History I'm curious-How long you been at this??

I’m 45, and have always been into cars/trucks and motorcycles. My dad has always had something cool! Before me, there was a ’50 Ford, ‘41 Ford, ‘48 Chevy, and others I can’t remember. Since me, there was a ’60 TR3a, ’63 Impala SS, ’59 Polara, ’67 C10, ’81 Corvette, ’37 Chevy 2-door, to name a few. My dad is a retired professional firefighter from Greensboro, and several of his buddies had some special rides as well.

My first inspirations came in the form of Hot Wheels, trading cards, magazines, and models. I loved drawing cars and mixing model components to form “dream rides”. The family frequented NASCAR events and drag races, where I was always awestruck at the speed and machinery.

As far as old cars go, I was “bit” on a beach vacation by the sighting of a yellow Model A roadster PU. Dad and I tracked it down the next day, and he saw the impression that truck made on me. Later on, my dad found a ’46 Chevy PU in town and bought it for ma at age 14. He drove it a year with the 250/3sp, we pulled it into the garage, plugged a 265/3sp/’55 car rear in it and I drove it until the 265 gave up the ghost. Dad bought a donor ’66 Biscayne 4-port for the 283/3sp and assorted parts. That was the combo I drove every day to high school and my first years of college. The cam went south and had the engine rebuilt in 1986. Never could get the valves adjusted, lost interest. Between graduating, marriage, career moves (six in all), kids, and a 6 year stint with motorcycles, the truck sat patiently waiting for attention.

I consider myself an educated rookie. I read articles, look at rides, attend shows when I can and dream a lot! I have the basic knowledge, but no experience. I’m teaching myself what I can and try to ask more experienced builders advice. I have the hopes of getting my truck back on the road soon, but shoulder surgery will set me back this winter. Maybe more reading and research will be my best therapy!

 

I am 65, first car was a hand-me-down 51 Ford that I modified by removing the hub caps and painting the wheels black and painting "The Rebel" on the side. From then on it was cars, nothing but cars.

I have great memories of riding/driving all types of rods and customs in the late 50's and 60's. I lived the life back then with my black leather jacket. Smoked in the boys room and carried a switch blade. I hung with the rough crowd and we always cruised.

Saw Chuck Berry at Danceland while chopped Fords circled the block. The girls at the A&W were the target and we channeled all energy into talking them into a ride home. Best ride home was in my bud's '40 Ford coupe as he escorted a lovely root beer girl home as I was still in the car so she had to sit on my lap until he dropped me off

The 60's got me into a better crowd and customs. My '60 Buick Electra Convert was a big hit with the carhops.

The 70's was hazy and strange with cars way to high and freaky paint jobs.

Now I still hang with the gear heads. I love the younger crowd and their attempt to live our life. They have energy and talent and took our thing to a new style of cool.

 

38, and much like everyone else, it's in the blood. grandfather sold cars from @1938 'till he retired, dad was a wrench back in the day, as was his brother, now i'm a wrench for a living and work on shit from 1930 to 2008.

i started with the model cars, then discovered tools, and took apart anything i could find, then as time went by, i started to be able to put shit back together.

actual car stuff, i started with 70's era stuff, then caught the 60's bug, now i really like the pre-war stuff.

oil in the veins for sure.

 

I'm 67 (Old as mold) been hooked since I was about 12 years old.3 of my uncles were gear heads with GMC powered Chevies and an Ols '88.They gave me a handful of wrenches and I bought a 37 Ford and so the story goes. Daughter and her husband live close by and we swap work back and forth. I have a 46 Ford coupe and they have a 37 Chevy coupe, a 71 Camaro and a 68 Firebird. Do most all of our own work,(no upholstery yet).

 

40 years old. Started at birth. Dad raced vettes and circle track. Step dad raced oval. Grand dad raced back in the moonshine days.
So at an early age it was model cars and then wrenching at age 6.
at age 10 I started body work and spraying primer.
13 I picked up welding. 15 I given a 62 merc Comet for my first car. I scrubbed the mold and mildew off it with a scrub pad. It came out flat white. I thought damn car was black. Slapped a set of 50 series tires on it and had a lead sled.
Then I got into the muscle cars. Drag raced them and road raced them.

 

i'm 26, started in a diesel shop at11 years old, greasing semi's and changing oil. went to lowriders, hondas(i know) minitrucks and finally found where i fit in when i bought my 63 2 years ago. starting my son out right, he's 2 and been to 5 car shows!

 

Sorry for the shitty picture, but this is me in my RPU as my dad was working on it. I'm 35 now, and was 3 in the picture.

 

39, no car people in my family (my grandfather passed away before i was old enough). no siblings, no money, no hot rod/custom/muscle car town (just yuppies) made it difficult to start. got my first car working at jack in the box for a year (73 camaro), read magazines but they seamed miles away from where i was at. moved out on my own, went to work at a gas station as a attendent just after high school and learned the trade by watching. since i couldn't have "old" cars of my own i started working on other peoples (mechanical and maintenance) whenever i could at regular repair shops that would let me. now since i have stopped working on others cars (new and old) i have enough time and money for my own.

hmm, i just read my post..........sounds kinda depressing . now i have more time to get better at welding, bodywork, paint.........

also it's weird to see how many people started or lived in california at sometime.

 

Hmmmm.......so much history of ourselves here. Very interesting crowd of all ages. Teach me everything you know while I am old enough to understand and young enough to be able to remember what you just said.

I have always loved hot rods. I was born in '61 and soon got into CarToons magazine, models of B gassers lined every shelf in my bedroom and then American Graffiti came out...oh man...I was so ape shit in love with rusty vintage tin by then that I closed out my paper route savings account to buy my first car, a 1937 chrysler. I still have the Chrysler, I have dragged that hunk of steel across 3 states, numerous colleges, several careers, the death of my girlfriend, the death of my father (who helped me restore it the first time around), a major back injury, and every trial and tribulation one can imagine. I've had v8 Vegas, restored GTO's and Porche 356's out the wazoo, and built/worked on just about every kind of hot rod and muscle car one can dream up, yet I find my trusty old 37 the most comforting to be around. It's just some old car nobody else wanted, until I came along. You'll see it soon, I have a deadline set for Goodguys 2017.

 

Been at it since "Preperation C" was on the shelf.

 

Ok I'm 60, my dad was a line mechanic in Chevy dealership in mid '50's, so Saturdays were spent washing parts at the shop for OT. When they joined the union in 1956 wages went up to $.65 @ hr. He would do 2 powerglides or a ring and bearing with ground valves on a Saturday, miss him. I was bit in 1962, Freshman waiting on bus in front of HS when a, on the ground, metalflake green, early t came sliding around the corner and got on it, flat head motor uncorked, hit second and pitched sideways.... It was all over then, Had my first 55 chevy hardtop within 6 months $200 car with a rod out the side of the 265.

 

I'm 52, and I have been fascinated with mechanical things as far back as I can remember. My exposure to hot rods came about through an uncle who was more like a big brother. He was a member of an Atlanta area hot rod club named the Lightning Rods. They did a lot of drag racing at the old Ted Edwards Dragstrip near Atlanta. He would sit me in his lap and let me "drive" his '56 Chevrolet Belaire that was running a hopped up 283 with two-fours and slicks ... that was around 1960-61 (not on the strip, of course).

When I reached about 13 years of age, I rebuilt my first engine, a cast iron single cylinder 3HP Briggs & Stratton. Man ... what a feeling of accomplishment when I wound that starter rope around that flywheel pulley ... pulled ... and that baby fired up! I was hooked for good. The second engine I rebuilt was a 352 Ford FE that went into a '65 Ford Galaxie 500 two dr. ht. I was 17. Later, I went with a hot 390 with 427 factory parts.

Well, so as not to run on too long, I'll say this, I still love this stuff. I still get excited like a kid when I get around hot rods, hot rodders, drag cars, hot boats, motorcycles, hell, anything that has an engine that "hits a lick" ....

 

I have been at it for as long as I can remember. I was handed a hot wheels and that was it, I was hooked.

 

I'm 53 and this is my dad and I in 1959. You'd think I'd know more by now.

 

just 30 been into cars since i could remember used to go out to the aunt and uncles house on the weekends with my mom brother sister and grand ma dad wasnt around much always into trouble so i would watch my hot rod uncle .he would always have hot rod mags and hemmings and car traders at the table every sat and sunday while all the boys were eating breakfast and the girls cooked so we would all say to each other.oh one day ill own this and that ...sometimes i would sneak into the garage and sit in what ever car he was working on and pretend i was raceing someone else most the time i thought i was millner in the yellow coupe smokeing someones ass off the line ..than i would hit the garage door button on the wall and run to the big 2 car door and wait for the right time to jump and grab the handle to pull me up off the floor for a ride...lmao..i would always get caught to ..i love all kinds of cars not just hot rods and kustoms..mostley anything i can make fast and cool..

 

I'm 24.

Dad was a hot rodding, bracket-racing, motor-building, bitching about shit motherfucker since he was 16; didn't stop during/while/still I am alive.

My dad and uncle owned a race differential and chassis business from when I was 10-20 years old.

Now I'm a fucking sicko for Nostalgia dragsters and build my own cars.

FUCK YOU DAD, I'm screwed....

P.S. Didn't mean that Pops, love you man. You know what I mean.

 

im 26 got my first car when i was 11

 

Seems like I been doing it forever. Dad got me my first one (26 Star) never got it running but I was very young. Then it was a 30 2dr A when I was 8-9 some thing like that. Did a lot of stuff with that one for my age. Our battery charger was a generator, spun with an old washing machine motor mounted on a board. I was bit at about 2, (no fullen) Then I got a 35 3wd and ran it all over, still had no drivers license. The list goes on cause we lived close to a junk yard, Lloyds Auto Wreckers, in McKees Rocks, Pa. so I was in heaven. If I saw some thing I liked I, all I had to do was get it running, take it home, and when I got tired of it, take it back and get another one. Dad got me into cars so I wouldn't chase girls, it worked for a while. I'm now 71, don't chase girls any more, but still chase cars. Ice man

 

I'm 60. Started going "nuts" for hot rods at about 10. Started driving at 14 - a mild custom '50 Ford Club Coupe.

 

I'm 14 ive loved car since we got a 1966 chevy c10 in 2001 (had a 59 f1 and a jeep truck before that but neither one ran) 2 years later we got my first truck it sat fo a while and this past easter weekend I went out and decided iwas going to fix it i had to completely rewire the truck which was fun and since then the truck has been liwered 6 in the bback and 4 in the front and its been rattlecanned black. I love anything american and i will always be that way.

 

Just talking to a buddy about this last night. To begin with, my dad raced a lot when he was younger and was driving an FED for someone as we were born. He sold all of his race cars, hotrod stuff, etc.. to raise a family. He has worked for GM for 40+ years, and recently retired. I just turned 39 last week, and I saw how fun cars/trucks can be when I watched my older brother(maybe 6yrs. old at the time) using my dad's buddies' truckbed tonneau cover as a trampoline.
But seriously, financially, we didn't have much growing up. And as such, most kids got bikes for a b-day, and I got a bike frame. Next xmas, I'd get the forks and bars. Next b-day, wheels and tires. But I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am for this.
I tore the bike apart and re-assembled it countless times over the years in different variations(BMX one day, chopper bike the next, etc..)growing up, and it heavily influenced my need to figure out how stuff works and provided the mechanical inclination I make my living with now, as I've been turning wrenches for a living since 14 yrs old. Now my dad and I are finally doing that father and son build. Life is goo-ood.
Thanks mom & dad!

 

I'm 47, dad had a model A when I was a kid that he would let me work on, I could perform a full tune up, set the points, gap the plugs, change the oil & filter on the model A by age 7, Dad was on old Hot rodder, he was not a mechanic, he never stayed with any car, always traded up, but he always had some kind of cool car, we went to a lot of drive in resturants (Shifters) and stuff like that where other Hot Rodders would hang out, couldn't get enough of it, got into dirt bikes at a young age (10) got into cars again when I was old enough to have a licence.

 

Been into hot rod and customs since I was maybe 12, started building lowrider bikes and hot rodded schwinns at 13, but didn't get my first car (59 chevy biscayne) till I turned 15. I'm 30 now. Found the Jalopy Journal around '99? I think, but didn't find the HAMB forum till 2004.

 

Geez this ain't easy to condense. I'm 51. My folks said they could always find my cars but never the wheels (what's that mean?). Matchbox cars, model kits (built myself when I didn't have the patience to wait for my dad). One of my favorite toys was a stack of Hot Rod mags from '49-'58 just before I was born (my dad didn't want me to get into cars HA!) Dad was a Mopar dealer mech. in the 50's. Stories of his first cars fueled me. I own a 39 Plymouth coupe now. Mopars are my thing but I dig'em all.

 

I'm 53, and I customized and built minibikes from age 8 or 9...Started going to '"The Autorama" in Sacto about then...That about did right there, I loved it, I was addicted...Was into Ed Roth, Rat Finks and model cars...Drew on T shirts with felt pens pics of bloody eyeballs drivin' roadsters, hairy knuckled hands on tall shifters...I did my first PAYING mechanics gig when I was 13, a friend and I rebuilt a 60 VW engine in a old dirt floor barn out on Baxter Grade outside of Auburn, CA, oldman Baxter paid me a C-note for that job-a lotta money when you're 13!...My friend still has the letter thanking us for doing such a great job...My favorite Uncle had a garage full of old Model A's that he used to hop up, and he rode a Harley, and I was totally drawn to that, much to the dismay of my suit-n-tie father...Too Late,!! There was no looking back, I was always rebuilding or working on something...I did body work, paint work, collision repair, then owned a small restoration shop for about 20 years...I never advertized, kinda proud of that part, I made a OK living. I made a living working on cars until about 4-5 years ago when the body gave it up, bad back, bad knees, hands hurt all the time, can't hardly walk anymore, but I still wrench on 'em when I can, and have a couple projects in the garage, I still love it,!!! Still hangin' with "car guys" every chance I get!! They'll pry my hammer and dolly outa my cold dead hands, I tell ya! Wouldn't have it any other way...

 

My first memory that I have was "helping" pop block his 57 chevy....

Yup you guessed it, he gave me a block and stuck me on the fender that hadnt been touched yet and let me go to town...that was when I was 6 or 7....

I remember helping him drop the body, engine and trans in a 60ish MGA (He hadda thing for british cars....which translated into me I might add...) that was when I was bout 9...

Started buggin him for my own car soon thereafter and finally got my first ride at 12....moved 25 yeards of dirt into a retention wall by hand for that....and the car was a mess...pop figured I'd have it sorted out by the time I was legal and he was right...

It was an off topic car...(1979 LTDII with a police interceptor 302) and by the time I was driving the thing was a bit too fast for my mom....

But that was my car, I brought it back to life and worked my ass off for it....

Thanks pop for makin me broke...

 

Liked cars since I could remember and built models as a kid.
My dad had some cool cars but he was a 'buyer' not a builder.

In 1965 at 11 years old we moved to Bakersfield, CA. Next door was a circle track racer that ran an FE powered '59 T-Bird. I chased wrenches and he hauled me to the races as a crew member. I was living a dream.

Went to fuel & gas championships at Famoso in the 60's.
Saw 'The Hawaiian' & 'Freight Train'

HOOKED..... dirty fingernails since

 

My mom told me that when I learned to talk, at 14 Y.O. (just kidding), I would stand on the seat of my family's 39 Hudson as we drove around town, and ask her the names (makes) of cars I didn't recognize. Hummm that would have been about 1949!!!

If you are interested in a more concrete long term project, you might find the following roadster "build" thread interesting. As the title says..."14 years in the making..."

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=356019&showall=1

trakrodstr

 

I refuse to remind myself how old I am, but I've been sanding Model T's since I was two years old!

 

Guess I'm the oldest at 76, but there's always somebody else out there!!
What a great thread, so many diversified comments!!
Dreaming of how I was going to make over my '41 Chev coupe while I was on board ship in Korea, was a big thing then!

Must have got roadster genes from Dad, he was a wheel striper for Ford Motor Co. in 20's--30's, here's Mom in their "Speedster" 1929, Mom in my 32' roadster 1970, my son in his 29' hiboy & me with my 32 about 1980!!

----Don