History Tell me again the SBC isn't traditional...1963 Hot Rod Annual

now thats some funny stuff. I think i spit some beer on my keyboard.

 

I like mine.

 

Funny, my 1929 Chev, had overhead valves,before your flathead V8 was born, just like the 302 Jimmys that were traditional long ago, and they were stout performers too. I find it funny, how so many flathead fans, worship "Ardun" heads, designed by Zora Arkus-Duntov, the same engineer who played such a huge part, in the design of the small block Chevy, as well as the development of an OEM performance parts division, so hot rodders could buy reliable, engineered, hop up parts. But at least my small block Chevy is going in a Chevy. LOL

 

Evidently not, given what you just said. Amazing.

 

I don't know which one's more boring, another cookie cutter car with a small block Chevy in it, or another cookie-cutter thread arguing about the small block Chevy... or anything else, for that matter... being traditional or not. Isn't this tech week?

 

I love'm all !!

Olds, sbc, Flathead,Nailhead,Hemi,Mopar Wedge, Cad etc....and thank God we have those options.

I dont care about the extra $$$ to build one engine over another. Life is too short, so I build what I like and WANT. Fuck the cost, since when was hot rodding cheap anyway?

Build what u want and can afford....everyone is different and has different capabilities.

This arguing is a wank.

Rat

 

I have had every engine on the face of the earth and to me they all suck except the small chevy for a traditional hot rod! Dumb-asses ask me all the time "Why didnt you put a flathead in that 32 roadster?" and I always say "I want to get to the store and back without overheating and breaking down!" If someone dont like a good-ol' small block...FUCK EM! Come take a ride in my roadster and you will see the beauty of a small Chevy while you clean the shit out of the seat of your man panties!

 

Only thing that bothers me, as a Ford and Merc fan, is to see one of those cars with a SBC in it. I don't know why. I guess it feels to me like someone took the easy way out. I can watch 10 second cars, all day long at the track running a SBC, and I'm not too impressed. When someone rolls up to the tree, and makes a 9 or 10 sec pass with something else ( including Big Block chevys ) it gets my attention. I can appreciate the extra time, effort and money it takes to make another one of these mills do that. Not saying that the SBC is not a good motor, rather that it's played out in my area. Seems like everyone in my area, except the mustang guys, are running them in just about every make and model. Even seen a few Cobra replicas running them, which is a travesty, IMO.

 

There is a sense in which the SBC is perhaps the definitive traditional engine: that is, the second of the two senses of the word 'traditional' listed above by hotroddon.

A huge number of people know an incredible amount about the small-block Chevy. The knowledge about the small-block Chevy does not belong to General Motors. It hasn't belonged to General Motors in a very long time. The aftermarket has contributed far more to the knowledge than GM ever did. One can build not one but a whole multifarious variety of small-block Chevies without using a single GM part!

The essence, you might say, of the small-block Chevy does not reside in Detroit but, in greater and lesser measure, in the heads of millions of people around the world. As a design it has developed a life of its own. It doesn't belong to anyone. It exists as a set of part interface definitions floating in social space. It exists as tradition.

This is a good thing. I like it. There is freedom in it. It is fundamentally subversive of tyranny.

One can say the same of many engines, and indeed the Ford Flathead is such an engine. So are the various Harley-Davidsons down the years, the air-cooled VW, the BMC A-series, and a few others; but none supports a greater sheer volume of tradition as the SBC.

 

There are 23 V8's in our garage. We have flatheads, we have Pontiac V-8's, BBC's and even a couple of OHV Fords. We also have SBC's. Myself, I will take a well detailed and period dressed 350 over a 265 or early 283 ANYDAY for one reason. ROPE SEALS SUCK!(and I hate oil leaks) I agree with disguising the 350 as much as possible though using early components on it if you are building a traditional rod but there is nothing wrong with a 350 shortblock...

Oh, and I'm putting Chevy's in my Chevy's too Although I am leaning towards an I6 for the roadster

 

It all depends on the way its dressed. I think a 50's dead on 40 Ford coupe or deuce roadster looks perfect with a period correct looking sbc with vintage finned factory Chevy/vette valve covers and the batwing air cleaner on dual quads, kind of like somebody pulled one out of a 57 Chevy or vette and dropped it right in.

 

if anything, a well dressed SBC is the way to go, a 350 with vintage parts IE( cal customs, tri power, fenton headers, even a nice paint job) is just a remarkable as anything else. I just tell people, if they want a flathead in MY car, by all means pay for it to happen and I'll do it

 

Just saw this thread Brad, used the same Annuals a few years back in a thread here abot numbers..............agreed

 

Haha! That's what I say.

 

Or an old school 283 with rams horns.

 

And to think I just put a 2008 5.3l Vortec, fuel injected and drive by wire, in my 1953 Cadillac Coupe. Think it will pass as 'traditional'?

 

There ya go!!!!!!

Depends on who the traditional police are and what the "defininition" clearly is. I've seen guy's here go off on the traditional thing saying that parts must be from 64 or earlier, yet they have a 350 in their ride when a 350 came out in 67. None of these SBC's in this 1963 Hot Rod Annual are 350's. So, depends on what your definition is and how much you're willing to bend it.

One definition might be to build a car with what is available within a certain budget. That opens the door widely...

 

Wake me when it's over . . .

 

If you like it, who cares? Fifty years from now, HAMBer's will be swearing that's traditional.

 

Arguing on the internet over what's traditional just doesn't seem very traditional.

 

This thread is SO much fun, I think we'd better start to discuss how much of your car has to be non-stock/modified parts (50%?) and how much of those have to be found,traded or junkyard parts (30%?) to qualify as a "hotrod".

It's raining,again,I've had too much coffee to sleep,it's too early for a beer so I think I'll just go out and stack hay. Y'all have fun with this, I'll be back later.

 

It's never too early!

 

I love this tread!!!

 

Does anyone know if there are adapters available to put Small Block Chevy valve covers on an Early Hemi? That would be so rad!

 

Bottom line, as always...you have a right to build your own car anyway you want. BUT...you don't have a right to expect anybody else to like the way you built it.

 

Guess what this is........

 

The engines I've used in my builds are as follows, 1957 chev/348-tri-power, 1941 ford/289 4 barrel, 37 chevy pu 327/tri-power, 32 ford pu 327/4 barrel, 47 ford coupe stock flattie, 40 chevy pu 350/tri-power, and my present build 29 roadster 350/tri-power. I'm a sbc guy I guess, why? Because they are reliable and easy to build and modify. The reason they were so popular in the 50s & 60s, reliable, easy to build and modify. The fact that they are or are not boring depends on what you do with them. I have a 88 center bolt 350 in my roadster, why? Well, roller cam for one, back in the 60s we took the newest stuff we could get our hands on to build our hot rods. Our hot rods were old cars with new drive trains. Same shit different day, old cars with new drive trains. I choose the sbc for reliability and proven technology, I just like em with tri-power. I love the look of a flathead in a hi-boy roadster or coupe but I do not have the know how to put one together or the patience to keep it running ( remember I had on in my 47 ) so I know what it takes. My roadster is not traditional, but when it comes right down to it most of the stuff I see on here isn't either, but what I do see here is alot of guys and gals building hot rods and having fun doing it. Lets cut all the bullshit and admit to that, it's really about you having fun your way with your car, if that means a sbc w/ 4 barrel or 350/350 combo, or a hemi or nailhead or flathead go for it. Hot rodding has always been about doing YOUR thing, DO IT.

 

This picture rules! I can hear Getto Boys in the background........

 

going gooing gooooing GOOONNNE !!!