What was 'that car' ?

[XcYZ]

I thought this would make for a fun and interesting thread...

What was that car, the car and/or experience that made you take the path that you are on?



I'll get it rolling....

My brother had a car, as did my cousin, friends in high school, etc, but... the single sharpest memory was when I was 16. One night I was sitting around in front of a small town popcorn stand (are there any of those around anymore? lol) with a few friends when a 69 Camaro rolled by. It was yellow with black stripes and running Centerline Autodrag wheels. It was a bad ass car, looked absolutely perfect rumbling by under the street lights on a warm summer night. That's how a car was supposed to look, and that's how a car was supposed to sound. I can remember it like it was yesterday.



Am I being nostalgic because it's the end of the year? Yeah, probably. Lets hear your story; what made you a car guy.

[Tom.A]

For me it was not any one car, rather it was my Dad. I grew up around them. I am pretty sure I was the only 5 year old dropped off at my school in a 1941 Ford Coupe, cragers and with 283 Chevy complete with a cross ram and no hood Me and my brother would always run to the window when we heard a rumble looking to see what he had bartered or traded for. My mom just came to accept it. He passed about four years ago, but even through my adult life he would show up at my house with something. It's funny even at 38 years old now ,every time I hear a rumble coming down my street I still catch myself thinking to look for Dad

[silver63c10]

Pretty much same as you, Tom, I was at the race track while my dad ran a rear engine dragster when I was a month old, and spent a good portion of my life in our parts store/machine shop growing up. Kind of inevitable, I guess... He wrecked the racecar when I was 5, and we rebuilt a 63 Chevy truck as my first vehicle when I was 12, and now have put nearly 4 years into a 79 Camaro for a toy.

I think the car that probably did the most to me, though, was an 81 Camaro that my mom drove daily when I was in elementary school. Dark blue, well built 400 and a 9" with loud exhaust, I wanted to drive that car so bad...get my second chance now with our 79, I guess

Thus the obsession, though..kind of runs in the family, pretty much all of the last 2 generations have made their living doing something involving cars.

[jephs422]

That's an easy one for me.

A four door 69 Dodge Dart.........Sawzall convertible

I had watched my dad race cars as long as I could remember and I had always wanted to join him on the track. Even before I got my drivers liscense I had come home from work at Dominos Pizza to find the biggest pole of crap 4 door dodge in the driveway with my name on it. And It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Torn up yellowish bench seats front and rear. Only the fornt doors worked cause the rears were welded shut, and the top was cut off via sawzall.....so, it was a sunny day car only, LOL. I can remember that car doing the FATTEST peg leg burn outs known to man kind.

That's the car that made me the car nut I am today.

[class67]

For me it was my neighbor........when I was kid, one the teenagers next door had the baddest 67 Camaro that sounded awsome (all cam'd up), not that I knew what that meant at the time but I do remember that sound. His house was kind of the "hang out" and all of his friends had Chevelle's and Nova's, Chargers etc.... Now keep in mind that this was in the mid or so 70's when you could get away with pretty anything, well....the cars that were always around the are still stuck in my mind, Chevelle's and and Nova's with Tunnel Rams sticking out of the hoods and Super Wides out back (hey it was the 70's ) and I thought that was so cool. Anyway from the time I was 7 or so I have had a thing for cars, not just because of the neighbor and his friends but those are just the images / memories that I always flash back to.

[Flash68]

When I was in high school there was this guy with probably the nastiest street car in town, a burgundy 68 Firebird with a Pontiac 400, Ram Air III heads, big cam/carb, etc. and nitrous. It was super clean from what I can remember and got me hooked, which led me to buy a bomb of a car (even though I scored) - a 74 Nova body with no motor/tranny for $150. I befriended the Firebird guy and he helped build my Nova to a decent street car. I always told him I would eventually buy that Firebird from him years later. I would have too but he sold it several years ago before I got the cash or ability to do a project like that. Ironically, I now have a 68 F-body, just not a Firechicken.

Good times....

[Weldon0405]

For me it was my dad. He had a '71 Cutlass. He and I would spend the majority of the weekend wrenching on it. He would always pick with me about having "tastes like my mother" because my favorite was the Camaro, but I wouldn't trade those days for anything.

[tones2SS]

For me, it was just the look of the car and sound and just the raw power that these cars had. Ok, mostly the sound!! Still love that sound more than anything else, a nice cammed motor with an awesome lope. Can't beat it!!
My dad was never really into cars, unfortunatley. I used to buy all the hot rod/muscle car magazines when I was younger and always used to beg him to drive his car without a permit or driver's license back in the day. He would let me start them up, but never drive them on the street. Maybe once in a while in a super big empty parking lot and that would be my highlight of my day!!
Excellent thread idea Scott!!

[67ragtp]

The year is 1977 my brother is 17 and Im 16. There were still a ton of 60s iron running the streets as daily drivers. My brother comes home with his first car a 69 396-375 chevelle ss 4-speed in forest green, headers, fireball 3/4 race cam(what the hell did 3/4 mean?) big holley DFDP. And off to school we went, didn't take long for the high school talk it up, whos got the fastest car in the lot to begin. When one afternoon from school we hook up with a worked over 302 boss mustang on a two lane stop light to stop light race on the avenue. Its funny thinking back these guys were not very friendly either. The two cars did not stage at the light although he was one car behind us, when the car along side us turned off he pulled next to us, even as a passenger my adrenaline was pumping. They were rolling these cars at 5mph, the windows down talking smack through the windows, and away we go, he's rowing through the gears and we are picking up a fender length with every gear change, it was closer than I thought it would be, which made it very cool. Those cars back then seemed so damn fast to me, in reality maybe they were mid 13 second cruisers always traction deprived from a dead stop. I didn't relize it until many years later when I drove my 540 rag top camaro to 10.80s at 125 at the track.

The camaro obsession came from my high school buddie's original 69 rs z28, we tore it down in 79, and it still sitting in his garage today its bit rough but all there. Once your hooked on the body lines its all over, at least for me.

For all the guys that went to high school in the the 70s, it was incredible seeing all the chevys, mopars, and ford muscle on the streets all the time. Great Times!!

Rich

[CRCRFT78]

My dad owned a shop when I was younger and used to always tell me about his car stories with his buddies. One day he pulled up to the house with a 60s Mustang convertible that was an absolute pile of parts. I asked him what he was going to do with that piece of junk and he said fix it. I laughed in all my 7year old glory and said, sure you are, not that pile of dookie. Low and behold if I didn't almost pee on myself (remember I was 7) when about 4 months later he opened the garage and out rolled a brand new (at least to me) looking Mustang convertible. I'm talking paint, interior, drivetrain, everything shining like it just came off a dealers lot. That was one of the moments I knew I would be hooked on cars after that.