one I found from when I was a kid. This 57 my dad built in our garage and ended up on the cover of Popular Hotrodding. Definately got me hooked from the start. I was trying to keep the weeds down and away from the car in the pics. My pops had to get rid of it when I was 10 cause of my Mom. I should make her go find it and pay for me to get it back. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/Dirty31/old.bmp
My dad liked cars, was in a car club in the 50's in Gardena and drove a 57 chev convertible.We never got a chance to bond in regards to cars as he passed away when i was 13. However, my uncle (his brother) lived with us at the time. He was into VW and Porsche. He brought home my first car when i was 14 (1965 VW Notchback) and I was bitten. I have lived in the garage ever since. FONZI
Ive been into it my whole life thanks to my so called DAD when he was a kid he used to flattrack triumphs..build hot rods and a custom or two! he says all his cycles,rods.and customs were stripped by Tommy the Greek(perks of livin in Oakland) HE tells me the days of drag racin at the half moon drags and the freemont dragstrip...Ever since i can remember he and I have always been buildin things It pays to have a Kick ASS DAD (even though he is a prick) Rich
well i guess my hot rod up bringing is still going on since im 16 but my dad was always into cars. he used to be a mechanic when he was younger and had a few mustangs and british sports cars and things of that sort. we've had a mustang and a british project car since i was born. i was always into cars and when i was 8 i started racing go karts and eventually moved up to a national level with that and then when i turned 14 i started working on dirt track cars and i moved up the ranks to being on the crew for a dirt modified (brett hearn) and im getting the mustang when i get my license next month so ive been working on that and me and my dad are starting our shop. there you go, more than you ever wanted to kno about my hot rod upbringing
like alot of guys, i get if from my dad. he was a local rodder/racer type in the 50's and 60's. when i was born he had a service station/speed service in lawndale and we had a funny car in the garage. i grew up chasing around to orange county, irwindale, riverside, carlsbad and the like. we got rid of the funny car in 77 or so and went racing gas dragsters after that. we never really had 'hot rods' around the house cause everyone was a racer. john and my uncle had nice corvettes and gary had a blown vega wagon, but that was about it. we never really went to car shows or anything like that, but pops would drag me along to the garage to fix this and that and to help support his side work habit. i was always infatuated with cars and mechanical things, but more than anything else with the people. racers and rodders are a unique breed with a language and a swagger all their own and as a small kid with all these big loud mouthed guys and their big loud mouthed engivnes, it left a pretty indellible mark. i think the rodding gene is a definate possibility. pops was a true grit hot rodder back when, and i wound up the same. so now i fix cop cars for a living, and i drive a race car. i like it. now i drag my old man along to help with my sidework habit and he does it as happily as i did 25 years ago from then to now
The Jalopy Journal
