Where It All Began...

Sometimes it's strange where ideas come from. Samuel Smiles once said, "... if you sow a thought, you reap an act; Sow an act and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny." So true. I was doing some proof reading yesterday on a book I've finished writing and will be submitting shortly on performance / muscle car advertising from 1955 to the present. I stopped and asked myself, "How did I get to this point? Ten years ago, I would have never even considered writing a book."

I thought about how I became interested in performance cars, or cars in general for that matter, in the first place. I'm sure you all have read countless articles and books on famous race car drivers that almost always ask the question, "How did you get started?" If you're one of those performance nuts, be it via muscle cars, drag racing, NASCAR, or some avenue of street rod, how did you get involved in the hobby? Was it through a parent, other relative, or a neighbor? Was it early in life, when you were a teenager, or after you were an adult?


I can remember when I first became interested in cars as well as muscle / performance cars. It was back in the late 60's when muscle cars were actually called "super cars". It was a great time - at least in my eyes. I lived in this wonderful euphoric place called the suburbs just over 30 minutes (in 1968 commuting time) south of New York City. Big time drag strips were nearby, NASCAR was on TV, Mattel debuted their infamous Hot Wheels toy cars, occasional street racing was common, hot rods were everywhere, gas as well as speed parts were plentiful and cheap, and our neighbors were cool.

Our cool neighbors were my initiation to performance as my Dad was Mr. Counter-culture of the neighborhood. He drove Jeeps, VW's and Saab's. My Dad still taught me things about cars and their basic function, we just never owned anything that had over 90 horsepower. He was more focused on practicality and good gas mileage. Our neighbors on the other hand - totally different story. To the right was Lenny and his 1967 Hemi GTX. To the left was a guy named Al; he owned a 1968 Ford Torino with a 428 Cobra Jet. Did I mention about five houses down lived Frank who owned a 57 Chevy 210 with a Hilborn injected 427?

My Dad realized that instilling any virtues about foreign cars was out the window when I started building models of "Jungle Jim" Liberman's Camaro funny car, or the 31 Ford coupe with the blown 427 Cammer engine, or the wild-looking 'Cuda street machine. I was a child of "more"... the faster it was, the cooler it looked, the more I dug it. It didn't matter if I was at the race track or a car show. Moving or standing still - if it rung my bell, that's all that mattered.

The same could be said for motor sports in general, be it NASCAR, the NHRA, or a local car group, or a single enthusiast. Throughout automotive history, some things haven't changed - going faster, making things better, new ideas, daring to be different, experimenting - it's always been there, but it had to begin somewhere. Look at the lightning-fast evolution of drag racing and funny cars in the 60's, for example. In just five short years, the changes were astounding. Ditto with NASCAR - start at 1960 and go forward 10 years - you'll be sitting back as well going, "Holy crap!"

That's one thing I love about hot rodding and street rods - the game is always changing - and change is good. However, we should always remember and honor the past. I hope we never get to the point where we shut the door on it. I've been fortunate in my life where I've had the opportunity to not only take both my daughters to car shows, but also my grand-kids. My wife and I still attend them. My immediate family can, at minimum, can appreciate an "old car", be it a street rod, muscle car, or even a rusty jalopy on the back of a trailer being carted home to be restored in some fashion.

For a time, I was worried that much of the modern generation (kids born after 1995) wouldn't "be into" cars (domestic or imports) like they used to be. This was due to the fact that their parents never really lived in a time where they could catch the car "bug" or the fact that cool and/or fast cars were everywhere. These parents only sort of remember what it might have been like. Their kids now wanted "image" cars  - vehicles that were higher end or were more like a status symbol. However, in the latest issue of Hot Rod magazine, I received some good news:
"... all of a sudden, there's a new generation of car guys and girls. Brand bias is waning and more people are tolerant of both imports and domestics. Cars are cool again. MTV released a study that claimed "millennials have drive", basing it on a deep insight: they'd rather give up texting for a week than lose their car for the same period. Can you imagine the pain?"

Until next time, peace out.
Dave