Hot Rods Does Preformance Really matter anymore

Falcongeorge, you're funny.

The only two 12-second cars I have owned were a Volkswagen and a Porsche.

 

If I didn't laugh, I'd cry...
and sounds like they were TRUE hot rods...

 

Old age just plain sucks but...
I'd rather push a hot rod than drive Prius.

 

X2, well said!!

 

So you drive a piece of shit that is quick, and you like it. Good for you. Others drive cars that are not pieces of shit and are not quick. They like them. Good for them. I didnt realize that those who do not drag race every weekend were posers, who knew?

 

I've been buying this shit lately........because, yes, it does matter.

 

^ I forgot what that looked like living here in MD.

 

Only if your engine actually requires it.

Otherwise you are not only wasting money, but decreasing the effeciency (horsepower/torque) of your engine.

 

What the hell was Pro Street all about? Massive engines, blowers and rear tires that almost touched each other but rarely put their foot down. A little off topic I know but ya'll got me all fired up.

 

Whoa, wait a minute, just had a flashback. I've heard this conversation before................. I think it was between the Hot Rodders and the Custom Builders back in the 60s/70s.

BTW -- Pro Street? Kinda race car looking cars for the street. Dare I mention street driven Gassers?

 

Now days it seems Hot Rodder's only care if an engine looks good,has good street manners, dependability and barely enough power to get them back and forth to the car show. What say you?

My only exception to your statement......."barely enough power"
I haven't come across any Hot Rods with this condition.
As for looking good/good street manners, dependable.....well, don't know any Hot Rodders that don't want that?

 

After tracking down the car I had been after for the better part of 20 years it finally fell in my lap. Inline 6 cyl. 3 on the tree 51 bus coupe . Started scrounging up "speed "parts for it even going so far as to start planning out some oddball ass induction that would really make it sing and then it hit me over the head like a ton of bricks. The car with it's 216 would not perform like I wanted it to no matter what I threw at it parts or money wise. And it's full pressure big bros wouldn't either. No knock on the inline guys just my personal trip. So instead of work with what's there we're now gutting it and chasing performance. Big engine,big headaches, big smiles.

 

Exactly why I didnt bother spending thousands to rebuild the 150HP flathead in the caddy..150HP or 300HP? 300HP wins. Already has too much torque for the stock leaf springs and no room for slapper bars. Triangulated 4 bar rear suspension will be next.

 

My God the man is mental. Egocentric beyond belief.

 

Might be worth it if it's not full of corn squeezins. -Dave

 

Your right, I was just thinking of editing that to say "just enough".

since it's not a pressurized oiling system and only has oil slingers on the rods I wouldn't bother with any part of a 216, as much as I hate to send it off to China i'd scrap it and get something like a 235 or even a 230 or 250 out or a Nova.

 

This is a tough one to answer or comment on. I do still care about performance, and every vehicle I own indicates it:
DD? A 4cyl Fusion, but it's a turbo with 245 hp out of 121 cid.
previous DD? A MK8 lincoln, a luxury car I still own but seldom drive, but has a screaming 4 cam V8 with 32 valves, 6K shifts from factory.
Truck? A Chevy Silverado 2500 HD, but it's also a turbocharged diesel.
Hot Rod #1? BGII ,a '31"A" hiboy with a barely streetable 355cid SBC with all the goodies, 4 speedt, locker rear, this is my go fast car.
Hot Rod #2? '40 Ford coupe, first class nice build, inside & out, with a mild build on a SBF, T5 , limited slip rear, IFS, 4 whl. discs, power R&P steer, AC, etc. this is my cruiser, and the T5 and SBF make it a freeway cruiser comparable to the new cars.
BGII is fast, faster than I want to drive in a quarter at the age of 77, so I limit myself to the 1/8 on my ocasionmal trip to the strip. I don't want to put a roll cage, etc. on it, so that 1/8 is all I want! What it sounds like and how it reacts at lower speeds is why it has all the power it does, not to use at higher speeds! Only way I'm willing to go faster is to build or buy a full tilt race car. And at 77, and with my finances, I don't expect either to happen, LOL!!!
In the days of 100 hp new cars, a hot rod didn't have to be nearly as fast to be way faster than what came off the showroom floor, and roll cages, etc. weren't quite as important. Now, with cars off the showroom floor that are getting into the 11s, you gotta be scary fast to be faster than they are. And that means a full roll cage and all that goes with it.
My days of race only vehicles ended when I left the dirt tracks and hung up my helmet!

 

I still enjoy banging through the gears down a freeway on ramp. That is as long as there isn't a member of the constabulary behind me. -Dave

 

Me thinks "just enough" isn't quite accurate either........most Hot Rods I know have MORE than enough to get them there!

 

Well ok, let's go with" MORE than enough" then.

 

"Just a little more"

 

That will work!

 

Finally, someone else is drawing that parallel. And they both started the same way, when Pro Street started (I was there, because the street rod guys figured "performance" was a dirty word, and were more interested in power parking than making power, and that whole scene nauseated me), it was guys tubbing cars because they couldn't hook on the tires available (Think Nick Zuk's maverick, Gary Kollofski's '55 ect) then it became a fashion statement, and we know where that went. take a look at the earliest solid axle revival cars, a lot of them were pretty tasteful, and pretty fast. Then it became "cool" and the "hot" got sucked right out of the "rod" (hmmm, that didn't come out quite right).
And now, happy days, they are here. Its like a goddam communicable disease...

 

Wherever that stat comes from regarding millennial car ownership being down is likely new car ownership. Thats down because theres no jobs. Millennials have no money

 

A lot of the rationale I'm hearing is what led to the installing of V6 and turbo 4 motors in the 70s (and I never did 'get' that...). And if I dare say it, it's much more of a 'STREET RODDER' attitude than 'HOT RODDER'. Street rodders want more of an 'appliance' and after discarding the 'main' function of a hot rod (It's FAST!), went off in other directions. Hot rods are more than a collection of parts, it's an attitude. When I was growing up, a hot rod was a big V8, manual trans (preferably a 4-speed) car that could get your adrenaline pumping, and unless you had deep pockets and could afford the best parts, broke shit on a regular basis. As the old saying goes, fast, cheap, reliable... pick two.

The guys that build period-perfect 'traditional' cars, I get that. But they're not really hot rods; they're museum pieces, and few owners will treat them as hot rods because who wants to risk blowing up your museum motor that you spent years tracking down all the parts and shelled out big money for.

I could go on, but the bottom line for me is this: there should be a monster under my right foot, that I can call out at any time. Granted, I don't call it as much anymore, but I need to know it's there and ready.

 

I used to spend a lot of money and time buying, building, modifying and breaking parts and enjoyed every minute of it. I have recently been operating a hot rod as budget minded as possible (like when I first started due to current necessity), double duty car so to speak. The drag strip is a great place on grudge night racing the teenagers who are where I was long ago and this is almost as much fun for me.

 

In my opinion, unless maybe you are talking flattys, that's 90% a cop-out. I am building my '39 per the old magazines, not per the "HAMB version". When I look in the old magazines, almost all the cars with overheads are also packing 4.11's and more cam than their current "HAMB" counterparts. The tire limitations of the time aside, those cars were built for performance. Its the modern "re-writes" that aren't.

 

Then why HAMB up if the HAMB is not to your liking? Each of us has a personal choice of how much power is necessary for the intended distances traveled.

 

Huh? Pro street???
Of course performance matters. But as we mature I think "performance" grows to include :
brakes, handling, noise, safety and comfort. FAST is no longer the only thing, the end all, be all it once was. NOTHING wrong with that. If you want just fast, go drag racing. But if you want to really enjoy driving, it's a blend of all the above....and looks.That's why I enjoy my OT new car, fast as a 60's Super Stocker, comfortable, dependable. As for HAMB worthy, I really want a 1950 Plymouth DeLuxe like my grandpa's. Hardly fast, but COOL in my book.
Doesn't seem so complicated.

 

Wow, some of the posts here just make me shake my head. The engine while a big part of a hot rod is not the the only part, so much more and less is involved. Losing weight, gears, suspension set up, areodynamics, etc. I have seen talk here about OT engines and cars in this thread, why? This is the HAMB, you know where we share our passion for hot rods of a bygone era, all the parts/pieces that made them better and faster in the owners eyes.

A flat head is too costly to get alot of power out of, spending 3 grand to get 80 HP from a banger is a waste of $$$? really, not to me. Yes there are many, many ways to get more power for less, hell alot less, but that's NOT what I'm here for or what I like. I'm here for the vintage parts, feel, style and performance of that time. Don't come here and talk down vintage performance as out dated or too costly. Build and enjoy what ever brings a smile to your face. but remember this is the HAMB, is it too much to ask?