The 1961 photo, I am submitting is of my 1950 Ford Custom and me wearing my Oklahoma State Champions Football and Track Letter Jacket and of course my white socks, and my first drag trophy.  It was taken in 1961.  I was 16 at the time, and am 65 now. However, it seems like it was just yesterday, that I was driving everyone in town nuts with my loud pipes.

My aunt and uncle owned it for 11 years. before giving it to me, because the dealer would only allow them $275 trade-in.  It had only 41K miles on it with the paint faded, and no white walls (which was not cool). 

I worked after football practice at my other uncle's body shop to earn enough money for the 1957 Olds. Belmont Metallic Blue paint job.   I purchased falsey rubber white walls for $4 and $20 for my checkerboard flippers, as they were called then.  On top of the punched out flathead sits an Edelbrock 3-2 intake and a three speed column shift my friend in welding converted to a floor shift.  I burned out my mother's sewing machine sewing my own design door panels and later added full-length lake pipes and cruiser skirts. Since there were only two autos on campus, my senior year, the rich kid's '61 Impala Convertible and my trusty Ford.  In 18 months, I had 97K miles on it.

Those were the days when a commoner would at least still find the spark plugs.
 
Ron Harris