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History When Did the "Bobber Truck" Style Begin?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Strange Agent, Mar 31, 2009.

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  1. Strange Agent
    Joined: Sep 29, 2008
    Posts: 2,879

    Strange Agent
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    from Ponder, TX

    Maybe a stupid question, but as I've begun to see things through a more traditional lens, the question occured to me: when (and where) did the "bobber truck" style begin?

    I'm trying to think of all the old magazines I've looked through, and I can't seem to recall seeing a bobber truck.

    Is this a relatively new thing? How long has this style been going on? Who made it popular? Can a builder today forge a bobber truck and call it traditional?

    Any help you could provide would be great.
     
  2. OLLIN
    Joined: Aug 25, 2006
    Posts: 3,147

    OLLIN
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    Look up rudy's truck. theres a lot about it on here..
     
  3. Strange Agent
    Joined: Sep 29, 2008
    Posts: 2,879

    Strange Agent
    Member
    from Ponder, TX

    Well, I did some searching around, and I'm still kind of confused. Whenever I see a post about general information on the bobber trucks, it sounds like most everyone hates them, and wishes they would go away. Then I see all the bobber truck builds on here, and most everyone seems to really dig them.

    So maybe all the idiots on here have me disillusioned. But, from what I've seen on here, it sounds like the bobber or "rudy" trucks are pretty untraditional.
     
  4. DocWatson
    Joined: Mar 24, 2006
    Posts: 10,273

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    Its a NEW thing, as traditional as billet IFS. I hate those damn things, I cant understand why people think there traditional!
    Doc.
     
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  5. Anderson
    Joined: Jan 27, 2003
    Posts: 7,155

    Anderson
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    In the beginning there was Rudy. Then he made the sun and the trees and the grass and the bobber trucks. Oh, and then he created the hookers on the door.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2009
  6. MEMPHIS RAT
    Joined: Feb 14, 2009
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  7. rick finch
    Joined: May 26, 2008
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    rick finch
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    Rudy is credited with the first bobber style truck, and with a couple of exceptions ( 1 being Laurie Peterson's) is the only one that looks "right". His sense of proportion & humor pulled it off, and it is really difficult to duplicate without turning a truck into a cartoon.................... Rudy is Rudy Rodriquez out of L.A and is one terrific builder/fabricator! Oh, by the way, I don't particularly like bobber trucks either!
     
  8. DRUGASM
    Joined: Dec 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,817

    DRUGASM
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    yeah....bobber trucks.

    it might feel good, but do you want your friends to see you doing it?
     
  9. MEMPHIS RAT
    Joined: Feb 14, 2009
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    Soooooo, are the traiditional done how the should do it, or is it just a personal idea of neo-traditional????
     
  10. What????
     
  11. Mojo
    Joined: Jul 23, 2002
    Posts: 1,872

    Mojo
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    are we talking about trucks with short beds? Because those have been around since the 50's, from what i've seen in the little pages.
     
  12. MEMPHIS RAT
    Joined: Feb 14, 2009
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    MEMPHIS RAT
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    Huh, ahh never mind, i mean are they right or wrong, in your own opinions
     
  13. 61TBird
    Joined: Mar 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,640

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    I thought it was Fat chicks and Mopeds.....
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2009
  14. Dumbasses, chopped,channelled trucks with shortened beds have been around for decades. Study, read and observe our past. The truth is out there.
     
  15. first rat rods, now we gotta deal with this?
     
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  16. DRUGASM
    Joined: Dec 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,817

    DRUGASM
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    61 tbird yeah but i didnt want to offend.....my wifes a big girl and she just got her vespa on the road after replacing the shocks she blew out.

    and i agree about chopped, channeled, and shortened trucks. i just think doesnt look as good when you start getting into the "turret top/fat fender" trucks of the late 30's and 40's. they just look better as a full fendered truck IMHO. its kinda half assed to just take the fenders and hood off and run a generic lookin tractor grille or 32 grill shell.
     
  17. 61TBird
    Joined: Mar 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,640

    61TBird
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    Yer killin' me Smalls!
     
  18. Concrete B
    Joined: May 12, 2007
    Posts: 228

    Concrete B
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    I like the style...sometimes. I think the goal is to put them on a chassis that is similar to what you'd put under a model A, and thats why people call them traditional. If i got a way cheap cab, I'd build one right now. I'm sorry I'm behind the cool people, and would be doing it while it's "trendy". The cool peoplebuilt and sold them 2-3 years ago and talk shit now. I'm not a tradition nazi. I just like the machines.
     
  19. DRUGASM
    Joined: Dec 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,817

    DRUGASM
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    i like the machines too and by no means have to have everything traditional. and i agree about the 2-3yrs trend thing. i just feel it kinda hit big when people got tired of shoving 20's under S10's.

    and i was joking about my wife. she doesnt have a vespa. she has let herself go a little though.
     
  20. fur biscuit
    Joined: Jul 22, 2005
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    fur biscuit
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    go away. and dont come back until you have read some more.
     
  21. MEMPHIS RAT
    Joined: Feb 14, 2009
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    Ohh damn, i searched it nisce excicution, to me you can build whatever you want, just know people talk fast...
     
  22. Dreddybear
    Joined: Mar 31, 2007
    Posts: 6,084

    Dreddybear
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    The vast majority of those kind of trucks that I have seen fall flat on their face. It's so easy to miss the proportions. That being said there are a few I really like...


    [​IMG]
     
  23. pasadenahotrod
    Joined: Feb 13, 2007
    Posts: 11,775

    pasadenahotrod
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    from Texas

    I don't even like 33-34s with their grille hanging out and laid back let alone on these things.
     
  24. OLLIN
    Joined: Aug 25, 2006
    Posts: 3,147

    OLLIN
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    Here's the truck he built. Its One of the few later model trucks that looks good proportionally. channelled, hoodless, fenderless.

    I remember people flipped when he made it. It had a real 1800's pistol for the shifter, and the hookers painted all over the cab. The Coahuila is like the redlight district of Tijuana, so the people that knew got a good laugh.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2009
  25. vertible59
    Joined: Jan 25, 2009
    Posts: 1,058

    vertible59
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    Saw 'em in the "little Pages", but those looked like the builders gave a crap about what they were doing. There was one here in Macon in the '60s that was in primer when I saw it. Was a channeled Model A cab with a shortened bed and a deuce shell. Ran a 312 Y-block with 2 AFBs...man was it fast! Also knew a guy in Martinsville, Va, in the 70s who used a '36 Ford cab on a similar style build to what we see now. It was finished, painted, and WELL built. He ran a killer, solid lifter SBC...man it was fast too! So, I guess, from my experience, these trucks are traditional. The RR ones still suck, in MHO.
     
  26. FoMoCo_MoFo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 1,666

    FoMoCo_MoFo
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  27. Big Block Bob
    Joined: Jan 1, 2009
    Posts: 20

    Big Block Bob
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    from BC, Canada

    This is Laurie Peterson's (ratstu) truck.

    [​IMG]
     
  28. flynbrian48
    Joined: Mar 10, 2008
    Posts: 8,220

    flynbrian48
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    THAT is cool. Why do get upset with labeling something, anyway?
     
  29. hugh m
    Joined: Jul 18, 2007
    Posts: 2,143

    hugh m
    Member
    from ct.

    Remember an ongoing article in one of the east coast mags,(in the sixties), about building a chopped, channelled rod out of a potato truck, it was out of proportion etc. but someone liked it, point being it was around alot longer than most of the experts around here have been. Seems like most of the stuff everyone likes to hate has been around longer than they'ed like to admit. l Iike the traditional creative stuff as long as it's well built. Bobbers too. It's the "kulture" stuff that ruins them.
     
  30. Larry T
    Joined: Nov 24, 2004
    Posts: 7,875

    Larry T
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    The label probably got started when the term Bobber became popular again. That was way back in the ........90's. As far a style, you're not going to do ANYTHING to an old vehicle that hasn't already been done a long time ago.
    Larry T
     
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