Art & Inspiration Has this happened to you?

So....learned a big lesson the last few days, never, ever thought I was a closed car guy. Thrashed all winter to get my roadster pickup done enough to drive it, put in some brutal hours and made my deadline, got her running, jumped through the appropriate hoops and got it properly registered, and.....I don't really have an appreciation for it.
I built my first car thirty years ago, a glass T bucket, overpowered, but with a chassis that handled pretty well, ran it five years, cried when it drove away for the last time. Said to myself, "I'll build a better one", over the years, remembered all the good times in it, all the stop light drags, racing a porsche home to surrey from squamish on the old hiway and soundly beating his ass, who wouldn't want another open car?
Well....I'm 61 now....and....lets just say, if you like the exhaust note following you constantly, a little rougher ride, the wind blowing your hat off sometimes, the cold spots and the warm spots you encounter going somewhere, it's pretty great.
This time around, I built a real nice little car, zero bump steer, turn the steering wheel with your finger, steers nice, rides pretty well, goes around corners like it's on rails, gonna get unreal mileage, what more could you ask for?
My 36 ford pickup will see some mileage this year......while I contemplate the roadsters future.

 

Can you keep both? Open car is hard to replace in the right conditions, so is a closed car.

 

Like the roadster, love the dog but the wheels are all wrong.

 

Age has a way of sneaking up on us, AND Boom reality sets in. Personally, very happy and grateful to still be here and playing with cars, BUT things have changed, especially in what I choose to cruise/travel in. Nice rides, hope you Enjoy !

 

Heck, I'd keep both of them....I have a t-bucket AND a Ford coupe...I drive them both, whichever I feel like driving on a given day....if they make you; and others, smile...I'd enjoy both of them....If you ain't got ''good vibes'' with the car, then I'd focus elsewhere for another setup. Sometimes I myself, have to literally 'crawl' into my t-bucket (no hopping over the doors anymore, 'cause it ain't pretty)....but, I still drive it with a smile, because I ''like it'', and 'enjoy the moment'....I like your car overall, but I agree, the wheels ain't doing it justice

 

Shit , even the dog looks sad...

 

Cool RPU, but BC climate must be tough to drive an open car much.

 

I would drive the wheels off your Pick Up,
I am a Truck Guy and yours is a great looking example of a cool parts chaser.
Good luck with your decision.

 

Both cars are cool (despite the wheels on the roadster) , but I can see where your coming from. Time has a way of making you forget the shortcomings of some things. I can remember when I was 16 , driving my old MG in the winter with the top down. I wouldn't do that today. Or driving my 68 SS ElCamino in the heat/humidity of the summer from PA to Illinois and back with no a/c (and loud pipes) thinking "this isn't too bad" . I'd probably drive the daily nowadays. Yup , it sucks.

 

I started with a 50s built fullfender roadster 45 years ago. I was young and was so stoked to have any hotrod, that I was oblivious to wind and cold, and skinny doors ... Built another from ground up in 79-80 and I sure did hate the wind, wind noise, but I was still flexible to get through the skinny doors. Rarely drove it after the thrill was gone.

Always liked the look of cabriolets with roll up windows, so I have that, and a 2 door convertible sedan.

I am slim, but at 64 and not so flexible, so I do notice how skinny the doors are on my homemade cabriolet/coupster. I can't even turn my neck around to back up, but no car style will fix that. lol

the convertible sedan has SUPER wide doors, so it is so easy to get in and out of.


You should buy Timwit's 33/34 cabriolet shown in his avatar above in post #2.... put a roof and door glass in it,.... and his has nice wide doors. I always liked that car, and it was for sale, but I have a full plate
.

 

I have a similar situation as you.
So so weather and it's my pickup......nice sunny days.....it's the roadster!
Just enjoy them both!

 

Had a roadster pickup for two years. In this Ohio weather. I realized it wasn't for me. Mid summer was too hot. Wife and I would get heat exhaustion and burnt to a crisp. Spring and fall was way too cold in the country. The only great time to drive was the early morning or late evening on a July August day. Sold it fast.

 

I sure miss my roadster,and I'm gonna have another one sometime in the future,It is always nice to have a closed car also. HRP

 

Yup, lose the wheels. I get your consideration for the weather. I sold my T Bucket in August and immediately started another one, but this one is going to have a stretched body, to gain some leg room. I also have a door planned for it, that option is $1,000 added to the cost of the body. So, I taking my time building it, but when it comes time to order the body, I'll ask my legs and knees for permission to do without the door.

That nose section is awesome. Great job!

 

How's that go?... "It takes me all night to do what I used to do all night". Reality intrudes, the weaknesses of the flesh become more apparent, etc....

 

I think what happened was that my pickup is twenty years old, bored with it, built a roadster without realising how great my truck is.

 

Open cars don't do much for me. Never really did as I think about it, and they really aren't the ultimate in pleasurable driving. Old stuff suffers cowl shake, the tops flap like a tattered flag on a bad day at speed, and yeah the wind letting your hair (if you still have some) beat the shit outta your head. If coupes are for chickens all I can say is "cluck-cluck-cluck"...
Roadsters look best sitting still, or with tops raised for that bitchin contrast, or going down the road with someone else dealing with it.

 

I am 69 years old.I built my 39 chevy coupe 1n 1971 and am still driving it,a couple of years ago I built myself a T-bucket( I wanted to do it while I was still able). The bucket is a blast to drive,but the coupe is kind of like an old pair of shoes,comfortable and well broken in. I understand the weather part,I drove the coupe to a friends funeral on wednesday,and we had 8" of snow on friday. The wife and I figure the coupe doesn't owe us anything,and the insurance isn't much, so we might as well keep them both.

 

I had the same experience a few years ago. In about 2002 I bought a '53 Panhead rigid just like the one I sold years before. But EVERYTHING had changed - me included. The traffic was 10 times as bad and everyone is distracted, having to wear a helmet took some fun out of it and my old(er) bones didn't like kick starting it all that much. After all the trouble to find, buy and build it, I sent it on down the road. A stark lesson on the reality of aging I guess.
Where I retired to, not a day goes by that I don't wish I had a roadster though. Wait 'til nicer weather and give it another chance, it may grow on ya. Nice job on that RPU.

 

I've got a 28 phaeton that used to be a lot of fun,til I built my coupe,going out and freezing your ass off ain't as much fun as it used to be!

 

Exactly why my 'A' roadster is now shoved into the back of the garage and the Cad engine out of it is going into the '40...

 

My roadster will be driveable this year, a age 72 , i hope i don't regret having it

 

In 1956 I was 18 years old, "10 ft. tall and bulletproof", I found myself in Odessa, TX, working in the oilfields, and enjoying my life.
Found a '31"A" roadster, full fendered, torched springs to lower it, no top, a windshield frame with no glass , a front end so worn out that if you greased it it shimmied so bad you almost couldn't drive it, mechanical "press and pray" brakes and a hotted up banger. Impractical as all hell, but it was a roadster, just like those in HRM! Drove the hell outta it and how I stayed out of the jail and the hospital, I still don't know!
Then November came, and the realities of working outside in the TX high desert Winter began to become more apparent, and I decided to come home to GA.
I had big plans for that car, so I decided to drive it home instead of hitch hiking home like I had gotten there. Won't bore you with the trip back, even though it was epic, because that isn't the point of this story. The point is that no roadsters were to be found in GA, so I drove that thing 1500 miles home to GA! I had big plans for it.
But by the time that winter was over I had had enough of a topless roadster for primary transportation, especially when I found a '32 3wdw, fenderless, channeled but not chopped (East Coast style).
So I sold the roadster and began a lifetime of cars of every sort, as they were easy to find and cheap back then. It was hot rods, clunkers, new cars, even the dirt track cars that gave me my username.
But I never gave up my dreams of a roadster, and a few years ago I bought an unfinished project, that today after a long struggle is a fairly nice roadster. Impractical for a 78 year old man? Yes! but there's nothing like an open car on a bright, sunny day.
True enough, I also bought a '40 coupe, bought it instead of building it because I just don't think I have enough left in these old bones and worn out muscles to build another car.
But you have a nice truck, as I have a nice '40, to enjoy in less favorable weather. If you can afford both and care for them both, I say keep them both.
\Tomorrow is supposed to be nice weather, and guess what car is coming out of the shop for an afternoon's cruising! Nothing like a roadster in nice weather, my friend.

 

Hell Trollst, you picked the coldest day we have had in two weeks to put your RP on the road?? I actually wore shoes instead of sandals for the first time in a week today...
Are you here in Surrey? If you are, give it some time, it'll back up in the eighties again soon, and you'll be loving that roadster PU.

 

They can read minds, hes thinking "Shit dad, dont give up on the RPU YET!! Hot weather is just around the corner!!"

 

Before you part with it, at least try a wheel change on it, that car is BooBie's! PS: I wish I had these troubles)

 

I wish all of you across the world could take at least one late August warm night cruise at the ocean...Top down, no radio, motor running so sweet at 40mph, clear skies except millions of stars... no traffic as school has restarted......listen closely, and hear the surf hit the beach...clear views up the coast of all the twinkling lights of beach houses 10 miles away...
.

 

George, moved to Princeton six years ago from north delta, it's been hot here last few days. Best move I ever made, could'a been shot down there, anyway, it's not any one thing, it's all of them, like bchctybob, everything isn't as I remembered it. Turns out, I conveniently forgot the downsides of owning my T all those years ago. Certainly not complaining about the car, couldn't have asked for a better driver, once I get it regeared, it'll be pretty great. Just lamenting the fact that I'm getting old and soft, but still see myself as the younger tough as nails dumass I used to be. Plus, My first T was my first hot rod, the rush of finally owning a hot rod at the time meant I would have put up with anything. Hell, I got caught in a rainstorm, drove home from Squamish shooting rooster tails all the way to Delta, soaked, laughed all the way. For you 'mericans that's around fifty miles or so.....
You guys don't but I love those wheels, they're westerns, had them since god was a child, decided this was the car that would wear them, reminds me of the 70's, they were more common then.

 

That's a sweet ass little black pickup.
And that's all I have to say about that.

 

A couple of years ago, another roadster friend passed away. A very good mutual friend and roadster owner attended the memorial service. He had driven the late rodder ' s widow to the service. We were talking after the service he said the widow had asked him if he would drive her to an upcoming run that she and her husband had enjoyed for many years. I asked if he was driving the late friend's car or his. He put his head down and mumbled under his breath, "modern". I said what? And he again said softly, modern. This was a late fall meet here in Socal and rather cool. He said "I learned something about roadsters over the years. Driving a roadster at 72 is a LOT harder than driving a roadster at 22!". I must grudgingly agree, being very near that number myself. BUT, everything else being equal, nothing and I mean nothing beats a roadster on a sunny warm day or on a good spring or summer day , and especially a moonless summer evening, the breeze, exhaust note, and the absolutely stunning 360 view of the stars makes you forget about dressing like an Eskimo and freezing your wazoo off at roadster unfriendly times. You can't turn the clock back, only pick the best times and enjoy!