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Hot Rods I love the smell

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by silent rick, Apr 6, 2025.

  1. duecesteve
    Joined: Nov 3, 2010
    Posts: 1,103

    duecesteve
    Member

    Mohair interior ,smell at Seekonk Speedway watching the 5/8 mile roundy rounds during a race .My father said when he was back in the service the Britt's used to sit around the open fire pits and dribble Castrol oil on the fire reminiscing there sports car racing fro. England. Camp fire smell on your clothes the next day :) oh yeah and Hawaiian pizza with bacon and honey drizzled on it yum
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2025
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  2. duecesteve
    Joined: Nov 3, 2010
    Posts: 1,103

    duecesteve
    Member

    th (15).jpeg
     
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  3. Tow Truck Tom
    Joined: Jul 3, 2018
    Posts: 3,245

    Tow Truck Tom
    Member
    from Clayton DE

    A shout out to some of the answers. The Nose Knows.
    @HOTRODPRIMER Southern Fried Chick'n.
    @gene-koning BBQ.
    @DDDenny The original, Pine Tree.
    @tubman Organic interiors. ( That photo is my favorite )
    @williebill Lot of time spent in oil soaked dirt left a mark on my memory.
    @duecesteve Short term 2 months worked at a van conversion shop.
    Across the back alley was an outfit called Lacas Coffee. They roasted beans daily.
    A step outsde was like a shot of B12.
    @lothiandon1940 Uh huh;)
    SO, I skipped over this thread thinking we were going to talk gasoline.
    Wrong... -I first got into gas in fifth grade, 1959. We had pump nozzles that were straight feed.
    A squeeze of the handle squirted gas until you release it. No auto shut off. The trick then was to keep your ear close to the fill pipe. When ya hear the gurgle note change,, time to release and stop. If not letting go,, gas keeps coming and spills out on the car and the ground.
    I was good at the task because most cars then, filled on the high side of the fender and my ear.
    However my nose was there also. I liked pumping gas, and the'buzz' it gave me.
    Twenty seven years later I learned that I had an addiction to petroleum distilates.:p
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2025
  4. Tow Truck Tom
    Joined: Jul 3, 2018
    Posts: 3,245

    Tow Truck Tom
    Member
    from Clayton DE


    Forgot to mention my good ol' Buddy Pal @Sharpone
    Actually first and second grade living in an old 1800s built farmhouse. I was made to do my home work sitting on the cellar steps 'neath a single bare light bulb. The cellar contained my Grandfather's work shop.
    The stench of kero and oil ( 3 'n 1 ? ) was palpable. I can still remember how it smelled, and my desire to be outside climbing the old maple tree.
    Today the whole site is the N.W. bound right lanes of County Line road.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2025
  5. Sharpone
    Joined: Jul 25, 2022
    Posts: 2,540

    Sharpone
    Member

    WOW Tom, isn’t it weird how a smell can bring found memories to one person and bad memories to another. For instance a couple mentioned gear oil as being good, not for me. I never liked the smell ever but two incidents really burned in.
    One fall early 80s a friend was getting married, I was living 1000 miles from home. I jump in my OT Chevelle and head east about 200 miles into the trip the rear pinion developed a leak, spitting 80w90 all over the back end of the car and dual exhaust. Well 13 hrs and a couple quarts really turned my stomach made me loose my appetite even. This back in the day when I could eat 3 or 4 Big Macs and a couple fries. Didn’t eat anything the whole drive.
    My next 80w90 experience was a long way from home also. Living in West Texas heading to Jackson Hole Wyoming for vacation and to visit family. Wife and three kids in tow the rear wheel bearing starts making noise. On a lonely highway in Utah I decided to try and make it to the next town Green River. The damn thing got so hot it was smoking I mean really smoking. Did I tell ya how I really don’t like the smell of burning 80w90? Made it Green River figuring the fiasco was going to cost me a fortune.
    Did I tell ya there some really great people in this world. The service station owner where I stopped said he could fix me up Monday get a new axle at the Chevy garage yada yada. This is Saturday late afternoon. Shit. “Would ya mind a used axle and a box store bearing” NOPE says I. Ask if he would take a check YEP I’m figuring several hundred. Fix it I tell him.
    Couple hours later he says That’ll be a hundred. I pick my jaw up off the ground pay him a couple hundred cash and down the road we went. Oh that jalopy went another 100 150,00 and was transportation for two hooligans teenagers. Good times.
    Dan
     
  6. I like the smell of old plastic steering wheels ....... said no one ever !
    I've got an old Phillips head screw driver that the handle stinks something fierce on.
     
  7. .....Great stories, Tom.
     
  8. ...Great stories, Dan.
     
  9. oldiron 440
    Joined: Dec 12, 2018
    Posts: 3,836

    oldiron 440
    Member

    The smell of fresh turned dirt does it for me, I don’t care if I’m turning someone’s lawn or garden or driving past a fresh turned field.
     
  10. dont
    Joined: Aug 25, 2008
    Posts: 1,618

    dont
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from frogland

    I like fresh cut lumber & brand new tires. dt.
     
  11. Tow Truck Tom
    Joined: Jul 3, 2018
    Posts: 3,245

    Tow Truck Tom
    Member
    from Clayton DE


    Hey @Sharpone

    In my youth, I had a cousin that worked at "The Pep Boys", where I became familiar with the smell of fresh rubber. Later I took a job at a chain discount selling B.F.Goodrich.
    Then after the middle age crisis:) I took to OTR (long haul) Trucking.
    One of many times that I was dispatched to haul tires, walking to the warehouse I was thinking how the smell reminded me of my youth, The word Liebfraumilch, Mothers milk, came to mind.
    Just then a lady driver came rushing out holding her nose. We passed, she said "GROSS in there"
    :D
     
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  12. ...I also love the smell of new tires.
     
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  13. topher5150
    Joined: Feb 10, 2017
    Posts: 3,681

    topher5150
    Member

    that musty smell from old fabric interiors, makes me think of my dad's 40 Ford when he still had the original interior in it. The smell of carbureted, un-catalytic engines. The smell of peanut butter cookies, lilac bushes and wet soil in my grandparents veggie garden.
     
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  14. Sharpone
    Joined: Jul 25, 2022
    Posts: 2,540

    Sharpone
    Member

    Yep love the smell of tires, always a good feeling when getting new skins. My uncle had a Mobil Station with a rack of tires IRRC they had a blue tinfoil like wrap on them. Ah yes.
    Dan
     
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  15. topher5150
    Joined: Feb 10, 2017
    Posts: 3,681

    topher5150
    Member

    I must be hungry....I thought you said fries.
     
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  16. The interior of my 38 Chevy coupe. It’s had the same smell since it was fresh out of Jim McFall’s upholstery shop in 1982. Brings back a flood of nostalgia of going to rod runs with my dad.
     
  17. Sharpone
    Joined: Jul 25, 2022
    Posts: 2,540

    Sharpone
    Member

    Fries that post is up farther.
    Dan
     
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  18. wilkinson
    Joined: May 10, 2023
    Posts: 50

    wilkinson

    With my constantly blocked nose, I honestly can’t smell a thing these days. It’s really frustrating because I miss out on all the little scents around me. I’m planning to order some remedies from https://cvs-specialty.pissedconsumer.com/customer-service.html — the folks there have good reviews and seem helpful. Hopefully, with their help, I’ll finally get some relief soon. Fingers crossed this will clear things up so I can enjoy the fresh air again
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2025
  19. The home stretch after hand-washing the car was to Pledge spray polish the dash, steering wheel, shifter, and interior door trim. Then, a few squirts of glass cleaner on the inside windshield.
    Man-O-Man! That quick cruise around the neighborhood to air dry the last of the wet drips, breathing in the smell of the polish and cleaners, was better than an Ann Margret movie at the drive-in.
     
  20. big john d
    Joined: Nov 24, 2011
    Posts: 465

    big john d
    Member
    from ma

    do not care for 50 year old 90 weight in a 9 inch that has been in ht ejunk yard mud for five years
     
  21. Rand Man
    Joined: Aug 23, 2004
    Posts: 5,301

    Rand Man
    Member

  22. big john d
    Joined: Nov 24, 2011
    Posts: 465

    big john d
    Member
    from ma

    my first job was at seekonk speedway i was 12 and walked around selling popcorn or soda or coffee out of a rack around your neck at the end of the night you got 15 percent of what you sold and a get in free concession pass for next week you could not really sell during the race so you would sit with your buddies when they gave you popcorn they would just fill all the open boxes to the top so we could eat 2 inches out of every box and then close the flaps so it was still a full box
     
  23. cfmvw
    Joined: Aug 24, 2015
    Posts: 1,045

    cfmvw
    Member

    Green oak cordwood when you first split it has a wonderful aroma. There was a certain musty aroma to my grandparents shed that I loved (along with the sound of the spring that closed the door). Plaster walls in an old house have a nice odor to them. Freshly oiled wood floors in an old hardware store in town have a nice smell to them. And I always remember sitting in a barn-find 1938 Buick Roadmaster that a friend of mine had years ago. Loved the smell and feel of that leather interior!
     
  24. duecesteve
    Joined: Nov 3, 2010
    Posts: 1,103

    duecesteve
    Member

    Walking into a leather store
     
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  25. HOTRODNORSKIE
    Joined: Nov 29, 2011
    Posts: 603

    HOTRODNORSKIE
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Tig welding always reminds me of the smell right after it rains or spring when the the snow is melting.
     
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  26. Worst smell ever was running over a skunk in my '37 Chev in 1975! Brought tears to my eyes!
     
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  27. 302GMC
    Joined: Dec 15, 2005
    Posts: 8,411

    302GMC
    Member
    from Idaho

    A freshly fired 1950s paper Peters 12ga shotshell
     
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  28. 1-SHOT
    Joined: Sep 23, 2014
    Posts: 2,875

    1-SHOT
    Member
    from Denton

    The smell of JP4 in the morning. IMG_6491.jpeg
     
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  29. Definitely high octane race fuel
     
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  30. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 11,072

    jnaki

    Hello,

    When my wife and I were finished with college and were now married, we could afford to live in a small apartment. But, as young newlyweds go, almost everything was costly and it was day to day living. After several months of cooking, cleaning, visiting friends, long walks on the sand and a little dog, it all made it worth while to be on our own. Nobody to bother us, except for the landlord. She was a pain, but also an idiot without a clue. 20 something lifestyle was not her thing and she had demands.

    As we moved into the apartment, there was an old couch still in the living room. It was ugly, had a bad aroma and killed any atmosphere we were trying to create as young adults.
    upload_2025-6-16_2-56-54.png
    So, the ugly, smelly sofa had to go. But, it was the landlord’s property. Soon, as we were preparing to move in, my wife said that sofa is not staying. I figured out it did could not fit through the narrow front door and stairwell. Options had to be made. Maybe there were several big guys and somehow, they forced the old couch into place.

    Jnaki

    We pondered the problem and I finally came up with the solution. In the photo above, is the final look after everything was put in place. It shows a casement wooden window frame above the big speaker. It took a few minutes, but I took apart the whole center two support poles and windows out. Now, my wife and I were still stuck with the ratty old couch.

    The final decision was that we would probably lose our deposit, but went ahead and finished moving the couch. I got my electric circular saw and went to work cutting the old couch in pieces that we could move. Each piece was thrown out of the window opening and it took four trips with the cut up smaller pieces my wife and I could carry and throw out of the larger opening.

    Once the apartment was free of the old, smelly couch, it took a while with open windows almost day and night to get the aroma out. In the mean time, my wife made our next couch. Giant pillows that were cost efficient and comfy as a couch, a chair when piled up a certain way and a comfy emergency bed when needed.

    So, what is the aroma that lasted several years and followed us to our first house for 10 years? A new leather couch found in a small shop near my old high school. It was a custom furniture shop and they had the best prices of any store in Long Beach for designer furniture. At the time, no one liked this style of modern furniture and the couch we bought fit through the front door opening and landing. That was worth the effort and cost.

    Note:

    The aroma of a fresh leather couch was so powerful after we moved it in the small living area. It took many months and after we moved to a new house years later, still gave off the aroma of leather, every time we walked into the living room.

    After ten years, it still looked good and still had the aroma when we sat in the comfy seating position.

    There is nothing better than real leather furniture for a long lasting aroma that feels good and makes the atmosphere wonderful.

    Note 2:

    Even my wife’s old station wagon has leather seating interior. It had that great aroma when we bought it and she could not get that smile off of her face after driving it. After 40k miles, it still has the aroma of leather and looks like new. YRMV
     

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