Why do T-buckets get no respect?

Yup. And pointless too.

 

Because of it’s elemental nature, T-Bucket’s appeal to people in a way that a lot of people can understand. Whether it’s a supper clean trad. build, a rat rod T, or especially a totally cartoonized Fad-T; the general public knows, (or thinks it knows) what it’s looking at when it sees a "T-Bucket. " It’s "one of those damn hot rods" or it’s "one of those cool street rods", either way, Dagwood recognizes it. After all it’s a Kookie Kar, Right? Like it or not, T-Bucket’s are still the most recognizable element of our preferred pass time. This very familiarity has the unfortunate side affect of making Dagwood think he know’s something about hot rods. Sometimes he even goes out and buy’s himself a bucket so he can sit around car shows and play with the cool kids, (I won’t name names.) You know, that guy that calls any topless 2 seater up to ‘32 a T-Bucket.

On the other hand, T-Bucket’s are also the most recognizable and usually the first hot rod’s appreciated by kids. My boy used to love them because they were "little like me." He’s 11 now and goes over every detail of every T he sees, and you guessed it, he’s already planning the build of his very own T-Bucket.

Some short sighted rodders can’t get around this association with kids and uninitiated adults and totally discount the value of the lowly T-Bucket. All of the objections leveled at T-Bucket’s could just as easily have been said about rat rods. They have been over done to death, they are ugly, some are well done some are poorly done, any dumb ass with a torch and a few bucks can build one, they are a fad and like all fads they will be out of style some day, (and none to soon for some of us.)

"That’s all I have to say about that"

 

I took pictures of it in Springfield MO. I think it had Missouri plates. Younger guy had it, he was the builder, or so he said. Kind of a smartass, thought he was the shit. I liked it before the whitewalls better. Dean

 

Now this is a traditional T. I'm still kickin' myself for not jumping on this one! Missed it by just minutes. Who ever bought it, I give ya' a couple hundred more to flip it to me?

 

I love that freakin car, perfect seems like too mild of a word to describe it.

 

Back in the late 60's & early 70's my dad had 2 roadsters one for the street and one for show(Henry's "T" for those that hit the show circut back then).I thought they were cool then,and cool now if they are done right.

 

Interesting - and mostly civil - discussion so far.

Like any hot rod you can do em right, just miss or make a gimmick laden wonder out of it.

The T-Buckets are no worse and no better in this regard.

Simpler does seem to be the key with any hot rod and perhaps the T's look more complicated than they really are due to everything on a T is visibile.

True to a smaller extent on the thin fenders - IE: A's to 34 or so imo - but the fat fender cars can hide a lot of badly done stuff.

I'm glad to see the perfomance capabilities of the T's being discussed.

The doggone V8 powered buckets with any good running engine, built or not, will outrun most anything they go up against on the street.
They are to be feared on the strips as well.

A mildly built 327 in a slick-shod 32 highboy roadster will run in the 12's most times.
Seen a T-Bucket drive right around them with no problems.

I note as well, several of the T's in this post are sporting steering arms behind the axle.
Well done.

With a suicide front end I always wondered why it was necessary to have the steering arms in front and reverse ackerman.

It looks to me as well that there's almost as much building involved with building a T as there is with an A.
Hood, doors and trunk/rumble lid makes for more work than a T with none of those.

Although T's require some clever thinking to get all the required elements in place and looking good.

Kinda funny about T's here in Sunny Arizona.
First spring I was here, I saw a dismantled roadster lying in a front yard as "yard art."
One was in an out in the country business' dump.
And two were at a way out in a canyon, one disassembed, the other not, sitting up against the south fence.
Then perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised.
Not when I was shown the yard art 32 roadster sitting in the orchard.

Only trouble for me, it was a Chevy....

 

Hope to have done this summer? one on the back it , 1914 willys over land body. frame being built now and sent to me. can't wait to do it, have a 327 or 354 hemi or 455 olds .

 

That is a neat looking car.

 

What he said.

 

Answer: Because they are inexpensive and work well. No snob appeal.

 

Kind of like flat black paint.

 

First off let me say that I like T buckets.

A well thought out bucket is a neat little car. the problem is they morphed into cartoonish, gold, brass, and chrome ladden caractures of what they were originally. And that, unfortunately is what most people think of when the term T bucket is brought up.

I honestly think the same thing happened with the "traditional" title. That is how we are getting all the ultra chopped rustbuckets with no thought to drivability, or proper engineering of fairly important points like steering geometry or stopping power that claim to be like it was back in the day.

What ever the style, a well thought out, designed, and properly executed rod deserves respect.

Just my two cents.

 

I love the damn little things myself, just got another frame to start another one. They are cheap to build, but depends on how much you want to dump in one.....You can actually build one in 20 minutes, and 5 seconds if you have that much time to spare in the morning. Check it out..............LMAO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp_K1wEb4v4

 

Ive seen cool T-buckets..., but there are too many T owners with bad taste. Maybe thats one reason.
Also, just staring at an A or deuce both coupe or roadster answers your queston.

 

You truly missed a great ride! I used to own it once and i can tell ya it was well built,drove like a slot car,and was tons of fun!

 

A 2000 lb bucket with a 200hp engine has greater acceleration capability than a stock brand new '08 Mustang GT and they can do low 13's off the showroom floor 12's with a good driver. So a 300 hp 2000 lb bucket is kinda like having a roughly 550 hp late model Mustang GT.

You can build a cheap, powerful, runs on crap gas, 250-300 hp motor pretty easy. Drop it in a bucket and go like hell.

 

I've been fightin' this battle since 1965 when I built my rendition of the Car Craft series T. Here are some of the more memorable comments;

It's fiberglass!!
It's too crampped!!
It's too flashy!!
It's too fast!!
It's ugly!!

To all of this I just answer''Yup, and it's almost too much fun!!''

Youngster

 

Not too long ago, Kit Car Magazine did a test on a 23 T Bucket. Here's the link:

http://www.kitcarmag.com/roadtests/142_0407_chall1/index.html

Here is some of the text:

"When it came to the T-bucket, Andrew reveals "As we blasted down the 1320, raw power an strength were the adjectives of the moment. How else can one explain low 12s on a street radial? A rollbar and a set of serious slicks were the only elements keeping us from more aggressive testing, or should we say the high 11s. On the slalom, the '23 exhibited predictable movements and less-than-expected body roll. The excess of power-on-tap allows the driver to steer with the accelerator at will. Our proposal: autocross--not that we would, but the thought crossed our minds."
On the dyno, the T-bucket was a consistent runner, and it came back with 241.25 hp at the rear wheel with 270.62 ft-lbs of torque. Not bad for a 302 Ford motor! (See more on this car on page 32 of this issue). The Porsche's numbers were 124.77 hp at the wheels with 130.64 ft-lbs of torque. (You can check his motor stats in his car feature on page 37)."

The "power and fun to money ratio" can NOT be denyed. These cars will go like a scalded cat.

 

That is a cool car. Uses one of those Califonia Custom Roadsters 8" stretched bodies. It was in an issue of Street Rodder too.

 

Yup. I have that issue on my desk at work, where I'm building mine, I check it out about once a day. Motivation. Here's a pic of mine. It's not traditional, but I wasn't trying to be. I got the front wires for cheap, broke them down and powered coated them and used black steelies with baby moons on the rear to match them.



She isn't much, but she's mine.

 

Damn tfeverfred! I like that! Looks more traditional than some I've seen waving that banner. You're building what you want and that's cool. What kind of old sedan or truck body are you going to cut up to put on it? lol<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_2456479", true); </SCRIPT>

 

Well, I've got a '32 Ford truck I was gonna cut the top off, shave the doors in half (so it'll be like a roadster) and put a Duvall windshield on it! Then channel it 6"!

Just kiddin'. I'm going with a '23 body painted gloss black, '28 grill, 14" windshield and installing a red interior. Gonna try and do the paint and interior myself.

 

THAT IS DAMN NICE LOOKING !!!!

 

Thanks, Shawn. I installed the steering box a couple weeks ago and figured I'd mock up a steering column. Well, one thing lead to another and....(cheesey video alert)....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xAbdZqIE4o

 

they are awesome 9/10 times

 

I want it, its perfect

 

You got it right! I would take a glass T....Before a rusty piece of crap anyday!

They are true Hot Rods!

 

I think as with the basic..simple nature of the car..some fall prey to trying to going too far for the nature of the bucket. Simple is better..the huge tire..all chrome/billet..rods are beggin' to be notice by VOLUME not Style..

With such a basic..simple bucket..it seems some folks feel the only way to stand out is gaudy and loud..a lot like the choppers glorified on TV..

 

I own a 26 steel bodied (fomoco)T / 350 combo(hey give me a hemi or flathead v-8 with tranny and I'll change it)I love my T and don't care what you all think.Not every one has a $50,000.00 build budget, likes the billet look, hot rod nashes&ramblers or even a packard but if you own one ,do you really care what everyone else thinks,its too loud too low,its ugly,its a ford ,its a chevy,paint or primer if you OWN it and think its cool WHO CARES, thats hot rods,always been hotrods,hotrods forever....IRVS T