Art & Inspiration Just a hobby or ??????

All consuming lifestyle. My lady loves old cars. My friends love old cars. My brother loves old cars. My home is decorated to reflect my love for old cars. Old cars make me lose sleep at night. Old cars will probably be the death of me, but I am ok with that.

 

I always loved cars. My parents insisted I go to college, so I got an A.S. degree in Auto Tech at the local community college. I worked for state Parks while in college, and followed that course for a few years, wrenching like crazy on my cl***ics after work. To say I was obsessed is an understatement. Fast forward a few years, and the Job ****ed, and I started wrenching and transporting cl***ic cars, and Muscle cars. I was living the dream, but barely surviving. The people I worked for and dealt with were largely dishonorable, and due to finances and wrenching on cool cars all day, I couldn't work on my own, and soon only saw dollar signs on cars and parts. I am back to doing maintenance, and trying to build my own toys now. Its not Like it was. I miss the way I was before turning wrenches for a buck. I will not fix a car for anyone other than myself or close family anymore.

 

It is a way life. Every second of the day is spent consumed by old cars and has since I was probably 5. It has gotten me in trouble but really kept me out of a lot more by playing with whatever gem I dragged home tge going out drinking or partying. It is my way of life, my religion and my addiction. I am an old car junkie, and now the HAMB is one of my dealers to satisfy this addiction. ...Thanks Ryan!!! I needed this!

 

This is definately not a hobby, obsession is more like it.
I don't make a living working on cars, mechanical engr, spent half my career on the shop floor, the rest of it negotiating cost with fabrication shops.
That pays the bills so I can build garages and cars, if I'm not working my job, working on cars, I'm thinking about cars.
3 & 5 year old daughters, my projects have slowed down so I can I spend as much time with them as I can. I'll have them welding soon enough.
I'm working on an OT build now, the fab, tech, people on the HAMB are the best around.

 

My dad was a Jazz Musician, but he always had a love affair with cars and motorcycles. When I was about 7 he restored an MG TF1500, I helped out in the garage. He also always had and rode motorcycles. When I was 12 tow cool things happened - I got my first mini bike (a Taco 44) AND he bought the slot car store in town. Kid in a Candy Store. I was hooked and have had motorcycles ever since and started playing with cars soon after. I was in college in Pre Law but needed a part time job. I got one at the largest VW Performance store in the 70's and it was all down hill from there. I never finished college and have been in the automotive industry ever since. Even when I got in the music store business for 10 years, I still had a Hot Rod and Race Car business. I should have stayed in law school.
HOT RODS RUINED MY LIFE!

 

Its great when your kids get into too. I have infected both of my boys. Here is my 8 year old learning how to peak and smooth an early ford axle!!! He welds dam good for an 8 year old too!!!

 

Started out in "real gas stations" and delivering car parts for a local parts house back in the late 60s, relined brake shoes and clutch discs for a rebuilder for a couple of years then became a union diesel mechanic straight out of high school. in the mid 70s became a locomotive mechanic for Southern Pacific until laid off after 7 years in a system wide downsizing program. Back to diesel truck mechanics until 1981 when a hunting buddy hired me on as a fire sprinkler fitter from which i will be retiring in about a year and a half. Oddly, when I became a fitter I instantly missed mechanics and became avid street rodder, then Harley builder, then muscle car collector and now back to hot rods. My first car in 68 was a 55 Nomad, and I have always had a hobby vehicle of some kind......Been a great life and I regret not one second of it and would do it all over again. Im really glad I found HAMB, and will be a hot rodder till im gone. This site inspires me daily, and am starting to meet others in my area because of it. Thanks Ryan

 

Its never been a hobby for me but it is a lifestyle since 1967 when I bought the 1947 Mercury that I still have. Street rods rescued a dying hotrod industry but I didnt like billet and was delighted to find the Hamb in 1998 or 99. It is still the best forum on the internet.
I have many ol cars, the newest is 50 years old.

 

I have been working on cars and bikes since I was a child.My Dad was a machinist and mechanic.He ran a sprint car some in the 30s.(I heard about that from my mother)His obsession was old Jaguars.Bought his first one in 1964,it was a 51 XK120.I was fourteen and helped him tow it home and eventually learned to hate Jaguars! I have spent the last 40 years attempting to teach people how to repair Harley-Davidson motorcycle engines-Went to work at AMI in june 75,retired in june this year.Always been cars and motorcycles for me.I did make a living as an auto mechanic a few times before I started teaching.I guess its an obsession? I have never done anything else.

 

I grew up with a wrench in my hand, 3rd generation CAR NUT. I made the mistake of marrying a women who didn't understand the car addiction.(could have been worse things to be addicted to) She said my hobby became my life. I just looked at her and said, "You knew this going in, I'm not gonna change who I am and what I love for a woman who can't also appreciate it." We divorced last summer, but I got an AWESOME 6 year old little boy that is 4th generation CAR NUT. And I love the fact it kinda bothers her.

 

Automobiles..........An obsession for me as a child, it morphed into my livelihood as an adult, still as a hobby sideline, and in retirement it's what I eat and breath.
I cant shake them

 

It is and has been both. I started at 8 building lots of models , at 14 I by myself , put a chryser hemi in my 54 ranch wagon. My folks weren't into cars. I also did the whole interior in it. Then went to work in a garage / gas station. At 16 I started doing interiors for others. At 20 I went to upholstery full time. All the while buying building selling more cars. In 1974 I went into business for myself in Modesto Ca. J&K upholstery. ! was 24. retired at 42 the first time and bought a cow ranch. still kept doing upholstery. Now I build cars and do upholstery to make it possible to build more .

 

Started wrenching on cars as a teenager. Enlisted in the USAF as a aircraft mechanic. After discharge went to school for an FAA A&P License. Spent my career working for major airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Carrier Aviation Safety Inspector and wound up as the Manager of a Flight Standards District Office. Currently retired from the FAA with a great retirement and medical benefits. No regrets and credit my good fortune to my interest in auto mechanics.

 

Isn't it unbelievable how much influence the automobile and hot rods can and does have on our way of life. Some really great stories here.

 

For me I always wanted to leave school and become a motor mechanic and build my own race car. Then I found my first hotrod magazine and I was hooked.Did my apprenticeship and had a long break away from the trade, I didn't like it. I was lucky to snag a very good job as a mechanic in a very remote location which I did for fifteen years working two weeks on and two weeks off. But at home the only cars I would touch were mine and my hotrod buddies rods. No late model ****.Starting building my T bucket as a 20yr old. Years later while working away in an oil field I was lucky management let me build a rolling ch***is for another project a roadster pickup to everyone's amazement. Most of my workmates didn't get it but those that did couldn't believe I was able to do so. Being into hotrods has taken me all over Australia and 5 trips to the US for some of the biggest Hotrod shows. I guess my job led me into my lifestyle.

 

I was brought up on my grandfather's dairy farm and my dad did all the wrenching on all the machinery and his own cars, so I naturally became obsessed with cars in my teens. Only after the Army I was one that went to work in one of those factories as a machine operator/leadman and stayed there for 32 yrs. Wife, kids, house typical story. Took an early retirement in 1999 and built a 3 car garage and my 56 mild custom Chevy. Now working on a 36 Chevy pickup. Also restored a 1962 Corvette in the 80's that I still have. My excuse on my car hobby, is I don't play golf, or fish. I like to get my hands dirty and have something for my effort.

 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving....now how about some more of these great stories.....

 

Well, I suppose I could put some of the highlights into words..
I first discovered Hot Rods as a young kid in my native country, New Zealand, in the late `60`s. We had converted from English pounds to Dollars, and my Mum sent me to the corner store to buy Bread. I had enough left to buy my first New Zealand Hot Rod Magazine, mainly because she didn`t do the conversion right. I saw my first Hot Rod about that time, and actually scored a `34 Grille at the Country Dump when I first started driving. About `72 or so. Went to College after my Dad died suddenly in `74, and even though I taught Elementary (Primary) School from `79 til `83, I worked on stuff for myself and others. Six of us managed to rent a shed together during this time. I finished my`42 Ford Sedan about then. I was ruined for good when I spent six weeks in the USA in `84 as crew for a Roadster that Bill Ward ran at Bonneville. I came back in`86 after selling up and worked for Magoo in SoCal for six months in`86-7. I made another trip back to New Zealand, but returned here for good in`88. I worked for Zipper Motors for a while, then JFZ doing sales, then back on Gull Wings and other resto work. Moved to Oregon in `94 and worked for Donn Lowe for 11 plus years before starting my own shop in`05. Been married almost 20 years, still go to Bonneville every year (except the last two...Grrrr...)....
It`s been a life that has been financially disastrous. In fact there have been lots of times where I have been down to nothing. I`ve even had to live in my car a couple of times. Even now, I have a small, very modestly equipped shop behind my small sixties Ranch....
Would I change anything? I really don`t know. I still love what I do, I`m a pretty decent Craftsman, have two kids and a wife that still loves me, even though she doesn`t do much Car stuff, she lets me do what I do. As I get older, I wonder if God will let me stay healthy enough to keep going into my sixties and beyond, or weather my alternate career as a Walmart Greeter is in my immediate future...
As for examples of my work--well, I`ll be mentioned in the next two Rodders Journals as contributing my abilities to a couple of pretty neat cars...still rate my kids as better examples tho..

 

Kiwi, well said!
I've heard Brits say, "It's a satisfaction!"

 

Strange to look back and write about all the steps in ones life. Grew up in the country, my grandfather owned a gas station, Standard Oil, my dad and uncle worked there and hated it. So gramps sold it to a retuning WW2 vet, Phil. The station was a couple of country blocks from the house so I would go there every chance I had to hang with Phil. I think I was 8. Ultimately as a teen I would help out and Phil would let me take empty oil cans or unused signs for my garage collection. My dad p***ed when I was 15 and Phil took me under his wing. I would help out and get a couple of gallons of gas free or a part for my/moms car to keep it going. Money was tight for us so he helped me out when he could. He was a great guy.

Went on to college, married my girl friend who I knew since 3rd grade and started dating her in 8th grade and we are still married. Was going to be drafted so I signed up with the Air Force, B52 flight engineer, Nam 5 years. Made it back home and back to school. Graphic design and product design.

Lucked out and was hired before I graduated by a great design firm in Chicago, Porter Goodman and Cheatham. Worked there 5 years and decided to test the waters with other firms. 1985 I started my own business, but started to miss the grease and smell of gas on my hands. Always loved working on hot rods since I was a kid.

I had always collected gas and oil but living in the city made it hard to have a hot rod and a safe place to work on it. We found a get a way place in Union Pier MI and took the leap and bought it so we could get out of city on weekends, a 1923 Sears kit house on an acre and half. From there it's history, I now have a place where we enjoy our gas and oil collection and the hot rods. 2005 I set up an office in the pole barn surrounded with my collection and cars and still do consulting, working on the 32, restoring old gas pumps on 5 acres in the woods. I think being here has extended my life by having the things I love around me and still being active in design, hot rods and collection gas and oil junk.

These three things are the thread of my life, not a job or hobby, it was the carrot in front of my nose that has pushed me going through the really bad times and enjoying the good. I'm very blessed I know and part of that is the love of old cars and the history ***ociated with them.

I should add the HAMB is also a big part of my life thanks to Ryan and all you guys.

 

Pumpman
What a great short story of your life.
No matter how much some of us question the life path we have chosen, the usual flow to it is not always in linear form.
As the carreer experts say; follow your p***ion, sounds like you have done just that.
And thank you for your military service to our country.

 

I would say for me it is the creativity that keeps me going. Right now I build hot rods/street rods for a living. I also do side work on hot rods and am trying to finally build one for myself by the time I am 50 (that would be March 26 2016). It has been a long strange trip to get here.

I got my first two cars at 9 years old and got one of them running. They were rusted out 61 and 62 T-birds that my dad had bought for $75. At age 13 He gave me a 56 Ford truck That I ended up getting to run but it was also a totally rusted pile so we pulled the engine and put it in the car He and I built while I was in high school.
I went to vocational school to be a diesel and heavy equipment mechanic and ran out of money so I had to get a job delivering pizzas. Then got a job working for Sears in the automotive department but quit due to the unscrupulous rip offs that they were doing to people who could hardly afford their car let alone have it worked on. Next job running a batting cage and doing maintenance on it. I got my first foray into hot rods when I was working part time for a local builder who was doing it part time. I would clean up and do the dirty work but didn't pay much.

I worked logging for a while being the onsite mechanic as well as running log skidder and all other aspect of a small logging outfit. Worked in a wrecking yard and an auto shop for a while then an automotive machine shop before going to Bible College in Alaska. I worked on trucks in the middle of winter outside to put myself through school. After moving back to Washington I got a job wrenching on trucks and equipment for a concrete outfit but they went bankrupt due to the bookkeeper embezeling. Since I now had a CDL I got a job driving dump truck for the next 9 years but was always building stuff in my head while driving. Next I worked in a Bike shop building custom motorcycles and then finally where I am now building hot rods/street rods for the last 10 years.

My job will be ending soon and I started my own business last year manufacturing parts. I hope to be able to build cars on my own while running my business but everything is up in the air right now.

The desire to build hot rods for a living all started in 86 when the neighbor showed me a car in Street Rodder Mag. It was Hal Arnolds car and the first car that my boss built professionally. Right there I said to myself that is what I want to do so 20 years later I work there and got to work on the car that inspired me to do what I do now when it was updated and repainted.

 

These are all such great stories...I really look forward to reading a few more!!!

 

@55 willys
What year is your WHATZIT (the car in the first picture).

 

I love working on old cars but that is me time to relaxe and unwind from everything else. Probably why I prefer to work in my garage alone. I think if I had to do it on a schedule for someone else I would end up hating it. But that is just me.

--louis

 

Hey Fred, drove by at 5 pm today, the house was dark...You forget to pay yer lectric bill again? Dog was looking for you..

 

What part? 64 Renault Dauphine on a modified 65 Ford truck frame, 31 model A rear fenders, 31 Graham front fenders. Modified 35 16" wire wheels with 8 lug centers. Dodge grill shell, 65 Peterbilt aluminum hood shortened narrowed and reshaped. 250 Chev 6 with a 4 speed truck trans. All together parts of 48 vehicles.

 

Johnny Cash inspired!