Thread: car stories

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memories .. i have debated with myself every since i joined this site whether i wanted to start this thread or not .. iv`e told my stories so many times on several sites but the need to stay active in the hot rod world and the want to share my lifes expierences dictate that i do it all over again .. but this thread will be open to all of you who wish to share stories from last week or 50 years ago .. or more .. i remember almost every car every person i knew from the past 40 years has owned ( hot rod that is ) and will tell many stories i can recall about them .. please do the same ..

i will start with my very first rememberance of a car .. i was three years old in 1958 .. every friday was payday for my father and that meant he would be bringing home a 6 pack of double cola`s and a half gallon of neopoliton ice cream ( choc - van- and strawberry ) in the same box .. being the baby of the family i got first chance to eat my fill .. so every friday i sat on the front poarch and waited for that green 1954 ford to pull up ( at three i knew that car ) ... suddenly a green 54 ford pulls in the drive .. i run out as always and quickly latch on to the the leg of what i thought was my dad as he exited the car .. the person drags me to the front door and was knocking on it .. about the very same time my father drove up and while he was prying me off the leg of this stranger with me screaming " no " daddy daddy .. " my father sad " son " if you think this man is you father i may need to have a talk with your mom .. i did`nt know who my dad was but i knew that 1954 ford

Here is a story that is a tribute to "improvization". :-)

Back in '68 I was 19 years old. I had just gotten my second car together, which was a '57 Chevy Bel Air 2-door hardtop. I bought it from a local junkyard, along with a '59 283 4-barrel engine, and a Corvette 4-speed trans. I rebuilt the engine, and added a Melling reground solid cam.

It was running pretty good, but did not "sit" quite right. The popular "look" was to raise the rear with airshocks, but I had spent all of my cash on the build. How was I going to raise the rear body on a budget? .....then it came to me!

Being "exceptionally clever", I reasoned that I could jack the car up, and put a muffler clamp around each shock, keeping it from collapsing back to normal ride height!

I ran down to Fagan's Auto Parts, local purveyor of "hot rod things" in Danville, Illinois, and picked up the right sized clamps for a buck or two. Arriving back home, I experimented with the height of the car until I got it just right, and put the clamps around the shocks nice and tight! I then changed clothes, and jumped in the car to go show off the new stance at the Steak & Shake drive in.

Now we lived in the country, and our gravel drive had a few dips in it before you got to the dirt road out front. I started the engine...checked the oil pressure.... stuck it in first.... and eased the clutch out....

Now I didn't hit those dips fast, but by the time I got to the road, I had cracked my head sharply against the roof at least three times!!!

I stopped and looked around to make sure nobody saw my stupidity,.....rubbed my head......backed up very slowly,....and took the clamps off of the shocks. My Chevy no longer had that jaunty look I wanted so badly, but I did have a newfound appreciation for the value of having functioning suspension! :-)

i did that also but they would break pretty quick so i got to putting 4 x 4 blocks between my rear end and the frame in order to get the high in the rear look .. but then always one side or the other of the wood would bounce out and i would be crooked ..could`nt afford air shocks at the time

I was in 8th grade and a friend of mine had a 55 f-100 sitting in his dads field , I was in love ........ I struck up a deal with the dad $40.00 cash or help irrigate for the summer . I had an after school and weekend job at the chevron station , but I thought I could save all this money for just a little of my time ...
I would get up before sunrise , go set tarps in the ditches , drag around siffon tubes to move the water then go to work . at noon go change the tarps , eat a fast sandwhich head back to work .....
on my way home it was back to the ditches and more tarps , tubes and fricken water ...... this went on all summer

after 5 months of being a farmer , my debt was paid and I was the proud owner of an awesome 55 ford ........and it didn`t cost me a dime this was 69`
I fixed up my pride and joy all thru hi school ....bought a wrecked mustang with a 351c , 4 speed , 9" and a set of huge mickey thompson n-50x 15`s

I still own my 55 today , I am going to re-do it again this winter ....slide a newer chassis under it with a 525" big ford , top loader and narrowed rear ...

my dad always told me .." take pride in workin for something you realy want ,it makes if that much more sweeter "

Oooo! I just love a good story!

The Studebaker truck that I am working on now has been in my famly since I was knee-high to a grasshopper...ever since that truck first rolled into our driveway that fateful summer day, I have loved it.

My dad picked me up from school everyday in it, it took me to the dentist (which I hated going to, but riding in the Stude always seemed to make things better), and it hauled firewood every year to keep my family warm. It was truly part of the family. It seemed only natural that it come live with me, after my daddy died, so that I could help her become the glorious hot rod she is destined to be.

My Corvair, well, she and I just belong together....we both have our quirks, so we understand each other just fine. The Vair is what I learned to drive on, and I have had it ever since.

I consider both the Corvair and the Studebaker to pieces of my past, and a way for me to keep my dad close to me, because everytime I see them, I think of him, and smile. They are my kids. And my one passion that I don't ever see fading away.

the first hot rod expierence i felt was in 1968 when an older brother bought a 66 galixie with the seven litre 428 and a 4speed ... black on black with bucket seats .. he really enjoyed frying the tires on that thing although it would`nt outrun anything ..a few years later he was drafted to vietnam .. the car sat for years as he decided to make a career of the military..this is`nt one of those stories where the son gits killed and the car sits forever although i know of such a few .. he just lost interest of it and it soon dissapeared .. when he would come home for a brief visit i would always have to let him borrow one of my hot rods so he could have a bit of an adrenalin rush .. another brother was into mustangs and bought one in 65 then traded in every year till 1970 then marriage ended his fun

Well Hoss this will come close to home for you . My first experience with rodding was visiting family in Huntsville in the 60.s My cousin who still does em from time to time has allways had some type of rod . He does body work for the local dealers in the area at his own shop at home . He lives off morris mill rd. His last one some years back was a 63 Falcon convert he put a 5.0 in and ran the roads scared me a bit riding with him but it was fun.

huntsville has a rich and amasing hot rod heritage .. most of the stories are`nt mine but i will try to recall and post some of the more incredible stuff iv`e heard .. big money flowed in the area thanks to NASA .. and big toys were a plenty

My first experience with hot rods was in high school in the early sixties. A small rural community in California's Sacramento Valley, a predominately agricultural area. Without interstates, cable/satellite TV and no large population center, being in a rural area was really being disconnected by todays standards. Our cars were for the most part hot rodified by what ever we could scrounge at the local junkyard or Western Auto. I had a '57 Chevy 210 four door hardtop at the time with the stock 283 and Powerglide setup, not a real hotrod, but a desireable car at the time and I thought it was neat, until the day when the high school nerd came to school one day with a "built" '55 BelAir, I mean this car was like from outer space, it was that dramatically different from all the other cars in the high school parking lot. I don't recall all the specifics about this car but it sounded and looked mean and nasty and the "Nerd" was driving it.....until that day hot rods like this were only to be seen in the pages of HotRod magazine. My first experience in being able to hear and feel a real hotrod and the "Nerd" was driving it! I have nothing against nerds mind you, but nerds just didn't drive hotrods. This was the coolest car in town now and the nerd fast became everybody's friend.

My story about being introduced to hot rods was a "blitz attack"! A friend and I were building models, and buying hot rod magazines, but it really happened for me when he talked his mom into taking us to the US nationals, 90 miles away in Indianapolis.

It was 1962, and we were about 13-14. Back then their was no limit on entries, and there in front of us were 2,000 super stocks, gassers, altereds & dragsters!!! I have devoted the last 45 years to the obsession that started that weekend!

Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

It was 1962, and we were about 13-14. Back then their was no limit on entries, and there in front of us were 2,000 super stocks, gassers, altereds & dragsters!!!

gosh !!! if you only had pictures

I lived in Hawaii in 1961 and I got my drivers license when I was 15.
Wanting my own car after asking to use my folks '58 Chevy Nomad and being told to get a job and buy your own .

So every day during the summer I'd get up at 0430 and put on combat boots some heavy duty multi layer long sleeve shirt. Leather gloves and steel mesh goggles and head out to pick pineapples for Dole.
It was Hot dressed up like that and I'd always come home with lots of needle marks from the sharp pointy leaves that would some how make it through the many layers I had on.
It was hard work but I always had one thought in my mind --my own cool set of wheels.
I saved every penny and just before high school started in the fall I bought a
1954 Dodge Royal Red Ram 2 door sedan- hemi V-8 auto transmission.
two tone blue with big white walls.
I polished and waxed that car every weekend
I was the first kid in my class to have his own car.
Back when a gallon of gas was 25 cents.
I sold it for more than I bought it for when we left for the main land
($750)
those were some good times
hank

But as you get older you tend to think of things that invoke fond memories. Most are funny, that's why you remember.
In the years after high school a lot of us hung out at the drive in and passed judgment on the cars and those who brought them.
There was a line of stalls for those who actually bought food or wanted to pick up women and another set of diagonals where the really fast rides parked.
Now that I look back on it, it strikes me a little funny. A kind of "pecking order" of sorts. Most of us would stand around and bs about cars and mods and how to make everything faster.
The fastest three or four got the first slots and the number of cars driving thru never ended.
A new driver and car always had the option to pull thru and try to call a guy out. Most races took place in front of the drive in execpt when the cops were there for a coffee and doughnut break.
Then races were taken over the Narrows bridge and out of the city.
Some of the heavy hitters were guys like Bill McCann.
(geeze, 35 years and I still remember his name)
Bill drove a white Chev Belair with a 430 hp, L88, 427.
It's was obvious. Bill thought it was a sleeper, with it's four doors and stock paint but it had one of the few sets of mags in town,a suspention kit and a huge set of slicks; and the hood had shims on the hinges so he could get it to close over that engine..stocker?....O ya, sure.
It made the car look like it was in an accident and it definitely did not sound stock. It really was a tank.
The others were two brothers who hated each other. One had a 65 GTO, 360 tripower and the other had a 442, 350 hp.
There was a new guy in the fourth of fifth slot every friday.

This one night, there were two races of note.
A guy from high school came through in a brand new Buick Riv. He even had his date with him.
He would pass in front of the other racers with his nose in the air and leaning into the center console and rev in neutral and would drop the thing back into "drive" and get a short chirp and then continue the cruise....most of the guys looking on would just go nutz laughing....I got to admit, it was funny.

One of the brothers in the 442 follows this kid out to the light in front of the restaurant and lines up next to him. We all get out of our cars to witness......both rev and the 442 and Buick jump. The kid in the Buick revs the thing tight and drops in into low and there's this bang, as the car lurches to follow the 442. The rear end "U" joint
self destructs and the drive shaft beats the holy livin krap out of the bottom of the Riv for a few seconds and then falls in the street.
The Riv coasts a few dozen feet and comes to a stop.
The 442 is long gone.

Well, the first one to get over his surprise is my buddy Bill. I thought he must of passed that mouthful of Coke he had thru his nose. Dam n near choked to death.
The kid and the girl get out of the Riv and walk across the street.
I can only imagine how he felt. The girls face is beat red. She gets in another car and the kid gets on the phone to call......you guessed it.....
Anyway, as we were leaving to go over the Narrows bridge to the Industrial airport to check out another race, this guy pulls up in a 52 Buick Roadmaster and gets out and looks at the Riv....then he starts chasing the kid around the car....there was allot of yelling.
You could spend good money and never see a show that good.
This night, a Mexican kid came in with a 289 comet.
It was a four speed with a set of 4:88's and slicks.
No back seat, just a bench in front. No air cleaner either.
He'd also taken out the spare. We really started to rag him about what else he left on his garage floor and then when it came time to leave, we had to help him push start it. He'd tried to use a motorcycle battery to save weight.
Enough to run the car and lights but not enough to start it.
What a hoot!
He wanted to race Bill's 427. He just wanted to see how his "lil Juanita" would do.
Ya, he even had the name of the car painted on the drivers door.
The Mexican kid was a Senior at the local school and was in auto shop. I guess he was viewed as an up and commer. He'd got the 289 out of a wrecked "HO" Mustang along with the tranny. He and his Dad had managed to stuff this thing into his comet.
Bill suggested he tie off the wheel and stay behind....maybe save another 150 pounds. We all laughed.
The quarter mile was marked off on the Perimiter road next to the airport and most of the serious races took place there.
They both lined up and went on the third blink of a flashlight. The Ford was at the top of second gear before the 427 got second. nicest power shifts I've ever heard.
It was no contest.
The 427 didn't have a chance. He couldn't close the gap.
Just trying to move to much weight. The Mexican kid really handed him his lunch.
The rest of the evening at the drive in was spent with people telling Bill he should take off the two rear doors before he raced.
I often wondered what he did with the car but never found out. Most of the guys made Viet Nam a permanent home that year.

As I've said before, nothings changed. They guys from the auto shop and the guys with ideas that moded their cars do the same thing on imports now instead.
Those who can talk their daddy's out of the family sled still do and then the yuppies and "dinks" (dual income, no kids) still come thur in their expensive sports cars.
The restaurant is still there but no more car hops.
I sit in my ride and wonder in 30 or 40 years, if the kids will still cruise thru but maybe in electric cars run on Hydrogen fuel cells.

What's the point? A nostalgia fix, I guess.

DT

good stuff guys and girls .. reading these other stories invokes more memories of similar events in others .. what dogtag just posted happened in every town in the usa at one time or another.. ive still got about 100 more to tell so we will survive the blandness of winter sitting around the fire reading some good tall tales . my dad did tell me once as a kid in about 1930 or so he and several of his brothers were nowhere close to having money to own a car .. even though you could buy one for twenty bucks.. they went to a junk yard and found a radio - and old speaker-and a car battery and did their cruising on their feet toting that radio around all day ..