The car that started it all...tell us a story

[Guest]

Ok, everyone i assume has their first car, jeep, van etc ride that really hooked them on their hoby right? What first gave you that "holy crap, this is the coolest feeling in the world" moment? I'll start, first was my uncle's 35 ford three window, rode around in the rumble seat everywhere with my uncle leaving every light as if it was the tree at an NHRA event....then when i was 13 i went for a ride in a family friends 33 willy's gasser sedan called the James Boys at a rod run just outside of bellville, car was a very very close recreation, blown big block, moon tank, one peice lift of front end...we pulled out of the show area and he got straight, then jumped on it, nose goes in the air, i freak out a little, then we run out of gas and walk back, coolest moment ever...and one more, same guy with the willy's has a rusty ribbon painted 70's refuge vega on his lawn, i start nosing around it and he asks me if i want to go for a ride in it, out comes the battery charger, and air pig, and here we went, 355 and four speed and small car = a lifetime of magazine buying, beer drinking late nights in the garage daydreaming and coming up with new ways to justify spending too much money on the one thing i love about as much as i love my kids....CARS....
wow that was long winded.....

[BangShift McT]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

Apparently, it's been rooted in my brain since I could crawl. My dad bought me the '83 Corvette Hot-Wheel (I still have it!) Other proof exists when I managed to figure out how to drive my aunt's '77 Mach 1, or when I would go for rides in my cousin's 70-something Newport. But, the car that started it all, was the '76 Camaro Type LT that my uncle purchased in the summer of '88. White/red, American Racing turbine rims on BFG T/As, loud-ass exhaust, slightly jacked in the rear...I loved it. It existed until I was 12, when my great grandfather, sick of having this now-torn-apart Camaro in the yard, had it sent to the yard. I about cried. Learning this, my stepdad got me a '75 for my first car that year...and it truly began.

[VWMMP]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

I always had an interest in cars since I can remember but the defining moment was a summer day in 1975. My cousin was staying with us on our farm in Washington State. He had saved up enough money and sold his old car. We headed to town to help him pick out another car so we hit the used car lot. My cousin was 22 at the time and did not have enough money. To this day I will never forget the stickers and names on the cars as I walked down the line, Superbee, Road Runner, Daytona, Cuda, Challenger (dodge dealer), and a superbird (the wing says it all to a 10 year old). Then the test drives, Roadrunner 6 pack- I remember this one because of the heated discussion about how hard it would be to keep it tuned, Challenger Convertible - I loved that one. Then the car he ended up with was a 1971 roadrunner with the 383. Why because it was a newer car and he felt it would be less trouble. I wanted him to buy the superbird or the GTX with the twin cutouts and the loud exhaust. I used to ask for a ride at least once a day. My cousin must have torn up 20-30 sets of re-treads that summer taking me for ride up and down the street. From then on I noticed every muscle car around town. By the end of the summer I could tell you about every car I saw. My cousin gave me my first Hot-Rod magazine for my birthday that year I have been a junkie ever since.

[Rebel25A]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

I got hooked when my dad used to drive me around in his 1970 Plymouth Fury GT...it had the 440 and 727...man that thing would haul for a big ole car...so I was a Mopar junkie by the time I was 10...so when my dad knew I was going to be driving he played a little game on me...he brought home a 1969 Camaro convertible and told me it was mine...then I raised the hood...it had a 250 straight six and 3 speed on the floor...it was a fun little crusiing car but of course it was not fast enough...so like a genoius I told him I didn't want it and I had a buddies brother that had a 1970 Pontica GTO for sale...I borrowed the cash (900.00) from my geandma and went and bought it without even asking my parents...my mom was furious but my dad really understood...it was starlight black with a black interior...it had a 400 and a 4 speed with 3.55 gears...I drove it a few years and built some killer motors for it after I killed the original...

[DanStokes]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

Let's see - I've been around cars since I was 5 - not bad for a guy who's Dad hated cars. But the one or two that really got me hooked would be Phil Harris' 34 Olds coupe with a SBC, and/or Duane Muelling's Henry J gasser. I was the snot-nosed 13 year old who came looking to hang around, and they were kind enough to let me, as long as I didn't get under foot too much. Sometimes, they'd hand me a rag and let me clean up some corner of the car that they were glad that THEY didn't have to clean. I was ecstatic, and tried really hard to do a good job. I don't think it ever occurred to them to take me to the track with them, and I doubt my folks would have let me go.

Phil's Olds was mostly a street rod, and when I was in my early 20's and more skilled, I actually put in some time reinforcing the front fenders so that they wouldn't crack - a trick I picked up somewhere. I was SO proud of myself.

On the other hand, the one time I talked my parents into taking me to Detroit Dragway (a place I later haunted frequently on my own), I walked over the hill for the first time and saw the Ramcharger's Dodge and Color Me Gone just as they were launching. This must have been about '63. I was absolutely gone, and haven't come back since. So why do I love Mopars?

So those are my influences
Dan

[NJSPEEDER]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

i dunno what all of the triggers were that got me started. the proof that it started young was found a few years ago when i was moving. while moving my massive automotive magazine collection(never threw one out in my life) i came across news stand issues of the 82- 84 vintage.
when talking to my mother a few days later i asked how i would have come up with car craft, hot rod, vette, and various other titles from when i was 8-10 years old. she told me that those were what i read in the car on family vacations. she even explained that her and my grandmother used to argue about it, but my mom figured that me reading car mags was as good as anything else i could be reading at that age.
i also, like many of you guys, have the piles of matchbox cars, models, posters, autographs, and other such stuff that i have been collecting since i was a child.
funny how i could manage to go through childhood, college, many projects, various jobs, and more girlfriends than i could count, and i could always turn to my passion for cars that started before i could even remember.

[squirrel]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

I would say model cars were where I started, the 70 Vette, 71 hemi cuda, etc. when I was 9-10 years old. Dad gave me a Hot Rod magazine when we were on a trip in 1972, still have it, but not the cover! The first car I sort of tried to hot rod was a 61 chevy convertible with a 2bbl/pg, I overhauled the engine when I was 14, then when I had just turned 16 I got a cast iron qjet intake and carb from some gearhead friends for cheap, and put it on....and foolishly listened to the advice of one and tried to reuse the gaskets. So I went to Don's Hot Rod Shop and bought some new gaskets, and got it running right, it was still slow of course! a year later I bought a junkyard 396 and rebuilt it and put it in our old pickup, that was my first real hardcore rodding project.

[flyinhillbilly]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

there have been many, but i think the first was a '70 nova, 4 speed (i was too young to care if it was an m21,m22, or a saginaw) one rowdy sounding 327, and a 4.11 limited slip rear end. my dad bought it when i was about 8 or 9, i can't tell you very much about that period of time due to a head injury i sustained in a bycycle crash ( i think that's what caused it anyway) but i clearly remember the rides in that old primered heap, and the 1-3rd gear burnouts, i think that was the car that really poisened the well of my mind.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

My story isn't so interesting, as my family isn't much into cars (but certainly like what I drive ;D ) and I haven't done much in the way of racing. Straight from my "Intro" Thread:

"My first car was my '77 Skylark with the 231 odd-fire. It had a few collapsed lifters and my Dad the fleet mechanic thought it best he sit in a lawn chair with a beer directing 15year old me on what to do to replace them. Shortly after the engine blew the head gaskets so with in a year I tore to top end of the engine apart twice! And that was the beginning of my automotive intrigue. While going to college I worked at a GM dealer for a few years"

I got that car from my Grandma in pretty rough shape and completely random things about the car: I replaced the rod and main bearings in it twice without pulling the engine as well as another set of lifters at various points, battery explosions, smog issues every other year, inexperienced teenager hack wiring jobs, and multiple meetings with the police that did not have to do with speeding, it's seen the highways, traffic, sand dunes, desert hills and mountains (I'm a geologist with out a truck :P). The 231 was eventually pulled, a garage rebuild back into the car to promptly blow the transmission, then replaced with a 200r4 from an '83 LeSabre I bought for $75. It's seen Ford Taurus and Ford Ranger seats in it, a thumbtacked up vinyl headliner, a Kenne Bell aluminum 4-bbl manifold, and Olds Omega rallye dash cluster, a redneck subwoofer that actually worked (12" Sub in a sealed Freightliner air filter box 8) ) a bored Father that though he'd sand my car down and paint it (while I drove the Firebird) but only made it half way and left me to primer over it just to keep my dignity when driving it and after all that I still like the car!

I think the influences that kept me interested in cars was that there were two bracket racers (one of whom ran a '70 GS) working at the GM dealership that kept me interested in the quest for more power and for cars in general. Then one of my friend's first car was a '76 Olds 98 2-dr with an anemic 455 that my 231 could barely stay ahead of. He sold that car and bought a clean '74 Olds 442. Might have been a 70's smog-era Olds 350, but it could do one hell of a burn out (made it into the year book ;D ) and of course beat the pants off my Skylark. Summer after high school I got my '69 Firebird 400, so now I had him at bay, as well as most 5.0 Mustangs. Geared it with an Over Drive because I was and still am a highway man. But in time both his Olds and my Firebird were totalled (neither case were our faults) and he picked up a '69 Olds 442 and I a '72 Buick Centurion which I put a mildly cammed 455 in. We never ran at the track together, near I can tell my Centurion barely has the edge on him from running red-light to red-light against him over the years.

Now he has got from his Dad a bone stock '68 Camaro RS 327 4sp Convr't (still has the '69 442) that we've cruised around in a bit, and I have a 455/5-spd powered Skylark that has yet to make it any significant distance under it's own power...But when it finally makes the 500 miles to Ely it'll begin it's destiny to 1/4 mile tracks and the eventual Silver State Challenge. It's been 12 years since I got it and a hell of a journey with more to come. (Lets see some Disco Nova suspension mods that I could use ;) )

[HEMI]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

Any car that the Bean Bandit's had.Looking at them in my fathers HOT ROD magazines in the early 1950's made me want to learn to read and led to a life long interest in vehicles.
Being related to Ed Roth also was an influence.

[std]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

Man, you guys sure can tell a story.
Let me try.

Where I grew up, there weren't many people around. There were 5 or 6 of us that would play baseball. Everyone would play the field unless you were up to bat. My mom would let us walk a mile to the corner store. We would collect empty bottles on the way to but stuff. The store was on a paved road, so there were a few cars on it. We would sit on the step and try to guess what kind of carwas coming up the road.

A couple years later when I was 11, the kid up the road got a Suzuki 90. I remember hearing it the first time. I ran as fast as I could thru the field to see what it was. I'd hang on the fence and watch him ride it. That was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. After a while he let me ride it. That was the coolest thing I'd ever done. Needless to say, he was my best friend for several years.

A year later my buddy was rebuilding the carb on his moms Maverick. He took it all apart and cleaned it up, but he couldn't figure out how to put it back together. When I got there tools were flying. He didn't have a lot of patience. I took over and put it together and we got it running. After that he started flat track racing. He was really good. I started working on the bike for him. We'd walk around the track and see what everyone else was doing, so we'd try it. He won a lot of races. I guess that was my first racing job.

When I was a freshman in high school, I sat by the window in algebra class. There was a guy that got to school erery day while I was looking out that window. He had a 1970 Mach 1. There were other cool cars at school-Chevelles, Camaros, station wagons- but that Mustang was the coolest car I'd ever seen. I had to get one. When I was a senior, my sister was dating a guy that had the exact car I wanted and for some unbelievable reason he wanted to sell it. I finally got my car. I loved that car so much I killed it.

Thats my story.
Hooked on motorcycles.
Hooked on mechanics.
Hooked on cars.

[whiplash]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

The back seat of my husbands chevy two in 1970.

[flyinhillbilly]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

The back seat of my husbands chevy two in 1970.

lol

[HEMI]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

The first car that I saw in person that REALLY impressed me was the Cash Auto Parts blown fuel Hemi from San Francisco.It later became the Greer-Black-Phrudome car.I'll never forget it.

[Groucho]

Re: The car that started it all...tell us a story

I moved to SoCal in 69 at age 14. At this point I've immersed myself in Hot Rod magazines, models, and slot cars. Just bitten by performance stuff. I became friends with my cousin's neighbor who had a pretty badass 68 Camaro SS 4-speed in the rare Corvette Bronze color. He taught me and my cousin how to drive in Valley College's empty parking lot one weekend in that summer. 14 years old, and I'm driving a pretty badass 4-speed, cammy(Isky 500/300) muscle car=PRICELESS
PS-I bought that car about 10 years later. It was pretty beat after the thrill was gone, and he'd got married. I just had to save it. It got banged up dozens of times at his work. When the built motor got tired, he traded the motor for some stock, later "smog" motor. It was just sad.