I don't know where this conception that "hotrodding" or interstate "streetrodding" was an activity affordable by the "working poor" came from... It's not now and never has been. If the price of gas is a concern at all, you need a cheaper hobby. Try bicycling, on a cheap department store or used Salvation Army Store bike.
Absolutely! I'll go less this year. We have a Sunday morning breakfast get together that's about a half hour away. Unless it's perfect weather where there will be lots of cars, I have to pass. It used to cost 10 bucks to run up there...now it's 20 bucks....for a maybe? I don't think so! I believe the shows with a high entrance fees will see a slow down this year. I sure as hell don't go for any trophy so I may ride with someone else and split the costs. It's not worth the expense to me just to say I had my car there. I go to look and bullshit with others. I'm lucky enough to have plenty of local get-togethers that can feed my addiction. If I go to York it will be as a spectator. It'll be over a hundred bucks to enter a car for the day. I gave up on the motels years ago. There are a few can't miss runs but not many!
If I can just figure out how to come up with free parts & labor to finish off my project, I'll be touring the country /attending shows all summer long-
Yes with EFI and a 5 spd if i drive it 'sensibly' i can get 20-25 mpg, but hell where's the fun it that
Up in Sweden we pay around 7.69 a gallon for our gas and they want to raise the price even more! I think I have to seriously think about putting pedals in my shoebox...
When did they start with EFI on those? I ask as when we bought our Anglia, it had a tired '69 Essex in it (morbid curiosity).
One of the changes we made was moving to a very small town. We rarely have to drive anywhere now, so daily driver fuel consumption has dropped by a huge amount. My daily is a Durango SUV with 4.7L V8, and when we lived in Calgary I was burning up to $75 in fuel every 4 or 5 days commuting back and forth to work. Now I can make a tank of gas last a month or more. I was thinking about replacing the slant-6 engine in our new hotrod, but I think I'll leave it alone. It has more than enough power to move the little truck, and it gets excellent fuel economy so I won't have to cut back on cruising to events in it.
Damn! Over here in Germany, one litre costs around 1,30 which is... 1.99$ per litre which is... 7.53$per gallon!
If you live in small town western U.S.A. or the Canadian prairies, you gotta go big miles to see somthin' different and to hear different BS from other BS'ers about their rides or plans for rides. It costs big money to attend events like Devil's Cruise, Back to the Fifties, SuperRun etc. when you consider gasoline costs, motel room, food, registration, etc.. What for? (gettin' crotchety in my old age) I have witnessed over the past 20 years scores of die-hard rodders "leaving the game" and getting on with a real life. Sure, they'll bring it out on occasion to a small town local event, but that's it! What I notice at large events is the same clique groups throwin' back cool ones. Others delight in having their feathers stroked. Others delight in giving you advice on how I should have done things differently on my ride. Others give you the thumbs-up and the over-used kudos (having no idea what they are looking at) and that's OK. The people that are truly gems are those who will examine practically every square inch of your ride (and overlook the zits) and then comment, "How did you get this to work?", "I like the way you made this piece, I'll have to try something like that on mine.","etc." "etc." Bottom line is this: How much does a guy/gal have to spend to get these kind of experiences? This stuff gets old (mundane) after a while. I'm cuttin' back this summer.
I drive a small V6 powered truck during the week to save gas. It gets about 20mpg with the four speed in it, but I am tempted to swap in a 305 and a 5 speed OD trans since a lot of guys who do it get better gas milage and have a more fun to drive truck on top of it. However, my 57' Poncho is getting a decent V8 in it, just cause it should have one. The high gas prices hurt, but it won't stop me from driving the wheels off the pontiac when it has the new mill in it.
In Sweden you pay like 7,50$ a gallon! Im planing to have less food and more gas this summer to even things up and maybe also loose some weight on the way!!
I just test drove my nailhead '33 and it's going to be expensive to run. Drinks gas even worse than I expected (two-quads with straight linkage). Couple that with 12.5 compression and I'm adding $25 worth of Torco race fuel concentrate to every tank (on top of $3.35/gal at the pump). Expensive, but it's how I wanted to build the car. If it ever gets too costly, I'll just drive it less. Hope it doesn't come to that, but I couldn't bring myself to go down on power.
I hope to do three out of state traditional events this year, Rust revival, HAMB drags, and the Pileup. Last year I planned that also but did not go to the HAMB drags because of the cost, I spent the money on my 54 instead. If I cut back it will be to showa in Minnesota.
The gas price increases alone I can handle. It's the fact that everything has doubled in price in the last ten years that hurts. Hey it's an expensive game, play as much as you can afford to. It's never been really cheap and it's definitely not getting cheaper.
I was thinking we could have a virtual Jalopy run. If we all did a Utube video of our ride entering the driveway, we could post them here and replace our computer chairs with lawn chairs and make believe we were on the side of the road watching each other entering the event.
Man this place would be so much better without these "holier than though" hardcore hot rod comments. Nobody cares man, if you are so hardcore, get off the computer, fill your car with $100 in high test and go burn fossil fuel all day long. You can obviously afford it. For a lot of us, this is a concern. Money IS an object. As stated before, I dont really go to many shows, but it has ABSOLUTELY affected the direction my next two cars are going. I have a serious SBC sitting on a stand, zero miles, but with the shit going to $4 a gallon, that doesnt excite me. A free donor Olds giving up its 350/auto/driveshaft. 2.70something rear, well..that does. Even my shoebox is getting a SBC/th350 to Maverick highway runner. It should pull down great mileage. One thing we have to remember with all these overseas guys is that our dollar is SO utterly worthless right now. No offense Canadian guys, but I can't remember a time in my life (Im 29) that Canadian money was worth more than ours. It hit me when I was reading a post for sale in the classifieds here. Wow. So, that said, I know by being all through Europe that gas is pricey there, but our conversion rates make the figures seem a little off right now because of where we are economically. The dollar is worth half a pound. When I was there last it was around .70, now its dead at .50. Thats serious. So when someone says that they are paying $9 and change over there, at this present time it has to be taken with somewhat a grain of salt.
I want to drive my truck, not park it and look at it. I used to catch a lot of crap from my friends when I told them I was putting a 6cyl in my truck. Not any more. Not saying anything bad about SBCs or SBFs, I just don't see the need. I'm not gonna race my truck. It'll haul/tow anything I need it to, economically. I'm using a Clifford water-heated intake with a 2BBL carb, Isky Mile-A-Mor cam, 4.9 exhaust manifolds, and twice pipes. I'm aiming for 20-25 MPG. Ford 300ci 6s are good for 300,000 miles. I'm just doing my part to save fuel for all you guys with the multi-carbed big blocks! Good luck paying for it! p.s. I haven't bought Premium gas since it was 50 cents a gallon.
Man I can relate to what everyones saying. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't bitchn in my first post, but a guys gotta wonder where things are goin'. I'm thinking "full circle". You know in an odd way, over the last few years or so the group I hang with spend more time together hang'n in the garage or going to smaller local shows or car nights then the bigger Good Guys shows with 5000 cars+ and we're having much more fun. I felt like an egg bak'n when I went to a GG show in Kansas City at the open raceway- we had more fun when we left and hit the town. So I'm think'n: Maybe more smaller local cruises or day shows.... ....like in the 'ol days. You know: "full circle".
I'm driving a 93 Mustang coupe that I'd planned on making a drag car out of. With gas going up daily, I thinik I'll leave the 4 cyl in it. I just wish it could get out of it's own way. I picked up a TR7 convt. that had been garaged for 20 something years with a blown motor. I stuck a v6 Buick in it and plan on FI and a Mustang rearend. Can't wait to see what kind of gas millage it gets with the wedge shape. I'm still going to put a v8 in my 54 wagon so I can pull a camper with it. I might only go a couple of miles with it but I've dreamed of doing it for years.
Tommy, now that's an idea. If we could have a little old oil and gas smell to it all it'd be just like being there.
I'm sure you've been there before, but the Des Moines GG show is a decent one to go to, especially if shade is a concern. The Iowa State Fairgrounds is a nice setting for the event. It's not too far from Omaha, either...
Ok, I know I didn't include your whole response, but I'd really like to say that there are certain things you just can't place a price on. Attending these events that we enjoy and getting to spend time with friends that live 1,000 or more miles away is priceless. I've gained some lifelong friends and memories from attending long distance events. I don't go to get my ego stroked or search for compliments and trophies. It's all for fun, enjoyment and the people that you meet along the way. Alot of us call this car hobby of ours part of our "real life" - it is for me anyways. Malcolm
well i am fixing to get serious about putting my 49 ford together and i think im going the user friendly version of a motor, almost bone stock 302. then throw in the AOD and a 2:70 rear i should be pretty good. if your building a motor right now take the time and match port and polish the heads and intake to your gaskets this helps a whole lot, and bigger free flowing exhaust. i have a cam being ground for me at Comp Cams just for a little more mileage and it will be a full roller set up. this will be the first "Hot Rod" ive built to be more environmentally friendly and i hope i can pull it off. as far as the shows my dad an i hit this year, we are cutting back because of the gas (only the real long distance ones 400+ miles one way) and the fact that my car will not be finished to enjoy any of them. but if there is a swap meet with in 250 or so miles im there!!! i still have to get parts for the 49 LOL.
Lostn51, I have seen a few ppl on here say that, but it doesnt make sense. I would always imagine EITHER a 2.70 gear or an overdrive. To me it would seem that it would be the opposite of efficient, to have that no torque 302 turning 800 rpms on the highway in 4th gear.
i've been giving it some thought. how many guys can say they built, owned and driven a hotrod with a blown hemi? i'm going through with this build. my 46 has a firedome with an edelbrock 500cfm 4 bbl, 700r4 trans and 2.90 gearing in the rear. we average around 80 mph on the highway and it gets around 20 mpg. the maiden voyage driving more conservatively netted a best of 23 mpg. next build will be different. i'm thinking of an ardun topped banger backed by a t5 and quickchange all wrapped in a little mogified. i love them hemispherical combustion chambers.
Put in a different perspective, based on $3.35 per gallon of gas, Supposed you value your car at $15,000 and you want to drive 2000 miles this summer. 2000 miles @ 10 MPG or 200 gallons of gas X $3.35 = $670.00 for gas, which is only 4.4% of your total cost. Suppose your car is worth $20,000 and drive 2000 miles this summer, then you are paying for 3.3% of your total cost Or suppose your car is worth $25,000 and drive 2000 miles, the percentage is 2.6%. One more, you have $30,000 invested in your car @ 2000 miles, the percentage is 2.2%. So now is it too expensive to drive? Gas is usually the cheapest expense of a car. You want to buy a new set of tires for your ride? 4 tires all around, maybe $400 give or take. Woops, see what I mean. Think this looks bad? Try taking your son to a pro ball game, Parking, tickets, some hot dogs and a soft drink, how much do you think that will set you back? Or how about taking a friend and going to some concert @ $75.00 a ticket. Take your significant other out for even a cheap sit down dinner once a month. You can't get away for less than $25. That's $300 a year, and you're only going out once a month. I like this one too, especially for the smokers in the house, suppose you smoke a carton of cigs a week @ $31 a carton, thats $1612 a year. I think I'll keep on driving thank you. HellRaiser
What was that I heard about the Corvette Z06 with the LS7 getting 29 mpg highway with 505 hp? You gotta sympathize with the Europeans and their OTT gas prices, but also consider that if you live in the USA, Canada or Oz you tend to drive much longer distances, so it evens out. In Britain, wherever you are in the country you are never more than 65 miles from the coast for example. Nowadays it is not only gas, but hotel prices - trying to find anything under $200 a night for the Santa Barbara Show in May? Impossible - so you either pay in gas or hotels. If you get really lucky you get screwed both ways. A hotel in SB which cost $159 a night last year now costs $229 + taxes for the same friggin' room, and this is right across the street from the original Motel 6 which is $120+ a night plus taxes and book at least a year in advance. In reality you can never get a room but even if you could, $140 a night for Motel 6???? It gets to the stage where you think about the cost of going to a show in terms of the parts you could have or what you could do to your rod for the money. How sad this all is, and when you consider that as often as not you have to pay entry fees to provide the spectators free entry and enrich the show organizers, when you are the one who put all the bst and money in the car. Even worse, as the GreedyGuys do, they take it from everyone entrants and spectators alike, and you ask yourself is it worth it? Imagine going to a ballgame or concert and have the players or artists pay the promoter to play or perform..... something is fundamentally wrong here. What if they held a car show and potential participants boycotted the event and refused to pay entry fees? No cars, no show. As for me, local cruise nights with free entry - just show up and enjoy - are becoming more attractive by the minute.