Thread: Missspent Youth

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Misspent Youth

I really enjoy seeing the old pictures and hearing the stories of cars other guys built “back in the day”. Seeing the pictures like Ryan’s and Charlie’s Camaros almost always gets me thinking about some of the cars I built back then.


Here are a couple of my favorites. My 74 Pinto (302/C4/9”) and 73 Vega Pickup (327 Tri Power/4 speed/8”). Yeah both were cop magnets

Pinto Vega L by M Patterson, on Flickr


I built the Pinto in 79 when I got back from Germany and the Vega around 1980. The picture is from around 1984 when I was stationed in Ft Ord California. As long as they were titled and registered out of state I didn’t have to meet any of the California emission laws (which they wouldn’t have passed).


pinto ext 1 by M Patterson, on Flickr

The 74 hatchback Pinto was actually the second one I built. I built the first one in 76 …….a 71 Coupe with a 351W. Unfortunately that one died due to the Midwest rust but I was able to salvage the C4 and 9” for this one. The 351 was a sacrifice to the speed gods.

Anybody else have some old pictures of their old cars?



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I wasn't very diligent about taking pics in the early years of car play...…….some "interesting" stuff could be shown. Most of the few pics I did take are still in paper format, haven't gotten around to scanning them. You might have given me motivation here Mike.

When I got home from the all expense paid trip (thanks Uncle Sam) to the jungles I got a wild hair to buy this '36 Ford sedan, $100 IIRC. Ended up being the first of a modestly long line of '36s in the garage.

Then when I moved to Spokane in '74 the VW itch hit me again (the first was a Beetle in '65). This Type 2 had been a local dry cleaner delivery rig. Engine was shot, trans wouldn't shift, some slug had owned it and abused it while being clueless on how to fix it. Build a mildly hopped up engine, fixed the trans mount garbage, and had fun burying the speedo that topped out at 60.

Then in the late '70s I went into my Hudson period. This '51 Hornet came out of a field in Northern Idaho. Amazingly the chrome is the factory original. Some kids had used the roof for a trampoline so that was a learning experience getting the buckling out of the metal. The burgundy paint I shot in a two car garage when we lived in Vancouver Wa. It had the Twin H intake and overdrive. Terrific road car, the drive down and back from Seattle was a pleasure. This shot is in the parking lot where the HET Club national meet was held in Buena Park Ca, first time they'd held a National west of the Mississippi.

Great stuff! That Hudson is sexy as hell ans the Vega truck is awesome.

Any old pictures I have of my old projects are buried under decades of storage in the basement and probably wont see the light of day until I'm long dead.