Why I remember it like it was.....46 yrs ago. Actually I remember it quite well: In Aug. of 61, we were on our annual family vacation, camping in the Black Hills of So. Dak. The folks loved the peace and quite and relaxation of camping, but as a rambunctious 11 yr. old I was bored out of my #%*& mind. While in town, to buy supplies at a small grocery store, my mom gave me some money to buy something to keep me occupied (and probably to quit my whining) Anyway, I wander over to the magazine rack and immediatly glam onto the Aug. 1961 issue of Rod and Custom. This was the first full sized issue with Neal Easts gold/bronze 32 roadster on the cover. I then proceed to buy it, dog ear it to death, and become hopelessly addicted to hot rods, race cars and motorcycles the rest of my life.
It all started on a summer day.......light breezes blowing gently across the plains......rippling the wheat............oh shit...wrong board ! Hot rods and shit..oh yeah......well we was poor....Dad always had to keep the family sled runnin and I was there as a wee lad to hand him shit and learn new cusswords. Then my older brother bought a 51 Chevy with dual smittys and I fell in love with it. I was always out there when his buddies showed up with their mildly customized 54 Fords and souped up Model A coupes. I always raided his Hot Rod magazines and spent many hours on the porcelin throne dreaming of the day when I would have my own while I gazed into the pages. I guess I passed it down to my 2 boys ages 27 & 21 as they are into older cars as well. It doesn't hurt that my wife is into them too (72 Monte Carlo). She won't own no new shit. It's been a good life .
Exact same for me..except......i've been told several time's by my parent's how they had to throw a lot of stuff away because no one, including myself could put it back together.. That and my whole family was into car's, motorcycles..anything with motors..so i guess it was meant to be.
My dad is the only person that comes to mind. He has always been building a street rod since i was born. But he got me into the whole thing because of his little red model a.
My uncle was a MOONSHINE Hauler ... he did not make it but hauled it ... When I was about 7 or 8 ... my mother left me with my aunt ... and she then had to leave me with the Moonshiner uncle. We made a run ... and the ATF got after us ... and he drove off and left them. I was HOOKED ... He drank, smoked and chased wild women ( he was single ) and was the Black Sheep of my mothers family ... so I was not allowed to be around him a lot ... So Naturally, He was my favorite ...
Growing up in Milwaukee the motorcycle cops rode Harleys, the Outlaws M/C and their cool bikes and the commercials on the radio for the drag races at Broadway Bob's Great Lakes Dragway in Union Grove.
It was in the spring of 1962. I was 15 and walking home from junior high through the parking lot of a nearby park and noticed a classmate parked up ahead sitting at the wheel of his black '39 Chev coupe. His name was Al and he was totally cool. James Dean, John Milner, and yeah even Fonzie, all rolled into one. Behind him were some of his buddies in one of those late '30's Chev or Pontiac sedans. As I walked past them, Al revved the old splash feed six up, dropped the clutch, and pealed out followed closely by his pals. It was like someone turned on a switch in my head! I stood there in awe watching as they flew out of the lot and onto the main street, engines screaming and tires smoking. In the summer of that same year, I saw my first stock car race at the local track ( early 30's coupes and sedans). That was it! I was totally hooked for life! Regards, Dave.
I was about 8ish and my one cousin had a taildragger '53 Ford, maroon with white interior. His older brother had a '51 convertible with Buick side trim and a venition blind in the back window, also a taildragger. My Dad hated those cars, so I knew they had to be cool.
My best friend growing up and still to this day is the nephew of Ed Roth, my buddy lived about a block and a half away and I can always remember the car models and monster t-shirts. Ed actually came and had thanksgiving at the house one year, I was real young and can't say I remember him a lot, but our paths crossed a few more times because of his family, weddings, holidays, stuff like that. But I would say it was more about the paraphernalia at my friends house because of his relationship to Ed, than my personal interactions with Ed himself. But my biggest influence was my late father. Although Dad didn't work on cars, he was cool enough to notice my interest and take me to the Sacramento Autorama when I was younger, don't think we missed one of those and I ended up with the Autorama program every year to look at until next year. My Mom, also deceased now, even bought me the "CARtoons" magazine every month when we went to the grocery store. God I miss them.
I think it was around 1965, so I would have been 10. There was a guy in Cooperstown NY that had a 62 Vette gasser that he trailored to the drags somewhere.The car was named TinyMite.I remember huge tires,tunnelram and either ladder or traction bars.That's all it took and I was in love with hot cars and have been since
I'd say it was in the 60's when I started building model cars of all the classic 1950's and older stuff and playing with Hot Wheels redlines and slot cars. The clincher was watching American Graffiti and seeing that yellow coupe.
I had a guy lived up the road from us when I was a kid about 12-15 years older than me always had pretty hot cars mostly 55-56 Fords never kept them long usually wrecked em or traded for something else.When he got married he bought the house next door and converted and old store building into a garage,when I was 10-15 I spent a lot of time helping him work on stuff,bought my first car from him a 51 Ford flathead homemade headers no mufflers,kinda olive green primer,spring shackles flipped in the back to jack it up a little,57 Plymouth hubcaps,gave $150 for it,this was about 1970.Reading magizines and working with him I guess got me started.
I was always into taking things apart, like fenders off my bike and on and on till I was about 11 years old. On the next street over a man named Sharrel had a 29 roadster that was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. It had a white Flathead and white tuck and roll with it's ten foot deep Red paint, I can see it now. We got to be good friends, and I fell in love with Hot Rods. ==TV
My dad and circumstances. My dad never had the bucks to have a car fixed by a mechanic, so he had to do it himself. He taught me and my brother to do for ourselves. When I got into hot rodding the cars I owned, it was never a thought to have someone else do the work, unless absolutely neccessary. My dads rule of thumb: "The first thing you buy when you get a car is a Chiltons to help you fix it."
As far as traditionals, I wouldn't have a clue as I have always loved the look and nestalgia they have, I wouldn't say a single one made me love them. My family has absolutely no car/racing history so I was on my own to find hot rods and older cars. Luckily I did. I got into minitrucks big about 5 or 6 years ago now, but that only added to my love for hot rods and anything else old and custom. I will always love the old stuff first, but I will also build it with influences from minitrucks. I really can't say a specific car, I just think I have liked old shit in general my whole life.
1. my pa bought and sold "antique"cars,lincolns auburns,cads etc but never kept them i was always sad when they left.i wonder if thats why my yard and garage is always full and the old lady is shaking her head 2 1963 schwinn metallic blue sting ray Is this why everything project turns this color?? 3.a 1958 chrysler gold met.shaved dropped moons the first custom i got a good look at,asked the guy why no handles the first realization that a automobile didnt have to stay the way it came from a factory.
Probably no one moment. My dad built model cars, and so did I.. we went to car shows and things, too. He had his '70 Gran Prix in the garage, got it out and I drove it a while when I was 16 - 400, 4-speed trans - that helped. So did the pile of back issues of Rod & Custom my mom bought at this auction across the road when I was like 8. Probably 3/4 of the issues from 1964 to 1974 when it folded the second time. I can barely remember the guy who they'd belonged to having 59-60 Caddys rotting next to the store there.. I guess he had a Model A he restored in the basement of the place, too.
When I was 14 a guy came to visit the neighbor across the street. He was driving a chopped and channeled 32 with a Hemi. I went over to look at it and after a talking to him for a few minutes he took me for a ride. I was hooked from that day on. He was a nice guy, sort of a John Milner type. I remember his last name was Tunney.
yep my dad ! he had a chopped and channeled 32 5 window in the 50`s he hung pictures of it in my crib. I guese it worked ?
In New York as a kid, moms would take me and sis to the beach (Coney Island) during summer break. We'd walk to the subway, get a comic book, and take the train to the beach. The comic was to keep me from buggin mom. What seemed like yrs of this, one trip to the subway has a Hot Rod magazine in my hand instead of a comic. HOLY FUCKING CRAP! 8 years old and hooked on cars for life. I got every hot rod type magazine i could find, models, slot cars, whatever. This is circa 63-64, so it's Gassers, FED's, Super Stocks, FX cars, altered wheelbase/hi center of gravity, etc. Just fucking amazing. Probably the best era for drag racing. What an impression. Also, the girl next door's dating this cool dude John. Got a 53 Chevy with the nose so high, it was nuts. Black primer, blue windows, a 396, and a stick. Big boner
One of my earliest memories was my folks taking me to American Graffitti. I realized the other day that I remember sitting in a running Midget and hanging out with my dads Sprint Car buddies prior to that. I was about 4.It stuck.
Same here, buddy. My dad was always on my case because he couldnt get a vehicle in the shop for my shit sitting in there...lawn mowers, motorcycles, whatever I could drag home with his tractor while he was at work. He would tell stories about outrunning the cops in his 58 Century, and the cars he and his brothers would piece together from the collection of 20's-30's vehicles parked at the back of the farm. My grandfather picked up any vehicle that folks in the community would give him so he could scrap them. They'd chain the frame to a tree and use an old Oliver tractor with steel wheels to pull the body off. They'd then pile the bodies and burn them to get rid of the wood, and pile it all on an old REO truck to haul off and sell. My dad and uncle have pictures that my grandmother took when they were dismembering and burning bodies, and there is one that always made me wanna cry. Visible in the pics are 2 Deuces, one a sedan and one 3-window, and probably a dozen other cars. Mostly early Fords, but there is an Essex and a 32 or 33 Buick coupe there too. He wasn't a very nice fella either. He was a hard-assed Southern Baptist deacon who thought all the world was hellbound if they didnt attend every church service in a Southern Baptist church that they were a "member" of. I still don't understand the thinkin... When I was 4, I recall a night when I was awakened by a loud roar going by our house Over and over they'd roar by. Our road had been gravel but had recently been paved, and the almost mile-long strip was perfect for the kids to drag race on. No one in the family could sleep, so my dad called the sheriff. Turns out, his younger brother was one of the guilty. He had a baby blue 47 Chevy coupe with a 327, 4-speed, 2x4, and a straight axle under the front that made the damn thing look like it was about to sprout wings and leave the ground...which by the way shook whenever he'd race the motor. To say the least he was not very happy with my dad. My uncle paid his fine and went on to drag race any time he was challenged. My dad, however, lost interest in going fast and had settled in to raising 3 kids, but never lost his love for Buicks. Any time I had the chance though, I'd pilfer through my uncle's stash of cool speed parts he kept in an old milk barn, and when I was 10 he gave me a 55 Chevy. He helped me build my first real car, a 71 Buick GS 455 that, after he did a bit of tweaking, was never beat by anything except a 440-6 pack 'Cuda driven by...him! After he realized his 47 bowtie couldnt hold it's own against the Buick, he built the 'Cuda and sold the Chevy. I lost interest in anything with a small block Chevy from that point on. So, my uncle gave me the bug, I guess, and my dad somehow made sure Buicks would be my first and only real passion, and my grandfather taught me to really dislike scrappers and religious fanatics
I lived across the street from a fellow named Jack May. He owned the premier custom shop in town, The Goodies Shop, that specialized in conversion trucks. His home garage was a birthing place for 32-34 ford sedans. This was in the late 70's and early 80's, so I guess he was in on the start of the billet street rod scene. It was incredible to see the rusty originals roll in on a trailer and out a few months later as show cars. There was nothing low rent about these cars.
When I was a kid, my dad showed me all the photos from when he went to the drags as a kid. I was also spoon fed Smokey and the Bandit, Easy Rider, American Graffiti, etc... as a kid. So it's true what they say, monitor what your kids watch...
I was at the doctors in 1963, and there was a copy of the October 63 Car Craft on the waiting room table. I was 15 years old and I'd never seen anything like it before in my life, and when I left the doctors, the magazine came with me! Then in 1965 when I got my licence, my grandfather sold me his 'old' car for $20 cause he was getting a newer one. It was a 1941 Willys sedan, which I proceeded to hotrod, but never completed. I sure wish I still had it now! Cheers, Glen.
I guess it was at the age of 6 handing wrenches to my dad as he rebuilt the flathead 8 in his 52 custom. My cousin was staying with us at the time and he wanted to go play ball and I told him I couldn't, we had work to do. It was in the summer and I spend every minute with him until it was in and running. Some of the better memories of the Ole Man.
Oh yeah and when I was 14 in 1966 I went to the Winternationals in Amarillo. That sealed the deal. Inhaling Nitromethane and burning rubber and having your nuts vibrated by AA fuelers will do it to ya.
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