Can an old timer just look and remember?

[JoePostles]

I know I have not posted any build info or photos, but I can't help the feeling of belonging when I see what today's builders are doing with what
I grew up with as daily transportation. The old REO with the Nehi Cola logo on the door had a grain body on it when I drove it to haul barley and rye.
The 31 Ford sedan was my way of getting from one farm field to another.
Drivers lisence --Pfffffftt, Farm Tags. If you could steer it my Grandad would
give you one of his famous "C.T. Postles" driving lessons. I was 12 when he
stood on the running board and put the old REO in gear and got me going in
first. Then he jumped off and told me to take it home, 6 miles away. The 49 Nash was my grandmother's go to town car and no one but her drove it.
The 29 "hack" as we called it, was an early version of a delivry van. I used it to haul calves and pigs to the livestock auction by the time I was 14. Now I see them chopped and dropped low over frame rails and guys driving them with their heads stuck out through the cut out roof. The International truck
I hauled hay bales on had a rope tied to the door handle. I used to grab the
rope, jump to the running board and then stand on one leg and open the door
so I didn't fall off the running board before I could scramble inside. Now, I see them as Rat Rods with no doors and an open roof for climbing in.
Just say'n

 

[Ezheimers]

Keep talkin' Joe.....

 

[Ezheimers]

Welcome To The Forum... Just Keep Talkin' Joe... -EZ [cl

 

[BruceR&C]

Welcome Joe,,,,X3 Keep Talkin'. Your memories made my day.[cl[cl[cl

 

[skull]

yep

keep the memories goin'....like to hear the "good ole days" stuff:

Later

 

[26Troadster]

i'm going to be 52 in march and remember my great grandfather on the farm with his ol mule and some of the stuff he did and the storys he told me. he was the last blacksmith for the city of houston, needless to say when he spoke i listened, and i'm listening now. please keep going. [cl

 

[BruceKoukalaka]

Please more

I'll chime right in and say yes to more stories.[P[P[P

 

[martinez.ryan]

more please....

 

[mikec4193]

HI Joe Postles

I love hearing the history behind our crazy hobby we all so love. Please keep talking to us. Hey maybe you give us some pointers on how it used to done so we can continue on with the old school techniques.
I wish I had listen better when my dad was around...he had a boat load of knowledge about stuff back in his day and age...stuff from the 1930's and forward.

MikeC

 

[JoePostles]

Can an old timer just read and remember ?

Well fella's it appears at least half dozen or so of you enjoyed reading about
the "original rat rods" I had for daily transportation as a young man.
Thank you for the invites to keep writing. I received them on my Aol site.
Do a search (JoePostles on Aol) and I should still be there. I was a hr ago.
The reason for my post today is to say thank you and tell the rest of you
that only a couple days into membership I got an anonymous message from
a "Sr. Member" signing only as "Bruce", telling me I was out of my element and should "Get on over to H.A.M.B with the has-been story tellers.
I am afraid the tone of his msg hit me just below the belt and I deleted all
reference to RAT RODS RULE from my computer. I found a scrap of paper I made notes on when I signed up and managed to find my way here.
However, it is only to say "goodby" . As I stated in my last attempted post, which I don't think was printed ~ I have no need to force myself into a club that allows box frame, custom fabricated, machine milled, street rods to be
called "Rat Rods". In my mind that is the sign of a "wannabe" who does not know how to put a Cadillac V8 between the original frame rails of a 32 Ford
without the aid of a slide rule and micrometer. The old C20 62 Chev truck,
"Irv" and I put a Caprice 350 V8 in and hooked thru 3 short drive shafts because we only had a welder, and torch set to work with, was the last true
Rat Rod I ever built or will see anyone build. Every piece of that rig came from junk salvage. Your guys with the custom headers, pro-shop shifters, and
faked up patina (rust ala sander and rain) can have the RRR Elite Club all to
themselves. I have several sites and boards on the net and am a recognized
Aol contributor with contacts in Australia, Nova Scotia, England, France, USA,
and several prominent Newspapers throughout the various United States.
I have better things to do than be called a has been old timer, story teller
by someone 1/2 my age who hasn't got a clue about matching old Buick drums to Ford spindles for better front brakes. Or using old mags with the oval lug slots and pop in shims to fit any 5 lug wheel hub on any vehicle.
Everything today is "machined to fit" on a professional lathe.
"Try it on a dirt floor in an old shed while lying on a plastic painters cloth so you don't lose your dropped bolts in the mud under the car. Put 4 socket
set extension bars together with a swivel on the end to reach a bolt and then turn the bar with an adjustable wrench, because "Irv" is using the ratchet
and you only have " one". "THEN YOU ARE RAT RODD'N" Joe
ps I won't be back.

 

[kkadams123]

This makes me sad. I feel that this site welcomes all types and all styles of whatever we want to share. I tried the H.A.M.B site and was degraded and blasted because of my simple introduction. I have never been back. I came to this site and was warmly welcomed. I don't post much, but check and read every day. This site has class, and to have someone bash this person who has a wealth of knowledge, experience and stories is very disturbing to me. I may not know the whole situation, but from what I have read here. Someone was unfair, and acting like they are better than the rest. I hope this site remains a site that welcomes all people and points of view.

 

[ronnysplymouth]

What a weird thread.......what just happened here?

 

[Old Iron]

[S [P

 

[26Troadster]

[S thats sad that one a**hole can run someone away

 

[carlm]

Will I enjoyed the first post and the second one,his description of building that car sounded like my experience building mine,Shame one person can put someone off ,It cant have been one of the regular posters that sent that pm that just isnt the attitude of this site in any of my experience . Shame

 

[Torch]

I was born in 1967 but
My grandpa was born in 1908
because we were close and I never was in such a hurry that I didn't have the time to hear him talk...
I'd consider I've been around at least that long and he's sort of still around.
I still hear him telling me things.
We weren’t just family because we shared blood.
he took me under his wing like an apprentice and because of him I have good relations with my pop and other folks.
And I've had other friendships along those lines and that's how it goes when you respect your elders

 

[Torch]

Grandpa worked at Cudahay's packing house in South O. That's where he picked up the nickname Pinky.
he was in charge of payroll and quality control. When his dad died he was 16, dropped out of school and rode trains from town to town following the work to send some home. Said he almost froze to death one winter when the boxcar passed a leaking water tower as the door was closing

He had an old icebox under the back porch steps to the attic, the steps were our workbench, he had a retaining wall of paver bricks we'd work off of and a small shed for the other stuff.
he'd tell me stories of tearing down cars and puttign them back together. fishing out broken axle shafts in the winter time, rebuilding babbit rods, fixing up a car and ending up with more parts than you started.
He had the model T's and A's drove them from Omaha to California and back.
he liked the Plymouths with the hydrostatic transmissions and when I was in grade school he had a series of Plymouth Fury's and sport fury's all 383 cars.
I remember when I had my 73 grand prix he said that 400 is no toy. I said it has a helluva downshift and he told me "I know, I had then 383's....you stay out of that passing gear unless you really need it".
We used to pile in his Fury and take a trip from Omaha out to his cabin in Duncan Ne for a weekend of fishing. Yeah he'd get into that passing gear on old us 30
The hardest thing he ever had to do Mom said was when he handed her his license and told her "it's time... I'm not safe".
He had gone through Cobalt and radiation treatment in his 50's for Lymphoma and they took out a spot of bone cancer the dye found>
he lived into his 80's but it wasn't easy the radiation had burned his lungs and gave him water on the heart.
No Excuses. he never would accept an excuse for anything and you did not lie to him.
Jimmy Stuart and John Wayne were his favorite actors
OHHHHH lord don't ask him what he thought about Reagan or them damn space shuttle punchin' holes in the Ozone.
If you were a butcher and put out a porterhouse...it better have the full tenderloin on it.
When we laid him to rest a few old timers we didn't know came up to us and said "your grandpa was a joker but he also was one of the toughest AND kindest most honest men in south Omaha and don't you ever forget that".
So if there's someone I want to be like...
I worked for am old guy named Clyde Kocher who I was friends with too...taught me a few good things

 

[Sam_Fear]

Well....bye Joe.

Kinda odd. I gotta wonder if 'Bruce' was saying HAMBers would like his stories too, and good ol' Joe is a little quick on the defensive. I seriously doubt any "Sr. Member" on RRR would bother to PM a guy to tell him to leave? Weird.

 

[sgtpontiac]

Did he vacate the site???

Well....bye Joe.

Kinda odd. I gotta wonder if 'Bruce' was saying HAMBers would like his stories too, and good ol' Joe is a little quick on the defensive. I seriously doubt any "Sr. Member" on RRR would bother to PM a guy to tell him to leave? Weird.

WTH??? Did he say that somebody PM'd him to leave??? [S

 

[sgtpontiac]

Went back and read his last post...... WOW..

doesn't sound like something anyone here would do....wonder why he didn't get with the Mod to see what was up.....looked to me like everyone was digging the stories.....
Feel bad he felt he had to leave......makes you wonder what was said and who said it if anyone...?? Sorry it worked out that way....