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

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bought a 48 Merc coupe when I was 15 in 1959...haven't been without a hot rod since.

dj

I am 63 years old and cars have been apart of my life for as all as I can remember.First car was a field car that was a straight 8 Buick.Well that lasted until mom saw us roll it.Kind of made her mad and scared.We where laughing and was going to roll it back on it's wheels,but she stopped us and then forced dad to get rid of it.I too built models.As I remember,there wasn't that many guys that wasn't into cars.First build I did was a 53 Chevy coupe with a Hemi.Poor thing.The front end dropped like a rock under the wt of that 780lb Hemi.Too many drag cars to count.We use to buy a distress sale drag car a guy couldn't finish because he was behind on his bills and fix it and race it for a yr and then sell it off.Made money doing that.The market has changed since those days.

Could I stop???.Nawwww-then that wouldn't be me.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm.

Dan and I's obsession with cars comes from pops. I have been broke ever since I could pick up a wrench thanks to him!

Seriously,
Glad he taught us to build and work on our own.

Don Jr.

Guess it's time to tell my not so exciting story . I have been fascinated with going fast since I can remember. I would watch the speedometer when dad was driving the Buick on the old 101 between Eureka and Santa Rosa and the faster he would go the more mom would tell him to slow down. I think he would get it up to 65 or so and I thought we were flying. When I was in High School I drove my mom's car, a 53 Chrysler 331 hemi, and thought it was the fastest thing around, it wasn't. My first car was a 50 ford Crestliner given to me by my aunt as a graduation present. It was 1st owned by the son of the Ford dealer in Eureka, Ca. He had the block ported, polished and relieved, added Offy heads and a duel point dist. and an Isky cam. It was worn out by the time I got it, on the drive from Eureka down to Sunnyvale where I was then living it burned 8 gts. of oil. Owned many cars since then including a 66 GTO bought new in April of 66, of which the running gear has, since 68, now resides in my 34 3 window.

Jack.

When I was 16 back in 1966, my first car was a '59 Impala 2 dr HT--white with red interior, 283 PG. Nice car but I wanted a hot rod. So the next summer when the PG was toast, with the help of some older guys who were mechanics in town, I changed it over to a manual tranny. At the same time, we pulled the engine, rebuilt the 283 with a small solid lifter cam and an AFB. The next year in high school shop, I worked over the body, painted it 1968 GTO green, blacked out the grill, radiused the rear wheel wells, added chrome reversed wheels, and had the seats reupholstered in black, and changed the rest of the interior to black. The next year, I sold the 283, got hold of a '64 Corvette 327, added a Dempsey Wilson cam, dual quads and a set of 4.11 gears. It was pretty quick by the standards of the day. All this drove my parents nuts, but I had a job, and I paid for everything myself. It was by no means a show car, but it was a laboratory project for me to learn from. I wish I had that car back now, but it eventually met Mr. Crusher.

I've been fiddling with cars since i started helping my dad out, I must of been about 10 or 11, I'm now 58 in a couple of months, i assume i will snuff it in the workshop i guess

Hell Steve, you have just shattered the image of a young "Teddy boy" with fag dangling from the corner of your mouth, Sue in skin tight jeans hanging onto your left arm, your foot resting casually up on the front tyre of the roadster,picture I have inside my cloudy old head of you.
Heck I thought you were still in your twenties.