What famous car made the biggest impression on you?

the Califonia kid was the one for me .

 

I was "hooked" as a young boy when I built the "Black Widow" rpu and the "Ala Kart" plastic models.

Jim

 

The Ala Kart.

 

awesome guys

 

Back now and took time to look for a pic of Karol Miller's 56 Victoria.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Ford Success Stories: Karol Miller ... Bonneville Legend


















Complete article here
http://yblock.blogspot.com/2007/07/ford-success-stories-karol-miller.html

Now ya know why my first was a 56 Victoria only didn't find one in orange and white in 1963 so settled for blue and white.

 

I suppose there were several cars that influenced me american graffiti, the batmobile... But the car that influenced me the most was definitely the 1950 merc. Coupe from cobra. I saw it on the big screen in '86 and it immediately influenced my future...

 

porche 911..Grits you crack me up.

Well the list is long..I wont bore you with them all. first one wasnt "famous" except in my area

1st car that I fell in love with was a 57 Chevy that my neighbor had, Laced out, candy red and white , tilt front end and Gasser style..Big Block bad assed.

Than as I got older the Wing Cars Of Mopar..
and the B body 2 doors of Mopar, any of them.

Than as I got a bit older I slid into the pre-war Fords,

And one odd ball, that still sticks in my memory is the 33 Willys Model 77 that had the SOHC Cammer engine in it, cant remember who ran it,Think it was "Ohio George" Montgomery, it was a bad M-Fer. Built a Model Kit of it.

yep , here it is

 

cool!

 

I think it was 1962.
The Monogram "Green Hornet" & "Black Widow" hot rod model kits.
Something about the box art...that cute gal in the capris polishing the chrome headers while the two guys are coming over w/ the green T bucket body to set it down on the chrome chassis.
Just looked like 100% fun & total cool.
Wasn't until years later I discovered that the box art was actually based on a photo of a real rod.."The Grasshopper"..featured in Hot Rod magazine.
The box art for the companion "Black Widow" kit was cool too..the drive in waitress bringing the guy in the T pickup a slice of cake.
Both images made me want to know where this world existed & how soon could I get there.

 

How about the "california kid " It did the job for me!

 

awesome guys. thanks for sharing

 

The Eastwood & Barakat sedan and the Cal Kid coupe. On the racing side I always liked K S Pittman's '33 Willys gasser.

 

BIG AL Allison powered sedan, M.T.'s Challenger, the Parisienne by Barris hooked me on Caddies. Anything done by Ed Roth.
And the list goes on & on.
Al

 

Cool...K.S. Pittman always had cool cars

 

everyone who had a car in a hotrod magazine in the early 60`s

 

It wasn't the biggest impression but what got me aware of cars was when I was around 5 years old my dad managed a service station in San Pedro and this guy kept his sprint car in one of the bays there.
It had the number 98 on it and "Troy Ruttman, driver" on the side.

It was "famous" but I didn't know it was at the time.

Then my big brother and I got a Murray dump truck pedal car from our folks so I learned to "drive" before I went to kindergarten.
Also, my dad used to sit me on his lap when I was pre-school and let me steer our '40 Pontiac all over San Pedro. Early awareness...

Then there was the old "redneck" guy on the next block, in the projects in Channel Heights where we lived, with this old Ford coupe with a box in the back where the rumble seat should have been,
and there was the almost new Chevy pickup with fancy hubcaps and whitewalls and their rear bumpers almost dragging the ground even when they weren't carrying a load a younger (than the "redneck" guy) Mexican guy drove...

Those weren't "famous" but they did add to my awareness of things done to cars that were different from most.

I don't remember how old I was when I started building plastic models but the first ones I think were a Chris Craft, the USS Missouri, the Santa Maria and Cutty Sark. along with various aircraft, like the Mustang and B-17.
I was also building mostly Scientific brand 1/2A U control flying model planes and flying them and all the Guillows 25¢ "stick & paper" rubber band powered WW-1 stuff.

Dad had me do a brake job on the rear axle of his '52 Mercury, in '58, I was ten.

Then the first model car I built was a AMT '58 T-bird and then a '59 Pontiac, both "customized" with the parts in the kits.
I liked this range of options possible with these kits. It was way different from just making sure the pins lined up with the holes in a fuselage!

I started looking at Rod & Custom and Hot Rod magazines at the grocery store but didn't buy them because it would cut into the allowance money I had to save for more kits and paint until the November '61 R&C came out and I just had to have it because I had a '40 Ford kit and was determined to build a copy of that Matador car on the cover. That's the first "famous" car that made a giant impression. It's also when I started mowing lawns for neighbors so I'd have more than just "allowance money"

I was into the customs rather than the hotrods because I was the "chubby kid" in school and wasn't "competitive" even if I had wanted to be so I fully understood what we all later heard Burt Reynolds and Jim Nabors say in unison in "Stroker Ace" "Second place ain't shit" so it was a long time before I got into buying HotRod magazine.


Then my big brother bought a '53 BelAir two door sedan and our dad taught me to work a lead paddle on it. I still built the models some, but that's when I went on from 1/25th scale to 1/1 scale cars.

Haven't stopped messin' with cars since.

 

How about these 2 guys???..

 

Man i was Soooo in love with everything Mopar made from 1960 to 1969..

Still own one

 

Here's another one that totally knocked me out when I was a kid. Dropped front end, nerf bars, cool-ass flames...man, that's a hot rod!

 

My two all time favorite Hot Wheels as a little kid were "Neet Streeter" and "Red Baron".
I never realized till I read this thread why I have a such an attraction to gassers and hot rods...and my older brother will be first to tell you, all my Hot Wheels ran very loud pipes haha

 

Roths Beatnik Bandit

 

I always loved the '70-'74 'Cuda bodies including the many 'Cuda Funny Cars, Pro-Stockers and Super-Stockers that were running wild down the dragstrips...

 

I have that kit also.. Molded in color! But I'm missing the decal sheet..

 

These are the 3 cars that initially got me hooked on customs:

 

when I was a kid



today

 

several rods really did it for me: AMBR winner Krikorians's Emperor '29 roadster, Nancy's 22jr '29 roadster (the nailhead version on HRM cover), and Ivo's T bucket. ...and I was a fan of whatever Gene Winfield painted.

 

The Pharoahs Merc in American Graffiti and James Dean Merc in Rebel Witout a Cause.

 

cool, there is a lot of great cars out there....

 

The Milner coupe!


Sent from my iPhone using TJJ

 

did you see the bare coupe in hot rod deluxe? i haven't yet, but someone started a thread about it on here.