Why do T-buckets get no respect?

Wouldn't give mine up for nuthin'. Lightweight, easy to drive, good mpg, faster than it needs to be and also was my first real 'hot rod'.

 

The Radirs/Wide Whites/Steering Wheel make this car very cool!!

 

this is bitchin

 

I dont know if mine gets respect or not...I havent found anyone fast enough to catch it so I havent been able to ask.

 

That slammed brown one is awesome. I'm not really a big fan of T's, but some of the pictures you guys posted almost make me want to go out and build one.

 

Thanks for the comments, It just happens to be mine and i love it.
It was originally built by myself for £5,000 budget ($10,000) but i have spent another £1200 on it since, Been on the road since 2000 so has seen a fair few miles, Runs 12 sec quarters so that usually shuts up the sceptics LOL

Cheers
Steve.

 

I like 'em...but then I like most anything made from a T! They do have to be proportioned correctly. The original Total Performance T was a great job of getting the proportions right. I don't care what anyone says...they are as traditional as traditional gets (with the right engine/trans/rearend setup).

 

I love mine, i drive the shit out of it(40,000 in 8 seasons) Street race anyone who pulls up next to me & only have about $4500 in it!!
Say what you want about T's but i never met anyone who didn't like em.And like Brian said at Total performance" ya run outta balls before you run outta speed"!!
The whole idea of rodding is "build what you like"
JimV

 

we all had them when we had nothing to worry about.......got older saw haw dangerous they were and got away from them, but I think they will make a big come-back because that all are grandchildern are going to be able to affort........

 

UK Comet, did this one come from Oklahoma??

 

Guys like this. Belongs to the old guy in the black T shirt with the gold chain around his neck. We were parked nearby, everytime anybody so much as glanced at it he'd jump up and start it up.

The funny thing is the car got picked for best of show by the goofball that manages the local O'Reilly auto parts.



By the way, I dig a lot of the T's in this and the other thread. I seriously pondered buying Zenor's last year.

 

Hey I love them and probably build another one. Just a fun build in the garage!

 

This thing reminds me of the seventies Pinbal machines!!! remember that cheezy stencil painted on artwork!!!

 

Love the camel also, looks like it's scratchin it's bunghole onthe seat!!!

 

mostly has to do with ego. Owners of other cars can't take the fact that the fad-T is getting much more 'eye' time. Example...Two cars at the stop light, a black full fendered 32 three window, and a chromed up, brightly painted, loud fad-T. Average Joe on the corner doesn't even see the 32. Sure, they're jukeboxes on wheels, but since this hobby is about getting attention, you gotta give the T it's props.

 

I think they were the original belly button rods. Personally I hate the ones that started showing up in the sixties with brass carriage lamps etc. ughh. I do love the traditional ones in SamIyam's thread though.

 

I like them when they're done right, but I think what turned me off was the ones with the vertical steering column between the drivers knees, and the flat "bus like" steering wheel, and the drivers knees sticking up above the door. I guess I just couldn't imagine being able to really drive the car in that position, looks like in a fast turn you'd fall right out or something. Add to that the cycle wheels and tires with no front brakes, steamrollers in the back, some of those weird ass fenders, ribbon paint, and carriage lamps, and it's hard to take it serious as a "real" car. As wild as they were, most exhibited very little originality with everything coming from a catalog and not showing any real individuality.
But all T's shouldn't get a bad rap for some of the weird stuff that was done to some, after all, I've seen some pretty goofy 32's as well, so I try to judge each car on it's own merits instead of categorizing them. Some cars are cool, some cars aren't

 

Like 'em or not, even carriage lamps were original when they were first done. I think they are cool, though I agree that a lot of them are or were "over done". Style is taste, simple enough. Gotta admit, they are a hell of a showcase for a nice blown hemi or super clean flathead.

But what the hell do I know, I drive a sedan. Just my 2 cents.

 

Stop !

Step away from the T-bucket.

 

Get out your old Hot Rods and Rod and Customs. There are alot of very cool (imo) buckets that grace the covers in the 50's and 60's.
Ive always been a fan of the funky show cars of the 60's myself. I forgot which cover of R&C, and its too late for me to go to my stash to dig it out, there is a wild looking bucket with wide ass rear tires, super long pipes and a very tall top. I would happily drive that thing around and wouldnt give a rats ass what anyone thought...well I dont really care if anyone agrees with my idea of cool anyway.

 

I love my T bucket....... fastest car I've ever owned.......

 

It definitly came from Ebay U.S., A friend bought it and shipped it over to the U.K., I had a drive of it and it was great fun.

Steve.

 

Now this is sweet as molasses

 

I would call that a Modified, Real nice though.

Steve.

 

I love T Buckets, but sometimes they do get a little old.. If there is 100 in a row, 80 have a small block chevy, 15 have a blown big block, and the other 5 have something cool like a HEMI, Nailhead, or Flatty. After being out of the rod scene for 10 years I decided to build a T bucket again, but finally chose a '27 highboy cause I need a little more leg room these days. LOL

Here's a couple of pics of my first T, a custom built job with a big block dodge. Uncomfortable as hell trying to drive any distance, but it was fun as shit! The pink one is the style bucket I like the best and was actually a Total Performance project car a few years back.

 

I think this sums it up perfectly.

 

Traditional T-buckets are cool, it's those 70's and 80's buckets that gave them all a bad rap.
This one's pretty cool for a kit. I see potential there...
http://www.tperformance.com/street_rods/King_T.cfm

 

In my view, T roadsters and RPU's deserve lots of respect. They were certainly the foundation of early hot rodding, and there are hundreds of examples of great looking traditional cars from the '30s to the present.

When Grabowski did his Lightnin' Bug (later the Kookie Kar) and Ivo copied it with a lower, sleeker version of the style, they established a completely new look -- really a caricature of a hot rod, all engine and tires with a minimal RPU body in between.

Because the '23 roadster body with a mini-bed attached was easy to repop in fiberglass -- especially without doors -- they became the entry level hot rod, cheap and simple to buy and build. The fact that zillions of these glass cars were built in the '60s and '70s was strike one to the esteem held for "fad T's". The term "T-bucket" stuck to these cars more than to the earlier style of turtledeck cars.

Strike two was that a lot of these cars were built with a K-mart, shag rug kind of aesthetic -- cheap, tasteless, gaudy.

Now, there've been a lot of bad '32s and '40s done in the last 60 years or so, too, but usually there's enough left of value that a clueless car can be saved. In the case of a glass repop T-bucket, why bother?

There are certainly exceptions out there. Traditional T hot rods old and new which are not tarred with the T-bucket brush, and even an occasional car done in the Grabowski/Ivo style but done with taste, like the examples in Samiyam's thread. Those cars still deserve respect, and they have mine.

 

This "Traditional" THING is getting outta hand....IMO
Notso long ago "traditional" parts could be bought at swaps CHEAP, and a guy could BUILD a "trad" (looking) car on the cheap...That AND rat-rods are more "traditional" than spending YEARS and STUPID $$$$ for "just the right" parts......guys "back in the day" were trying to get their car to go faster anyway they could.....not spending years for a the "correct" intake.......
How is a guy's car (who spends big $$$ and years collecting more parts) more "traditional" than the the low buck guy building his RATROD (not the skulled, spiderweb ridden crap) with whatever he can.....cheap......
Answer....he's not.....

Rant over....

Oh BTW.....T-buckets are COOL...and more "traditional" than half the SHIT out there.....maybe not in execution, but in PRINCIPAL....

 

O.K., tell me what is wrong with this one ??? 1425 pounds, actual 350 HP, 350 w/shift kit and 2400 rpm stall conv. ....and it hooks up GREAT ! It runs like a scalded wild rabbit.... This car was completed in one year, by me and a buddy in my garage at a very low cost. There is a lot to be said about the T-bucket.