Thread: My First Hot Rod

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I ran into this photo when going through an old photo album over the weekend. When I got this car back in the summer of 1966, I was 16 years old and itching to work on cars. It was white with red interior. During the next two years it became a different car and wound up GTO Verdoro green with black interior. I moved the chrome from the front fender to the door and bought additional door trim pieces from a salvage yard so I could have the same matching pieces all the way back to the tail lights. I also radiused the rear wheel wells mainly due to rust and added chrome reversed wheels. Of course the 283/Powerglide was not acceptable so I changed it over to a manual transmission and rebuilt the 283 with Power-Pac heads, Corvette cam and solid lifters, and 4 bbl carb. I worked in a factory on Saturdays and during the summer so I had a job that paid for all of my parts. It was no show car, but it was a great learning experience. Thankfully, my skills have grown and my cars have become more sophisticated over the years.