Who was your Hot Rod mentor?

My brother. He was 26 when I was born. Some of my earliest memories are of riding in his pickup. The car is another one of his from back in the day.
And of course my dad, I used to help him work on the cars growing up. And listen to his stories about riding motorcycles back in the day, outrunning the cops, and just generally being kids. I sure do miss him.

 

Ron Enos. He lived next door to my uncle and I'd spend my Saturdays over there with my dad as a kid. Ron was the "hot rod guy" next door who always had something going on in his garage or driveway.

When I got to be about 13 and getting into cars, I'd walk over to Ron's and see what he was up to. He was always patient and would let me stand or sit there and watch what he was doing as he carefully explained every step to me. He did it all, from bodywork to engine swaps and everything in between. He built his cars himself, from chassis prep to paint. A true master of the craft.

One of my best memories of him was one sunny Saturday afternoon when he was putting a new cam, lifters, timing chain, etc on a small block Chevy in a lifted GMC 4x4 pickup for a buddy of his. The truck had those big, round tube style bumpers that stuck out from the body a bit, and a 14 year old kid could sit on that front bumper and lean on the top of the grille and watch what was going on under the hood. Ron was sitting UNDER the hood working on the engine and he gave me the play-by-play as he ran through the cam and lifter installation and did the initial adjustment on the rocker arms, then reinstalled the intake manifold and torqued everything to spec and set the distributor in place. He explained every detail, from where to position the motor when setting certain rocker arms, to the proper torque sequence on the intake, to installing the distributor correctly so that the initial timing would be damn near spot-on. When it was all set, he fired it up and we did the cam break-in routine.

It was an amazing learning experience for a wide-eyed, car crazy kid, and it still sticks with me today. That was but ONE lesson learned from old Ron, too...he'd later show me things like clutch installation and adjustment, basic bodywork, setting toe-in with the old string method for initial adjustment, and how to convert an old generator equipped engine to an internally regulated alternator equpped design.

I learned a lot of valuable skills from my dad, of course...as far as basic car repair and upkeep, but Ron was my first (and best) "Hot Rod Mentor"!

 

I had two - The Austin brothers, Carl and Bob. While I knew at an early age that I was a car nut, it wasn't until I met Carl and Bob that the real fever struck. They had a small two car garage on a deadend street and in that garage the most fantastic T-roadster ever seen by mankind. Well, at least I thought so. In the Rochester area anyone that was into old cars of any kind knew the brothers and would gather there most every night of the week to just hang out and to exchange ideas on the cars that they were building. They also built bad-assed bikes, such as an Ariel Square Four with Judson supercharger that they took off a VW! And how many choppers came out of that shop, God only knows.

As I said, I was a youngun" and pretty intimidated by all the "car guys" that would gather at the garage and, especially, Carl and Bob. Jeez, they were like gods. But, I just showed up at their door and was welcomed as if I was a regular - which I became in no time. They showed me everything and when I screwed up, they just shook their heads and then showed me the right way.

Unfortunately, Carl died of cancer a few years ago. His funeral was so large that it even made the newspapers. Just guys coming from all over the country to pay their respects to one of the best humans that ever graced the face of this earth. Bob is still around and still banging away on projects, such as his '34 Ford phaeton, or his deuce 3 wdw, or his '34 Ford pickup. And he also does lots of work on cars for friends of his. His paint and body work is unmatched in quality.

Thanks for starting this thread. While I think of the brothers everyday, it is always my special pleasure to tell someone else about them.

John, aka "oldandkrusty"

 

Definitly my grandfather. He wasn't a hot rodder per se but had a marvelous mechanical mind. He ran a farm that was handed down from his parents and had a fantasy land that he called his shop. This is where he maintained all of the farm equipment, cars and trucks in the family. From the time I could crawl I couldn't get enough of hanging around him. He taught me basic mechanics and best of all taught me how to think about mechanical things. He was always coming up with better ways to do things and modifying existing tools and equipment to do things better, the basic mindset of a hot rodder as far as I'm concerned.
When I turned 16 I bought a stock '29 Ford coupe. That summer I drove it to Pennsylvania from Michigan. After finishing the days farm work he and I would go to his shop and work on installing the '47 Ford flathead from the school bus I rode to school my first day into the A. At the end of the summer I drove it to my last two years of high school and then to college for 3 years. We had a small book about turning a stock model A into an AV8 to aid us. That and his ingeneuity got the swap done.
He died in 1972 and there has hardly been a day since that I haven't thought about him and the wonderful things he taught me. Thanks Grandpa.

Frank

 

My Dad and George Barris.

 

My dad. He was a mechanic and taught me everything i know about the old hot rods.Boy do i miss him!

 

My Papa Kash...he always talks bout these cars he has had over the year, and he wants over half of them back...

 

My dad. He started working at a Ford Garage in 1959 and he has some great stories. The story that got me into hot rods was his cousin in MT had a chopped 52 ford running a J2 Olds and a 4 speed. On Sat. nights his cousin would put WWW cheater slicks on and go out looking for trouble . He has some wild stories of his older cousin taken him for some wild rides on the old two lane. He has one picture of it from when he went to visit his cousin out of a bus window. His cousin has a flat top haircut cuffed jeans and white t-shirt on. I love that story and I never get tired of hearing it. Also a local guy named Zeller that has let me hang around his shop for the last 15yrs asking him a ton of question. Just a great guy who loves to talk cars.

 

Don "One-eye" Stuernagel (left) he left us about 3 months ago now.

 

Long Island Larry Hoffmann here. Worked as his helper on and off during the 70's.

-85% Jimmy

 

Paul Beck and Denny Lesky have had a pretty big influence on me in recent years. when i was a youngster it was this local guy named Marty DeYoung (we are still friends but i moved away). he was always building something. thats all he did was build old cars in his home garage.

i've learned alot from Denny and Paul though. i need to start hangin out with them more often again and maybe i'll learn even more.

 

Ak Miller... He did some cool shit with Y-block Fords!

 

when i was young i live in brookyn near bob ida i was just a kid about 9 but watching him with his willy,s started it then when i moved to jersey i lived in newark near hillside i would ride my bike to les cove,s shopto wacth them work on jimmy nolan merc [now manny,s chop&section 51 4 door] i was hook in to customs and i was in a small bed of jersery,best spikes in union jimmy at highland auto body in irvington that did everthing in lead steamline auto who help me do my frist show car and many more other that i,ve know

 

Thanks for your stories guys!!!

Thanks to:
53SledSleeve
Nocturnal
tobyjuarez
Slazen
Terry
Stroked
Kallie49
Screwtheman
1 oldtimer
jim sibley
s.r.i.
49ratfink
Harmon39
GreenrRodder
Nick32vic
HOTRODSURFER
Slide
Rodstar
jbon64
50flathead
modifieddriver
41 C28
LeadSledMerc
48fornut
flathead46
Flathead Youngin'
Jalopy Jim
octane
beep
1bad67
fathack
oldandkrusty
fab32
Chopper Demon
Clutch 2
TravRod 29
wlspdshop
4t64rd
85-Percent
KustomRodder
BigMikeC
teddyp

 

Thats easy DICKIE LEE MULINIX Corsicana TEXAS .

 

In about 1954, when I was 12 the Hot Rod phantom infected me with the Hot Rod virus. I read Popular Mechanics religously, then found the "Little Pages" The people who published those early Rod magazines and the guys who built the rods shown in them were my mentors and instilled in me a lifelong love of old cars.

 

My Step-Dad Chuck. I used to watch him work on our motorhome engine and I'd ask him 'what's this' or 'what's that' and he'd take the time and have the patience to explain it to me. Then he'd tell me the stories of when he was in highschool in Newport Beach, CA in the mid-50's and was a member of the "Timer's" Car Club and the crazy cars they had and things they did. The one that stands out was a mechanically fuel-injected Hispano-Suiza airplane engine in about a '40 Ford Sedan drag-car that only had a clutch and direct drive, no shifting. The engine was so long they sat over the bellhousing in the back of the car. He also had a '50 Ford Business Coupe with a Caddy V8 swapped in.

When I got my first car (a Camaro RS 350) he helped me on it a bit and gave good advice. My friends would come over to have him weld stuff for them, and he totally re-arranged the header pipes for my 64 Impala SS when we found that they didn't fit.

I only wish he didn't lose the old black and white photos from his car club days in the 50's to his ex-wife in a divorce.

 

Me.

Seriously.




I'll just call it a natural progression.

It all started with Hot Wheels.

Then plastic models..

Then dirtbikes & 3 wheelers (yes I said 3 wheelers - we weren't pussies! Just don't put you foot down and no brake + sharp turns! - fuckin' lawsuit happy bastards ruin everything.)

Then as a teen - I read musclecar mags and fell in love with the GTO. And later all Pontiacs...and even later anything that was born before I was....

Then street racing in 5.0 Mustangs & Iroc-Z Camaros.

Then - Cut the mullet, buy a mini truck, install high end stereo & viola, instant fun. Yea it was a cliche, but it attracted the babes like bees to a hive!! Make fun if you must - but I literally had a truckbed full o' bitches....sometimes bikini-clad & dancin'....on any given day of the week!

My S-10 was fun - but I never concidered it a valid form of car worship. It was more about having fun and sound systems.....which helped me learn a lot about wiring/electrical systems.

After that I started going back to my love for bikes. Bought a Harley and rode the shit out of it.

Meanwhile I was always hoping to find something better in the car universe. Being an artist I was drawing all kinds of fantasy projects and keeping my heart open to something different.

The "Dare to be Different" side of the Street Rod community almost sucked me in...I was attracted to the movement towards more unique/ off brand/ non-mainstream style cars. But I still hated the pastel and graphic things that I was seeing. And Billet stuff started out as cool - then suddenly was overdone and EVERYWHERE!

I was yearning for something more like the early hot rods - when low and behold I stumbled upon the HAMB.

I lurked here for a year or so - waiting to actually OWN a worthy ride...

I went to a Hot rod show and found Buick - bought it and drove it home.

The rest, as they say, is history.....

I do need to mention that my dad is a Harley riding, car building, beer drinking mother fucker too.

Moral of the story - I was destined to end up this way.....

 

My Father .He taught me how to paint when I was 8 years old. He built me a '40 Ford sedan in 1959 and built it for my 16th birthday in 1961. It was Buick tahitian red, had red & white rolled interior and a 348 tri-power Chev motor. He continued buying old cars until he passed away in 1995. I still own and drive the '34 Vicky he bought in 1959. I also own 12 other cars he bought from 1959- 1965. They've all been stored inside our pole barn,along with tons of N.O.S. Ford parts since he bought them. He was a master craftsman. He showed our '31 Model A Coupe from 1960-1968 at the Detroit Autorama. We won first in our class and junior best of show every year entered. We won "best paint" in 1968. He continued doing metalwork on Deusenbergs and Cords until he contracted altshimers disease in 1990 and died in 1995. I also thank Larry Alexander of the Alexander Brothers for taking me under his wing in 1959 -1960 and teaching me how to block sand and use a buffing wheel. He also introduced me to Meguiar's # 7 seal and re-seal back in 1959 when everyone else was using Blue Coral and Simonize to wax their cars.

 

Always has been my Dad. Got us into cars in our early teens then he sold the family farm to build race cars for the last 20 yrs. Kinda hard not to love cars around him.

 

Hey, That was nice Harmon, I know you wrote it a while ago but still, it made me smile. what ever happened to that 69?

 

I retired from Midwestern Council road racing in 2004 due to my health and cost of racing.
I found the HAMB by accident in 2005 and have been working on my 54F100 ever since. So I must say some of the people on the HAMB have been my mentors, along with some help from MetalMeet.

jim h

 

No one, I was alone.

 

deffiently my dad. He was always doing the car thing and he started his own bodyshop and ran it for 35 years until he couldnt work anymore due to all the problems he has with his body. He started me out in the shop when I was 4 takin the cars apart and getting them ready for paint. He would always work on peoples hotrods and he would by and sell them also. I was into the mini truck scene at 12 when I bought a s-10 with hydros and big sound system and all that crap. Then me and him built a tbucket that same year and at that point I knew what type of cars I wanted to work on and build. Since then we have built a ton of other cars. Now Im 17 and I work alone hahaha me and him really cant stand working together since we dont see eye to eye on the style of the build but everyonce and awhile youll find us both in the shop working together. -Jon

 

This is an old thread.....but what Broman said describes my entire upbringing......3 wheelers and all! Rock on!

 

My Dad,....R.I.P.

I remember standing in the front seat of his 67 Chevelle as he hammered it around town.
Rolling under some other cars on a creeper next to him, showing me this and that.
He got me started on motorcycles at a very early age.

 

Just some guy I never knew. Used to show up at the beach club from time to time in a 31 Ford 5 window coupe, with a flattie engine, painted red, with offenhauser heads and neat looking engine accessories. Car was black with red and white rolled and pleated interior and red steel wheels. Made my 56 Ford Crown Vic look like barge. Decided that's the kind of car I wanted when I got older and had some money.

Fast forward 45 years, still waiting for the money and the car. Now have a nice hot rod and a leadsled, but still no car like the one I used to love. Maybe one day before I expire.

 

Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was, and still is. Then Warren Johnson. Two extremely hard working geniuses that never disappoint

 

my dad got me into classic cars but as far as hot rods go it would have to be Don Jacks. He used to pick up his two girls from school in a killer f100 panel that always got my attention. fast foward to summer '93 when I bought my '55 effie from him & he offered me a job on the spot. He taught ( and still teaches) me. this guy is soo particular about body work that it just rubs off on his workers (past & present).

 

Hot Wheels, model kits, slot cars, American Graffiti. No one in my family had any mechanical talent or old cars. I learned on my own by working on my own old cars.