[themoose]

Here's my story...Lets here some more!! Oh..and pictures optional



 The first car I ever  attempted to build/hot rod was a 1950 Chevy 2dr Fleetline. A friends father had retired it from daily use and it had been sitting in their yard for a few years when he decided it was time to get rid of it. I was around  14 years old at the time and looking forward to getting my license in a couple of years and figured that maybe I could get it running , fix it up and get ready for the big event. I really wasn't too keen on the fastback body style but the more I thought about it the better it looked. I was able to finally convince both my father and my friends father that the car really need to come home with me. I knew quite a bit about how mechanical things worked  having grown up around farm equipment   and with the help of family and friends I was able to get it running....BAD NEWS..The engine had a knock! Now what? Well as luck would have it there was a fairly low mileage 53 Dodge with a Red Ram hemi  and three speed overdrive and a ton of rust for sale just down the road for only $25.00. I wonder...Do you think we could get that engine to fit into the Chevy? Well to make a long story short, after playing around with the project for over a year the hemi was sitting nicely in the Chevy and I just needed to install the rear end  from  the Dodge and cobble up a drive shaft and we would be all set. Sounds good right?? but now the story takes a turn. For years I had been eyeballing a 39 Chevy coupe that was sitting alongside a house that was on my school bus route and at one time I even knocked on the guys door and asked if the car was for sale..The answer was a resounding NO! and leave me alone. Well just when I was ready to put the finishing  touches  on the 50's drive train I noticed  a fore sale sign on the front lawn of the house where the 39 lived and shortly their after I noticed that there seemed to be new owners in the house and that the 39 Coupe was still sitting in the same  spot on the side of the house. What the heck its worth a try..Let me ask the new owners if they will sell the car. I knocked on the door and was greeted by the lady of the house and after a short introduction I posed the question about the status of the 39. She said that the seller of the house was in a hurry to move out of state and that he told them that he had to leave the car because he didn't have time to deal with it and it was theirs. She said that she hated it and was going to have it picked up by the local junk yard in the next few days and would be happy to see it go. I explained that there was no need to  call the junk yard because I would be happy to help her out  : > )
Well the 50 Fleetline never did see the road but the 39 sure did and was one of the most fun cars I ever built. I rebuilt the Hemi and bored it out installed new Jahns pistons  added 4 Strongberg  97's on a Weiand manifold  a Crower cam along with a few other goodies and while I didn't get it done for my 16th birthday I did get it  finished a couple of years later and spent many a fun day terrorizing the neighborhood . Ahhhh the memories.

Moose


 
 

[sammons]

Moose,
Cool story, cool car (love the hemi !)

My first was kinda my '57 at 12yrs old. But 90% was dad's doing. Then my '59 Elcaminoat 14, 60% dad. Lots of clean up/fix type. My first really 100% me was a '63 piece of s**t that grandad picked up for dad in Calif. for $3500 in the early 80's.

Dad said "we are in it cheap enough, do it your way. Lets see what you got."  So I looked all of the GM part #'s and ordered all of the fiberglass from Chevrolet (wouldn't tell them what it was for, just had them run the numbers. Believe it or not, between their warhouses they had ever piece.) I stripped it down completely, and basically went stock (except for the stinger hood) My uncle did rebuild the orig.327. He was very pleased with the outcome and later sold it and the 57 Fuely next to it to a German collecter.

[62131]

My first build was a 57Chevy hard top. I was 16 years od and was looking forward on getting my first car. I had a long talk with my dad about letting me buy it from a guy who had built the car to drag race. It had set for several years and was not running at the time. I bought the car and got it running in his driveway and started towards home in it, I got just a few miles from where I purchased the car and had to have it towed the rest of the way. I rebuilt the motor with some help from a couple of buddies and did some body work had it  painted  stored it for several years in the garage never finished it and sold it later on. Wish I still had it today as it was a good foundation to start with.

[32chevy vett]

My first build was a 1931 Ford 5 window coupe. It was 1960 a friend of started it then went  into the air force came back with a 1957 corvette. He wanted to do sum drag racing so I bought the model A and later bought the engine from his corvette. When I bought it
it came with 3 Hemi heads I took the car apart took the 3 Hemi's to the junk yard and redone my way. It was channeled 9"over a 1932 frame.
I bought the car for $250. and engine a 270 hp with complete with the S.S.trim $300. I changed all the driveline to Corvette 4:11 poise.
corvette 3 speed. Then I took it to body shop for paint and a dent in the rear quarter panel. A few weeks later I stopped in and he had been to the Conn. auto show. At the show he picked up sum paper work on a new paint it was called Metal Flake.He said if I would let him paint with that any color he would do it for the same price $200 I Told him go for it.
 

[TFoch]

Cool stories so far!

After tech school in 76 I got a full time job.  A guy in town had a 70 Chevy Nova Red with a black vinyl roof.  It had a 350 LT1 that was getting tired, a Muncie 4 speed and 4:88 gears.  He had used it on the street and occasionally on the drag strip.  It had the rear seat removed and a roll bar added.  That fall he put it up for sale.
I bought the car and drove it home.  It was smoking a bit so over that winter I pulled the engine to see what could be done.  The bottom end was OK but we went through the heads and changed the valve springs and seals.  The car came with a single Holley 750 but I swapped that for an Edelbrock TR1-Y tunnel ram and two 600 Holleys.  We put a new Sig Erson cam in it, threw some paint on the engine and got it ready for spring.  I added a fiberglass hood with a scoop to clear the carbs.  I drove it for the summer but decided to do a little more to it.
The next fall I brought it into the garage and pulled the motor again.  This time we went completely through the bottom end.  I added a scatter shield and swapped the transmission for a Borg Warner Super T-10 with a Hurst Super Shifter.  I stripped the front clip and repainted it semi gloss black, reinstalled the engine.  I added braided lines and fittings for all the fuel lines.  I changed the wheels from aluminum slotted to Centerlines.  I kept it as my street car but that summer I took it to New England Dragway one Wednesday night and ran a best of 12.2 at 113 MPH.  It was a fun car and is still around a few towns over from where I live.  Would love to get it back!

The one thing I forgot to mention is my dad had given me a 1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe with a rumble seat.  Seized engine and needed a lot of work but I gave it back to him so I could get the Nova.  He later sold it.

[themoose]

Great stories guys...Keep um coming!!!

[sixball]

My brother graduated from high school in Texas in 1958. We knew that the family was moving to California the next summer when my mom graduated from college. My brother was going to live with my grandparents in CA and start college. He and I took his '39 Ford Coupe to California. He was barely 18 and I was barely 13. It was an adventure neither of us ever grew tired of remembering. The next summer my dad and I hauled the the family's possessions west in an overloaded '52 Dodge pickup and a big trailer with my Cushman tied across the tongue. Dad and I spent that summer working a gold claim on the Feather River with his uncle, all of us named Tom. Mom cam out in her '57 Dodge Red Ram stick shift after the summer session at West Texas State with her masters degree in education. When Dad and I arrived one of the first things my brother did was give me the key to a running '38 Ford coupe he had bought for me for $15. I had turned 14 in the trip.

In the next two years I spent every dime I could get on the coupe. I found a good 59C block and all the fixins'. That was the time when small block Chevys had become legal to run in hardtop dirt track cars and flathead stuff was cheap and plentiful. Vic Hubbard Speed & Marine in Hayward had all the new parts I could afford. My grandfather knew a remarkable guy that everyone called Hambone who had every tool I didn't. Another old guy did chrome plating in a shed in his back yard. Every removable metal part from the interior was chromed for $100. Not much was done to the outside. It was still the stock black and cleaned up pretty well. Dad was a journeyman machinist, certified welder, and one hell of a mechanic. He helped me a lot! We reversed some 15" rims. The rears had Buick outers. 5.60s in front, 8.20s in back 2 1/2" dropped axle, reversed spring eyes, tube shocks, Zephyr gears, Offey Heads, Fenton headers, duel glass packs, Clay Smith 3/4 cam, Jahns pistons, Edmunds 2X2 intake with 97s, Mallory ignition the works. For my 16th birthday Dad went with me to TJ to get it upholstered. We had heard the horror stories so I took cotton batting & nylon thread. They laughed at us and showed us a storage shed full of that stuff. They said they never had to buy any because gringos brought it to them. It cost $60 carpets to headliner and still looked great when I sold the car. It was my only car for a couple of years and was very solid and dependable until I started getting other cars and began to neglect it. Then there was the 303 Olds and all those trannys and rear ends. I sold it to one of my high school friends when I was in college. I regretted it while he was driving it away. He and I still talk about it and fantasize about finding it some day. The last we know of it someone was racing it in Northern California (Fremont, Half Moon Bay, Vacaville) in the late 60s. It had a Pontiac in it by then. Ted told me that he started his family in that car. I told him that I started a lot of peoples families in that car.   I was bragging of course.      

[Kiwijeff]

I can't match any of these posts, you guys have had some great starts.
I've had a lot of cars, mainly Aussy Holdens, but was T bucket mad as a teenager. At 18, I brought some plans to build a bucket, but gave up after figuring I wanted to play with girls and party with lots of loud raucous music. Brought a 63 EJ Holden, painted the wheels and engine, put a sterio in it, and called it done.
Then the eighties got into full swing, and I gave up on my got rod passion, as billet parts and graphic paint jobs turned me off.
I did collect two parts cars to build a T outer. One half built bucket, and another bucket that was in bits.
Work took over then, and as I was living out back of my studio, I gave up on the bucket and sold it.
I also had a 48 Chev Thrift master truck before moving into studio, but swapped it for a Bedford house truck. Wish I'd kept the Chev, coolest truck I ever owned, it was rough, and ate gas! But started every time and was mechanicly sound.
After 11 years in the studio, I closed it, and moved into a nice home with a small two car shed.
By then, I was driving a cool WB Holden one ton flatbed ute. Great car, very practical, but no good being a two seater. Sold that and brought a 1930 Model A Colonial cab pickup.
Spent a year stripping and rebuilding that, before I found the Hudson. Sold Model A before it was finished, so I could rebuild the Hudson. Spent just over 5 months making it my own, and been driving it since.
Other cars have come and gone, but as my first love was a bucket, I may do one in the future, and get that outer my system.

[ghost28]

My first car that I got running and performing real good , was a 57 chevy hardtop hiboy., It was solid black running a small block 292 built by Bandimere. The weak link with this car was the rear gears, but my favorite car was my 55 chevy 2dr sedan. Here is the story I wrote for a hotrod magazine back in 2011 some fiction, but mostly truth, about my favorite car, and the summer of 1970

                                                            The Curtis Marauders

My family lived in Aurora, Colorado, which is the eastern suburb of denver and our house was in close proximity to the Aurora Police Department, which was at the time located 16th and 17th on Del Mar Circle. Nowadays, that area is known as "old Aurora" because the city center has moved south.  Because of some of the hi-jinks that myself, and my three brothers, would pull in the neighborhood mostly automotive in nature, we aquired, from some of the police officers in the area, the label of the Curtis Marauders, hence the title,. We weren't bad mind you, but as in the Beach Boys song "I Get Around"-"My buddies and me are getting real well known, yeah the bad guys know us a they would leave us alone."
Anyway, back to the story; it takes place in 1970. I owned, at the time, a 1957 chevy, black and jacked up gasser style with a bandiemere-bored and built 292 small block. Fast enough but not consistent, it was good street car for the times. The kid across the street had a 1955 chevy 150 series 2-door sedan that his brother used to drag race, but gave it up. His 55 had the look of the two-lane black top car, before the movie even came out and used to have a 396 engine in it and was quite fast. Since he quit racing, a stock 265", 4-barrel was installed along with a 4 speed, but the rear gears were still the 8.75" Chrysler - with a 5;57 ratio posi, which meant traffic light to traffic light it would hold it's own. but it ran out of steam fast.
One early friday afternoon in one of our hi-jink moments we raced the `55 chevy 265" blew up and I shattered my `57's rear gears. Here we were, right at the start of summer, major cruising `season`and we had no cars. Well, the light came on,and the thrashing began. By 10:00, we had my engine and muncie 4-speed in the "55 Chevy and decided to put the 12 inch wrinkle slicks on it for good measure. It was late for cruising so we headed out to the warehouse district at 39th and peoria for a bit of late night drag racing. we were early and the first, the second car there was a 1965 Corvette that was supposed to run in the 13's. After a little prodding from both sides and finding out that all they had for money was three silver dollars, a race was set out of boredom. and Jerry the guy that owned the 55 would drive. I was getting them lined up and Jerry was getting into his drag mode. that started by warming up the slicks, and a little teasing to psyche the guy in the Vette out. When they left the line I couldn't believe it, the 55's drivers side front tire came off the ground, not a lot , but enough to let some light show under it. I really don't know if the vette was a 13 second car, but that `55 beat that Vette bad. He was not happy. After that night I sold the `57 body and a deal was struck with Jerry to buy the `55 and my summer was set.

                                                                     More to come.

[chopper526]

Can't really say I "built" this car, but it was the first car I ever re-built.
Back in the summer of 1976 I was 17 and all I wanted was a convertible. I didn't care what make or model, just a convertible. I looked at a few cars with my friends but didn't really see anything that interested me. I asked my dad if he would go look at a 1967 Mustang that was for sale. We went to check it out and it was pretty solid. My dad didn't like it because there was a constant drip from the tailshaft which turned out to be a $5.00 seal. Anyway, the guy wanted $500. I offered $400. and he took it. I drove it for a few years and eventually I garaged the Mustang. Over the course of the next few years I did the bodywork, interior, detailed the chassis, rebuilt the front end and got a junkyard engine that I rebuilt and dropped in the car (I wish I still had the original block). So, although I didn't build it I took it down to the bare bones and built it back up. Over the last 20 years I have touched up and freshened up but I am thinking if I don't get another project in the next year or two, I may tear the Mustang back down and do over again....I know I can do a much better job than I did all those years ago. 

[ghost28]

400.00 dollars for a 67 mustang convertable. WOW. It sounds like you built it, and to still own it another WOW.

[62131]

That's great Chopper you still have your first car. That's awsome

[TFoch]

Chopper,
Great story and glad to see you kept it all these years.  It's part of the family and I hope one of your kids gets it some day when you're ready to pass it along.  Great looking car too!
Tom

[FATnLOW]

It was the summer of 1968, 17 years old. I had a few cars 1957 Ford 2 dr and then a 1960 Ford Galaxie, Boy what a long car that 60 was, Any way to keep up with my buddies I went to a local Junk yard and was looking for some thing COOL. Looking and looking I finally spied what I was looking for that sparked my interest,, a 1957 Chevy 2 dr  post body, checking out the car   it had a fair interior , but the only thing missing was the  motor and transmission. Made a deal with the owner of the salvage yard for a 1957 Chevy and a 283 with the transmission still attached. Took it to a friends garage and we installed the motor and trans, and brought it back to life.  I remember that I didn't like the paint that was on it and made a deal at a body shop with  guys that I knew to paint the car for very little money, didn't  buy any paint they just mixed left over paint together and it came out a Midnight blue. Had to do something with the wheels, the big thing then was chrome rims with baby moons...WOW  I was up town.  I remember also that I was really hard on the '57  always tore up U- joints,, and I always kept a supply of u-joints and  u- bolts. Before graduating high school I also got a 56 chevy convertible from a friend that went into the army,,,motor was bad and gave him $50  for it. Fast forward to 1970  Was working at a foundry  where they made  box cars for the railroad.. Viet Nam war was going on  I had a Cousin that was a Col. in the Air Force and said to me if you don't join the Air Force you're gonna get drafted in the Army , so I joined the Air Force Left the '57 with my girl friend and went off to boot camp.  While at Tech School for the Air Force my girl Friend sold my '57,,,,for $300 dollars..
Well to this day my girl friend still talks about selling the 57 and kicks her self in the butt when she thinks about it.. She's my wife now

[chopper526]

Thanks, guys. Yea, my boys are already fighting over who gets the coupe and who gets the Mustang when I die I have four boys, so they want to know what two other cars I will have so everybody gets one. I'm just glad they say it all with a smile on their faces.