It happened the day I first laid eyes on a beautiful Yellow 1970 Plymouth Road Runner with a black vinyl top way back in the Spring of '71... I had just moved here to the U.S. from Australia. ... BEEP BEEP!
As far back as I can remember,my Dad ran his own,one man garage,had a wrecker,kept the whole small towns peoples car,trucks,tractors running,even built race cars for the old diet track in Valdosta,Georgia,I"m glad I paid attention to all the things he taught me and to this day everytime Ifix something on a car I think about him.once you get that grease under the fingernails its hard to stop.
one of my earliest memories is riding in the back of my dad's chocolate brown 31 ford sedan with gold diamond tuck velvet interior. I was upset when he sold it (I was 3 or 4--still remember picking out door prizes at the old stone mountain run in the same car). the 35 ford coupe he moved to proved to be much bigger and more influential and part of me,though. learned too drive in it. bought my first at 12. working on rebuilding it now after 20 plus years and several owners after that first time
As for liking old cars, I guess with my last name being Ford, I kind of had to. When a family friend gave me his 10+ years collection of Hot Rod mags in 1962, I spent all my spare time reading them cover to cover. I liked the look for sure. But it was a few years later when I was sitting in the living room and heard something outside I will never forget. A quick investigation revealed our neighbor had a big Pontiac that he had just put a ¾ race cam in. The rumble from those glass packs made my testosterone level sky rocket. It slammed me into puberty and I was hooked.
That same neighbor was also responsible for the 289cu 62 Econoline I had a few years later and the Vette 327 with muncie 4 speed, me and a buddy put into a 51 Chevy while in high school. The 51 had fender well headers, two 4s, tilt front end and was gutted for weight. (Roll bar, one fiberglass bucket and one plastic paint bucket.) We had a ball racing Road Runners, Goats and anything else. Cool neighbor.
The Jalopy Journal
