I wouldn't be surprised if a few years down the road, the restoration of cars or the value of original and accurately restored cars far exceeds the value of even the best street rods. There will be restorers trying to find all the parts that were removed from decent original cars so that they can turn street rods back into original restorations. Too bad I don't have a big warehouse to store driveline and suspension setups that can be had dirt cheap as street rod take-offs. Store them a few years, then sell them back to the restorers. Eventually it will happen. As with all antiques, the highest collector values will be for original examples.
Man, you hit the nail on the head, we have a "Street Rodder" here that keeps buying buitiful traditional 32 Ford hot rods and turning into Billit cookie cutters. Worst was a Olds powered 3 window with history, fetured in Hot Rod 1958, stored since 62. Complete, period perfect. junked all the good stuff, built it billit style and even painted it PINK. Thought I would throw up when I saw it. Should be a law against destroying history!
Norway Pines still runs the coupes. I almost bought a '32 Vic that was Dan Douville's ride back in the '90s. Jan
This is the 3rd modified of our Black Cat Racing Team....my buddy's '32 Chevy. Actually, his dad, who funds this one thought that this body (particularly the top) looked like shit, so he bought a '33 Chev coupe that we put on. I'll post a pic as soon as we finish her. BTW, I'm glad that ya'll like the old circle trackers that some of us build. These are "my" favorite traditional rods. Jan
Jan surprised you know of Norway pines !taken from the owners Norman And Wayne =NorWay.They bought a track farther south in NH.with both a dirt and paved bullring on the same property.The track is under new managemant and is now known as Pines Speedway a lot has been done to upgrade the facility but it still looks like you stepped right back into 1960.You can run just about anything there and building mega bucks cars is a waste of time since pay outs are very low .but you can spend a great evening there for less than 25$Any of the cars in this thread would be welcomed there with open arms !they run mini stocks and street stocks but the modifieds are all older cars with pretty mild motors.theres plenty of action on the low banked 1/4 I'd rather drive the 3 hours there for an evening of racing than the 6 minutes to get to thompson speedway I'm close enough to listen to the announcer on calm nights !IF I could get my hand on one of the junkyard coupes on here I'd put one together to run up there
thanks to everyone for sharing these photos! it motivates me to finish my 50 Chevy. I just thought it was scary! Now I am going into the hills to find an old coupe to do!
Brough this home in 82, last summer the wife said build it or junk it, so. Got the frame zee'd before winter set in, have plans for 1/4 elipticl springs for front already have a slant 6 and tranny, just got to live long enuff to get it done. Oh I sold the front fenders.
Please tell me you're building that as a driver. I've always wanted to see a sprintcar/tailjob on the street. -Dave
Man I read US mags for years before finding this site. I was starting to think most US guys couldn't build cars, every mag had story's about "It had rust so I junked it and found a better one" Over here in Oz most cars were driven until even the most persevering farmer couldn't keep it going then it go stashed out the back of the farm. I was stoked when I found my A, if I can get some pics of before they would fit in here well. There is an older 41 getting around that was found in a swamp, ex US staff car from WWII, it was that rusted that the guy hand formed the entire bottom foot of the car! If it weren't for junk, Id never have built a car! Doc.
This, to me is the COOLEST thing about hobbyists like many of the "traditional" hot rodders and "vintage" racers. Seeing stuff like this ride again, whether on the street or on the track it is just a great accomplishment. Everyone who has resurrected a car (or parts of cars) that had long been thought to be too far gone....give yourself a big ole pat on the back. Lets save them all !!!
This was a 1936 Chevy 2 door sedan offered at a swap meet (the hood was 37) Would have been ideal for a "Coach" bodied Modified:
Its really impossible to destroy this cab at all. It was free...and I rescued it from the crusher. The floor, rockers, anything below the lowest door hinge was either gone, or completly rusted through. No one could figure out how to unbolt it from the frame...so one day after deciding it was going to rust down if it sat outside much longer, we took a sawzall and sawed it off under the lower door hinge. Now it sits in the dry, with actually more structural support (the piece(s) of wood) jammed inbetween the dash and rear of the cab and the door jambs. Anyway...one day i'll get around to putting a floor/rockers in it. Then It'll probably need to be sandblasted or something. It was originally orange...so its a little hard to tell what is rust and what is paint. But i'm pretty sure its mostly rust. It has a little bit of history. And I'm glad to have saved it.
One step further is not only saving a piece of junk, but building the rest with other junk. My 38 started out with two junk fenders and the remains of a cab, add a bunch of scrap mostly metal picked up off the curb, and a hood piched from another project. http://www.NudeAutoMall.com/Garage/Projects/38_Chevy/38_Chevy.html john56h I'd be glad to start a swap meet on the Mall for just such, if you would be interested in running it? I LOVE to see this kind of work! Great job, everyone!
I've had restorers bitch at me for not restoring this until they saw what I started with. Then, one of them asked me if I could restore the body on his project. I had other people tell me it wasn't worth it and I should go find something useable. That was even more reason to build it from what I had. It's parts of 10 Model A bodies now.
I started with a rusted-out, rickedy chitbox '34 cab that I drove over 200 miles to pick up. It was missing the driver's door, which to replace, cost me nearly the same ammount as the cab! It had so many dents, it looked like it spent most of it's life as a target on a driving range. It woulda fell over if the wind hit it the wrong way. This would be my first ground-up build. My wife, neighbors, and friends thought I had lost my mind. I had an idea of what I wanted to build; a long, low, stretched, lakes-inspired pickup. (is there such a thing?) So, I sketched it out... Fast forward nearly two years of welding, cutting, grinding, scrounging, bleeding, cursing, etc... Not done yet, but I just took it for the first test drive. What a feeling!
Haha..yeah. Some guys got an pretty solid F-100 around here that he is wanting to take the cab off, and I can pick up the frame pretty cheap. I already got an F-1 rolling chassis...but thats without any steering parts or anything. Plus...its flexed to death and tearing in the middle. But it was free. Figure with a little bit of an drop, some engine set back (Trying to get a six to use), a little wheelbase shortening. It would make a pretty good chassis to use under the truck. Might turn out a little too high-boyish, but ah...its just all stuff I'm trying to save. The only thing that bothers me is just how rusty the thing is, and that the cuts aren't exactly even, but I can trim that up later. Just need some support/floor in the bottom half and it should be pretty solid.
1935 Chevy....definately unrestorable, but I drug it home anyway. It'll probably end up a vintage stock car body, but anybody have any better ideas?
here's mine - a 34 3 window and a 33 5 window. Both were beyond what anyone in this area would attempt - bit I've found if you keep at it and put in the work, eventually a car emerges that blows people away.
The Jalopy Journal
