The moment you knew you loved them - antique cars and trucks

[30DodgePanel]

Sorry if this has been discussed but I couldn't find a thread in the search bar that covered this topic specifically, so mods feel free to delete this if necessary. 

 

 Over the years I've randomly read articles about what draws others to the hobby and always found it interesting to see some of the responses and how diverse our back grounds are. I've always found other responses fascinating and hope to hear many more stories. For me it's a love story of sorts. Just like the first time I seen my wife and fell in love instantly, the same thing happened early in life at a Kmart when I saw my first panel delivery AMT model truck (they were never on the blue light special).

 

 At a very early age I recall the love for antiques, old photos and a love for automobile history as I searched old magazines, books and any kind of early automotive literature that piqued my interest. For me I was about seven years old specifically when I started getting into building model cars sold at Woolworth, Younkers and Kmart. Fast forward and I feel kids today are very lucky as some recent cars and trucks are instant classics in my view, but we may not be around to find out if our personal paradigm was correct, so hopefully the next generations will enjoy them as much as we have during the eras we've enjoyed and hopefully they feel a need to continue to save auto history as well, especially early automotive history.

 

To this day, whenever I walk by a toy isle, I have those fond memories flood my mind of the times I selected my next model to experiment on (we never took photos as a family, memories are all that's left). I don't have grandkids yet, but I can't wait to enjoy some of those memories with them as well as encourage them to enjoy things they are passionate about even at an early age. What brought all this on you ask? I have to get new jeans and I like Wranglers at Walmart so before I even make the trip, I'm already having those memories rising up in my thoughts this morning. Strange how some life experiences are never forgotten.

 

Over the years I've realized how much antique cars and family have in common. Meaning, the two have taught me very similar things over the years. Things like patience, understanding, fortitude, endurance, dedication, humility, balance, how to budget, how to prioritize, acceptance of things out of my control and how to maximize the short amount of time I have with both etc.

 

I honestly don't know if anything else in life has taught me more than those two things.

Family and automotive history. You just gotta love it and enjoy it while we can. 

Hug your loved ones at night (the human and metal variety ).

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[1912Staver]

As far back as I can remember. The person across the alley had a Model T pickup that he drove once or twice a week. I was about 5 or 6 and the truck really caught my eye. Then we moved just before I started school. A few houses away a person had a Dodge roadster Pickup , 1920 or so to the best of my recall sitting in their back yard. My friends and I would sit in it and pretend we were driving . And another neighbor had a slightly later Dodge 2 door sedan that he drove on nice weather days. Best of all were visits to my fathers uncles farm. Out in the country . a couple of hours drive. Many old cars in one of his pastures . Brass T's , not a lot left of them by that time, on up to the 1940's. But mostly 1920's . Model A Fords and similar. I was truly hooked and still in grade school.

[JamesR]

Quote

The moment you knew you loved them - antique cars and trucks

 

That moment was back when they weren't antique cars and trucks.

 

Model kits were an influence on me, as well. I believe this is the first one I owned (in about 1962, as I recall):

[Greacore]

When I was a child there was a junkyard down the street. We used to play in the old cars that were back there. There was one particular car, something like an MG or small car like that, that I used to play in the most. That’s when I knew I loved cars. When I was 18 I bought my first car, it was a Vette. It was white with brown interior. I had to replace the clutch, throw out bearing and pressure plate. Oh yeah, it was a Chevette but it was my only Vette. My second car was a 1970 Mustang.  Over the years I’ve had many. Now my forever car is my 1981 Camaro Z28.  In my stall is 1966 Mustang, 1922 Buick 6/45 and my 1994 GMC Sierra.  

[J.H.Boland]

My first old car was this tin roadster that was given to me on my sixth birthday. The first memory I have of noticing an old car was ca. 1957 when I was about 9 years old. Dad passed a Model A Ford with our '49 Chevy and I got all excited. His reply was " it's just a Model A". Then came scrap books full of everything dealing with old cars, then model cars, and finally just to shut me up, Dad let me buy a '39 LaSalle when I was 14. He figured that after lots of scraped knuckles and frustrations, I would take up stamp collecting or something. It didn't work out that way !

[30DodgePanel]

39 minutes ago, J.H.Boland said:

My first old car was this tin roadster that was given to me on my sixth birthday. The first memory I have of noticing an old car was ca. 1957 when I was about 9 years old. Dad passed a Model A Ford with our '49 Chevy and I got all excited. His reply was " it's just a Model A". Then came scrap books full of everything dealing with old cars, then model cars, and finally just to shut me up, Dad let me buy a '39 LaSalle when I was 14. He figured that after lots of scraped knuckles and frustrations, I would take up stamp collecting or something. It didn't work out that way !

Your tin car made me recall my great nephew who is three or four now and his love for cars (and especially trucks) at such a young age amazes me. This past Christmas everyone got him car and truck related items, from hot wheels to racetracks. I didn't realize his true passion for trucks until the day he unwrapped his presents and he shouted out each model and type of truck. One packet had about 25 trucks in the set, and he went down the list naming each purpose and when he got to one he didn't know, he would stop and look at his dad and ask for clarification. I was completely floored at his expertise.

 

We don't see him much, but I'd bet anything he grows up interested in the hobby or connected to it somehow later in life and I hope I'm around to enjoy it with him someday.

[J.H.Boland]

1 hour ago, 30DodgePanel said:

 I didn't realize his true passion for trucks 

I hope he enunciates properly. We were sitting in church one warm Sunday morning when my then two year old son heard a big rig pulling away from the intersection. He hollered "Daddy-- f**ck !" .And I was on the church board too !

Edited April 2, 2022 by J.H.Boland (see edit history)

[Billy Kingsley]

Cars have been in my blood since day 1. My family...both sides... have been in the industry since the 1930s. My great grandfather owned a junkyard from 1932-87, which my mom grew up around and also worked with him. My father's father and grandfather worked at Fisher Body in Tarrytown. My dad was a career mechanic and kept the USPS trucks running. My uncle and two of my great uncles were race car drivers. 

 

It was destiny. 

 

For me it started, I believe, Christmas 1985. I was born in October 84 and I believe it was that Christmas where I got my first 1/64 diecast. A green Chevette and purple Honda were my first, and I was hooked...cars have been a passion of mine ever since. In the ensuing 36 years I've collected more than 10,000 1/64 diecast, too many plastic models to count, attended car shows from Connecticut to Ohio, and created thousands of memories. 

 

Which is not too bad considering the health problems I've dealt with since day 1 which prevents me from driving or working on actual cars, and limits my ability to stand and walk around car shows sometimes to 45 minutes or less. 

[alsancle]

[Big Beat]

Since day one. I'm told that as a baby I could distinguish the sounds of different engines. At age 4 I stole a car - I was left in one for a minute with the engine running and already knew how to put it in gear (the guy had to run after the car and jump in before I crashed it). Then came Matchbox cars, car books and magazines, walking up to drivers and asking them about their cars. At 10, I discovered dealer brochures and made the rounds every year to collect all I could. By then I already had firm opinions on various automotive matters and could identify almost any car from a block away. At 14, I started working after school and at 17 I bought my first car with my own money. In my early 20s, I bought my first old car and tried to restore it. Interestingly enough, my family never even owned a car when I was a child, so no idea where the obsession came from.

[58L-Y8]

It was an insidious process, first was interest in the exciting new models annually but there were all those older cars about that looked so different from the new ones.  What were they?  Especially those with fenders separate from the body.  Because this rural, small-town area wasn't particularly prosperous, older cars were still in daily use as well as set aside in case useful parts could be gleaned from them.  My father endured frequent questioning about 'what's that old car parked...?   Motor Trend was on the newsstand, which while coverage was largely new cars, also had the 'Swap 'N Sell" columns of older, collector cars for sale throughout the country.  Reading those columns whetted my appetite to learn more about the Packards, Pierce-Arrows, Cords, Auburns, myriad other defunct makes.  If I had to set a date, sometime during 1964 the all-consuming interest to learn more about all those cars took hold.  It's still in affect.

[JV Puleo]

I have a vague recollection of a used car lot we passed on the way to my grandmother's house every Sunday afternoon...I can't have much more than 3 or 4 at the time but the sign had a brass "flivver" on it and I remember always looking to see if there was a car like that on the lot — of course there wasn't. My mother told me that, at that age I could identify cars — not by make but by which ones belonged to relatives. No one in my family shared any interest in them and I've never been interested in models so my first real "old car" book was English, Veteran and Vintage Cars, purchased from the remainder table in the Outlet Company in Providence, RI when I was about 14. I was, and still am, most attracted to big pre-WWI cars. After that, the teens and early to mid-20s. Almost nothing made past 1930 holds much interest for me.

 

When I was in HS I traded a musket and a rifle for a 1953 Traction Avant Citroen with a blown transmission. (I've collected antique guns since I was 12.) We got it to run, but never were able to fix the transmission. I sold it to a classmate who had a transmission shipped from France. The first car I owned, to drive, was a '27 Cadillac purchased when I was 19. I sold that to buy a dismantled PI Rolls Royce, my goal being to own a RR before I was 21. I made it by about 4 weeks.

Edited April 2, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

We lived on Princeton NJ from 1950 to 1960 and in the early 50's there was womanin the neighborhood who drove a 30/31 Model A Roadster

past our house occasionally.   That got my father excited to talk about the 31 Model A Roadster that he had when he courted my mother in the

1930's.   At the time the old ladies car was only about 24 years old and was beautiful  (The car, not the lady).

About that time we went to Florida to visit my Grendparents an went to Horne's Cars of Yesteryear in Sarasota.   I was hooked!

  That's me in the back seat of this 1906 Autocar.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)

[BobinVirginia]

I really can’t remember an age when I didn’t like a car toy or something to do with cars and trucks. I’ve always had a fascination with anything that has an engine and 4 wheels 

[30DodgePanel]

@Paul

"At the time the old ladies car was only about 24 years old and was beautiful  (The car, not the lady)."

 

Hilarious  

 

Great photo btw. Thanks for sharing

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[John Byrd]

Been a car guy since at least when this pic was taken, but my parents said even before that, lol !

[DrumBob]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I have been told by my older family members that I could name every car on the road when I was 2 and 3 years old, so that would be 1953 and '54. Nobody knew how I did it, but they say I was never wrong. That's when it started; my love for cars of that vintage. I have no interest in cars from the 20's and early 30's, sports cars, muscle cars, or cars of the 60's and 70's. It's the cars of 1949-53. 

 

I have always felt that I was born in the wrong time; I liked the big bands of the late '30s -40's. I love Art Deco style. I love the way women looked in the 40's. Their clothes were so glamorous compared to the slobby styles of today. I'm a WWI and WWII historian. I feel like I was there during the Depression and WWII. I don't want to get into New Age theories, but that's how it is. I have wanted a 50's car since I was a kid. 

[8E45E]

Its an interesting call for me on this, because like many others, I grew up around cars and liked them all, old and brand new (at the time) since I was around 2 or 3.   At that age, new cars still looked good, and different enough as the industry was still progressing in style and technology. In fact, my mom asked me at age 7 what kind of a car I wanted when I could start driving, and I replied "as long as its a 'classic', or 'interesting' car."   True to my word, I bought a 1964 Studebaker when I turned 16.  I went to my first antique car (and gun) show in 1968 with my grandfather, and again in 1970 which saw them grouped together as a whole, and not individually parked in a garage, or on Jell-O Car Wheels.  The prewar antiques definitely interested me, but so did muscle cars from those years which were brand new then.  I would have to say my actual appreciation for them grew starting in the early 1970's when new cars started to look ugly with the 5-mph bumpers hanging off each end, and de-tuned engines sapping horsepower.  When I purchased my first issue of Car Classics magazine in 1973, I realized I was 'hooked' until death to antique cars.

 

Craig

Edited May 4, 2022 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[keiser31]

I cannot remember when I didn't love vintage cars.

Edited April 8, 2022 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Paul Dobbin]

On 4/2/2022 at 8:47 PM, Paul Dobbin said:

We lived on Princeton NJ from 1950 to 1960 and in the early 50's there was womanin the neighborhood who drove a 30/31 Model A Roadster

past our house occasionally.   That got my father excited to talk about the 31 Model A Roadster that he had when he courted my mother in the

1930's.   At the time the old ladies car was only about 24 years old and was beautiful  (The car, not the lady).

About that time we went to Florida to visit my Grendparents an went to Horne's Cars of Yesteryear in Sarasota.   I was hooked!

  That's me in the back seat of this 1906 Autocar.

 Actually I was a car nut since birth.   Here was my 81 car collection by age 4. (Me on the left)

[Dandy Dave]

I was about 5 or 6 years old at my grandfathers house. There was a book called, "Those Wonderful Old Automobiles" by Floyd Clymer on the kitchen table. Could not get my nose out of it. 😁

Edited April 4, 2022 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[keithb7]

I like older things. I seem to feel that the old objects are tied to a simpler life. No cell phones. No social media. No internet. No video games. No TV. No microchips or computers. I see vintage objects and I am drawn to them. Maybe the old items Make me reminisce about my grandfather and my father who are gone. Perhaps I romanticize about listening to Willy Mays hit a home run on the old rube radio. Or family Sunday drives and picnics in the grass somewhere outside of town.

 

Simpler times when a Dad could pay the mortgage, feed the family, pay all the bills Clothe everyone. He could afford a car too. Maybe it was just a Plymouth but darn it he was proud of it. Mom kept the house and raised the kids. Everyone dressed up wherever they went. A man needed a car that he and his wife could sit in with their hats on. 
 

Just picking up and feeling these vintage things bring me memories of my simple life as a child.
 

Imagine stepping inside an old car. Sitting down.  Immersing yourself in it. Smelling it. Seeing it. Touching it. Starting it up. Hearing that old flathead 6 purr. Driving it. Viewing the world around you at 25 mph through the windshield. It’s a pretty powerful feeling. 
 

I knew I loved old cars. I just needed to figure out when I was ready to bring one into my life. I matured. I cared little about how others would like my old cars of choice. I had the time to devote. The money to fund them.  The will and the passion.  The shop space and a few tools. 
 

I’ve always been fond of cars. I was about 45 when I was attuned to them. I realized It was time. 

[avgwarhawk]

The time I had seen a 59 Buick Invicta sitting behind a fence in a junkyard. White shoe color scrolled on the windshield, $600.  I was 16. 

[8E45E]

7 hours ago, keithb7 said:

Imagine stepping inside an old car. Sitting down.  Immersing yourself in it. Smelling it. Seeing it. Touching it. Starting it up. Hearing that old flathead 6 purr. Driving it. Viewing the world around you at 25 mph through the windshield. It’s a pretty powerful feeling. 

When I was that age, we weren't forced to sit down the entire trip in a straightjacket booster seat, firmly belted in it like a prisoner being sentenced to jail.   For those fortunate who's parents had a station wagon, on long trips, the rear seats were folded down and a big blanket was rolled out, and aft of the front seats was the kids' play area.  

 

Now with all these government-enforced rules and regulations, coupled with the vehicle's built-in safety devices like airbags, does not allow the freedom we all once had while travelling.

 

Craig

[erichill]

Single digits in age watching the Waltons on TV  Fell in love with the Model A truck.  Looking for one to purchase now.  

[zepher]

The two 20's cars I now own have been in the family longer than I have so I grew up around old cars and have always loved them ever since I can remember.

I've always loved the wood accents in the interiors, the soft, couch-like seats, the long, curving fenders and especially the sounds and smells when you drive them.

 

[Mark Wetherbee]

One of my oldest memories is being in a junkyard at 3 or 4 years old while dad pulled seats out of a school bus to put in the back of a Seagrave fire truck he bought. At some point I wandered off and found a small car to play in, years later dad said it was a Triumph TR3 but all I remember was if I turned the key it would hop forward a few feet, and when I left off it would roll back into its old spot.
 

Before we get into some child endangerment conversations, this was the 1960’s and Mom was an RN - dad’s only time to get to the salvage yards without closing his shop was on weekends, so he was saddled with my two brothers and I. We never complained, they  were adventurous days that might have ended with a tetanus shot at the very worst…

 

We found that Seagrave plaque in dad’s estate and I now have it.

[George K]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:57 PM, alsancle said:

Nicked this off EBay. Wondering if this is you taking a lap. Dated 1967.

[Bryan G]

My father owned a body shop; there were always some older cars around, and some were his. But the two cars that really caused it to "click" for me: in about 1980 my uncle decided to buy a 50 Ford like the one that had been his first car, and he had my dad paint it to match. The car sat in our yard for a time. I'll never forget the distinct smell of a shoebox Ford. Around that same time, there was a band instructor who came to our elementary school twice a week. He always parked right next to the back door where we walked to the playground. The car was an early 50s Chevrolet Deluxe, green, and I marveled at it every time it was there. 

 

One more from that same time was the 56 Chevy tow truck dad owned; I thought it the most powerful rig in the world! (he once used the winch to pull apart an old porch for another uncle, which left quite an impression.) A great dash on that truck.

[1935Packard]

I was nuts about cars from the time I was a toddler.  My grandfather owned the 35 Packard that is the source of my name here, and I was hooked on that and other antique cars pretty much from the beginning.