Stories about why you like something--car, plane, engine, boat....etc..

My First car. Started out as a Triple Black Impala SS Convertible. Ended up in a Purple Haze, seven layers of hand rubbed "Plum Crazy Purple" 10" Wide Rear Tires with skinny little Front Wheels, 327 cu in hooked to a 4 speed.  It was the beginning of my divergence from balsa built Model Airplanes to GIRLS


Somewhere i have a pic of my high school GF holding my "Big Otto" (I mean the Airplane Model!) Standing by her 65 Mustang. I still have the Big Otto.

Those threads about the Honda's bring back some wonderful memories too. I could not own one, parents would not allow it. Dad ( who drove ambulance and picked-up many body parts)  said it was Japans way of getting back at us by killing our youth on their motorcycles!! A good friend who did own one, would let me borrow it while he was working, as long as I brought it back before he got out of work, with the gas tank full (cheap fun for 75 cents) Started out with a 90 just like Bob's and worked his way up to a 305 Scrambler with the up-swept exhaust pipes. Wow, that one we'd pop wheelies with and was the first bike i rode to get over 100Mph on, wind in my hair with no helmet, oh what a bad boy I was.  Later in the late 70's during the "Gas Crisis" my Dear Ole Dad stopped driving his 400 Cu In Chrysler and bought a 150 or 175 Sususki with a windshield and saddle bags to drive back and forth to work. I Never stopped razzin' him about that! He'd respond: Do as I say, Not Do as I do!!  I can't imagine the jolt of adrenaline he'd get driving that bike, while thinking he was gonna get killed at every intersection. He drove it till he retired and traded it in on a Camper/Truck and went traveling with mom.

Not so Fred, I think this thread has legs.  You may think your the author of "Topics that die early" threads, but I lay claim to the biggest thread killer.  I have killed off so many threads here with a nutty tail end Charlie brain drain comment that I have lost count.  

I "like" the F4U Corsair so much that I have it modeled in many variations, that and the fact that everybody here well knows I started one while in the Navy and posted pictures of me with one foot on the landing gear over and over and over.  Hey, it's my fifteen minutes.

But, had that been a P-38.............you would have really suffered with my love and affection for that particular aircraft.  That one I scratch built myself and was probably the first picture I posted here when I joined the forum.  I must say you all were very kind in your comments to the new guy trying hard to impress a bunch of guys that could scratch build him under the table and have many times over.



Edit add:  BTW for the new guys.  It is control line, notice the wires, and it has actually flown, many, many, times.  Even on one engine.  Especially on one engine.

Good on you; Rene and Bob!   but Bob.... "I" hold the record as the thread-killer"..  

Phred.. I'd thought about a reply for this thread more than once.. but you know how "winded" I can be (almost as much as you.. ) JK..  

I had virtually no exposure to full-scale aircraft as a kid.. but had some exposure to control-line airplane building/flying, through my dad, his father in-law and brother in-law when I was just a toddler. I was born in 1960.. when C/L flying was in its prime. My dad would be part of this scene with my grandfather and uncle through the mid-late 60's.. until my uncle joined the USAF sometime around 1968. That's when the activity ceased. My uncle continued to fly C/L and built a Veco Rengade powered by a SuperTiger .35 while stationed at Holloman AFB in NM. He gave me the airplane a couple years ago..



My partially-built Voodoo wing was built by him too.. as well as my TF Jr. Flight Streak, S-5 Jr. Ringmaster, Veco Warrior and a Jr. Falcon (aka "Topper") built from scratch.. That model I've since sourced the Mag. article and plans for, with help from CEF member Overlord (Lieven) who gave me contact info for Kirt Blattenburger and his "Airplanes and Rockets" website so I can build an accurate rudder/fin for it.



From "Amereican Modeler" magazine March 1962 designed by John D'Ottavio and flown to fame by Eddie Elasic at the 1961 AYSC NATS in Willow Grove, PA



Cool read here..

http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/airplanes/topper-article-plans-march-1962-american-modeler.htm

The "Topper" fascinates me.. because it was never kitted.. and I have one that 90% built. It's a bucket-list item for after I have some experience flying the larger .19/.35 size C/L models.

As a kid.. I was more drawn to boats through family camping on "Lake Manchaug" in Sutton, MA. That began in 1967. My grandparents had a little "Holiday Rambler" travel-trailer on a beach-front lot. There was a dock nearby with a gorgeous Century runabout that was likely the "Sabre" model. It looked just like the one in this photo..



I remember them saying it had a Ford 390 cu. in. V8 engine.. and the lake wasn't big enough to reach its top-speed. This was significant to me.. because I knew that my grandfather had the same engine in his 1965 Mercury Montclair Marauder that he towed the travel-trailer to the lake with.

I was into cars/engines at a very young age.. and had boxes full of Hotrod magazines. Sometimes there'd be photos of hotrod "boats" The Patrol Torpedo boats always fascinated me.. because they were basically BIG military speedboats! "McHale's Navy" was one of my favorite TV shows back in the day.

I dreamed a lot as a young boy.. but when I got into middle/high-school I took a serious interest in music and girls (not necessarily in that order..) My grades weren't very good. I was a "C"-student and had a lot of problems being "bullied" for singing in the high-school chorus. Mathematics was my worst subject. Where my schoolmates had advanced to trig and calculus.. I was having trouble with basic algebra. I got a "D-" in geometry.. and failed algebra II in my junior year. That was enough torture for me.. and I didn't even take a math-course in my senior year. I graduated HS literally by the "skin of my teeth" and had absolutely no interest whatsoever in higher-ED. In hindsight; had I gotten extra-help in math, I may have possibly had a chance at a mechanical-engineering career. Designing/building model-airplanes requires some fairly complex math formulas... and I actually enjoy that now.. go figure.  

Finding CEF was a HUGE turning-point in getting me back interested in modeling. I have all of you to thank for that!

Quick-story.. I took a break from writing this reply (just a while ago) to go down the street to the store. While there; A guy about my age notices my T-shirt and starts talking to me. My T-shirt was from the "Black Dog" bar on Martha's Vineyard Island/Cape Cod, MA. "I'll bet that somebody gave you that shirt.. didn't they.." he said..   He was right.. and I told him so.. laughing. The conversation quickly turned to our mutual interest in neighboring "Nantucket Island" and my flying there out of Hanscom-field one late-afternoon in a beautiful "Mooney Ovation" for supper. The airplane belonged to a guy that my brother was doing some work for. We ate at a "Bertucci's" that was right there at the airfield. It was nice weather; clear with a light headwind in.. and a light tailwind back to Hanscom.

Anyway.. this fella that I met this afternoon turns-out to be an aviation enthusiast... (both full-scale and model). A bit of an eccentric.. but how often do you chance to meet people who share your passion? He knew his stuff.. and asked me if I'd ever been to "Rhinebeck"? He had a friend who kept his Fokker DR-1 there. Apparently, one day another fella wandered into the hangar with info on "two" genuine Le Rhone radial engines in crates that he needed to store. They were stored there for years and unclaimed by the guy. When uncrated; both engines had documentation of each being run for only 4 hours since being rebuilt. (you can't make this stuff up..) This fella I met, lives in town.. and has some free-flight models from years past. He said he was a retired union carpenter by trade.. but had designed a full-scale Long-EZ/Rutan-style canard-aircraft/motorbike combo that can be quickly detached from the airframe and ridden like a motorbike..   and said that I should come by sometime to check it out. (This was a conversation that I had today.. in the middle of writing this post..) I'm as gullible as the day is long.. and always seem to be "approached" by people with stories. He knew his models engines though.. and told me where he lived. Maybe I'll pay him a visit.

How'd I do Phred?   I'd be glad to regurgitate more.. besides; your thread seemed to be lonely for some action..  

You guys rock!

Thanks

Just some stolen from internet images of a few of my early life influences

long winded story behind each

First car  -65 Ranchero
First real Motorcycle -72 Triumph Bonneville 650
Uncles -53 Chris Craft runabout
Neighbor kid's El Taco Mini bike...still a bucket list item
Nephews Honda 3 wheeler