History Where were you in '62???

I was 8years old living in Chicago and already a drag race and hot rod car addict due to the influence of a older brother ten years my senior.
My older brother got the second 62 T-425A Grand Prix delivered in the state of IL. I even got to go to the track with him a few times. GLD and US 30.
I did not know it then but our mother went into big time hock to get him that car for HS graduation. It was probably a blessing that it was stolen the following year down in Urbana IL on campus.
He eventually saw the light I guess and ordered the 65 black and white Mustang I currently own and race.
As for me, every spare dime I could lay my hands on went towards the purchase of model cars.
AMT, MPC, Johann, Revell, Aurora, Lindberg, you name them and I built them. I was at the local hobby shop almost daily looking for the new arrivals.

 

Cruise'n for babes in my basement with my latest ride !

 

Wow, no wonder you married her! What were you driving?

-Dave

 

I was 11 years old and starting to really pay attention to circle track racing and my father was racing the car in my avatar- a 37 Chevy cut down modified on the 37 Chevy frame. Pontiac 389 with the factory 3 deuces.

We went up to Thompson Speedway in Connecticut in September and early in the feature Dad lost it coming out of the 4th turn on the bottom and did a 360 but the car moved up to the top of the track and proceeded to get hooked into the wooden fence and annihilated about 50 feet of the rail with one piece stopping but a few inches to the side of his leg.

One month later we went to the mile in Langhorne PA. and he ended up 5th. in the consi (200+ cars for 60 spots) but he well recalled that at speed the body was swaying one way while the cage was going the other way at 100+ mph. The cage was 3" driveshaft tube up and over his head with 1" water pipe making up the rest of the (ahem) roll bars.

So now I am halfway to 61 years old and have such a case of CRS it is pitiful...but I still have a few thousand vivid recollections about the race track.

 

1961-62--I was in Mrs. Tribble's 3rd grade class at Goodyear Elementary in Rockmart GA; '62-'63, I was in Mrs. Kerr's 4th grade class at Euharlee Elementary, same town.
This was back when children were used as remote controls for the TV--Daddy would say, "Son, go over there and turn it on channel 5 for me and see if you can get that picture to stop rolling."

I should mention that I first encountered Henrietta the '38 Ford pickup in the summer of 1963 when I was 11. Arvell Sims, local guy who did concrete work was building a patio and new sidewalks at my parents' house (the house I live in now). Henrietta was his old work truck that he used to pull his mixer. I remember being fascinated with the roll-out windshield. I kept up with that truck until I bought it when I was 14.

 

Landstuhl, West Germany... about to be born 7/1962

 

Sophmore in Winchester High School spending my spare time trying to build my first hot rod with 3 other chums.
We wore cuffed jeans, plaid shrts, white sox, and snap-jack shoes and smoked 'till we turned green. Yes, no lie, we really did.
Girls found us repulsive, for the most part.
I was the youngest of the mighty crew of four.Being only 14 years old I was the last to get a drivers license although that didnt stop me from perfecting the black art of learning to operating a vehicle with a standard transmission as that's about all we had at our disposal in th e early 60's.
I had limited fabricating skills so building my '40 Pontiac hot rod was very challanging but a terrific learning experince.
We hardly ever locked doors then, shared a party line on our phone, had a tiny black and white TV in the parlor and the furnce in the basement was the size of Rambler. I was one of 5 brothers and sister...... with no money. We thought we had the world by the balls.
Great times growing up those early, innocent years.

 

11 years old and driving a hopped up mini bike and getting pulled over by the cops for speeding.


Sent from Chick's iPhone using TJJ

 

I was in 8th grade in a small town in southeastern Massachusetts. I was just getting into cars and building models. Bought all the little books I could get my hands on. Went on a trip on an American Airlines 707 to SoCal with Mom and Dad. Dad wore a suit, I had on a pair of "clamdiggers" and going to California then was like going to the promised land. Did all kinds of cool stuff, like going to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and Forrest Lawn Cemetery. Can still remember going to a bicycle shop in Alhambra to buy a raiser for my handlebars that was a west coast thing at the time. It was something never seen before once I got it back to Massachusetts. I was the coolest guy around. Also bought a decal for my rear fender with a skull emblazoned with "Watch my rear end, not hers!" How cool was I? Even then, I had this sports car/hot rod thing going on. Distinctly remember the Stirling Moss Easter weekend accident at Goodwood.

 

I was a dorky, gangly, skinny 13 yo that year, I mowed lawns all summer and spent my money building slot cars to race, the next summer I got my first full time job working behing the soda fountain at the village drugstore....

 

Born in December '62. Great year for me.

 

1962 I was 5 and at the Seattle’s World fair checking the cars of the future and I still don’t see them flying around… Ok maybe they didn't fly but sure look like they wanted to.

 

I was in second grade at Daniel Axford Elementary School. Walked a mile and a half to school every day. I crapped my pants right after lunch and sat through the rest of the day, then walked home.

 

I was in Grade 4 Mrs. Nixon class..

 

JMPRO killin it on the bass! that pic is BADASS man! i wish i was around in 62! (kinda glad i still was around for '82 though haha)

 

4th Grade crush? That must be the magic grade to have one. Mine was Ms. Butler

 

I was -11!

 

I was still ridin' around in the scrotum coaster. It was a swingin' good time until I was suddenly discharged in '66. I tell ya I was movin' then, the lady at the cervix station said I was doing at least 90 when I went by her.

I punched out my little brother before I left, he was an annoying prick.

..

 

"62...... One of my earliest memories was my Grand mother telling me my parents would be bringing my new baby sister home soon. I turned three later that year. Dad drove a '53 Ford that my Mom called "the klunk", and Mom drove a '59 Ford 2 door wagon.

 

Terrorizing sidewalks in the neighborhood in my Happi Time Sportster...

 

Holding a Flashlight......11:00 pm.
My dad's Bullet-nose spit a driveshaft on the coldest night of the year. He had to tie it up so it wouldn't drag, while his friend was coming to "Chain-tow" us back to our driveway.

 

Dreaming about a 62 T-Bird!

 

I was 3

 

My parents werent even born yet.. :/
Wish I could have some of these memories!
Awesome stories guys...sucks my generation wont have them! haha

 

I was on a navy destroyer homeported in Newport, RI. In September of 1962, I bought the car that's in my avatar. I still have it. In October of 1962, I got an expense-paid trip to Cuba for a little dust up they were having over some Soviet missiles. Those were interesting times. The destroyer, the USS Hugh Purvis (DD-709), got sold to Turkey in 1972 and served there until 1993. It was scrapped in 1994.

 

I was only five at the time. Always felt I missed something. Like the song goes born too late.

 

in the army,stationed in france,got out in 1964,had a brand new 64 ford(427425 hp) waiting for me in brooklyn,what a ride home..................

 

'62? Let's see. Dropped out of Engineering college in the spring. Built a '33 Ford pickup with a dual quad 283" over the summer and in the fall went off to State University of New York at Morrisville to be an auto tech, Class of '64 which was what I wanted to do in the first place.

 

I didn't show up until August of that year. Hot Rods in the blood from the beginning, here's a pict of me, my Dad & Sister in 63, with his Buick powered 35 Chevy.

 

maz, this was long ago, but Foothill used to make a right turn and continued up to what was later called New York drive. and Inn-N-Out was on Walnut till about 1954-55.
My brother just sent me some old photo's. I had a Triumph Bonneville in 1959 still had it in '62 when I bought my all time favorite memory car. a 374 ci Packard powered 51 Oldsmobile running 13 1/2 to 1 compression that ran on the way to expensive 39 cent a gallon Custom Supreme 104 octane white pump. 4:88's and a Art Carr hydro. got 2 mpg tops