Hot Rods how do you go from daily driver to hot rod to daily driver?

Hi HAMB folks

Just wondering how you guys get your game face on to go drive the old heaps and then switch back to the ultra-smooth and ultra-fast fuel-injected quiet rides most daily drivers are now??... I remember a couple of years back with my AD style truck...getting in it to drive it to work and it was like..."Ok...choke out...pump gas 3 times....turn key on...say a little prayer...vroom vroom" and it would spring to life...don't forget start in second gear...first gear is for farming only...then they tend to buck and pop and carry on a bit until they warm up...big huge steering wheel that is about maybe 3/4" round...smooth surface too...so you really had to hang on to it...bumps...always on the lookout for bumps in the roadways too....those old vehicles...never knew which way they were gonna go when hitting some rough road surfaces...

Then the next day you get back in the daily driver the next day...climb in...turn the key and go...the new stuff...is like point and shoot and you are gone...

Is there a trick to going back in time mentally when you drive them???

How do you guys and gals get your old car face on before driving?

Just wondering out loud...

MikeC
I even drove it to church once too...

 

The daily driver = BORING. The HOT ROD = FUN....

 

Exactly, boring vs FUN!

 

Guess the only times it is mentally strange is when I drive both on the same day. Otherwise, it’s 80 miles round trip for work on the weekdays in the DD, and spend the weekend driving the old beater truck. Occasionally, I do take the old truck to work, and that seems to make the work day better!

 

drive both daily . dont notice a difference. just another day but the hot rod is way more fun.

 

Yours is a "trucks truck". It was built as a truck to haul loads and transportation second. Today's "truck" are focused on comfortable transportation first payload second. Comparing your truck to driving a hot rod is apples and oranges.

 

My addatude changes when I pick up the keys, different key ring sound and feel, hell I might even hustle out the door to make a trip in the old Ford.

 

They both get me from point A to point B,as mentioned previously the hot rods are much more fun, The only difference is the daily sits outside ,the hot rods are inside so I have to open the door to the garage, they both fire up with the turn of the ignition switch. HRP

 

My Dally driver is a late model Chev. & my Street Rod is a 50 Merc.
which Rides Better than the dally Driver.!
The Dally driver is a uni-body the Merc. has a Full Frame
sure it has a Big steering wheel but it turn's easey & I can hit any hole in the
Road & not worry.!
mabey your Truck need's a alingment or Good Shocks..??

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

I drive an S4 daily it's got a supercharged v6 with a 6 spd.
So it's fun too. But it's not the same as the flathead, 3 on the tree in my 47.

The '47 is more loud, raw and more of whole body and mind experience to drive. Especially while navigating modern traffic who 9/10 couldn't care less and are just annoyed that I'm slow and in their way. Sure the daily gets great smiles per mile. But the smiles per mile last longer in the hot rod (mainly because it's slower haha)

It also usually take a minute or 2 going back to the daily after driving the flathead. Clutch feel is completely different. Obviously.

47 has no hood so i'm watching the forecast a lot more when I want to take it to work. Usually decide a day or 2 ahead if time what day/s I want to take it based on it taking me longer to get home to take the kids to practice. Etc. But when i decide to take it... I still have to drive a couple blocks to the shop, when I pull up my mind starts getting excited... I don't get any if that with the daily. Unless I've been driving the wife's minivan on a trip or something then I can't wait to get back to my car.

Sent from my rotary phone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I don’t think about going from new daily driver to old car so much when I cross back and forth frequently in the same day. With that said the difference is night and day- new cars are almost effortless. But the way you have to pay attention and actually DRIVE a old car is actually what makes driving them so much fun. When I take the Edsel on a 500 mile out of town trip to a car meet for a weekend - by the time I get there after battling assholes in modern cars weaving in and out and jamming there brakes on. I need a shot of scotch and/or a nap!

 

That truck is a straight up SAVAGE though, I love it. But yeah, it's never going to be a smooth ride or handle "well" because it's an old, BIG, truck that wasn't meant to go all that fast or be all that comfortable.

That 40 you've got could be pretty fast though. It's already stripped down. You get that thing back together with a comfortable seat and maybe a bootlegger inspired drivetrain and suspension, you might get what you've been craving.

I posted a thread on that subject a while back that might spark a little fire for you:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/bootlegger-car-suspension.860673/

 

Hey @mikec4193

I love to drive my hot rods. In fact, my late model usually sits at the house unless it's a stormy forecast or I am heading out for an overnight trip for work. I've always enjoyed driving the hot rods more anyway.

I think it was back around 2011 when @Ryan was posting his daily driving threads in his '39 sedan, when I had bought a '37 slant back sedan and it became my daily for about 9 months and 11,000 miles. After I sold the sedan, I started driving my '40 coupe, while I was working on getting my '40 stake bed in drive-able condition.

Since 2011, I have been driving either the stake truck or the coupe pretty much any time I could, whether it is the 90 mile round trip to my office or running to the local Braum's store to pick up a gallon of milk and some ice cream.

You get used to their idiosyncrasies, and it becomes second nature. Kinda like when I swapped out the TH350 in the coupe for a 3 speed, and killed it a few times when I came to a stop light. Now I have swapped out the 3 speed for a 4 speed, and had to learn that what used to be reverse is now 1st!

When I get in the late model, the drive might be more comfortable, and I have A/C, but the ride is much more boring. When I get in a hot rod, well, that's when the drive is an adventure!

 

I forgot to say I use Radial's Tires & my Merc. is Not Stock
I run a Small Block Chevy Powerglide auto.

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

For me it's just the feel of driving something old and fun. Driving something that is different from everyone else on the road, I ponder looking at all the vehicles at a stop light and think how boring.

 

Different keys!


Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

Your pickup, it’s not a Hotrod, was designed for 40 mph back roads and pastureland. Driving that on today’s roads are dangerous. The steering is inferior and the brakes and gearing is far from adequate unless it’s just used for a work truck on the back 40.
I’d update it.
When your driving a hot rod , those items are changed. So going from a daily to a Hotrod isn’t quite the transition as your having.

 

I really interchange pretty seamlessly, I just get in whatever and go. I usually drive one of my old cars weather permitting 9 months of the year.

 

whole different world from DD to the Hot Rod - first gotta put on the white T-shirt with fake pack of smokes rolled up in left sleeve - use some Brylcreem and get the hair wave in front just right - jump in the Hot Rod and in my mind I see John Milner - then look in rearview mirror and only see Toad

 

That’s a farm truck not a hot rod. Maybe try driving a Model A roadster with a pissed off small block and stick shift!

 

You operate a late model but actually drive an older vehicle. I think my attention level is higher and I enjoy the simplicity.

 

The only difficulty I experience is when I have to shuffle multiple vehicles around in my yard and garage. Going from a stock model T, to 3 on the tree, column shifted automatic, floor shift standard ect...disc brakes/drum brakes and no brakes...can be a challenge. It was even more complicated when I had a fuel injected daily, for some reason those dont like to start when you pump the gas.

 

Boy, that is sure a long bed on that truck. Have you ever back into a telephone pole or another car in a parking lot?

 

I’m retired and can drive whatever I want whenever I want. However the traffic is worse and the drivers are less aware, so I drive the hot rods less then I would like.

 

Thanks for all the replies...

The 1953 Chevy truck pictured was one of several older heaps that I have had...a couple of OT VW's and even tried a ricer truck too...bunch of old Willys vehicles too...that truck is long gone...it was geared so low I literally shifted it out of first into second inside of my garage...I actually think the Willys was slower than the Chevy....Willys topped out about 40 mph and the old Chevy got up to 53 mph once...

Had to really concentrate whenever I drove one of them...

MikeC

 

I've been doing this for so long now, it's just normal to go from one to the other and back again!

 

No big deal to me. Newer cars just have more stuff I don't use! My 40 and the 55 are easy to drive-just gotta pay attention to the inattentive folks around you. My biggest issue is swapping from my GMC newer pickup to her 19 Denali!

 

Getting my 34 out on the road is an adventure. Excitement rules the day as long as I'm behind the wheel.
While driving my Buick Enclave is a true pleasure it cant begin to measure up in thrills per minute the 34 is. The Enclave is everything and more in driving pleasure but so is the 34 in a total different way.
No one waves and comments on the Enclave,...............I've been chased down more than once in the 34 just so a person can hear it and comment on it. That in itself is a different satisfying experience. I don't drive the Ford every day, more like once or twice a week.
My persona reflects my driving experience automatically I'd say, just anticipating the thrills when behind the 34,s wheel and then again behind the wheel of the ever so magnificent Buick Enclave.

 

I just get in the left door and go.

 

Me too !!!! The Turd's keys are in one of those old folding leather jackets with the big metal snap to keep it closed. Once you open it and fold out the ignition key, all things in life are good once again !!!!