Last year I bought my first car without a hood and fenders, I love it, easier to clean and I don't have to mess with a hood anymore. No more worrying about fender stars from rocks, and the engine isn't a mess after driving in the pouring down rain. All my opinion.
I prefer no fenders......and consider painting the rest of the car black. That two-tone looks terrible.
What? Are you kidding? Quote: "Anything after 1932 is much tougher to make look good without fenders" What rock have you been living under? I guess SoCal,Brizio,Doane Spencer,and every other FAMOUS Hotrod builder or owner, don't have a clue......
Fenders. But I agree a full fendered car sometimes look better with a solid color paint job. Why not do one of each??????
"Most anything after 1932 is much tougher to make look good without fenders. 33/4's can sometimes "make it work" if you get rid of the stock inner fenders and pay close attention to the headlights and hood sides. 35 and later become very difficult to flow without fenders." Haven't been under a rock but been studying 34's for decades and am real picky about what "works" Same as a Hiboy roadster or hammered Merc; don't pay attention to components and proportions and you'll have less than perfect results. I'll be the first to tell you the Poteet 34 is one of my fav's!, because it addresses components in my above quote. He ditched the stock 'bubble' inner fenders, used the right axle, wishbones, wheels/tires, and hood/grille, headlight treatment to make it flow. All stuff that's much different than Stone 33 fenderless version. That's not knocking his car-just stating they're two complete different formulas with the Poteet car thought out fenderless from the ground up build vs. converting a fendered car to fenderless. Just yanking the fenders off a 33/4 without considering your now exposed wheels, suspension, etc. can kill the effect. You can "make it work" on some 33/4's ( hammered coupes and Tudors), but beyond that, I stand by my original statement that it's a real chore.
Just a small nitpicky point here - your "33" is actually a 1934. Two hood handles per side rather than one central one - if it has a hole in the lower cowl area which is used to engage the rear hood latch, it's a 1934, plus the windows have the sail panels for the crank back window ventilation. 1934 Model year production started in early September 1933, which is why 1933s are much rarer than 1934s. 1933s were produced for just seven months while 1934s were produced for close to sixteen. Paint it all black and run some wires or steelies. With or without fenders, it's your call. Personally, I like them either way with but you need to decide what your theme is for the car. I run fenders but then I like the close to stock look a lot too.
Fenders always look better. Same for resale. High Boy's look as if you couldn't afford to finish it. 33 & 34's especially don't look good without fenders. A fiend built a 33 High Boy cabriolet. It looked stupid. He sold to a guy who bought it to resell who put fenders on it and made a huge profit.
Keep the Fenders....I have more respect for cars built with fenders.Most people are to lazy,cheap or don't want to take the effort to make things fit in the stock confines of fenders and hoods.Yes i know in the day people took them off to go faster but in today's time you can get plenty of horsepower to go fast even with old motors.
OFF WITH THE FENDERS!!! face it it looks much better, lighter, faster and stronger. but you must go with tall skinny's, lose the hood sides then you can run those zoomies you've wanted to run!
if it is a daily driver , fenders for sure . if not .... up to you ! i like my fenders cause i drive it every day , like today in the rain ! .............. steve
33 34 look much better with fenders. Especially if you don't have the ability to remove the blisters and make new appropriate hood sides. And for it really to work, you need to pinch the frame as well. Not to mention fenderless Hot Rods are a lot harder to keep clean! Every intersection with a small gutter throws water all over my shiny black paint!!!!!
I have never cared for the no fender look on anything newer than 32. Although there are a few exceptions.
I run my 34 chev with no fenders. They are going back on this winter.It is a real drag to open the garage and check the sky for rain clouds or have to leave a cruise early because of rain or theat of rain joe mac
I vote for the fenders, but I happen to like the swoopy look that the fenders give to the '34 front, especially with the right rake. Jim
WOW!! Thinking about things, changing stock components and thinking about how something will look? Somebody should start a hobby of doing all that, we can call it BASIC HOTRODDING. Doc.
The Jalopy Journal
