I joined this forum a few weeks ago and what a fantastic way to pass a week of xmass holidays, for starters. I check the site daily and judging from the comments, there are a lot of great members that some day I hope to bump into (hopefully not with my front bumper-LOL). I had my drivers license in the early 70's when the hot cars were late 60's, from my high school years. I never grew up with early rods but my interest keep drawing me into this era. I am 45 years old and have collected a few rare muscle cars while I have always liked 30 and 50's tin, stuff I never grew up with. Members, if you have a car from the '30 and also another from the 50/60's, which ones gives you the most pleasure and why? My preferences are-a-changing and I seek answers!
Regards, your car buddy from Ontario, LARRY

Seems the older I get, the earlier stuff I like. Traded my GT ranchero for a 53 ford, Sold the Ford to build a 46 Stude p/u.(keeper) Just made a deal for a 33 Ford p/u. Would love to build a T next. Hope this trend stops before I end up with a horse and buggy!

One of my all time favorites was my 55 Chevy, Which I have recently sold (and regret that I did) I have a 54 Chevy that I will never sell, a Deuce coupe that is a keeper, 53 Ford custom, which is for sale, numerous other collector cars of the 60`s and 70`s. I`m currently building a 36 Chevy Master sedan for my brother. It`s a sickness that pennicillan wont cure. Enjoy the addiction.

hey ed, hope your brother doesn`t read this forum i.e. him not knowing about you building a $%^ for him...ha ha ...pat

Welcome aboard Larry. Glad your enjoying yourself here. There's so many knowledgeable and fun people on this board. I agree, it's a pleasure to hang out here.

In my opinion, people's tastes change over time. I also got my drivers license in the 70's, '78 to be exact. My tastes at the time were the hot muscle cars. I liked streetrods but at that time I thought only "old farts" drove those. LOL Boy, has my tune changed. My taste evolved thru the muscle cars, to sports cars now I'm into streetrods. I've always had a ragtop though. I'm on my third rod and I've never gotten so much pleasure from driving a car then from my rods.

One of the reasons I now prefer streetrods over muscle cars is because of the individuality. No two rods look alike. Lots of red, but shades are all diffeent! LOL You could have a row of 37's but all of them will be painted differently, have different interiors and different theme styles, ie: hightec, ratrod, nostalgia, etc. Whereas with the musle cars, people tend to keep them orginal/stock. I realize there are exceptions to this but, for the most part, if you go to say a Corvette show (and don't get me wrong, I LOVE Vettes) but if you showed up at Bloomington, IN with a modified Corvette they'd look down their noses at you. Numbers matching, stock color, all the trim there etc, is everything. Heaven forbid you should change the wheels!! LOL. Streetrodders are patted on the back for their creativity, muscle car owners are not.

If you can, why not have one of each era that turns you on?
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

I love 'em all. I have a 33 Ford highboy coupe, but would love to have a 40 Willys coupe, a bad to the bone Henry J, maybe a 61 Olds coupe, certainly a 62 bubbletop 409. The list is added to daily. 'course the all gotta be HOTRODS, never cared too much for 'sleds. Man, if I won the lottery...
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Fred aka ZZFord or 33Highboy

Topping my wish list is a 35 Ford 3w coupe (black w/biege steel wheels), a 58 Impala convertable (turquoise w/ white leather int.), and a 34 chevy 2 dr sedan (caddy white pearl over a dark purple/violet)
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Lance B.

Hey Lance,Seems to me,you better concentrate on getting Kristi's Yeoman Wagon finished first!!That is,if you like having clean underwear and socks!! Larry,Lots of good points made in the previous posts but another thing to consider is the size of the family.Lots of the Pre-1940 stuff doesn't work well for a family unless it's a sedan of course.I have owned several 55 Chevys over the years and that would get my vote for overall "Best All Around Car".Like Ed,I had a Pristine 55 that I owned for many years before finally giving in to "Greed" and selling it.I have owned other 55's since but that is the one car out of all the cars I've owned that I regret selling!Have a Great New Year! See Ya!!
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DARYLE

I know Daryle, but a guy can dream. (as long as she lets me)
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Lance B.

Glad to hear you are "trained" properly. LOL
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

BEAUMONT, sounds you and i are alot alike,i also am 45 yrs. old.my first car was a 70 nova ss, then came a 68 buick GS 400,then a real 69 RS Z-28 camaro(i bought that one for 1500 bucks in 1977 LOL)then the movie AMERICAN GRAFFITTI converted me to hot rods. first a 37 ford p.u.then a 49 anglia,a 32 chevy coupe,a 34 ford p.u.,now building a 31 ford coupe with my son. however i would still like to own a couple more muscle cars.a 69 HURST OLDS and a 70 BOSS 302,even a nice 55 chevy would be nice..HMMMMMMMM........
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dalecarbuff

Welcome Larry,
Im a few weeks past 61 and have been building cars since the mid 50's; even before I could legally drive.
Big into 50's customs and muscle cars, particularly numbers matching.
Been almost 15 years since I built a true rod and working on a 26T coupe with a supercharged flathead V8.

Have quite a few very low mile 50-70's collector cars in storage; my own 401K.

Regular drivers are a full custom 53 Ford Victoria with a pretty hot 286 inch flatty, a 68 Impala SS396 convertible and a 54 F-350.
The Impala should have been stored (numbers matching, full docs.)but Ive had so much fun driving it...far from pristine now.
Have a 50 Chrysler Windsor Sport Coupe out back, maybe a candidate for a Hemi.
Also build a few SBC conversions into 240 series Volvos for some pocket money.

I hang here since Ive never built a Ford rod before and need lots of info and help. My prior rods were mostly large series GM and a few oddballs that could cruise all day at 80 without butchering the frame for a clip. The T will be going back to the days of a dropped axle, God help me!

Built several 49-53 customs, mostly Ford and Olds.

Lots of really talented guys here, do cars for a living. Im an RF Engineer geek by trade.
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Carl
Automotive gold is everywhere; you just have to learn how to dig for it

Here is a list off all the "cool" cars I ahve owned since 1958. I would gladly take any of them back again:
1954 Chevy Bel Air
1940 Ford coupe
1941 Ford Coupe
1947 Plymouth 2 dr sedan-Olds J-2 Powered
1956 Ford Crown Victoria
1964 Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible
1957 Chevy 210 2 dr.
1965 Mustang Fastback
1955 Chevy 2 dr. post 210
1968 Plymouth Roadrunner (First new car)
1970 Dodge Challenger 340
Long Period of NO cool cars!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1949 Ford 2 dr sedan
1947 Ford coupe
I love em all!!!!!!!

Thanks gang for making my post.

Tinbender, glad to hear you are now an instructor, your students are the lucky ones! Ederoozer, 55's are also one of my all time favourites, who could argue with a most timeless design (I had a 210 some 25 years ago). These cars new would still sell today even without a porthole...LOL! Thanks Hotrodladycrusr, preferences do change as we grow, half the fun is wishing and fullfilling the dreams. Also, glad to see you found your new/old conv. ZZFord, nice list of rides and a lottery win would be nice, just to expand the ownership. Dalecarbuff, sounds like you and I are a lot alike, I couldn't agree more. Thanks for reminding me of American Graffiti. I was driving a 65 Malibu (2 door post) at the time the movie came out. Watched the movie twice that weekend, couldn't get enough. Must of knew the movie would influence me. Latter loved 55's Chev. and tried buying a perfectly rustfree 1932 steel body 3 window coupe (fenderless) for $800. Made the offer in the mid 70's but not accepted, too bad. Also, like your 1931 Ford coupe Dale, I too am in the process of a 5 window purchase (another American Graffiti car). Cooper, you still have a 3 window coupe from high school, nice stuff. I am a year younger than you and also have kept a car from college for 25 years. Your correct 40 (Darryle), size of the family does influence rides, 55's are one of the best, Oh yes another American Graffiti car. 286merc, talent abound within these streetrodstuff walls, got to love it! Got to like all the 50/muscle cars. Finally, Erbssr, nice list of rides, too bad we can't keep them all. I agree!

American Graffiti was a big hit for me and made me look at earlier rides for their uniqueness, timeless treasures from the past. I recall 20 years ago in a Street Rod magazine (still have it) the A.G. movie cars where the cover/main story. I remember reading the 1958 Impala was sold before the movie was released for $200 by the production studio. The teenager who bought the car did not have a clue what he had until the night he parked infront of the theater and went in to watch American Gaffiti, for the first time. Can one imangine seeing your recently purchased '58 on the screen of an icon movie. Him, his friends and the movie crowd went nuts when the show was over and everyone poured around the Impala outside. Another happy owner of an old car.
Your car budy from Ontario...LARRY

What dalecarbuff did not tell is that he met The Wolfman IN PERSON in 1988. The movie with the 32 Yellow coupe and black 55 Chevrolet affected him and I both. We rented the largest arena in our city, booked in the Wolfman , flew him and his manager in from Calif. and had us a car show. Had everythig covered. Newspaper on the front page of the Weekend section,radio advertising up the kazoo, posters. You name and we had it. Then it snowed 6 inches. Now in Vermont or northern states this is fairly normal..... but in the deep south, it stops everything..... we bombed. Lost a lot of $$$. But we hung out with the Wolfman and went out to eat, and he was a super guy. After just a few minutes, youu felt right a ease. He told about hanging outwith Elvis in Memphis and the red Caddy that Elvis gave Him. He told stories about the filming of the movie and out he watched them film the Paradise Road scene and nobody even talked to him because they did not know him or recognize him.This was before the Midnight Special TV show. Dale has video of three of us at the show backstage and of the event. I handed Wolfman a album of the sound track of American Graffiti for him to autograph it and he looked at it and said ' This is a first edition release...it is worth $50 dollars ' and as he signed it he said 'Now it is worth $250 dollars'. That movie affected a whole lot of people. No more memories! sorry..for ramblin ....a ole greybeard......
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randy nash

Randy;
Your story reminds me of when we booked Garlits for the dragstrip in Corpus Christi, TX on New Years Day 1973. It was the coldest day on record for that date & not many people showed up. But like you, I got to hang out all day with Big Daddy and even rode down the strip with him in his tow vehicle twice before the race.
I have a picture of me, him, Kansas John Wiebe and the trophy girl standing in the pits afterward wearing firesuits and winter coats.

Yeah......But did you lose a ton of money? All joking aside, it's only money and if you had a great time....so what. You should not gamble if you cannot stand the to loose. To me the people are the reason the car hobby is so much fun. The people are the glue that holds it together.The rods are the reason to go and meet but if there was a car event with 250 cars there and NO people but you to look at the cars..... would you go?
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Steeldeuce

erbssr, as STEELDEUCE told you, the night with WOLFMANJACK was quite an experience. his real name was BOB SMITH, i got him to autograph one of his 8x10 wolfman pictures with his real name and one with the wolfman signature. he said no one had ever asked that of him before. maybe i have an original one of a kind LOL. anyway, after the car show one night he stood by my 34 ford p.u. and did a short imitation of a used car salesman trying to sell it. i got it all on tape, he was a real hoot....dalecarbuff
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dalecarbuff

Damn Randy, That's one hell of a story. Last year at the NSRA Nationals, was'nt the 58' at the Executive west parking lot?
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Lance B.

I do not know ANYTHING about the NSRA Nationals last year. I was flat on my back in the hospital getting 5 by-passes surgery in my heart. 1st one I had missed since 84. Already registered for 2002.
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Steeldeuce

All you missed was that it was HOTTER then 2000, if you can believe that! Glad to hear your on the mend. See ya in L'ville in Aug.
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Your "top-less" cruzn buddy, Denise

Graduated '69 at the tender age of 17 ... Aunt said I could have any car I wanted ... parents were morified when I came home in a 50 Lincoln. A whole lot of inbetween (40's - 60's) and today's weapon of choise is the 66 Fleetside.
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BATTERED WOMEN ? No Thanks , I like mine plain.

Randy & Dale (32duece & dalecarbuff) thanks from the very bottom of my heart. The two of you have single handly sparked, in my mind, once of the best time capsule off all times, from your own doing and initiative. Ordinary people with a passion and accomplishing the ultimate. Friends open up to friends and I am honoured to be in your company. Great story to share with us. Thanks a ton. A great personal read!

Your car budy from Ontario, LARRY

Randy is Steeldeuce...... not 32 deuce but 32deuce was also at the show. He was not a partner in the show but he lives in our area and is a member of our club.....ALL DEUCES.
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Steeldeuce

My apologies steelduece, I will never spell your "nick" wrong again. Getting harder to type and spell @ the same time , a lot like rubbing your belly & patting your head. Got to remember which comes first, sometimes! I too am learning how to navigate around the internet and contribute, in a small way!
Randy, your car buddy from Ontario...LARRY

Hey Larry, did ya get the pics I sent ya?

edcroozer, an awwwwsoooom 1955 Belair. You have obviously gone thru. a labour of love to make it that perfect. Underneath is as clean as the top coat. Some 25 years ago, I sold my 55 Belair (210 post) to my twin brother and I later brazed a half 1/4 panel on the rear, for him, while controlling warpage (before we had mig welders). He had the car painted the exact 2 tone blue-white as your ride. A year afterwards, I was the best man at his weeding and drove the car again, all decked out with paper flowers, this time. Ed, your workshop isn't bad either! Thks for sharing your pics with me.

P.S.- one of my best friends is looking for a solid 2 door '55 to turn into a convertible. Please e-mail me if any members has one in unrestored condition, to sell.

Your car budy from Ontario, LARRY

Ask your friend if he would concider a 4 door 56 hardtop to make a convertabe out of it. Think of it. A 4 door convertable. Awsome!
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If it`s too loud...yer too freakin old

Hey Larry! I have owned a 68 chevy pickup, 76 chevy camaro, 67 chevy chevelle, and now a 1934 chevy 2dr sedan. I prefer the 34, because I found with the other cars that every were I went someone had one too. I don't see many people in my area driving a 34 chevy, but it turns some heads.

edcroozer, while the '56 4 door would undoubtedly make a 1 of a kind convertible buildup, it has to be a 1955. The reason is that my friend has found a '55 conv. frame, tag & ownership, for his keeper project (mild custom?).

Your car budy from Ontario...LARRY