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Post by Foggy on Jan 2, 2022 22:05:16 GMT -6
My first car was a 54 Pontiac Cheiftan. Mine was just like this one in the pics....but it was dark green....and whitewall tires. The Indian Head hood ornament would light up with the head lights and was red. Had the windshield visor and fender skirts. A straight 8 and bulletproof hydramatic tranny. The fenders had THICK metal. A great car to learn driving at 15 years old. This was the early 60's and cars were changing - fast! Nice ride. Solid car. My mom drove a 57 Chevy wagon with a 283 V8 and it had low rear gears which made it a pretty quick drag car.....girn. It was fun to "borrow" her car on Saturday night.   |
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Post by Foggy on Jan 2, 2022 22:11:36 GMT -6
The above was actually my dad's car....which I drove for about a year. He sold it.....and he bought me my first car.....a 31 Model A coupe. Paid $212.50 for it with 25,000 actual miles on the odometer. Green body with black fenders. I put a rumble seat in it and replaced the original mohair interiaor with rolled and pleated Naugahyde which my mother and I sewed on her singer and installed over many nights. Learned allot about wrenching on old cars from this one. Everything had to be adjusted regularly. Fun car to drive. I put a manifold heater on it and damn near froze to death a few times taking a girlfriend home out on her farm. . This car always started and was nearly unstoppable with 16" knobby tires on wire spoke wheels. Unreal traction.  |
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Post by Foggy on Jan 2, 2022 22:21:36 GMT -6
I sold my Model A ford for $550 and bought a 32 ford sedan for $500. I think I was about 17 years old? It was a pretty nice car with a Mecrury Flathead V8 mated to a LaSalle 3 speed Tranny.....and a rolled and pleated interior. Even had Hydraulic (juice) brakes....which did not work worth 2 cents. The son of a Ford Car dealer in Madelia MN had built it the way I bought it....I think he went into the Army. I drove it like I bought it for a while......and then the Hot Rod bug set in. I spent two years building a nice 32 with dropped chrome front axel, chevy v8 engine all rebuilt with bored and balanced engine, hi lift cam, corvette FI heads, a Micky Thomson 2-4 barrel Carter carburetor affair, a four speed tranny, competition clutch, headers, and 411 gears and positraction.......etc etc. It was fast for it's time....but the big block stuff would eventually take over. I had some great guys that worked for my dad whom helped me with the build. Those guys raced stock cars and had lots of knowledge and we had a complete shop that I used to do most of this stuff myself. I spent every nickel I had to build that car....and a few parts disappeared from my dads parts inventory too. Lots of fun and I learned allot by building that car. At one point it was about the fastest car in town. I had a chance to prove it most sat nites. grin. It was really fun to cruise Main Street. The movie American Graffiti comes to mind. Ran slicks on the rear tires on a daily basis.....was really a snake in the rain....grin. The slicks were the only rear tires I owned. Raced it at MN Dragways in the C-Gas class. It had a flawless 1" thik walnut wood firewall....  Those little Anglia's would eat my lunch when they showed up....but I won a few trophies and such. I was a power shifting fool. . The dragstrip let me put a section of old tire over the bell housing for a guard if I were to shell my clutch. We could not afford such frivolous safety gadgets. . 8000 RPM....and drop the clutch baby. Smoke them slicks. . It would pull the front wheels just a bit hitting third gear at about 70 MPH (?) and you best be holding that steering wheel straight ahead. How I lived through those times I may never fully understand. If that car could talk..... .  |
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 3, 2022 5:17:58 GMT -6
Cool background on your youth. And some cool cars.
I am 8-9 years younger than you, but when I was that age, I was fishing, hunting, and doing some carpentry/ cement mixing work.
I usually didn’t get it right when mixing mortar.
You can see our present interests from our backgrounds.
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Post by batman on Jan 3, 2022 7:07:47 GMT -6
 77 Celica. 4 cylinder. $1,500. Only modification was to remove the screws from the backseat sidewall storage compartment. You could fit 12 beer and a bag of ice and John Law was none the wiser. Back seat folded flat for nights you got some girl to drink half the beer. |
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 3, 2022 7:27:56 GMT -6
My first car was a 54 Pontiac Cheiftan. Mine was just like this one in the pics....but it was dark green....and whitewall tires. The Indian Head hood ornament would light up with the head lights and was red. Had the windshield visor and fender skirts. A straight 8 and bulletproof hydramatic tranny. The fenders had THICK metal. A great car to learn driving at 15 years old. This was the early 60's and cars were changing - fast! Nice ride. Solid car. My mom drove a 57 Chevy wagon with a 283 V8 and it had low rear gears which made it a pretty quick drag car.....girn. It was fun to "borrow" her car on Saturday night. . Did your Mom question the old mattress in the back of the wagon? |
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Those little Anglia's would eat my lunch when they showed up....but I won a few trophies and such. I was a power shifting fool. 
