21 Reasons Why I Love Hot Rods & Customs

The August issue of Road & Track features an article on 51 reasons that they love cars. It's a great exercise. Sit down and list out everything you dig about our old cars. They aren't as practical as a Prius or cheap as a Civic, so there must be reas... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

Bingo, especially the impractical, the sounds, and the smells.

 

I agree with all 21,especially #21.

 

Preach it, Brother!

 

I'm feeling lazy and I'm going to cut/paste some of yours. You covered it very well. Here are the ones that apply to me directly.

1. Style: I get more thumbs up and big smiles when I&#8217;m out in my T Bucket, than I would in any Lamborghini or Ferrari.

2. Car Friends: Hot rod people are the best people in the world. There to help when you need it, maybe ride shotgun, or meet you on the road. They are the glue that keeps our community together and get new people involved in what we love.

3. Certain races: Bonneville, El Mirage. Gatherings in remote places that look identical to the pictures we&#8217;ve seen from 60 years ago. The hallowed ground where it all happened.

4. Impracticality: No EFI, no 25mph bumpers, no fenders, no radio, no cup holder, no sound deadener.

5. Burning fossil fuels: Yes, we are running out of gas someday, but I&#8217;d rather get 15 miles per gallon, than getting 45 in a boring hybrid.

6. Roadsters: Something about being in a car with no top, no side glass, and usually no hood or fenders. Driving a real hot rod stripped down to the bare minimum puts you back in touch with everything. Arriving at my destination smelling like exhaust and fuel with a light layer of dust on my back.

7. Cruising: Just driving around. No particular place to go. That&#8217;s the point.

8. Building it yourself. Even just working on your own car. There is pride in knowing everything about your car because you&#8217;ve been under it enough times to fix it blindfolded. Not caring what's popular. Expressing my idea of what a hot rod should be.

9. The HAMB: This place means so much to me, and most of you. It inspires and educates me every single time I&#8217;m on here.

 

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X2 on all 21


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the smile on my face when I see cars and trucks
or the rise in my levis when I am driving them
plus the good people you meet every time

 

I can actually work on it and get it going again.

Usually even by the side of the road.

Try that with a new car.

Oh...and the time warp thing is a biggy. History.

 

Nailed it!

 

I agree on every count. Very cool JB!

One of my favorites is when driving a roadster (specifically I noticed in NC) late at night and you pop over a hill and go down in to a little valley and you get that burst of cold wet air and the smell of the southern summer. It's hard to explain but it's definitely been missing since I sold my '26.

 

No doubt all of your reasons rate high on the scale,,but driving a hot rod and peering through the windshield magically transforms me back to the days of my misspent youth,,I actually get a rush driving a hot rod!

And I know exactly what Jeffery is referring too with the Summer nights in a roadster,,I miss that. HRP

 

Every time I get into an old car with a road draft tube the smell takes me back to when I was a teenager.

 

Amen.

Absolutely. These are the cars we fell in love with back in the day, they put us in touch with the glorious past.

 

That was perfect! All 21 reasons are exactly why I love Hot Rods and Customs. Most people will never get it, but these cars and the car people have gotten me through hard times and I wouldn't be the same without them or this site.

 

Amen.

 

1 Style
2 Sound of ANY V8
3 Sound of a I6
4 Comfort
5 Style
6 Room for Girls, and even more Girls
7 Can be repaired by me
8 Love to burn gas
9 Car people ARE GREAT.
10 HAMB is the Place
11 There's Always a new Project waiting for you...

 

Great list I agree on all 21.

 

Number 20 hits it for me. Saying "I built that!" is one of the best feelings in the world.

I also get a kick out of people's faces when I tell them that my big block V6 gets 8 MPG!

 

its what we like .. sad and glad that not everyone agrees

 

Chicks.

 

...all 21 of 'em.

 

Smiles and attitude. Get smiles and thumbs up from my old trucks. Driving them adjusts my attitude. Can't get that in a late model.

 

Time machines. My old cars and cycles have always transported me back to a time when the better part of the "21 reasons" seemed to hold true in most everything.

 

preach it

 

Spot on dude!

 

Man that sounds good.

 

Right on man. All is right with the world and the view is so much better from the seat of a hot rod . . .

 

YES! (And it happens in the north in MN too ) My favorite part of driving a roadster and one of the reasons I drive mine near dusk as often as possible.

 

Here, here!!
Very well put.

 

Can I get a AMEN Brother....for the last few days I have been tossed about selling my little impractical Hot Rod,but your right I would miss the sound of that early Champ Quickchange rear end,the feeling of being one with the roughest roads of today,looking over the cowl at 4 beautiful 2barrel rochesters on a offenhauser intake and who can forget that ever rich fuel smell clinging to my cloths.What the Hell was I thinking?