986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

- Boxster General Discussions (http://986forum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5)

- - My hot rod roots (http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24338)

My hot rod roots

I recently came across a short video clip of me on "You Tube" from 1988, that was a time when myself and my younger brother (we were 22 and 18 years old at the time) were into all things 1950's American style, the clothes the music and most of all the cars.
Unfortunately living in a small town in the north of England we were very much in the minorty, as you can imagine :rolleyes:
What we lacked in money we made up for in enthusiasm and long hours in the garage, "real" American tin was both expensive and hard to find especialy before the internet.
Car-wise we used what ever we could find and that was cheap too!
We built a 1936 Ford model Y with a heavy roof chop,couped and sectioned body it ran on MGB wire wheels and had a 215 cubic inch Buick based Rover V8.
For my brother we took a 1962 Morris Minor, chopped and couped it and fitted MG midget engine,gearbox and rear axle and moon discs, we painted the Morris with flames and the Ford had scallops.
When I saw the footage it brought back so many great memories and made me think that most of you guys must have oil running through your veins and I think it would be great to see what other people have built or owned in their past.
If you do watch the video me and my brother show up at about 30 seconds in, if you look carefully you can just about see my "rock and roll" quiff :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp3Pv04O_6U

Rat Rods were great. Back then it wasn't about all the chrome and fancy paint. Most guys, like you and me built with materials on hand. I had 32' cope, chopped and sitting on a old caddy frame and suspension. Yep, had a caddy engine. It was fun. Built my first real rod in my early 20's...around 1966. 23T fiberglass bucket powered by a 350 hp Corvette engine. Red metal fleck paint, black rolled & pletted interior. And chrome. Cost me then about $2500...now it cost $35,000. :cheers:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcb986

Thats exactly what I was talking jcb!
I love to hear about petrol-heads car history, a time before air bags,crumple zones, anti-lock brakes or even seat belts :eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christian H

Thats exactly what I was talking jcb!
I love to hear about petrol-heads car history, a time before air bags,crumple zones, anti-lock brakes or even seat belts :eek:

You bet, gas peddle hook directly to the, OMG, a carburetor. Loved those AFB series. No a/c, am radio, loud pipes, cruising for the ladies, what fun. Wish I had more pictures than I do. I do have the ones of my build of the 23-T. I will see about posting them like coreseller and his 442. Nice job bud, nice job. By the way, I bought brand new in 1964 a Chevelle SS with a 300HP engine, 4-speed, positraction. Daytona Blue with baby blue interior. I ate GTO's, 442's, Mustang's, car weighed only 2800 lbs. And it was fast. Now I paid $2850 for it new. If I could have gotten my dad to front me a few dollars, I could had have a 1964 Corvette, brand new for $3500. Oh well, I've owned two since those days. Let's all have pint. :cheers:

[QUOTE=coreseller]Ran by these photos a few months back. I got the car in the mid 80's for $600, it took nearly 2 years to restore (parts were near impossible to find pre internet) on my own when I had the time.....

Great build pictures coreseller, the finished car looked immaculate! thanks for sharing.
Be great to see your build pictures too jcb :cheers:

These are a couple of British cars that I was rolling circa 1987/9

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/i...2092008156.jpg

http://i548.photobucket.com/albums/i...0952_30495.jpg

The blue and grey was a 1.5 litre "three on the tree"

The red saloon ran a 3.5 Rover V8 with various other upgrades, oh yes and blooded

knuckles.

For some reason they didn't seem to handle that well :rolleyes: