When you were a kid.

It's all my dad and grandpa's fault. LOL Here's a link to a thread I did explaining it all.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166276&highlight=tribute+to+my+dad+grandpa

 

My Dad bought me the AMT '40 Ford Coupe 3 In 1 kit when I was in 1st grade in 1961. It was all "down hill" from there.....

 

...a dark grey primered 32 Ford coupe hot rod (full fendered, dago axle, hot flatty, painted reveresed mercury wheels) my dad took title and possession of as payment for bodywork done on that same car back in 1962. It just had the right look and sound...and I was hooked for good.

 

My dad was an old school bootlegger in the 50's in Tennesse. Every car he had had an Olds Rocket V-8 in it. I remember having 5 or 6 49/50 Oldsmobiles sitting around the place he worked. They were all black....coupes and fastbacks.

I remember the first ride in this 53 Pontiac he had just dropped an Olds into and it had the front sheetmetal from the Olds on it as well. The front was black and the rest was original Pontiac green. We were sitting at a stop light (or sign) and some guy pulls up next to us and wants to race. My dad wouldn't so it because I was in the car (about 5 or 6 at the time ... about 1955.)

I also remeber this 46 Ford coupe he built in the garage behind the house (to haul whiskey in) with, what else, an Olds V-8. That was when I was about 4.

He went away when I was about 8 or 9, but the disease was caught by then. I was always reading (looking at the pics) his pocket sized car magazines. Later in high school, I almost always had a hot rod mag inside my textbooks, reading them during class. I've been sick with this fever ever since. My wife just doesn't understand it. I can't help it. It's terminal, I'm afraid. I'll take it to my grave. Just bury me in my Studebaker.

db

 

Well this one is easy for me, Sept 8, 1966 the day I was born. Since then my life has revolved around Hot Rods and the awsome people that come with that ever since.

Heck we even got married at a car museum.


Terri

 

not necesarily hot rods and kustoms but I went to Military school here in Socal and one of my friends families owned the "Hemi Under Glass" wheel stander. been hooked on cars ever since//

 

When I was in grade school I went over to a friend's house after school. Later that evening his dad took me home in his '38 Ford pickup, the rest is history. Of course my dad was always a gearhead but always liked musclcars but you can only powerpark for so long. Like my mom always said, "If my head ain't a carburetor and my ass an exhaust pipe sometimes I don't exist". Well all I can say is no comment on that one.

 

Even though my Dad passed away when I was three, I still remember him working on cars. I remember the ratchet was the coolest toy/tool to me and the old torque wrenches were fascinating.

Small memories sometimes last a lifetime.

 

I got my love of all things mechanical from my Dad. He was a tinkerer and mechanic all his life. I grew up with tales of Rajo heads and Ruxtell rear ends and such.
My real love of Hot Rods and such came from a neighbor. He had a channelled '32 roadster with a 392 Hemi with 2 fours out of a Chrysler 300 it had Lincoln brakes and I think a LaSalle trans. AV8 Paul may know that car. He also was a national record holder in the mid '60's in an MG with a blown Hemi. He later got into tractor pulling through his friend Art Arfons (yeah, that one) running a 1500# class with a BBC with an alcohol injection system he built himself.
Now that I'm thinking about it maybe I'll go pry his life story out of him and get some pictures.

 

For me it all started on the way home from the hospital when Dad stopped at the jewelry store and bought my first gold chain. JUST KIDDING !!!

When he wasn't work at his regular job or either of his part time jobs Dad was always working on something from splitting the exhaust on a Plymouth 6 cylinder, working a deal on a barrel nose Ford pickup, telling stories about near death experiences in early rods, stories about wheels welded onto a Studebacker pickup, building a gasoline powered firetruck from a golf cart, the model A coupe with a chop top and mercury motor. When I was in junior high (early 60's) he traded a AM radio for a Cushman Eagle. We rebuilt the basket case and painted it and I drove it to Jr High and into High School when we got a '56 Chevy 2dr post. When I wore out the 265 powerpack it was replaced by a 283 with FI heads and 3X2 and a BW 210. My Dad is still working 40+ hours a week at the age of 77 as a welder.

 

reading " Boxcar Children"they got there stuff from a dump/ junk

then in grade school .. right next to our school playground was a junkyard for ol trucks 'cars and farm tractors and equipment... our "Playground" was rusty bit us back!
then all my older brothers/friends cars were all 50's or older (cheap too).....only 1 kid in our area had a new car in high school

then the hand me down car magazines and even felsons books

i have a ol car problem and embrace it ...

 

My dad and Grandpa...See Chuck-A-Burger link below...nuff said.

 

Every day I spent at Big Daddy Ed Roths house,and his shop! Started to catch on,about how special it was at around 10yrs old. His youngest son Darryl and I were good friends. Never a dull moment!

 

I'll blame it on my older brother. He had a 58 Chevy he cruised/ street raced/ fixed up while in high school in 62 when I was an impressionable 6 years old. His buddies would come by the house with their cool cars (his rich buddy's new 62 409, 4 speed Impala, anothers mild custom 51 Chev HT, ect). Best ever was him taking me to the drive-in to eat while watching me for my Mom.

 

I remember in jr. high.....I would walk through this guys yard to get to my girl friends house......he was a drag racer at one time & had a 58 vette sitting in the back yard.......old style straight front axle & 70's ribbon paint...I was hooked.
When I was able to get my drivers license (at 16 1/2) my very first car was a 1946 ford p/u......my Pops had a 1934 p/u that we'd been working on.....had a 3.5 chop & late AB flattie....I've been in love ever since.........

Oh by the way.......I ended up buying a 62 vette in the 80's & driving the snot out of it (before they brought 40K price tags).

Now I share time with my 62 ford Uni p/u, 66 chev II c-dan & a HD rigid bobber.

Paco

 

A couple of older guys put together a roadster when I was a kid. It had a Mopar 383, 3speed stick,welded spider gears in the rearend, recap slicks and a school bus seat. I got to go for a short ride once. Just like going 80 on a go cart.
A friend of my brother had a bad ass 67 Mustang. A ride with him gave me the thrill of banging gears with a 4 speed.
A friend's older brother got a brand new 68 Nova. 325 horse 327, 4speed, black with black vinyl topand black interior. It could really make that 4 barrel howl.
But really, I was always messing with cars. Taking wheels off bigger toy cars and putting them the rear of smaller ones. Mixing parts of model cars to make them unlike anything close to the kit. that kind of stuff.