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History Feeling Nostalgic about Nostalgia or remembering the Traditional hot rod boom of the 90's

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Robert J. Palmer, Feb 7, 2019.

  1. In hindsight in was a very brief period of time from cool underground to becoming kind of mainstream. Maybe 5 or 6 years.

    I knew it was going off the rails when I saw Paris Hilton and other flavor of the day celebrities wearing the Von Dutch Flying Eyeball.
     
  2. Wheeliedave
    Joined: Jan 6, 2011
    Posts: 231

    Wheeliedave

    Patmanta,
    You have it exactly right !
    Build what you want with the parts you can get and drive it !
    I have a love for early Fords, particularly 1929 Ford Roadsters, 1932 Ford 2 door sedans, 1940 Fords, 1954 Mercury Monterey 2 door hard tops, 1937 Lincoln Zephyr coupes, 1966 Fairlane hard tops and convertibles and have owned at least one of each of those models. Oops, I forgot the 1931 A Tudor I started with that cost $30.00 in 1959. I also just remembered I had a 1938 Ford Pickup for a short while !
    I still have my ‘29 A Roadster which began with a discarded body. We found it in 1968 but I never got it on the road until 1999. I still drive it.
    Some of you might not like it because it does not fit all the parameters, but I don’t care. It has disc brakes now but in 1999 it had 1942 Ford front brakes. They got changed to disc brakes some years later because I wanted better stopping power. I have never regretted the decision to change.
    The car has a partially completed interior (The seats are upholstered). It has a black primer finish, also from 1999, and that may change, someday. It is also traditional in that it is full fendered and has bumpers and a dropped axle up front.
    Build what you want and drive it !



    Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
     
    chryslerfan55 and harleyddad like this.
  3. CAHotRodBoy
    Joined: Apr 22, 2005
    Posts: 458

    CAHotRodBoy
    Member

    I find it funny reading a thread about being nostalgic about the late 90's and early 2000's. I guess I'm getting old!

    I understand what the OP is saying. When the whole "rebirth" of traditional cars started I liked the trend. I did find it interesting that so many younger guys got into cars from a period long before they were born. I think most people get nostalgic for the time period when they came of age, late teens to early twenties. I graduated high school in 1974 so that is the time period that I most closely relate to. About ten years past this sites focus but when I see threads here from early 70's rod runs I can't help but smile at the cars. My '34 build is going to be more of a 70's style car and won't fir in here 100% although a lot of the 70's stuff was carry over from an earlier period.

    I do like the earlier stuff too and if I had more money and time I'd probably build a 40's/50's period correct car. I am curious though why the younger guys like the early stuff so much as opposed to 70's style or even later 60's stuff. Or whatever was popular when they were 18. Maybe because by the time the early 2000's rolled around there was no longer any one particular dominant style of car?

    One thing that does bother me is some of these guys get too carried away with it and start picking apart a car because it isn't period correct when they weren't even around back then. Heck, some of their parents weren't even around then!
    Also, the "uniforms" that some of them wear trying to emulate the youth of the 40's and 50's but then rocking chain drive wallets and covered with tats, especially the women. Oh well, it could be worse. They all could be "ricers"! :eek::D
     
  4. Greg Rogers
    Joined: Oct 11, 2016
    Posts: 802

    Greg Rogers
    Member

    I love the old pics that are on this site. You can tell the age of the pic by lots of things, the style of the car, clothing, houses, etc,etc. But the only thing you can't tell the period of is the pets... Yes, a 1950's Lab looks the same as a 2000's Lab.
     
    VANDENPLAS likes this.
  5. I am the OP and turned 18 and graduated high school in 2000. My family was oval trackers going back to the late 30s. Everything from track operations, crew members, drivers, and my father built several chassis. However by the time I was old enough to race (16) the expense was too great. Even being able to build a chassis and doing my own engine assembly was far out weighed by buying infinite combinations of shocks, tries and gas every week and that the guys with commercially built chassis tech support where myself and my dad would be on our own. Plus the fact the cars where built by 2 or 3 manufacturers they all looked the same!

    Same goes for the muscle cars or resorted cars in late 90s-early 2000s, everyone wanted a factory over restored cars.
    Period correct modifications on a big block Chevelle were taboo and frowned on!

    I was drawn to period correct hot rod because if you wanted one you had to build it! Plus the parts to build these style car were fairly cheap who in the hell would want a flathead with a 39 Ford transmission and a V8 quick change rear, a Weiand Drag Star intake for a 324 Olds, or a Roto Faze distributor for a 331 Cadillac!

    I don't get carried away picking apart others cars, however just be because I was born yet doesn't mean I don't what parts were available in the era.

    An example if someone want to builds a 40s style hot rod it couldn't have small block Chevy and be period correct the engine would stand out like a sore thumb, now if someone wanted to build a 40s style car that looked like it was up dated in the mid to late 50's put a S.B.C., latter gauges, latter steel wheels.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2020
  6. mike bowling
    Joined: Jan 1, 2013
    Posts: 3,560

    mike bowling
    Member

    I saw my first hot rod in the late ‘50 s when I was around 10.
    It was a Model A roadster that a kid down the street had in his fathers garage. I used to sneak in and just stare at it until they’d come out at tell me to get the hell out.
    Skip ( the owner) was a few years older than me, a lot bigger, and had a “ flat top” haircut. He scared the crap out of me! But he was friends with my older sister, so I escaped death on many occasions peeking into the garage.
    No tats, no umbrella girls, no fancy paint jobs, used tires, blanket upholstery, just bare bones fun hauled out of the junkyard or given by a neighbor where it had been sitting behind their house.
    Nobody had any money. Shit was drilled and bolted, or gas welded with wire coat hangers you stole from the Dry Cleaners trash.
    Parts you didn’t have would show up eventually- usually by going to the bone yard on Saturday, throwing shit over the back fence, and returning for it Saturday night ( Midnight Auto Supply).
    J. C. Warchowski was the source for “speed equipment”, later to become J.C. Whitney.

    Much simpler times which were financed by paper routes and mowing lawns.

    Photo credit to TWIG, Bud Hinman ( in his 80’s)racing the car he built when he was 17 at TROG in 2019. Car is now owned by Eli English, who brought it back to life, located Bud, and invited him to the race.
    THATS hot rodding, kids!
    IMG]https://www.jalopyjournal.com/mobile-gallery/c22340f838b8bd178b49876eed7cb20d.jpg[/IMG]


    Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app[​IMG]
     
  7. wicarnut
    Joined: Oct 29, 2009
    Posts: 9,052

    wicarnut
    Member

    Nostalgia is related to one's age IMO, in my case, first car, teen years, 60's. I miss alot of things from past years, the young people of today are missing out on so many good things that us Baby Boomers enjoyed, But as always time stands still for no one. The Traditional (Timeless) Hot Rod has stood the test of time, future, who knows as I see few young people getting involved in our great hobby. I've spent my life working hard, played hard, making memories and grateful to be here, still can remember to share AND still enjoying life, that's Nostalgia for me.
     
  8. 31hotrodguy
    Joined: Oct 29, 2013
    Posts: 2,698

    31hotrodguy
    Member

    Elcohaulic,
    I get what you are saying. I bought an off topic used car so that i could retire the black 57 210 from daily driving. The plan was I so I could spend some time fixing the things that really needed attention on the 57.
    In the mean time my OT car weighs 1900lbs, revs to 8000rpm, has a 6spd, and limited slip! Car and Driver says it will do 14.00 in the quarter mile. I bet faster. It even has this new thing called AC which I am still getting use to. Lol In other words it’s a lot of fun for a “rice burner” plus it gives me the opportunity to talk to the younger guys.





    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
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  9. It really depends on your age, some of us weren't around for the birth or when it first turned mainstream of hot rodding the first go around. I was around the same age as the clubs in the 90's resurgence and nothing to look at but 90's street rods, which to me were horrible (still are). I was into stock cars from the 50's (I also was listening big band since middle school), so the little books and even the Stray Cats were my introduction into a older larger world at the time. I didn't have any older people around me telling me stories of them growing up, I had to find out through movies, music and later asking other people I met that I knew had hot rod stories to tell. It seems like it's died down a lot, but only because it was so intense of a main stream in the early 2000's. That is as close as we (the non Baby Boomers) will ever come to really being there, correct or not is was our revolution. Now I'm the older guard, feels weird.......but with the spotlight having gone off of the "scene" parts around here have gotten cheaper again and I like that.


    I can't even relate to the late 80's when I graduated....at all. I latched on to the "rebirth" because that felt more correct to me. Like I said in an earlier post I barely fit here, but it's the closest to what I am and build.
     
  10. 31hotrodguy
    Joined: Oct 29, 2013
    Posts: 2,698

    31hotrodguy
    Member

    The other night I was eating a late dinner at In & Out when the “tuner” crowd rolled in. Probably about 50 of them. Some newer GM, Mopar, Fords and others imports. Some are legitimate fast cars and some are just loud with bolt on’s. Just Bunch of car guys and gals hanging out eating hamburgers trying to look tough.
    Hmm sounds familiar.......even nostalgic.
    But Just as the older guys bitched and complained over the young guys with the non billet primmered hot rods of the 90’s they old guys bitch and complain about these guys.
    Different scene, same bitching but historically sure sounds the same.
    I Never turn down the opportunity to mentor a younger car guy even if they look different or have different taste.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  11. I want to preface this-I can respect the workmanship in a style of car I don't care for.

    Having been in high school and worked in a VoTech when the "tuner" movement started in the late 1990s and early 2000. I hated them then and I still hate them!! I can tell you that 99% of the tuner people are not car guys! It is nothing more than the cool fad of today for them.
    Not one of the "tuner" guys I went to school with had any tools then or now nor do they have performance cars of kind now.

    Working in a VoTech I got a good look under the hood these style cars. Everyone I saw had plastic nose/tail panel half ass bolted on I take that back they were usually Tie-warped (Zip-tied on).
    None of the owners wanted to learn how or what they could do to improve their car.
    I would try to show them how to build a bracket or show to mount something so it wouldn't keep falling off, I was endless being told "It's good enough." "I don't care." "It's just a car." It's just a car?!?!

    On the flip side of that I was working with a kid who was really into the lifted 4 wheel drive truck deal, not my style but I was always willing to help him because was always working on the truck looking to improve it, asking questions and looking for suggestions.

    Same with everyone I have ever known from period correct hot rodding they are just as deep into cars now as they were then.
    Some have moved into other parts of the hobby (I view it as way of life) I have gotten back into oval track racing with period correct stock cars (modern safety) and I have never once said "It's just a car."
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  12. 31hotrodguy
    Joined: Oct 29, 2013
    Posts: 2,698

    31hotrodguy
    Member

    Understood, I have seen this very real side of this scene as well.


    Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
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  13. AC Chapman
    Joined: Dec 18, 2020
    Posts: 12

    AC Chapman

    Don't you go bad mouth'n ZZ top. Boyd Coddington is to blame for most of that stuff. But I think he redeemed himself with Caddzilla
     
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  14. @Robert J. Palmer I agree with you to a certain degree.

    I work with a kid ( well not really he’s around 30)
    But he’s into tuner cars and the drifting scene .
    When I talk to him he’s balls to the wall !! At competitions every week end replacing clutches between heats replacing tires by hand between heats etc etc .

    I also talk to a lot of “ old time “ hot rodders who have been nothing but a wallet since the 60’s and just want to own a cool car .


    There are posers and guys who bleed grease in every facet of this hobby .


    And like you posted you don’t necessarily need to like the guys car or truck , but if he’s really into it you now have a commonality that bonds you .


    It’s all nuts and bolts in the end !
     
  15. RRanchero Rick
    Joined: Nov 20, 2016
    Posts: 136

    RRanchero Rick
    Member

    At Back To the Fifties, we gate workers(volunteers) call trailers "stretchers" . When a guy pulls up to the gate with a stretcher, we direct him to an off site area, "Where you can leave your stretcher." P.S. I drive 60+ miles one way each day to this event. It's worth it tho.
     
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  16. Dynaflash_8
    Joined: Sep 24, 2008
    Posts: 3,038

    Dynaflash_8
    Member
    from Auburn WA

    So ill chime in on this. Being a 90s kid (born in 91), i know exactly what you mean. I found ol skool rods on a family vacation in Montana, and it basically changed my life. I was building my 41' nash at the time, with no idea what i was doing. I got it running 2 weeks after i graduated in 2009, and took it to billetproof in Centralia. By that time the "ratrod" craze was starting to rise, and i got tired of everyone saying "nice ratrod bro"
    I think what really happened is everyone just moved on with life. People get married and get jobs and have kids. No time for the old jalopy. Our club started suffering losses. Nobody showed up to shows anymore.

    Me? I never changed. I still build and bomb around in old shit

    Growing old happens.
    Growing up is a choice.
     
  17. WiredSpider
    Joined: Dec 29, 2012
    Posts: 1,258

    WiredSpider
    Member

    I call them Zip Code cars
     
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  18. I have moved away from period correct hot rod and back to oval track racing with vintage cars, but I still just as die hard about period correctness with these cars as I was 22 years ago with hot rods.

    Outside of safety and tires I have a self-imposed pre-1963/hand-built parts only.

    No modern gauges, no modern Bert transmission I am running 41-48 Ford transmission converted to open drive, No Power steering, no electronic ignition a Vintage Mallory flatcap dual point, 48 Ford brakes with Safety Racing hubs.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2022
  19. Deuce Daddy Don
    Joined: Apr 27, 2008
    Posts: 5,544

    Deuce Daddy Don
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    HOW TRUE!!
     
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  20. denis4x4
    Joined: Apr 23, 2005
    Posts: 4,198

    denis4x4
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Colorado

    Both of my cars were built to MY design and specifications as rollers that I finished, so I guess I’m a “checkbook” hot rodder. I could afford it and my knowledge comes from 40 years in the high performance industry as a magazine writer and marketing consultant. Since these cars were built, I never considered them finished as I’m always trying to make them better. Too, I’m smart enough to know what I don’t know when it comes to certain building skills. If you want traditional, try pricing an original CRAGAR head or find a machinist that can fit tractor inserts in an A block! BTW. I’ve had the Zipper for 22 years and the ‘29 CCPU for 20 years and I drive both of them regularly.
     
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  21. wheeldog57
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 3,181

    wheeldog57
    Member

    Feeling the boom of the 90s and early 2000s for sure, going to the Road Agents, Ty Rods, and Alter Boys shows really opened my eyes to a greater scene than what I had previously been exposed to. Musclecars and street racing was all I was thinking about from sun up to way past sundown. Seeing the early cars, the comraderie, the clubs, the common interests, building cars from scraps, man o man- it seriously changed who I am.
     
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  22. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 24,523

    Roothawg
    Member

    That’s it. You guys have talked me out of traditional hot rods and customs.

    I’ m off to find a traditional Chevy Van of the 70’s board.
     
  23. Personally, I like period correctness.

    Whether it's a 50's style hot rod, 67 Camaro with Cargar SS wheels, greenline Sun gauges slap bars, and Mikey Thompson valve covers or a 70-style custom van.

    The problem is what the traditional hot rod movement has become, it is no longer rebellious and outlaw.
    It's trendy dare I yippie.
     
  24. I totally though those would be a lot bigger trend by now.

    I kind of do also, to a point. I can enjoy someones O/T stocker since I rarely see them (and understand the effort to rebuild them), but they're not for me. I'm NOT a pro builder by ANY stretch, but the builds here (past and current) push me to better my skill set (because I enjoy it). I really don't go to shows (just swapmeets), so I don't see or really care too much of what's current in traditional builds....but I do see parts prices fluctuate when people with big money jump in. Trends come and go but, I'm in my own little world and hopefully stays that way until I'm gone..........I like it.
     
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  25. Roothawg
    Joined: Mar 14, 2001
    Posts: 24,523

    Roothawg
    Member

    Once something cool catches on, it has a short life cycle, before it becomes a commodity.
     
    SR100 likes this.
  26. I drive the shit outta my hot rod so I have made a few concessions to modern parts. Radial tires, electronic ignition and front disc brakes. Yeah, it also has a modern master cylinder but I think that's about it. I drive it from Omaha to Joplin every year we [HAMB] have drags. 34 5_20.jpg
     
  27. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 17,388

    Squablow
    Member

    Damn, not sure how I missed this thread the first time around but I'm struck with a wave of nostalgia from when I was a teenager/early 20's, and I graduated HS in 1999. 50's nostalgia was really big in the 1980's when I was a little kid, that's the only explanation to why I was so drawn to it. And the new wave of hot rods and customs around 15-20 years ago was really my coming-of-age moment. Suddenly I wasn't the only one, I met other people who "got it" and it was a great time. Constantly broke and no idea what I was doing didn't matter a bit. I was 24 when I joined the HAMB, I'm 41 now.

    Some of the builds were crap, but stuff was getting built, and that was cool. After all, sucking at something is the first step to being kinda good at something.

    As for period-correctness, I still have my first car, a chopped '53 Ford painted purple with white flames. There's nothing on it that would keep it off of the HAMB, it uses only period appropriate parts, but a friend of mine recently commented that the car "reeks of 80's" and I'd never realized but honestly, it kinda does. It needs work, but the older I get, the less I want to change. I'd like to treat it the way I'd treat an original 50's or 60's build getting discovered today. A frozen-in-time capsule of late 1990's nostalgia of the late 1950's.
     
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  28. It's not so much that it has caught on it is that the people who it has caught on with.

    I didn't get into the traditional hot rod period correct because it was popular with the unwashed masses. I got into it because I thought it was cool! I studied it immersed myself in it! It became my life!

    If it was popular and people understood why they were building (although most are paying someone else to build) it would be fine.

    However, these people are nothing more than trend chasers they don't care anymore for traditional hot rods, then they did for Resto Rods/Fad Ts in the 1970s, Billet Splash Graphics Pro-Street in the 1980s or Pro touring in the 1990s.

    These people have watered it down, the cars are caricatures of themselves or cookie cutters.

    It's put a flat black paint job on a car with whitewalls it makes it a traditional hot rod! It doesn't matter is it powered by a LS engine, with digital gauges, and power everything!

    People are doing things with no idea why they were done then or why they are doing them now!
    These guys running around with 18" Divco wheels with no clue that was done on the dry lakes to raise the gear ratio for more top end speed, they just saw it in an old photo there for it's what everyone did and must be cool!
    Now every model A coupe is chopped 3"-4" on a 32 frame with a flathead. Every 32 Ford is a chopped Hi-boy with 40 Ford steel wheels and a Flathead, if someone dares to build an un chopped car or a channeled car, God forbid someone build an East Coast channeled un-chopped car, you suffer the wrath of the lawn chair fairgrounds Gods! (The guys who are only here because the magazines told them is cool.)
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2022
  29. Squablow
    Joined: Apr 26, 2005
    Posts: 17,388

    Squablow
    Member

    I was under the impression that the "Divco" high clearance wheels were 18" and desirable to land speed cars because of the availability of some high speed tires in 18" size, possibly from some airplane surplus application, and they were the only "solid" (i.e. non-wire wheel) with the early Ford bolt pattern.
     
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