In the mid-1960’s, while he was in high school, Don Freedman had a drag race car and already had an interest in the automotive industry, he says. But, after graduation, he left for college and was paired with a roommate who was passionate about the street rodding hobby, specifically.

“My wife, Nancy, and I have been married for 38 years and have always been into cars,” explains Don. “In my younger days it was drag racing a ’62 Chevy Biscayne called Bis Quick II. I went to college and had a roommate that was into street rods. He got me hooked.”

It was not long before Don would come to share that passion for street rods. In fact, he purchased his roomie’s 1923 Ford T-Bucket, and, as far as his hobby went, he was off to the races.

“After our first trip of over 20 miles, I realized that we needed a bigger car,” says Don. “We found an all-steel mint body ’28 Ford sedan. And, this seemed like a never-ending project, because every few months we would read about something new and decide that we should do that to our car. Two chassis, five dashes, two engines and a ton of other parts later, the car was finished, and gave us many years of fun.”

Since purchasing that T-Bucket and ’28 Ford, Don claims that he has owned between 40 to 50 collector vehicles.

“Just while we had the ’28 in the wings, we went through about 30 Corvettes, muscle cars, tri-five Chevy’s, and a few over-built show cars.”

And, he explains that he went through different phases:

“The Camaro phase, the Malibu phase, the mid-60’s Vette phase,” says Don. “But, all along, I never left street rodding. I always had one to take to shows.”

Don has remained enthusiastic about the rodding hobby, and eight years ago, he left his 35-year-long job of selling cars, in order to start a Web site, for buying and selling cars and parts, that is “geared for people better with wrenches than computers.”

“The trick here was to create a Web site that was user friendly, for people like me, who didn’t know how to turn a computer on,” explains Don. “Success came slow and hard. We continue to update the Web site to make it user-friendly, and we spend many hours a week helping customers place their ads. We try to keep the site simple and stick to helping people buy or sell cars and parts, along with having direct links to local and national builders and vendors.”

The Web site is totally devoted to the collector vehicle hobby, and Don takes his company on the road, to car shows, and demonstrates the simplicity of his site, www.americanrodsandrides.com.

“And, we like to occasionally have something in our booth that is a conversation piece,” adds Don.

In the past, Don would bring his one-of-a-kind 1937 Ford Wild Wood, which also happens to be the logo for the company.  Recently, Don opted to display his wild audio animatronic “Surf Dude”, named Oogy.

“Oogy represents high-speed Internet surfing, with a blown Chevy small block with nitrous, says Don. “The Surf Dude was designed and built by Ron Young from Ron’s Sign Shop. The attention to detail is amazing. Ron does full auto restorations, flame jobs and specialty creations.”

American Rods and Rides can be visited by clicking on the following link: www.americanrodsandrides.com

Story by: Becky McLaughlin