Here's a good question for everyone. Can you remember what it was that first got you interested in cars? What is your first memory of the "Bug" biting you? For me, well, I couldn't even change my own oil till I was about 20 years old, didn't even care anything about cars. Then I met a friend who had just bought a purple and white 1955 Chevy pro street car. It turned out that it was pretty well known, but I didn't know what kind of car it was, what a "Lenco" transmission was, or what a big bock was. But as soon as I saw the car, that was it. I wanted to know what it was and everything about it, and before I knew it, I was at the track with it working in the pits. Thats it for me, one day nothing, and the next nitrous pumping through my veins. So whats your story?
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Please, keep restoring those cars to stock... So that someday my grandkids will still know what it feels like to cut one up and build a hot rod!

Hey Mark
The first was when i was 7 years of age and my brother had a model a roadster and then had a 34 chevy 4 door, if fact i fell off the runnig board and hurt my self but i think that was the beginning of the thought and after that i was a little older my brother let me drive his 48 plymouth coupe and that did it after that.
Man you have brought out some old memories and i could go one for ever, thanks .......Johnny
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A GOODGUYS REP

Well I was raised in a family without a car....well actually we did have a couple of cars through the years that my dad aquired through job deals. None were runners....I recall playing in a 39 Chev Deluxe ( my Dad used to emphasise the "Deluxe" part) that was parked in the driveway for about 5 years. I used still remember the smell...got worse as the dog had about 3 litters of pups in there as well. It eventually got towed away. He aquired a Fordson panel van that actually moved and he intended to get his licence to drive the gutless wonder around Oz...I helped him replace the gearbox ....I recall I was around 12 yo...He eventually sold it for a carton of grog. The next car came into the family via my older brother...That was eventually handed down to me as my first car. I learnt a lot with that old Zephyr. My attraction to rods started when I was 16. There was a guy in the next street that came down our street in a 34 Dodge Sedan...fresh outa the chook pen. It was boiling its guts out, still hade all the original running gear. He stopped in front of my place and we got to talking.....35 years on and we are still best friends....and he still has the Dodge...now a little more refined with upgraded running gear and good paint....after I got working on the Dodge I wanted a 34 anything..but the Fords had me won over on style..also I'm Ford biased:-)....



see ya
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see ya
Pep

For me, Mark, It was Billy Lander's 37' cpe. Black primer, 3-deuced Merc flatty, Smittys, wide whites on big n littles, Moon disc and dual spots. Watched him go by within 10 foot, waiting for the school bus every morning. Use to dream about that car! That started it, little hot rod pages hidden in my school books in class, only kid in the 7th grade with a car to work on at home, 47 Ford 4dr., scavengin junk yards at 12 years old, and every mother in the neiborhood not allowing their daughter to ride with me. Life is tough as a young rodder so, be very carefull who you afflect with this disease, some poor, unsuspecting kid could fall victim to your vice. And once your hooked, well.......

blksheep.....in Charlotte

Grandad had big 50's Buicks. Model cars. (65 Corvair) Had an older brother who had half a dozen cars. Motorcycle at age 14 gave me the driving bug. 71 Rally Nova was my first car and the most fun till now. It had a 307 in it. I added headers and a four barrel. Mean while I put together a 327 in secert(mom warned me about hotrodding). 11:1, 7/8 race cam(294 duration and 514 lift if my memory serves me right). Double hump heads planed .010 and two fours with the linkage made to operate both at once. A whopping 4 miles to the gallon. Clutchs, transmission and the rear end were common repairs. 10 inch wide 15" snow tire would really bite. I'm afraid I was one of street racer. 85 in a block (1st gear). What fun.
Missed out on a 32 ford 3 window for $1800 in 1976. Full fendered with a 289/2 4's/C6. Joined the army.
Bought present car 20 years later. What fun.
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Mike J
Unchartered DSRA Member
If it ain't broke, fix it anyway...

I have always been a car nut! Don't know why, My folks sure weren't, nor was their any influence in our rural location, But I always loved cars!

Streetrods! I remember the first time I saw a hot rod. It was 30+ years ago. I was a young lad of 10-12 years. My family had gone to Winnipeg to visit my Dad's sister's family. My cousin John and I went over to the St Vital Bridge to hang out. It was a warm summer night as we crossed the bridge, when we heard a rumble coming south off Osborne. We stopped and watched a shiny "T" bucket race by, it's chrome laden engine glistening under the street lights. The rumble deep and smooth! Immediately, I was in love. From that point forward, I was a hotrodder!

Many years later, I discovered the owner of the bucket. We became and still are good friends. I laughingly blame him for my addiction to hotrods. He just smiles! The sweet part; The owner, Al Ducharme still owns that car! That and other wonderful nostalgic autos! One great guy! One great memmory! Man I love this life! rj
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"We don't build 'em like they used to"
Rick
www.loboys.com

The guy that managed the local skating rink had the baddest car in town...a big block 55 BelAir Sedan.I worked there on Friday and Saturday nights...the highlite of my weekend was getting a ride home in his 55.Most often the route taken was not the most direct which was great by me but not appreciated much by my parents.We would invariably be challenged to a race almost every night,he never refused and nearly always shut them down.I have owned many 55's since then...still have the first one...I've been married to her for nearly 30 years!Great memories...Wonder what ever became of that 2dr post!
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Daryle "It's what we learn after we think we know it all that really counts!"

I've always been a car nut but what really got my juices flowing was when I was eight I had a paper route and one day I went by one of my customers houses and the garage was open and there sat a Purple 66 Dodge Dart A/FX I went asked if I could have a look and Charlie Allen let me sit in it I was hooked and became the chief wheel polisher until he moved to Arizona. Then My Mom of all people introduced me to Gary Kleckner when I was 11 or 12 and the rest is history.
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Which end does the motor go in anyhow?

http://www.geocities.com/chevadoracing/index.html

I was just born that way. The neighbors had tricycles and pedal cars, and I didn't. I was intrigued. Started with toy cars, then models, go karts, scooters, and I was in heaven.
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phil


It's not a NOMAD, it's a Yeoman!
Not an engineer, but I DO drive a train.

I was around 9 or 10 yo.(early 70's) & used to live around the corner from Darrell Starbirds & Dave Stuckey's shop & used to get run out of their shop every day .

SprayTech

Dad always liked cars and got me going. I would ask questions like how do you speed shift or lay rubber. He would always say he didn't know how or you shouldn't do that. Then all of a sudden he was doing exactly what I had asked. Got me started--too bad he didn't live long enough to see some of the cars I have had. He would have enjoyed my brand of speed shifting.
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Ken

I think I was also born this way. I know I built my first car out of legos's in kindergarden at 5-6 years old. Only trigger I can think of is this story from about the same time.

My parents and some realtives where on our way to the beach (Dodge Park) on a Saturday. We were in my parents 71 Satellite Sebring following my uncle in his new 74-75 Impala. My uncle pulled over because something was wrong with his car(I'm told it ended up being the fuel filter screen in the quadrajet) My dad pulled in behind him, left the car running and went too see what was going on. My mother and sister remained in the car with me and I jumped from the rear, into the front seat, wanting to sit in the drivers seat, and my legs hit the column shifter and the car started rolling. My mother didn't know a thing about cars or driving. My dad was standing next to my uncles Impala and see's the car coming at him as it side swipes my uncles new Impala. The car finally got snagged at the front bumper of the Impala and stopped. I remember getting beat right there on the side of the road, and told never to sit in the front seat again. I guess telling me not to do something just made me want it even more, so eventually that same car became my own first car and still remains my favorite.


Also when we did get to the beach there was always these cool cars and vans in the lot, I saw my first car with a blower there, and we went to the beach a lot during those years. I still do brake jobs for my uncle for free because I feel guilty about his Impala.

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"Do you consider yourself a disciplined guy? Do you get up every day and `go to work'?" "Well, yeah. I try to get up every day."

Born a car freak (1982)... My aunt & uncle had (aunt still has it..unc passed away) a '39 Chevy 2 door sedan street rod, Porche Red, black diamond style tuck & roll interior 'Maro rally style rims, 327/350 on a Chevelle chassis. He got us wound up in the mix so we bought our own to play with (40 Plymouth P10 4 door) Purchased in '87..after 40,000 miles 10 years and 2 rebuilds later, that was sold for something with more room, so we went on the hunt and found our '48 Ford panel 3 weeks after selling the Plymouth. Brought that home and 3 and a half years later (would have been done sooner but my mom passed away in '97) it was done and we were cruisin'! Sadly, somebody came along with a price I would have been nuts to turn down....so she went. Now I'm hot roddin (new age style) my daily driver minivan....When that gets old I'll grab some old tin and throw another street rod together.
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D.S.R.A- Lower Susquehanna Chapter N.S.R.A Member
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EdCroozers new found Nephew, Delivery35's long lost son & MrWillys Younger brother from another mother..Amateur Rod & Custom Illustrator/Designer

It's in my blood, went to drags as a baby, Dad always had Rods or muscle cars, so it was a natural thing for me. Always knew I'd have Hot Rods.
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The grass on the other side of the fence is sometimes yellow, especially after parties.

Lower Susquehanna Valley Chapter of DSRA
Enis- The most famous Dipstick of all.......

I'll give this picture a try. I think this says it all for me. I'm the little blue guy being held by Dick Z. Date on the side says '73.
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Chris Zakrzewski
SRS Staff

My Grandfather ran a gas station/garage from 1949 to 1978 when he retired. We lived across the road from the shop. At 5 years old, I used to stand on the side of the road (a busy highway) and yell for him to come and get me so I could be in the shop with him. I really liked going through his "Junk" drawer that was full of nuts and bolts and washers etc. Then one day when I was 6 I heard something pull up to the pumps. It was a black 29 roadster pickup, 3x2's on a flathead, channeled and chopped....That's all she wrote I was hooked for life.
Rochie

Mine has always been there since I was a kid..dad had a 455 in a Riviera and then a 70 1/2 Camaro. The first streetrod I can remember was a 32 that my boss at the car dealership had...man if I could find that car....
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Home to Lugnut!
NSRA,GG,Doughnut Derilects,CRS, Trophy Whores,etc,etc...
Charter Member: Dipstick Street Rod Association

I think it was the movie Thunder Road for me. I was about 11 when I first saw it. When I entered Junior High they had a model car club that I joined for the next three years. We would build our own frames from scratch to try to out do each other. My first car was a 55 chevy at age 15. I wish I still had that car. I soon fell in love with the cars from the 30's and forties and still have that passion. I am currently building a 36 Chevy 2 door sedan because I still have kids at home and need a back seat. MY desire for the future is a 3 or 5 window coupe.
Vic
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Sedanman

hey rochie.........i think remember that garage. the building is still there.
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canuk

OK, which of the Mangins am I talking to??? Yep My grandfather's garage is still there although it's now a beauty salon, I think. I have pictures of it when he first took it over, when it had the shingled roof over the pumps with the two columns out at the edge holding everything up. They really were good looking buildings.
Rochie

good guess. it's tom. the garage is now an ice cream stand, owned by tony walters. it's been many things thru the last years. one of the last original buildings on the road now. we will have to sit and have a beer and go back in time over that garage. you should get another pic before it's gone forever. that is a valuable chunk of land. can't stay that way much longer. if you want i will take a pic for you.
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canuk

I'm like Johnny Walker. Mine was an older brother who in the mid fifties, I was about 9, had a black 36 Ford 5 window coupe with a 48 Murcury flathead, wide whitewalls, rolled and pleted red and white interior and what we called flipper hubcaps, man it was cool. He use to go down town every Saturday morning and bring two young boys, 14 or 15 years old, back home and pull up a lawn chair and watch them polish it. I was hooked. He sold it that year to by wedding rings. I didn't think any woman was wurth that much! After that he never showed any interest in hot rods. But as I said I was hooked. I've been hooked ever sense. My brother came to visit me last year and I took him to a cruise-in in Columbia. He saw a customized 53 murcury and I think it all came back to him. He lives in Georgia but is coming next month and spend the weekend with me at Mytle Beach Run to The Sun. Who knows at 65 he may decide he wants another hot rod.
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40Stude

Back in the early 60's, Sonny Rains' '53 Chevy, 2-door hardtop...(I know you visit here, Sonny....Might as well join up & jump in, lol....)
Sonny was the flag man at the local dragstrip, back befor the Christmas Tree. Today he drives one of the nices '55 Chevys you'll ever see. Just need to lower that front end, lol.
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'32 Ford Tudor

I'm not sure where my love for hot rods came from. We lived in a small town where rod sightings were quite rare. No-one else in my family was into cars at that time. When I was 5 Mattel came out with the first Hot Wheels cars, and the one I wanted the most was the "Hot Heap" full fendered T-bucket. The next year I got the '31 Ford Woody, '32 Ford Vicky, and '36 Ford Coupe. They were my favorite toys for years! I started buying rod magazines with my allowance around 1970, when I was 7. Used to take all the cool colour pics out and tack them on my bedroom walls, hoping someday that I'd own one myself. I still have all those pics. :-)
The one time dad took us to see a car event was in 1970, at the Bison Dragway in Winnipeg Manitoba. I'm the cute little guy on the right.

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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

I'm not sure where my love for hot rods came from. We lived in a small town where rod sightings were quite rare. No-one else in my family was into cars at that time. When I was 5 Mattel came out with the first Hot Wheels cars, and the one I wanted the most was the "Hot Heap" full fendered T-bucket. The next year I got the '31 Ford Woody, '32 Ford Vicky, and '36 Ford Coupe. They were my favorite toys for years! I started buying rod magazines with my allowance around 1970, when I was 7. Used to take all the cool colour pics out and tack them on my bedroom walls, hoping someday that I'd own one myself. I still have all those pics. :-)
The one time dad took us to see a car event was in 1970, at the Bison Dragway in Winnipeg Manitoba. I'm the cute little guy on the right.

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Boyd who?
1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (driver)
Some people march to a different drummer. I like to polka.

I've been into cars for as long as I can remember. Instead of buying candy I bought the 'little books' for a quarter, starting when I was 8 in '53. Cleveland, like most bigger cities, had a lot of customs and rods running around and I drooled over every one I saw. I did a lot of doodling, drawing my version of what I though would be a cool custom. My step-dads best friend owned a junk yard and the step-dad would buy up junk cars from the car lots ($15 to $25 per car) and the ones that ran he would bring home and towbar out to the yard and there were times we had a dozen cars in our yard. Let me tell you, what was junk then would be bringing a premium price today. My parents were dead against hot rods and customs. [Detroit didn't spend all their money on engineers to design cars for the hoodlums to redesign]. Which, I believe, is the main reason they forbid me to own my own car until I was 21, and back then they had to sign for you. My first car was a '62 Catalina convertible that I nosed, decked, modified the stock grille, chromed everything possible on the stock engine and put a Bonneville leather interior in. Sure wish I still had that one. But I do have all the magizines.
mike
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chopper

Geez, this is a tough one believe it or not. So much came into play with me and my passion for cars. Always had an infinity for them, would buy em up at the 5&10 and play out in the back yard on the roads we cut into the dirt mount.
Had a neighbor around the corner named Leslie Wagner that ran a 49 Ford figure 8 car and across the street from him was a fellow by the name of Johnson that home built a tube framed, aluminum bodied Cooper special that he raced at Bridge Hampton speedway. Another guy just down the block owned a body shop and had a little chopped and channeled deuce coupe with I believe an olds engine and twin blowers set at 45 degee angles.
I grew up in the Bronx, went there every summer and hung out with my cuz and his buddies who were all 6-8 years older then I. the ones that didn't get into drugs got into cars, Al had a custom 49 Merc while my cuz specialized in 52-54 Fords. He made some really nice customs. i was about 12 or so at that time. When I'd come home from the Bronx the kids my age where just kids, i started hanging out at the New Yorker dinner and became a part time dish washer so I could be near the neat rods and customs and get to know some of the guys. Also hung out at the Sugar Bowl. Most everyone accepted me cause I knew what was what and asked the right questions. Not only was i allowed to hang out with the guys and cars I was often asked if i wanted to go to the track, both the drags and the oval. My first real car, the one I bought with my own money was a 54 Merc Monteray, customized it in my dad's garage over the winter of 65 when i was 15. about that time lot of the guys started selling off or parking their cars and disappearing. The Nam started calling them to a strange place where hot rods and customs where alien to the locals. The rest of the guys that stayed home started getting sucked into the factory muscle cars.
I could go on but think my post has gone on long enough.
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http://46driver.bravepages.com/httpcdd46driver.bravepages.comdPage1.htm
Drive it!
46 Ford Sedan
37 Packard Super 8

Two guys from Lorain, Ohio, got me going.....many many many moons ago. One named Paolella and the other named Grabney (spell).
Each had a Hot Rod. A 29 Ford coupe chopped and channelled with an Olds engine with a set of tripples on it and the other had a 33 Ford roadster with a Desoto Hemi with 4 carbs in a straight line.
29 red, 33 powder blue (?). The guy with the red 29 worked at a local service station where I would hang out to listen to the car stories. One night he asked me if I wanted to go for a ride with him....sure :-)

We drove out onto lake road with the red "A" and met up with the blue roadster for a race..........The tires burning, the engines roaring........I was a born street racer - hot rodder (at about 15 years old) !!!!!
Yeah, I went through the "little" Hot Rod books in school too and have followed cars ever since that time way back then..........I, also, could tell you lots of storys.

My first car, a '49 merc tudor, got the full treatment (long story but true). At 17 had a cool customized Merc, DA hair cut and dirt under my fingernails. Life was good and could only get better.

After reading all of the little stories here I feel that we grew up in different places, together! The experiance was the same and the attraction unmistakable. It was a special time. Sometimes I feel I recapture a moment or two of that special time when I drive my street-rod down the road. The Merc is gone, so is the hair but, It is a very good feeling.

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RICH

Rich,

Who was the Paolella that got your blood boiling for the rods? That's my last name and it isn't a very common name? You know if he is still into rodding?

mike
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chopper

"Chopper1" I didn't think of that........maybe it is a relation of yours.......do you have a lot of car nut type folks in the clan ??? I will drop you a personal e-mail.
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RICH

None of my family were car people . Hitchhiking home from school ( age 13 or so ) I was picked up by 2 different 40 Ford Deluxe Coupes from time to time . Both rodders , one a neighbor just home from Korea ( uh oh my age is showing ! ) and the other a young guy whom lived out the pike from me . Seventh heaven for me to ride in these cool cars. Also had a neighbor with a 50 Olds cpe , std shift, with the sweetest set of dual EVER. Set pins in a bowling alley with a guy that had a custom 40 Merc cnv, chopped and all, we would buy Thunderbird Wine ( " What's The Price " ) and go out by the airport and get a buzz on . I was more like 15 then. Those were the days when your rod or custom was your driver too ! Great times , great memories , all too soon lost to responsibilities ! Damn I'm getting goose bumps thinking about that sweet Olds duals . Wink