When did you get started liking hot rods?

[wwotr]

I ran across this photo today.
I was 14 at the time and my Dads friend "Delmar", always had cool Cars! Remembering back, this was about the time I started getting interested in Cars.

Lets hear YOUR story?

[JWall]

My Dad used to dirt track race & has always been into cars as a hobby & then my cousin was into trucks also so I remember riding my bike around pretending it was a "cool truck".
Then when I was about 14 me & my parents got me a little S-10 that we completely restored for my first truck, it was so nice that it wasnt too long after I turned 16 I had to get a daily driver for the high school parking lot.
Then I went by a local cruise night (that was the first around here & doesnt even exsist now) with the S-10 and I parked way in the back and was just looking around when I came back to the truck a bunch of guys where checkin it out & told me I need park up front with the rest the guys. Then I got invited to a show & was hooked from then on. I remember I won at the first show I went to & was shocked.
Now I live and breathe this stuff.

[69 longhorn]

My 1st taste of hotrods , was a ride in a chopped,channeled 31 Ford 5 window coupe(dual quad 283,stick shift, no fenders, cheater slicks,ect). I was 12 yrs old, & that my freinds was 40 yrs ago! That stuff never goes away, when you get into it that young crazyAL

[big_al_71]

My father had so many cool bad ass cars and trucks as I was growing up that it is just in my blood. I remember specific cars he had that man I wish I had today 64 impala SS, 69 Chevelle, 65 C10 truck, 70 barracuda 440, 70 chevelle, 65 el camino, 64 el camino,70 el camino these are just some that really stick out on my head. I was born in 68 and by the time I was like five or six I know I was in first grade I would be drawing car and trucks all the time and it was all I talked about.

[yote1234]

at 13 (1969)i pitted for a friends (dennis fowler) funny car "rat trap" and "sundance"... trip schuemake drove it. but i remenber building muscle car models at 8-10. the fact is i was born a car guy! heres a few from beeline dragway in az. winternationals

[bigsnookmaster]

About 3rd grade, going to baseball practice in my buddies brothers 67 GTO,421 4speed. He hit it through the gears one time, and that was all it took!

[leddzepp]

Grew up in a 58 Apache, 70 CST, and a 64 1/2 Mustang. I have always been into cars/hotrods. My father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all mechanics.

[rob32472]

The minute I was born into this world! It is the reason I was born!

[mbgmike]

about 1957

[evilways]

I was about 9 years old when my uncle took me for a ride in his 69 Camaro with a 396 big block, it was only about a five minute ride but that’s all it took for me. We lived with him for a short while after moving to Indiana from Idaho; I spent a lot of time watching him work on his 69 and 67 Camaro’s so the smell of gas and grease soaked into my veins, I’ve been playing with cars and trucks ever since.

[Keith Seymore]

My story is kind of long, but it is here if you'd like to read it:

http://forums.performanceyears.com/f...d.php?t=560524

[cdowns]

cant ever remember not being into hotrods and racecars. grew up lioving nextdoor to a race car shop and my mom and dad were really into cool cars and bikes//dad bought me this 39ford pickup for my 13th birthday as a way to teach me stuff the right way

[chevyboy55]

Originally Posted by yote1234

at 13 (1969)i pitted for a friends (dennis fowler) funny car "rat trap" and "sundance"... trip schuemake drove it. but i remenber building muscle car models at 8-10. the fact is i was born a car guy! heres a few from beeline dragway in az. winternationals

I had the pleasure of meeting Tripp when he drove for Johnny Loper. He was a truly nice person.
In answer to the thread,I have been into cars since I can remember.

[hotrod 80]

Grew up less than a mile from Houston international raceway . Many a night i was sung to sleep by drag cars / Boy scout troop leader had a drag boat and every sunday they fired it off at about 2 pm . I t was like a ritual . Dad did mechanic work on the side out of the garage . He rebuilt the barbers GTO , the carpenter 63 Avanti , The phone mans Vette . I was right there working on my bike . I started young and i am still addicted .

[Restrorob]

My grandfather and father were mechanics so I was born with a wrench in my hand, Dad had bought a brand new 57 Belair 2dr which cinched the deal. Been a car/truck nut ever since....

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by mbgmike

about 1957

In June....

[70gmcjimmy]

The summer of 1963 was our last "family" vacation I was 6 years old. We were at my Grandparents house in Georgia and an "old" movie "Thunder Road" came on TV one afternoon. I watched the whole thing and never stopped thinking about cars/trucks since.
We drove a brand new '63 Impala that incidentally my Mom learned how to drive in at the age of 40, and Dad's ride was a '60 GMC Suburban at the time.

Later---DAC

[special-K]

.My first word was "car".Cookie`s car on "77 Sunset Strip" is one I remember on tv.My dad had a`36 Ford Coupe with dual carbs,dual scavenger pipes,3/4 grind cam,and Columbia 2spd rear.He had a`49 Ford Woody for the family.He also had a Harley Servicar.

Growing up in the hey day of drag racing,customs,and hot rodding didn`t help.We had Ed Big Daddy Roth t-shirts,CarToons comics,AMT kits,Slot cars,local drag strips,fun was legal,no store bought muscle,Hot Rod magazine,California music scene.It was surfing,hot rodding,and rock`n`roll growing up.I ate,breathed,and slept on that stuff.Ruined my life.I was supposed to be a lawyer or doctor.

[RanchFlyer]

First memory EVER is going for Icecream in a MG TD my dad had just finished the restoration for a local Doctor. I have been messing with cars ever since. First introduced to REAL hot rod my buddy's dad had a mid 70's vette full roller small block, sportsman heads. Cruising a real low 11 second car at 16 was unreal.

[67ChevyRedneck]

My dad had a red 68 Pontiac Firebird when I was really young. He sold it when I was 4 or 5 to buy our house. He then bought a 67 Firebird that he did a home restoration on that I helped with (getting tools, etc.) when I was around 8, and he had a bunch of various cars/trucks since then. I bought a 58 Apache when I was 14 and my 67 C10 when I was 15. It's been in my blood a long time.

My dad still has the 67 Bird and if I ever get it from NY to SC, it's mine now

[vectorit]

I've always been interested in the mechanical aspect of cars and trucks, being the upbringing that I had with my Dad and the truck. Mostly off roading with the burb, while finding good camping with the family.

But as far as the muscle car interest, and getting bit by the loud and fast bug of fast cars. I remember it like it happened yesterday, though it was probably the mid 1980's.
A neighborhood friend of mine got a 1967 Ford Mustang fast back, it had a 302 and a four speed transmission. I never really paid much attention to his car, till one night he had just put a new clutch in and I just happened to walk up.
He told me "wanna go break in the new clutch with me?", I thought sure what ever since I'd done that with my Dad before in the burb.

Well, we drive up the streets nice and slow as he is making sure everything is working I guess. We then come up on a long dark street, and he nails it and bangs through all the gears just as we are slowing down and the tire smoke is wafting through the inside of the car. I was speechless, but with a huge smile on my face. After the initial shock, I was asking for him to do that again. He did, a couple more and after that I was hooked.

I started working in the whole "Dad I want a car" speech every kid does when the age comes about, and I will never forget what my Dad said after he was entertaining my whole work up on wanting a car. He said sure, in due time of course. What kind of car do you want? I told him I wanted a 1967 Mustang fast back 302 blah blah blah, he then snaps out of his smiling questions and says to me "Over my dead body, will a Ford ever be parked in our driveway!"

From then on he schooled me on the life of a Chevy man, and that was that when it came to Fords or any other maker as a brand to own in life.

Ahh memories...

[NONHOG]

Wow For ever that I can recall. When I was young I raced to the car books in the library in the late sixties early seventies. Been subscribed to Hot Rod magazine since 1974. My dad loves cars and had a 1958 VW Bug with a hopped up 69 engine. Later our family car was a 69 Impala SS 427.
The car I took my drivers test in. I've pretty much always been a junkie.

[Sub-versive]

Since I was little, maybe 5 or 6. Mom and Dad bought a 1973 Mustang Convertible with a 351 CobraJet, I was a toddler when they bought it new, and didn't appreciate until I was 5 or 6. My very vivid memory of my Mom telling put the seat belt on, and her wanting to see what it would do. Screaming dowm I5 at I don't know what, the speedo went past the numbers and was pegged at zero again! It scared Mom, the sound on the air passing over the rag top was like a train.
It wasn't until 1979 or 80 that I became aquainted with a hotrod truck. A 1976 K20 LWB with a built 427 and TH350, 6" or 8" custom Rancho lift(my uncle was neighbors with someone big in the company), D44 front (open) and 14FF rear (posi) on 38" or 40" bias-ply Denman Ground Hawgs. That truck could smoke cars at a light, I remember Dad doing that a few times.

[fastwillie 696969]

when they filmed AMERICAN GRAFFTTII in my hometown of petaluma ca
i saw half of that movie being filmed
from the cop car getting the rear end yank to the drag race at the end when the 55 rolled and burned
my friends farm land was used for the car turn over and burned
and susan summers cruzing all over town in the tbird
and dad would take us to fremont drag races on sunday him and his friends would rent mustang gt 350 from heartz rental for 30 a weekend and go race them at the track

[wwotr]

Originally Posted by fastwillie 696969

when they filmed AMERICAN GRAFFTTII in my hometown of petaluma ca
i saw half of that movie being filmed
from the cop car getting the rear end yank to the drag race at the end when the 55 rolled and burned
my friends farm land was used for the car turn over and burned
and susan summers cruzing all over town in the tbird
and dad would take us to fremont drag races on sunday him and his friends would rent mustang gt 350 from heartz rental for 30 a weekend and go race them at the track

Sounds like your just down the Mountain from me.
Was born/raised in Santa Rosa, but moved up to Southern Lake County about 6 years ago. What do ya drive?