Hi folks! I'm Steve M and have truely had a lifelong p***ion for automobiles. My earliest exposure to hot rods was living down the street from a guy that had a fenderless A sedan with twin strombergs on the orginal 4 banger. My first ride in a rod was in a flat motor '34 coupe with a gutted interior sitting on a crate. Since we had no license plate or exhaust we were given a ****** home by the local law. In the mid '60's I sort of stumbled on to a match race funny car on a trailer in a motel parking lot. The car was an altered wheelbase, steel Chevy II with a straight axle front end raced by ****ie Harrell. Within a year I had found out what motels the racers stayed at when they were in town and where they got thier cars worked on. I would ride my bicycle to a grarage and offer to sweep the floor for free just so that I could spend a few minutes looking over Gene Snow's "Rambunctious" Dodge Dart. Life got in the way of hot rodding for a few years while I spent time in the military, got married, raised a few children and in general had my attention distracted. Thanks to the militarys low pay scale I was able to learn quite a bit about the mechanical end of motor vehicles by keeping my own heaps running. A few years ago I found myself with room in the garage, money in the bank and time on my hands. Enter the current hot rod, it's too new and too shiny to be of any interest to a true H.A.M.B.er but it runs low 12's in the quarter mile, can autocross, and win trophies at the shows. This is a lot of fun but it hinders actually having fun with the car when you know that you'll spend hours cleaning the car after a weekend cruise. After seeing a few rat rods at the local shows I thought that maybe I had lost sight of my real goal...having fun driving my hot rod. So here I am, on the outside looking in at all of you fine H.A.M.B.er's enjoying driving your rides more than showing them, wind in your face rather than wax under your nails. If I can locate an early coupe or sedan that moves my soul I'll be joining you.
I must say you have quite an impressive way of introducing yourself. Welcome to "our" world. As you probably already know, this is the source to answer just about any question you could fathom about hot rodding. Good luck finding your "period" car. Check the H.A.M.B cl***ifieds, you might find what you're looking for in there. Take care, Reverend Jake
How old are you? My dad used to race in Wichita, Manhattan, Junction City area in the early 60's... you might have been that kid takin' all my shop-sweeping jobs!!! Just kiddin' - welcome!
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