[TFoch]

This morning my wife and I were driving to the town north of us to watch my son play in a charity hockey tournament.  As we were going up Route 3 I remembered that my Dad drove over a coworkers house with me to show me a hot rod the husband was working on.  I was probably 5 or 6 and i remember going into the garage and seeing a coupe in primer.  I think is was a Ford but the thing that sticks in my mind is he had a Pontiac engine in it.  I remember asking if it's a Ford why did you put a Pontiac engine in it!

What was the first hot rod you remember seeing?

In case you're wondering my son's team won the game

[ghost28]

Dang Tom. You are asking me to go into a part of my mind I haven't visited in a very long time, but I believe I was around 10 and my first hot rod visual was a finished Revell big T model. It had the working headlights and all the glitter, but my first ride and real car was my cousin dennys 56 chevy hot rod. Needless to say I was hooked on chevies and hot rods from then on.

[sixball]

I don't remember not being around mild customs and engine swaps. My dad was a mechanic and his youngest brother was a hot rodder who worked in wrecking yards and later owned a gas station/garage. Along with the family ranching and farming we just grew with it. I do remember seeing something really special on a trip to Southern California in the mid '50s. We were going down a palm tree lined street when the most beautiful '40 Ford coupe I have ever seen came from a side street and was right behind us for several blocks. It was black with flames that went from yellow in the front to red at the tips. it sat on a serious rake with big rear tires and little front tires. The wheels were black with beauty rings and small hubcaps. When it passed us it sounded really strong, probably a flathead at that time. I had only see cars that nice in the black and white photos in the little magazines. To see one moving in color was unreal.

[62131]

I remember the first one I every saw, it was a Ford coupe year unknown with a flat head. My sister's boyfriend took me over to this guys house who owned it. We were in the garage and he asked if we wanted to hear it run, of coarse we said yes. I was amazed as he reached thru the drivers window flipped a switch and you heard an electric fuel pump come on then shut off and he push the start button and that thing came to life in an instant and I believe that was when I got hooked, I always wanted a flat head that ran a sound as good as that one did. 

[themoose]

I grew up in a rural town surrounded by farms and I guess that the local farmers weren't into hot rods so I only saw them in the magazines  that my buddy Paul spent all if his allowance on. When we grew a little older we both got jobs working on the local farms and in the summer with corn and haying season we made some pretty good money so Paul decided that he would build one. One of the farms that we work on had a 27 Model T coupe sitting in the back lot and Paul was able to persuade the farmer to give it to him in lieu of money for working the farm. The engine came out of donor car that his uncle gave him which had a 392 Hemi in it.  It took him a couple of years but he finally got it running and we were able to go for our first ride. It sure turned a lot of heads and the younger guys thought it was great but the older guys not so much. Slowly over the next few years other hot rods started to pop up and we even had our own club called the Mill Rockers. I still have a club card but the club is long gone.

[chopper526]

I don't remember the first one I saw, but I remember as a kid being attracted to the hotrod model cars, especially the radical ones like Barris customs. I built a few of those.

[TFoch]

Moose,
That's really cool you kept that club card.

[sammons]

Just found this thread.  I was introduced to this addiction very early in life. Most of dad's friends either had Hot Rods, Customs or at least a dirt track car. The first Hot Rod I remember was dad's 34 coupe in my avitar, late '63. The thing I remember most about it was him working on it in the yard. Then moving to Calif and back a year later I really got the fire lit.
In early '65 one of dad's buddies gave me a ride in his a Gold Model A coupe with a 283 in it, I remember it was a high winder and giggling as I was sucked back in the seat. Another was his buddies Black '40 Ford Coupe with a big Cadd in it, never got a ride, but it was really cool. Some of my favorite rides came from my Uncle in his 301 powered '57 that later became mine. Deffinitley hooked me for life!

[Kiwijeff]

 I'm not sure what the first one I ever saw was, but I know I was introduced to them at around age ten, then discovered that the big shed over my back fence had been takin over by these hairy hotrod guys.
The first Hot Rod I saw live, was a Model A tub, and I started hanging out at The shed every chance I could.
The owner of the tub would get myself and another local kid to wash it, and sometimes take us for a ride around the block.
This car still exists, although it's had a few changes over the years.
Heres how it looked when I was 11.