Why do we love these cars? (research)

Dear fellow HAMBers:

WHY DO YOU LOVE RODS AND/OR KUSTOMS SO MUCH? Why do you build them, buy them, and/or drive them?

I teach at a small public college in Missouri. Part of my job requires doing research articles from time to time and publishing them or presenting them at conferences. A few years ago I wrote a paper about rodders and customizers, and I'm planning to revise and update it soon and try to get it published. This is where you come in: I would appreciate it if anyone would post answers to the questions above.
You may post your replies directly on this board, or send them to me as a personal message, or e-mail me directly at [email protected]
The purpose of this paper is to explain to average citizens (like my Father-in-law) why perfectly intelligent people (such as myself) would spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars working on "a junky old car."
Short answers are okay. Long answers are okay. An entire story that somehow sums it all up for you is okay. Slang and jargon are fine; I'll translate for the masses. Don't try to sound too technical - just be yourself. I will pick and choose what quotes to use, but will try to represent the perspective of everyone.
Please do not post if you do not want me to use your words in an article that might eventually get published in a sociology journal. Please do not post any critiques of me or any responders. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and I'll answer them all.
Here are the answers to some questions you may already have:
1. Yes, I cleared all of this with Ryan Cochran before posting it. He's hyped.
2. No, I will not make a penny from this. Academic journals do not pay article authors, and my school does not give bonuses or raises for publications.
3. Yes, I am a real car guy. Some of you met me and my chopped, frenched, molded '53 Chevy at the most recent H.A.M.B. Drags. My previous ride was a '50 Ford club coupe with a tuck&roll and a 302. I am into traditional-style, low-buck rides.
4. WHY PARTICPATE? What's in it for you? My goal is to help outsiders understand why some of us are so obsessed with old cars, why we cut them up and/or drive the whiz out of them, etc. This is your chance to try to make them understand why it matters so much to us.

If you do take part, thank you. Please mention the car(s) you currently or recently owned and/or built, your age (feel free to round it off), and whatever name I should call you if I quote you. Your first name is fine, or your H.A.M.B. name.

Thanks.

Dave Locher
Dept. of Social Sciences
Missouri Southern State University
Joplin, MO

 

One word answer....... AMERICANA!

 

I hate old cars.

 

Cause they are easier than Women:

To find

Modify

Repair

Drive home

Show your MOM

Start...........

Feel free to add to the list!!!!!!

 

If they need an explanation, they need not know.

 

For me there was never a conscious choice to love them. My family had gas stations, an upholstery shop, and a garage. I spent every Father's day growing up at a car show in nearby Stanberry, Missouri. Every one I loved in my life growing up was into cars. To me it is just what you do. I remember at 14 I wrote an 80 page book on the history of muscle cars which was what I was into at the time. I had a 68 camaro SS (yellow with the bumble-bee stripe) and my dad made me sell it because I wasn't getting anything done in school (except my muscle car book) and all I thought about was cars. I cried worse that day than any of the times I got dumped by a girl.

I like old cars because it is my history. I work on a car and everytime that thing starts up, something in me starts up also. When I dump the clutch and crank the wheel to the left and lay some "swirlies" on the pavement, I am alive on a whole different plane. And when I see an old ride out in a pasture or behind a barn somewhere, I look on it with admiration; like sitting on the porch listening to my grand-dad tell the story of his landing on Iwo Jima. I see that ride fresh and tight with a new set of flames burning up the road. I see a punk picking up a girl that he's not supposed to be picking up. I see someone elses memories dying in that field and I just can't let that happen.

 

You mean not everybody loves hot cars. Next you'll tell me not everybody likes hot chicks.

 

For myself the building, fabricating is as important and interesting to me as the driving and use of an old car. Many HAMBers are artistic in nature (metal fabricaters, pinstripers, upholsterers,etc.) and generally hands on people with the desire to create.

 

It's true, even my ex-wife liked hot chicks...

 

How in the heck do I reply to this? I really have no idea why myself. I only know that since I was a youngun' I have been enthralled with cars of every kind and, particularly, old modified cars. And, I don't care if they are hot rods, customs, street rods, rat rods, traditional rods, low riders, or whatever the heck they are-I'm interested.

I think it all really started in earnest in 1956 when my older brother brought home an issue of Rodding and Restyling that featured a black chopped 1951 Mercury on the cover. I slobbered on that magazine like I should have been oogling the pages of Playboy! While I had always been kind of car crazy, that Merc shoved me over the edge. I still don't really understand why, it just did.

Since that day long ago, I have NEVER for one instance stopped my affair with old cars. I still have my first old car, my '40 Ford tudor, that I purchased in 1961. Although it hasn't moved one inch in the last thirty years, it is solidly locked in my heart and sole and will never not be mine.
I have owned or been the caretaker of more old stuff than I can remember but, some are a 1934 chopped 5-window with 392" Hemi and Rossi manual shift Torqueflite, a 1941 Olds torpedo with a 440" wedge, a '34 Ford roadster with SB but very traditional looking from the outside, three '40 Ford coupes, a '40 Ford Sedan Delivery, a 1948 Anglia with SB and 4-speed, a 1933 Buick 90 Series Victoria having a 138" WB and all tricked out with all the geezer must-haves, and I don't know what else I have owned.

Presently, I have a 1948 Cadillac convert which has the usual custom features. I also have two '63 Dodges, one a convert and the other a hardtop. Then there is my '63 Pontiac Bonneville, a car that I really wish I didn't own, but that is another story. On top of that are my wife's and my everyday cars, a Chrysler 300C and a Dodge Magnum. Both are just superlative cars and have swung me back in the Chrysler camp after years away.

As I stated above, I love cars and especially old modified cars. I wish I knew why-well, actually I don't because it doesn't really matter. I just do and I'm happy with that as an answer.

 

I like Hot Rods because I believe they attract women, I like traditional Hot Rods because they bring me back to a simpler time when people worried about communists insted of terrorists.

 

As far as explaining it to the 'unwashed masses' I don't know if a sociological essay will help them that much, but I applaude your efforts. Some may get it on a cursory level or at least think they understand the appeal, but if they have to have it explained, they won't understand. I know that's a clicheic answer, but there's often truth in cliches.

I tried to explain it to my ex wife, my non car friends, and strangers who asked questions when I drove mine, but often I was greeted with glazed eyes and "I don't understand..." You may be able to convey some of the universiality of the appeal of a hobby, make connections with the past and some sense of nostalgia, but the appeal of rust, noise, and old parts will elude most of the uninitiated.

 

(please dont hold my not so fine "written english" against me .. )
Norway was a POOR country in the Teens & twenties .... More or less 30% of the population moved overseas ! ( and today , there are just as many Norwegians living in the USA , as there "norwegians" in Norway ..) Wordl-warII totaly killed that small economic platform that was built up during those Art-deco years from `24-`39 ... After the war mentioned , people worked hard to establish a new economical platform , But it went slow .....
I was born `60 , and I guess the Norwegian Sixties was more or less like the "Fifties" as you guys know it
Fast forward to `72 : I turned up at school one day ,and as it turned out , our regular teacher had called in sick ... The substitute teacher was a 20 year old kid whom we found refreshing (To say the least ..)
He told us all sorts of cool stories, and one of those stories changed my life !!
He told us that he & a friend had built a HOT ROD He also told us where we kids could go see it in person if we wanted to ... Well , I sure did, so off I went : Had no idea at the time ( learned some years later ) but it was a `34 5Window. `52 Merc engine, `49Merc wheels,`48 Ford brakes, Blue "See-through" roof-insert.. I was awe-struck .. (At that time , It probably would have been called Out-of-fashion in the US , But if you keep my "History-lesson" in mind ,then Belive me : that `34 mentioned was HOT over here in NORGE in `72 ) By `81 I had my very own `34 Ford coupe-project in my garage ... Klaz

 

Fwiw - this particular piece was done for a Kansas kid that's building a 31 Pontiac highboy coupe with Chrysler Hemi engine.
A car that I'm sure a lot of you can identify with.
One of a kind, hard to get parts for and one helluva lotta work.

The Pontiac is about the most different project car I've seen to date.
It looks pretty good though.
Kind of has that gennie hot rod feel and look to it.

Right now he has the engine and running gear in, frame done, body on and is struggling through some tough body work learning as he goes.

I really admire a builder like this.
It's a big project and he's gonna have a nice, different and fast little car when he's done.

The piece alluded to, done at a time he was thinking he never would get done.

We all know how that goes....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Singin down the Kansas Flatlands - Mk 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a small story.
Could be true, could be not.
Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
Anyway, I'm not telling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So there we were, singin down the Kansas flatlands, goin south along about twilight in a Hemi powered coupe.
Just one of those soft summer days you get before the serious hot weather comes on.
Even so, temps had been running just under a hundred earlier and even with the sun down it was probably 90.
It was dark enough to see city lights off in the distance, and with this being a Sunday the roads were free of traffic.

Made no never mind to us, with the windows down and the cowl vent open, the wind was flowing softly through the car and we were getting toward that kinda one with the universe feeling.

Singin was the right word.
Sometimes a well built engine running at the rpm it likes, and the car speedin along at the speed it likes and everything kinda getting into a Zen balance, a one with nature kinda thing, just flyin along in the soft, almost dark of night is a kind of magic.

It's surprising, once settled in at speed and after cruising for a little while, you can hear all the different sounds and identify them individually.All you have to do is listen.
Really listen.
Once you're tuned in, you'll find that it's a lot like being the conductor of a large orchestra.

No use asking Sweetie if she can hear that faint tick from the engine.
At least you think it's from the engine.
She's listening to her own orchestra.
And maybe she's not as limited as you.
Seems the guys are intent on the mechanical end of things, along with the navigating.

The girls, seems to me, live in a world much richer than ours.
They take in color, design and arrangement.
If the design is done by nature, so much the better.

Even so, she feels the hot rod is a pleasant little car, lots of fun to go places in, trusts your building skills, with her very life in fact, and also trusts your navigational skills, it's a time of ease and contentment for her.
Lots to be said for just watching the world go by.

What makes it especially good is to have a good destination.
What makes it even better, is to have no destination at all.

Just let the car flow through the elements and see what you end up with and where you end up at.
Sometimes it gets downright interesting.

Even running an old and familiar road, country two laners are much to be preferred, you see a lot more at times like this.
I'm not sure why.
Probably because there is no time element involved, no particular goal in mind, and your mind can just wander.
Your vision seems much sharper too.
Not so much the old can't see worth a darn and really should wear glasses vision, but the ability to actually see things.
Not only the hidden potential of things you never saw before, but other interesting things.


Every place has it's history.
You see it and understand it better than you ever did before.
No examples need be given, you'll know it when you see it.
And if you don't, Sweetie can point it out to you.

Late afternoons are the best times to start out on these little wandering through the world trips.
The soft and not so harsh afternoon light allows much to be seen.
Returning home after dark, and not always in a direct path, can be a whole other world and a totally new experience if you are only open to it.
The world changes after dark, a whole lot and not much.
Both at the same time.
You just have to pay attention, but not too hard.If you try too hard you'll miss the good parts.

A lot to be said for just following a pool of light cutting through a darkened world and seeing what you can see.
Or what you can't see.
A lot to be seen either way.

Once you're in tune with the car, in tune with the mechanical sounds and best of all in tune with Sweetie, you'll find you're in tune with the world.
Not the whole world, just this little part of the world.
Your part.
The part you're in right now.
It may belong to someone else, but you get to own the memories.
And memories in my view, are all you get to take out of life.
May as well make a few while you're here.
Just make sure they're good ones.
They've gotta last a long time.

When I think back on this little excursion, which was a long time ago, it was truly a night of music.
From the pleasant mechanical sounds to the barely noticed sound of softly flowing air.
No radio needed.
Just me, Sweetie, the car, a smooth ribbon of black velvet road unwinding into the darkness and it all became one.

Course having Sweetie in the car, makes it a complete experience.
One of those memorable times in which nothing special happened, nothing special done and nowhere special gone to.
Just a bright and shining moment and one that lives strongly in my memory.

Sweeties too, I think.

So there we were, singin down the Kansas flatlands, goin south along about twilight in a Hemi powered coupe..........


-<>-

 

I think at the core they represent all that is purely American, good and true. I love the people and culture surrounding them, and those people, to me, are the embodyment of cool and individualism. Largely these cars are built by self taught, hard working, day dreaming, men with strong streaks of independance, self reliance, and inginuity....essentially men I respect and aspire to be.

 

Old cars are great attention getters. People I've never met are compelled to come and talk to me and tell me they like my car, or ask me how my latest project is coming. That and the fact that I make a living off of this stuff. There are other reasons, but that's what stands out to me.

 

I like traditional Hot Rods because they bring me back to a simpler time when people worried about communists insted of terrorists


damn straight!!! even if this doesen't apply to ypur article... I agree with this 1000%..... Ken

 

I have always had an affinity for mechanical things and really love working with my hands. (Instead of having a 600 sq. ft. patio poured this summer, I leveled and laid block by hand.) I learned how to take a Schwinn coaster brake apart and put it back into working order when I was 9. I learned to drive in a '55 Chevy wagon when I was 11. I bought my first car when I was 13 in 1960. I drove that car to work today and when I got home spent some more time cherrying out the front fender and shot a coat of primer. That fender may not be perfect but it's a product of my labor, not anyone elses. And that's the point: When someone compliments my car, they compliment me. Can't say that about my wife's Honda but I put a short block in my Mercedes and an evaporator coil (Mitchell pays 22 hours for that job) and painted it with base coat clear coat as my first try for that kind of paint. And that car gets compliments, too. If I had had those jobs done, the compliments would be for the person who I'd paid to do the work. I'm selfish, I guess, because I want those compliments for myself.

 

its simple . masochism

riverrat

 

What other personal posession could I have that would cause nubile young women to throw themselves at my feet and declare themselves my sex slaves?

Actually, I haven't had many experiences like that with old cars either, but there was a time fifty years ago when I thought it was likely to work. I am totally convinced that car enthusiasm starts out as a ploy to impress girls. (or, for a very few strange-o's, to impress guys).

It has just occurred to me that when you're a kid with your first car, it's the first environment you have that you're able to control -- it's your home and your office, you can furnish it to suit your taste; it's a mute statement of your style and values.

And as we grow old, of course, it's pleasant to recall a simple world with a rolling home/office and girls who liked to ride around with you.

I'm sorry for those guys who didn't experience this, and had to rely on throwing a football to impress the chicks.

 

maybe it has something to do with the fact that it shows how far humans have come with technology.... orrr maybe we just like to kill ourselfs while having fun.

 

It's the American ethos:
Individualism
Do whatever it takes to go faster, make it stronger or make it better
Never letting "that can't be done" get in your way.
Never letting the fact that it hasn't been done before get in your way.
Never letting the fact that there isn't anything currently available to do it get in your way.

Why do we like hot rods and kustoms?
For the same reason that some guys like a nice rack on a girl, some guys like a nice can, some guys like long legs, some guys like short chicks, some guys like skinny chicks, some guys like fat chicks, some guys like Blondes, Brunettes or Red Heads, some guys like Asian girls or Spanish girls, some like 'em younger, some like 'em older.
For every guy that likes one particular "flavor," there's a guy who specifically doesn't like that variety...and there's a guy who likes them all.

Hot Rodding IS uniquely American, isn't it?
It's like Jazz and Rock & Roll, two other greats started here in the States.

Edison...Ford...Colt...Gates...Garlits...Wilbur and Orville...

-Brad

 

I love to build things with my hands, the feeling you the first time that car you pulled out of a field fires up. The satifaction you get to look at those before pictures when all you had was a rusted out, broken, stock car that wasn't worth the price of scrap metal and now you have a fully kustom car that came from your own hands. The reason that I love old cars is that those old cars had style and class, unlike todays cars. My name is Micah, I'm 27 and I own a '53 packard 300 and my wife owns a '64 Ford Falcon wagon.

 

I like to show off. Kind of simplistic, I guess, but I also like the fact that I have something no one else around here had or has. I have owned a 57 Chevy of some sort or another for 26 years now, and fully intend to keep it that way for at least another 26. Anyone who has ever had a 5-6-7, or a 49-51 Merc, or a highboy roadster, or a custom or rodded whatever knows what I am talking about. One look through that windshield, or the first kid that gives you the thumbs-up, or the first old fart that comes to tell you that "I used to have one just like that", and you're hooked.

 

It is not about the cars, it is about what comes with them.

It is about being an individual in a sea of clones.

It is about being self reliant in an increasingly dependent society.

It is about having something with lasting value in a trow away world.

It is about having crafted quality in an age of junk.

It is about friendships, and experiences, and feeling good about something.

It is about the best things in life.

 

Freedom ,freedom and independance. When I was young it was bike or skateboard then when I was around 10 or so dirt-bikes at 13 cars and through it all you have modfiy and repair to keep that freedom from mom, dad, teachers, and everyone else. Then as I have gotten older the attention and a since of self reliance. Most of us (car guys) are also under the belief that women will swoon at the sight of cool rods, plus I like to smile and hammer down from a stoplight at 1AM always puts a smille on my face and clears my mind! My 2 cents.



Lumpy

 

I like hot rods mostly because they represent a transgressive hermeneutics of The Other, in which the profane industrial object is transubstantiated through secular ritual into the objet sacre; a territorial phallo-totem, if you will, signifying atavistic sexual potency.

And also, because a sledgehammer fell on my head in 4th grade.

 

for me it's simple, I'm not driving a cookie cutter of a car that most everyone on the road is driving. ie. Hondas,Escalades,mini vans, etc.

 

I just wanted to hang out with the cool kids at Paso.

 

i do it to piss off my neighbors late into the night with grinders and much hammering... not to mention you cant hear your wife bitch when that shit is running

seriously... its about being able to prove to myself i can build something as complex as a car, with parts that come from just about EVERY maker ever to press a fender. i dont like the way this panel peaks or doesent peak? imma change that shit! its all about expressing yourself in a way that the MASS majority of world cannot even DREAM of doing


and the chicks diggit