What was cool

[Willowbilly3]

I grew up in the muscle car era. Even before I got my first car, it had to be 2 doors, V8, 3 pedals. And at least a 4 barrel (two were better) carb, dual exhaust was pretty much mandatory too. Only your grampa drove a 4 door or a 6 banger. Or in my case my dad. No kid wanted his gramps handmedown 4 door sixbanger car. Oh a few kids tried but you just couldn't jack up a 4 door enough to get into the cool crowd. The really cool rich kids got SS Chevelles and Roadrunners, always 4 speed cars.
Anyway, I never really changed although I did broaden my interests some as I have had several Ford 300-6s and some automatics. But to me, I still prefer 2 doors, V8 and 3 pedals.

 

[CR55]

I'm right there with ya. As a kid I wouldn't ever consider a 4 door and automatic. Few times I had to use my parents car, mom's corvair or dad.s Renault...I could never get low enough in the seat!!...CR

 

[hotrod preacher]

i grew up in a different generation, and a different location....
for my part of the world it had to be a truck-only girls drove cars we thought...
i finally wound up with a mustang gt later on, (even an escort gt once) but high school and shortly after was a love of trucks -v-8 dual pipes and a thumpin radio...

 

[HOT40ROD]

I still like 3 pedals and 2 doors. The modal T has a 4 speed and plan on doing the same thing with the 36. The 2003 Harley Davidson f150 has a automatic and the only reason it does they do not have a manual trans or I would have one.

As for the V8 I broke down and have a V6 in 1992 ranger sport, but its a 4 L with a 5 speed and it some nice power and runs pretty good. The truck outruns a lot of the risers.

As for the 58 rambler I am looking into either a 200 ford with a 4 speed or a 2300 with a 4 speed. Reason being it next to impossible to get a V8 in it with out cutting up the inter fenders.

I guess I never got over the Muscle car era.

 

[earthman]

Never liked 4 drs,except for wagons, until i saw a bullet nose Stude 4 dr from Texas that came thru town. This one was lowered to the pavement in the front and up a little in the back. It was the sixties you know! Flat black with chrome reversed wheels. The steep rake made it look about 3 feet shorter and the 4 drs with rear suicides gave it a unique look. Some kids jacked up their tri five Chevy 4 drs in the front and took off the front bumpers for that gasser look fad but that just looked lame.

 

[donsrods]

We also went through a transition in the mid 60's. You could go down to the local dealer and for about $ 100 a month buy a GTO, Mustang, Dodge, Chevelle, Olds 442, etc that was faster than anything we could build in our home garages, and our girlfriends would actually be seen in them. Lots of hot rods got parked or sold during that period. You could go into a dealer in the morning and that night be street racing with the big boys.

Later in the 60's I discovered night clubs and traded my GTO for a Bonneville Brougham 4 door hardtop. I found out two things about women during that time...........they love to dance and they love riding in luxury cars. Ah yes, some of the best times of my life!

Don

 

[earthman]

And everyone who got rid of their muscle cars are regretting it now with the astronomical prices they are getting. I let a '68 Camaro convertabile slip away.
So Don you had that ol' Saturday Night fever just a little more info for our mental images.

 

[cantwell.colton]

hahahahaha right on Don.
bell bottoms and crocodile boots?

 

[Charley Davidson]

hip huger bell bottoms and platform shoes

 

[Willowbilly3]

i grew up in a different generation, and a different location....
for my part of the world it had to be a truck-only girls drove cars we thought...
i finally wound up with a mustang gt later on, (even an escort gt once) but high school and shortly after was a love of trucks -v-8 dual pipes and a thumpin radio...

Funny thing, only girls drove Mustangs when I was kid. I was one of the first guys to own a pickup. I sold of a pos 70 Chevelle SS that was only 3 years old and 50,000 miles and got a one owner 67 Chevy 1/2 ton with a 283, then when the cam went flat on the 283 at about 50,000 I traded it for a new 74 Ford F-250 4x4 and was the first young person to drive a 4x4,on the cutting edge of the fad. There are well worn climbing hills in the badlands where I made the first tracks with that truck.

 

[bob w]

Going back into the 50's, my high school era, 4 doors were generally considered not cool. Also, lots of cars that are considered "rods" now were just "cars" back then. A 1948 Plymouth, for instance, was not considered a "hot rod" regardless of how it was modified. But it would be considered cool with the right modifications, which would probably be a split manifold and loud pipes, lowering blocks, fender skirts, no hubcaps or different hub caps and a club plaque. In fact, I don't remember that we ever used the term "hot rod" for anything then. Most cars, modified or not, were stick shifts. The ultimate was to put a T-10 4 speed in a '55-'57 Chevy. Almost no one had trucks in this area. Not many pickups in city families back then.
Notable exceptions to the 4 door rule were George Lang's triple threat Model A, above. A drag and show winner that was street driven a lot. There was a show winning mild custom '49 (or so) Plymouth (or Dodge) 4 door called "Friendly Fred's Ferocious Family Four Door". At the drag strip there were 4 door Anglias, known as Prefects and a 30'something Continential Beacon 4 door (tiny car) that was a terror as a gasser.

It's almost a pity that the factory muscle cars arrived not long after this era. Too many guys began simply buying a fast car instead of building them.

 

[donsrods]

I remember that Model A from the early magazines, and always loved it. There were a couple of 4 door Model A's in the magazines back then that were cool.

Don

 

[rainman]

You all must have been the rich kids back then. In my neck of the woods it just needed to be jacked up in the back with bigs and littles, and loud pipes. Anything else was just gravy!!!

 

[Willowbilly3]

I guess rich is a relative term. I grew up in rural S.D. the rich kids got new SS Chevelles and Roadrunners. My first cool car was a 64 Cutlass 2 door hardtop that I got when I was a junior in high school, 1969. It cost $1000 and I made payments on it for 3 years. I worked nights after school to save enough to buy a M21 Muncie for $100 to replace the 3 speed it came with. I worked in a gas station in the summer to pay for that car, and all my school clothes. The only thing my dad paid for was my insurance.

 

[CR55]

I guess rich is a relative term. I grew up in rural S.D. the rich kids got new SS Chevelles and Roadrunners. My first cool car was a 64 Cutlass 2 door hardtop that I got when I was a junior in high school, 1969. It cost $1000 and I made payments on it for 3 years. I worked nights after school to save enough to buy a M21 Muncie for $100 to replace the 3 speed it came with. I worked in a gas station in the summer to pay for that car, and all my school clothes. The only thing my dad paid for was my insurance.

WB, you were lucky...My dad didn't pay for anything!..He said if you want it bad enough, you'll figure out how to get it!! I'm glad now that he was like that....CR

 

[Sam_Fear]

Yep. 2 Doors. V-8. 3 Pedals. ...and a bed in the back. Stepside. The more used the better, but clean it up for the weekend!

 

[Willowbilly3]

WB, you were lucky...My dad didn't pay for anything!..He said if you want it bad enough, you'll figure out how to get it!! I'm glad now that he was like that....CR

He paid for my insurance because I hauled my 3 sisters to school in it too. And one tank of gas a week during school. We lived 17 miles from town.

 

[BigIrish]

I grew up in the era of 70hp 4-bangers, 105 hp v-6s and 130hp wheezebag smallblocks. When the first 5.0 mustangs came out with 225hp we thought that was an incredible amount of power. The few guys lucky enough to have old "muscle" cars in high school promptly wrecked them or got them taken away (yes a 64 mustang with a 289 was considered a muscle car).

We didn't even know what fast was.

 

[donsrods]

Yep, in 64 I worked at a Ford dealership as a clean up guy, and when I got to drive the new Fairlanes with a 289 four speed those things really hauled. We also had a 63 T Bird on the lot that I later found out was once part of the Ford showcar circuit. When I started the engine to wash the car it sounded like no T Bird I had ever driven, so I popped the hood. Under there was an all chrome 406 tripower. The car was a custom yellow, with real chormed wire wheels. It was being sold for only $ 1800.00, but to a Kid making only a buck twenty five an hour it might as well have been $ 18 million. I wanted that car BAD, but could only dream.

Don

 

[Willowbilly3]

Don, in 64 my dad had a Conoco station. Even though I was only in 6th grade, I hung out and worked there every minute I could. We used practically race to the pumps if a GTO or 409 pulled up. "Check the oil mister" just hoping to get a look. But the most memorable car I ever gassed up was a real Auburn boat tail speedster hot rodded with a 413 Chrysler and two 4s. The guy was driving it coast to coast.