Hot Rods Was your hot rod well recieved by your parents/family?

I was about 10 when a man brought a 28 Model A coupe to my dad's shop and wanted him to put a Pontiac straight 8 in it. It took all winter for him to finish that car, but I got my introduction to hot rods early and often. Funny thing is my dad never drove anything but a 4 door Chevrolet 6 cylinder 3 speed stick cars. 48 Chevy, 54 Chevy, 59 Chevy.

 

My family loved my avatar. Had to take my Mum for a last ride before it went off to a new owner.

 

I have a little different experience involving my brother who is 13 years younger than I am. Dropped by the house one day when my mother was pointing out that my 15 year old brother was wasting his time and money on model kits. I reminded her that I too "wasted" my time and money on model kits and all I had to show for it was a new Impala and two byline columns in car magazines. Subject was never brought up again. My dad was a great problem solver and was always ready to help me when I was working on cars.

 

I grew up in the county of Clueless, went to Clueless High School and I was chock full of clueless DNA that I got from my folks. After trying unsuccessfully to get my dad to co-sign on something I was eyeballing, he got a case of "the guilts" and found a car for sale that I could afford on the "one easy payment plan". Turns out it was a '55 Chevy Belair convertible with a '57 283 transplant. He had no idea what kind of cat he let out of the bag. I started buying car magazines, poking around under the hood and keeping an eye out for the local constabulary speed traps. My dad never made the connection about "what got into me".

 

Dad overhauled the '52 Henry J flathead four in my uncle's junkyard with borrowed tools. Mom was so effusive praising him, I guess partly because he had never done anything mechanical before that. It impressed me, a five year old, so much that I took everything mechanical apart and put it back together, with their encouragement. By the time I was 15, I was overhauling the '53 Willys Aero Ace F-head, hoping they would let me have the car when I turned 16. Nothing doing, my mom said, because it "wasn't safe," whatever that meant. I got even, buying a '29 Model A coupe when I was 19, and rebuilding everything on it as I drove it to college for two years. Far less safe than the Willys, at least at first.

 

Yes those brake rods could be iffy!

 

My mom liked my 55 chevy, gray primer, chrome wheels, v8 with dual glass packs and Hurst 3 speed as long as I kept from racking the glass packs when I got close to home. Dad just shook his head and kept his mouth shut.

 

My father was killed early in WW II but I was fortunate to have a mother who recognized my having a hotrod in the garage was better than having me pursuing even less desirable activities. She actually loaned me the money for the first Model A when I was 14. Fortunately she didn't realize that we still smoked and drank but at least our cars were out of commission part of the time and I think she breathed easier when the lights were on in the garage. I know she worried when I was out and about and she heard the loud cars and police sirens at the same time. Its a wonder we all lived. What she really hated were the motorcycles but she even mellowed on that when I started racing and had a bike shop. I guess speed was in her blood as well as she would try to maintain a 60 mph average on our twice yearly trips from CA back to the ranch in Texas. That meant long stretches at 65 to 70 to compensate for stops. She drove a 39 V8 Coupe until 49, then another flathead in 51 and 53 before moving up to a OHV Mercs. It pains me to hear the people who worry about driving a stock flathead at speeds over 50mph. We all drove the hell out of em and they did fine. She passed away in 96 but she was proud in a strange sort of way for the ticket she got in her Porsche for 83mph when she was 82. She never had a fear of high speeds and I guess she was a hot rodder at heart even though she always drove relative stock cars.