When were you bitten by the car bug??

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Brooks James

Brooks James

VET, CPT, Huey Medevac Pilot
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For me it was when my dad took me for a ride in his 57 Corvette,it had the factory dual quad 283. We came to a light and the guy next to us said hey man you want to run that thing. My dad smoked him. I knew that I would one day have an even faster car

In your search engine window type

57 Corvette survivor


It’s copper colored with Mexican blankets covering the seats he sold it for 7500 in 73 or so no telling what it’s worth mow
 
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I got bit when I was 12 years old in 1975 and my grandfather took me for a ride out on the back roads of southern New Hampshire in his F8 green ‘69 Dodge Monaco 383. We were flying along and he told me to look at the speedo. We were doing 100 mph on a two lane blacktop in the middle of nowhere.

I said “Wow!” He just looked at me, grinned and winked. “This is why I own a Dodge...don’t tell your grandmother” was all he said as we continued at that speed for a while listening to the engine growl without another word spoken.

At that moment, I was hooked!
 
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My parents said i could tell the difference between a ford and a chevy pickup before i could read. My folks were buying me friction motor scale models, and dealer promo models, starting in 1956, when i was four. I still have a red and black 58 edsel model my grandparents bought me (at disneyland!) in 1958.
So.... its been a while.
 
@ 14 in 74, had a buddy that was a year older who was into cars so I got interested but it was 76 and 16 that I got the Mopar bug when I got a ride in a jacked up rumbling 69 RR, never looked back.
 
When my Dad got my older brother and me our first two AMT model cars at ages 9 and 8: I got a '63 Pontiac Grand Prix, he got a '63 split widow Corvette. Been hooked ever since!
 
Probably 4 years old. My dad raced dirt late models, and he fired it up one day for me. I still remember the way it kicked me in the chest. He let me "work on" old junk mowers and small engines when I was 6 or 7.
 
1961, when my parents moved to Houston, TX. A neighbor had 2 61 Chevrolets, one Impala, one Biscayne. The Impala was a 409 4 speed, the Biscayne was also a 409 4 speed car that was an AHRA stock eliminator car. When I saw them, I realized there was more to cars than the gutless daily drivers my parents owned.
 
Probably 5 or 6 my dad who was not a car guy at all always had old cars because that's all he could afford in the late 80s but I always loved them and thought they was so cool. The mopar came about because of my neighbor had a 69 dart and already having a fascination with old cars I feel in love with that car I was probably 10 by then by 15 I had my own dart and the addiction was uncurable
 
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Probably was 4 or 5 when I started playing with Hot Wheels, then building plastic models and watching NASCAR in the 60s and 70s. A older cousin had a 71 Challenger convert, another one had a 70 LS6 Chevelle, brother had a 71 Mustang Mach 1 429 Super Cobra Jet 4 speed drag pack car, plus my dad was always tinkering with something. I still remember my dad taking me to see the new cars in every fall, tried to convince him to buy a 69 Charger Daytona, (yeah no chance there)
 
I was 8 years old, and my big brother bought his first brand new car. It was a 65 Barracuda, 273 4 bbl, 4 spd. We were at my grandmas for Sunday dinner, and he took me for a ride. Instantly hooked! He is 14 years older than me, but our Mom heard the tires burning and the engine screaming down the road. She threatened to whoop his *** for driving like that with me in the car. We looked at each other and laughed.....and then ran like hell...lol.
 
Probably when I was around 4 or 5. My Dad's buddy had a white '60 camino, lowered with real knock-offs (not wire wheels either). At that point, I was probably like Beethoven hearing his first symphony!

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Had to be the Autumn of 1969.
I was shopping for a sports coat to wear, during my senior year in high school.
Back when schools had a dress code for students.
I was at a shop in downtown Waterbury, Connecticut, and when i exited the shop, there was a brand new 1970 Cuda directly in front of the store, parked on the street.
I don't know how many times that i walked around that car looking at it.
It was Alpine White in color.
To end this story, in May of 1971, i factory ordered a 71 Cuda, and kept it for 45 years.
 
My first word was "truck".

I still remember before even going to pre-school, walking in the neighborhood with my mother and pointing out the more radically styled cars. 2 of the first favorites were a 54 buick about 2 houses down, and a 67/68 Barracuda near the end of the block. Those 2 didn't fit in with the rest of the 60's and early 70's cars.
 
Brooks James said:
For me it was when my dad took me for a ride in his 57 Corvette,it had the factory dual quad 283. We came to a light and the guy next to us said hey man you want to run that thing. My dad smoked him. I knew that I would one day have an even faster car

In your search engine window type

57 Corvette survivor


It’s copper colored with Mexican blankets covering the seats he sold it for 7500 in 73 or so no telling what it’s worth mow
Click to expand...

It was the first word I ever spoke and have I had a love affair with cars since the ride home from the hospital.
 
Don't know exactly. My dad was the backyard mechanic for the neighborhood. He was one of those guys who could do a lot of things well, and if your car broke down, he was the guy to see. He would go to the junkyard get the part, with me in tow, and replace it. Money usually didn't change hands, it was a couple bottles of home made wine or bushel of fruit from that persons fruit tree, or something bartered. That type of close knit neighborhood. So different cars were around often. I remember being under 10 I could recognize cars year,make,model as we drove down the street and my dad would question me. I don't know what it was but I was crazy about them, and wanted to go to school to be a mechanic from a young age. My dad had a new '58 Olds and my older brothers would take it out and beat the snot out of it with me in the back. Guess that car was my first love, before all those lovely ladies came along :):).
 
My Dad used to own a Sunoco Station, and I started working there part time when I was about 12. The mechanic took me for a ride in a 67 GTX 440 four speed he was tuning up at the time. I was always into cars, but that was it, I was hooked on Mopars. Scored these at Carlisle for my garage.

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My dad was a young man in his twenties during the Great Depression (the real one) with his interests in automotive, mechanical stuff, but in W Ga there was no money and few jobs. He was raied on a small farm with 8 other brothers and sisters. He had to make his own way somehow. So he entered the US Marine Corps. and learned aircraft mechanics. Then came WW11 and a tour in Korea.
He retired fro the service in '55 when I was 7. Two years later he had what was called back then a "nervous breakdown". At that early age I can remember him walking the floor all night long. Mom told hm he had a young child to help raise and he better snap out of it. Eventually he did. But he lost all interest in mechanicals, but still revered agriculture he just did not have any land or money.
I have wished many, many times he could have kept his love for automotives. I still envision my first ride, a 49 Chevy how we could have made it a really cool ride! I still have to hots to do such. Pushing 73 I better get at it if I ever do.
I loved everything country, livestock, and dirt. Yes I wanted a fast and cool car but Dad knew fast would not be good. Adrenelin and fast go together. Climbing on a colt for his first ride provided adenelin. No fast cars though.
He never knew that I borrowed the family car, be it the 55 Pontiac, or that 59 Chevy how I took it out and "opened it up" wide open to see what i old do and feel that rush.
 
I was probably two years old! Damn 39 cent Hot Wheels car i got for my birthday has cost me alot of money over the years! Had alot of fun and met some of the best people because of cars!

Cley
 
89on35s said:
I was probably two years old! Damn 39 cent Hot Wheels car i got for my birthday has cost me alot of money over the years! Had alot of fun and met some of the best people because of cars!

Cley
Click to expand...

Exactly, me too!
 
As far back as I can remember..... 3 and 4 years old I remember model cars, Dad's "coffee" car (some old vehicle). '48 chevy pickup is as far back as I can remember..
 
Hot wheels cars when I was little, stories of my uncles cars my dad told me, I drew pictures of all types of muscle cars, built model cars too. My dad restored his 66 Cuda in 1986 and that got me into cars when we started hitting show. I continued building models cars till I was 16 and bought my first car, my 1974 Satellite which I still own today! Ever since I was young my dad talked about his brothers old 69 340 Swinger 4-speed and how it was one of the fastest cars he rode in, and that 340 cars were always tough on the street....so I knew I wanted a 340, and a year after I bought my car I got a 340 for it....and to this day I love small blocks! The hobby is a big part of my life and our family’s too, my wife also has a 66 Valiant and the kids all want cars when they are older lol

Here are the 2 cars that got me really hooked! BTW...the Cuda was also my dads @FISHYPETE first car and he still has his too!

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As far back as I can remember.
My dad was a "car guy" but not into modifications in any way. He would only drive a Hudson. I remember watching him do home garage type maintenance when I was really young (my 'seat' in the garage was a 12"x12"x12" block of wood).
I also remember sitting on his lap and "steering" while he worked the pedals during long family road trips.
One of the fun things we did was to go and watch the quarter-midget races at a local track. One of our family friends had a car that their daughter drove. That was my earliest recollection of any oval track racing.
Unfortunately, dad passed when I was only 7 years old.
Shortly after that our family friend's daughter aged out of being able to drive their quarter-midget and they offered me the ride, but my mom told them she was sure I didn't want to do that (she never asked me). If only my dad hadn't died so early. Who knows what the future may have brought?

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I remember sitting on the floor by myself watching early NASCAR television coverage on the little black-and-white screen in the Philco TV/radio/record player console in the living room.
After a couple of years I got into building model cars.
The first car magazine I ever bought was the April 1963 Hot Rod with the McMullen '32 roadster on the cover. I was 14 and we were on an Easter Break vacation in Sequoia National Park. The cover of that mag stopped me in my tracks when I walked into the little store. It was awesome. I must have worn the pages in the magazine out reading about that car.
 
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It was 1955 and my Dad had just retired from the Marines and they moved back to the small S W Ga. town where all my mom's relatives lived, and he got a job as parts man at the local little Pontiac dealership. They bought a new 55 and we went to Fl. to pick it up. I was riding back with Mom on a two lane as there was no Interstate. She said " lets open her up and see what she can do". I looked over at the speedo and it read 100 or so. I thought COOL! or was it neat in '55?
I learned to steer that car sitting on her lap at about age 8 or 9 on back dirt roads.
Old cars have soul.
 
i'm wondering if i was born with it? lol
i can remember when i was 15...patiently waiting for Bud Lindemann's road test Saturday
morning...around 1968!
 
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