Hot Rods So, are all your cars traditional?

I'll throw my two 40 Fords in for criticism.

The coupe has a 350 Chevy, with an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and 600cfm carb on it, although it does have the front oil tube and ventless finned Edelbrock valve covers. It's painted traditional Ford Blue.
It has radial tires on NEW American Torq Thrust Originals, so deduct traditional points for that.
It now does have a 3 line Saginaw 3 speed, but it's connected to a Granada 8" rear end with 2.79:1 highway gears, so I think that balances each other out.
It has an alternator, because, well...it's got a 350 and GM alternators are readily available at any parts store, should this one fail (as the one before it did last week)
It's got a dropped '40 axle up front, but deduct points for the disc brakes to help it stop.
It's been driven 171 days, out of 202, of 2017. It's reliable (except for when I lose a clutch clevis pin and an alternator)

The '40 Stake Truck:
It has had a stock 221 Flathead in it, stock driveline, Posies front spring, '40 coupe rear spring, but it has 15" radials up front and 16" TALL radials out back, and had an alternator on it, and it has a Chrysler Minivan seat in it.
After over 20,000 miles with the flatty, and since the flathead was leaking oil like the Exxon Valdez, and was losing what little power that it had, it's now getting a 1958 Chevy 283. It'll still have the big and bigger radials under it, it'll still have an alternator, and it'll still have the Chrysler minivan seat in it because I am too lazy to rebuild the original seat.
It will be getting the F100 Front Brake conversion on it, once I replenish the "hot rod projects fund", just so I can feel a little better about stopping now that it will have a go faster motor in it.

So...not 100% within the "traditional" definition, but definitely drivers with strong traditional tendencies.

 

I have a 1958 AJS Model 30 600cc vertical twin that would be and a 1958 Chevy Biscayne 2 door project that will not be. I want more performance than would be practical with a HAMB friendly power plant, since I can't afford that much and have been a fan of small blocks forever!

 

No, its all about drivability to me, appearance yes, mechanicals no.

 

If this forum was filled with only people who were interested in strictly traditional cars, it would never have lasted 16 yrs. .
Although my cars are 80-90% traditional, most of us have went through the muscle car/street rod faze.

 

My interests are all over the place, hot rods, drag racing, motorcycles, old trucks, tractors, foreign sports cars etc. So much neat stuff out there but so little money and time to spend on them. I just play with what I have and dream a lot. This site attracted me because of the people on it. I have met a bunch of them since joining and every single one has been top notch.

 

With threads on cup holders,5-speeds or late model overdrive transmissions,aftermarket a/c and all the other creature comforts many of the vehicles here only differ from street rods by the lack of aftermarket wheels and anything billet.
Bluetooth hidden stereos,rack and pinion suspension have been covered as well.
Is that a bad thing?
Not at all, IMHO.
The mindset of the owner ...i.e. HAMB members .... is what brings us together.
We like a "look" and come here to enjoy the conversations as well as build threads and to a point become friends with people we may never meet.
It's a community and no community is filled with people who all think exactly alike. It's the spirit of hot rodding that binds us. Traditional or close to it.

 

Hi I'm with... bondolero & Petejoe..common sense prevails.....

 

I would love to build one with all the correct era parts and pieces but I do not want to wait on parts if something would break,those old drivetrain parts are not in every junkyard around here and if they are they have been sitting in the weather way too long and probably not usable. Traditional styling but with a drivetrain that is easily repairable is what works for me,if I had the room to stock up with enough old parts then maybe I could do it.

 

Great way of putting it. That second statement should really be put on the front page of the HAMB.

 

I sure hope we're not going to get into "judging" now.......

 

The way I like them. Thats all I care about.

 

My cars are always traditional except for the off topic non traditional German built ones from the 90s that are way faster than my traditional ones.

 

They got to work surrounded by vehicles of relatively equal capabilities. Which is not the case driving those cars today. But I'm guessing you already knew that.

 

dang, modern stuff to drive an old car daily?
I must have done it wrong, almost all my "work" cars were "traditional'
points, 3 on the trees, straight axles, carbs, drum brakes.......
but I don't mind being passed on the interstate.

I plan on one day building a "traditional" fox body

 

Nope. My only complete vehicle is a '71 C10 that's my daily. It's a '71 so it can't be a traditional vehicle. Only things clearly not era correct or traditional that I'm looking at putting on my T roadster will be the dual master cylinder, ni-copp brake lines, non traditional 9-inch since it won't be a roundback, aluminum radiator, 8" damper, internally regulated alternator, Dart sbc block, small cap MSD distributor with GM points cap, painted AFR heads with the front welded and shaped like early heads, Holley 3310, hidden modern electric fuel pump and pressure regulator, Hughes 3500-ish stall converter, surplus HMMWV seats, reversed corvair box, aluminum fuel tank, '81 CJ-7 glovebox door, '71 c10 column (stock column from when I swapped my truck to automatic) and electric fan. Truck arm rear suspension came out in '60 so that's correct. From 20 foot it'll probably look the part but you could "pick it apart" up close. Everything else is pretty much era correct. Can't think of anything else "wrong" it'll have.

 

Nothing traditional in my yard. At 76, I enjoy my creature comforts and reliability. Don't give a rats ass what any one else thinks.

 

Hang in there 50 yrs. everyone. The guys growing up today putting ls engines in fiberglass bodies 50 years from now will call it traditional because thats how they did it. And it will be traditional.

 

The roadster I'm building is all 50s and below but I would trade it all for an s10 pick up and a stack of magazines

 

"It has always stuck me as funny that a bunch of people that couldn't care less about traditional hot rods and customs choose to hang out here"

I'm fine with this statement.I love traditional hot rods but living where I live, having a traditional customised car is not so much of a problem but a traditional(depends on whose traditional) Hotrod is another thing.I have done a bit of travel through parts of the US,UK and Europe checking out shows and events to feed my senses with all I wish I could do and get away with.
Our laws and insurances I would argue makes it "almost" if not impossible to do such a build(new build) legally not to mention sourcing of parts.
Get rid of all the alliance members(sponsors) and active users of this site who wouldn't make your grade and I think this place may fold.
I hardly ever buy a Hotrod mag anymore as it is all here and more!
I personally like this joint and most of the blokes I have met through it,probably said to much but nothing new!

 

Nice array. You're doing something right, down there in Thousand Oaks


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That is one sweet El Camino!

 

I still want to build something from the mid 40s to the early 50s that really conforms to tradition. Maybe a 42-47 ford jail bar pickup or flatbed with a mild flathead/floor shift 3 speed and original banjo rear....6 volt, bias plys and all. A merc overdrive trans would be an idea. Cloth wiring, non syncro 1st gear, brushed enamel job. Something I'd wear my Oshkosh [by gosh] overalls in while cruising the local gravel roads for V.T.

 

traditional looking.used locknuts and Loctite ,not available back in the day,where do you draw the line

 

So your C10 isn't traditional to an era before it was even born. But it can easily be traditional to the era it was born. I have a lot of C10's K10's and K20's of the era yours is. All are traditional to their era, they happen to come from the times I was growing up and learning to drive. And they make me smile when I look at them. Ah, the good old days haha.

Personally I would never own a truly traditional early car. Flat heads and such aren't my thing. But I really enjoy looking at them and reading about the builds. I'm more of a 60's and early 70's style guy. That was my prime time for automobiles.

 

I love my c10. This one's my 2nd. First one was a rusted out '70. I don't know if I'd say its traditional to the era. I just did what I like. 15x7 'vette style rallies in front, 15x8s in rear. No caps or rings since I know the caps will be stolen or flung off anyhow. Shaved sidemarkers. Probably going to put a '69/'70 grille shell on it. Lowering the rear 2" to level it out. Starting to build a front air dam soon. The thing handles like no truck I've ever driven. My C10 makes me smile, too.

I'd like to own a perfectly traditional rod but I've seen way too many broken banjos and top shifts. I'm too hard on all my vehicles. There's only so many of those left and I've got a heavy right foot! I'd probably build a mild custom years down the road once I start to slow down. A '37 Ford or pre-war Continental come to mind.

 

Mule. When they were between rides they used a rented mule which they beat on pretty hard.

I think that one of the things that we miss probably because we start with junk most of the time is that in '51 more often than not a car got built in stages and driven between. Hell I was still doing that in the '70s. I would get an old heap and make it suitable to drive around, then begin modifying it as I went along. I'll probably do that with my current project, once it is in a condition that it can be driven and licensed I will probably drive it and as the cash rolls in I will finish it a little at a time. hell I may finish it as I am heading toward the grave.

 

I"ve been doing the modification by stages thing on my 59 chevy truck since 1977. Still a long ways to go.

 

They are never really done are they.

 

None of my cars were built to fit into a designation. They are all built the way I like them, with cast off parts aquired over a lifetime, to look the part of a late 60's street brawler. In the Hamb I found many guys who think like me. My cars fit the hamb better than anywhere else.

 

Exactly.

Shortly after obtaining my Falcon, Elon Musk's Mclaren F1 LM (there were FIVE sold to the public) stopped really hard in front of me, on CA-101S, in San Carlos.

I missed hitting him by what must have been the thickness of a license plate.

For those who do not know, that's a $13,750,000 car, and one that far exceeds the coverage maximum of my insurance policy. The owner of that car has a net worth of ~$16,100,000,000.00 ($16.1-billion, for those who don't like to count zeros), and could have be blacklisted from my industry, and sue me into oblivion.

Disc brakes and a power booster went on the very next day.

The Laws of Physics, and Economics trump tradition.