Thread: How young did you start, and did it result in obsession?

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Started for me with erector sets and model cars, first car I worked on with my Dad a 53 chevy. High school 56 chevy gasser style and a 31 Ford hemi.
Did time in the Navy, had a 65 Tempest installed a 389 4 speed and tri power, back from Nam, 1800.00 bucks later 66 427 4 speed vett, broke a lot of axel u joints . Discharged 69, tore the vett up got a 68 GTO. Learned electronics got a job sold the goat, got a company car.
Drove company cars for 30 years, had Harley's for a hotrod. Then 95 working for Sun Microsystems making some nice dough started to look for a hobby car, got a 34 worked it over for a couple of years. Then got a mess of truck parts 32, and built the wife her own hotrod truck, and that is where I am today.
Overall it is a pretty good fun hobby, my enjoyment is not sitting and barking at a car show. My kicks are driving, loud exhaust, open-wheel a$$ kicking little powerhouses.
Harley's are the same way, loads of bikes sitting in the garage, loads of street rods sitting in the parking lot with little blue fold up chairs sitting in front. To each his own I say, glad for the cars and prefer the late 20 and 30s hotrod style coupes generally speaking.

Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

With cars... or porn? :-)

EITHER

I was actually still in the woomb when I got my first hot rod. I had a hard time getting parts. As hard as I pounded out the morse code on my mom's tummy, nobody seemed to understand what I wanted. By time I was 2 yrs. I was able to talk and call shops for the parts I needed. At 5 I slipped behind the wheel for my first solo drive in the old Ford Falcon. In elementary school I was drag racing the local high school kids. By time I hit Junior High we were rebuilding our parents engines, and in High School made our first car from scratch.!









Seriously, I was 15 or 16 when I bought my first car which was a 1968 Mustang coupe with a blow engine and tranny but perfect body with mag wheels. Prior to that I had worked on my older brothers firebird, and some of my Dad's exotic Italian cars which he was importing used, fixing up and selling locally. My brothers and I lived with my Mom, so we had to buy and fix our own stuff due to limited income. In a way it was a great gift. Taught me to work for what I needed, and to maintain it. At the time we had a High school auto shop. So I took auto chasis and auto electrical, while a friend took auto engines, between the two of us we rebuilt the motor and redid the suspension and electrical stuff. Wish they still offered these classes.