coon tails, white mudflaps with blue reflectors and...

Actually, how about just "customs"!

 

THE FAKE BULLET HOLE STICKERS. It always temps me to give them some real ones and see if they notice

 

Anybody remember mirror muffs? Sort of a local fad in the early sixties.

Also the J.C. Whitney headlight covers to give your car the "dual headlight" look. It was laughable back then but for some reason I still see 'em on a lot of cars these days.

 

If its sold at a parts store or out of a mail order catalog it's about a 99.99% chance that it's retarded and reflects that the driver is also. Things that piss me off are the "cowboy up" stickers in the back windows of jacked up hillbilly dodge ram diesels with a 14" stove pipe for a tail pipe. It's the direct result of generations of in-breeding on wheels. These idiots need to be shot in the face. Actually, I just hate diesels in general.

 

Triple outlet lakes pipes ... generally means the owner really wasn't there in the late '50's ... or really wasn't aware.

 

Engine "dress up" kits: chromed stamped steel covers that fit over the voltage regulator and coil; plated plastic battery caps; and plated plastic wraps for vacuum lines, wiring and even the radiator hoses.

Door edge protectors.

Stick-on rub strips for the body sides.

 

I always have thought that chevy did that in 57 and ford in 59...........but then that's just me.

 

What about that useless rubber grounding straps that folks hung from the chassis? I even remember cars with "dual" (non) grounding straps! Gary

PS... I got faked out by fake hemi valve covers just yesterday. Damm you Ted.

 

How about giant diesel exhaust stacks sticking up out of the bed of a so called hot rod??

 

The absolute worst are the "chrome naked ladies" in any form other than a deco original factory hood ornament like on Cadillacs, for instance.

Dingle balls around the windows are fun .

Visors have their place, but it's not on a Custom. It's on grandpa's car.

 

At 74, I just missed the '40s but in the world I lived in (Harry Poling's Gulf Station & Swartz's Body Shop) in the early '50s, the stuff I mentioned was definitely "uncool" even then. The guys in the crowd wouldn't have been caught dead with any of the doo-dads I described on their cars. It was all about "nosed & decked", skirts, lowering blocks, dual pipes (real ones), and maybe some underhood goodies like dual carbs. By 1951 or 2 we'd all read Hot Rod and had some idea what was happening "out there". (And no, we weren't on the West Coast or even near a big city-we were in the middle of no where in N.W. Ohio.). The town also had plently of what we called "squirrels" who regularly spent their money at Western Auto and equipped their cars with all the aforementioned junk. Even in 1949, when I hadn't turned 11 yet, it was obvious who the big dogs in town were-with their '36-'41 Fords with pipes & skirts-but no sunvisors, fender guards, or swans.

Or, are we saying that since they existed, the "squirrels" are traditional?





Quote: 43GMans post



radio ariels, curb feelers, and all the other bolt on junk was a fact of life, and lots of people loved personalizing their rides with this stuff. If we really claim “traditionalism,” then we need to embrace the whole package of traditional cars; not just select the way we think it was, or judge the thousands of drivers who made these choices.

Rik Hoving’s site, http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/, pays certain homage to these cars, or, as my dad called them, “soupers.” Here are just a couple of pics from Rik’s site proving the point.

I’d love to hear one of you step out of your time machine and tell the proud owner of one of these cars how stupid you think it is! (I knew some of these guys, and pinching people’s heads was fairly common activity amongst them. )

If you weren’t there, you could maybe ask someone who was, and open your mind a little. If you were there, your closed mindedness is showing in your futile attempt to be “cool.”

For one, I like the look of these cars. I believe they have as “correct” a place in our history as a Barris custom. I think my signature may apply to a lot of this thread.

My .02[/QUOTE]

 

Back in the day we called a car loaded with bolt on junk Gook Wagons. How about a continental wheel kit I saw with "Little Eva" painted on it? Nothing looks worse then curb feelers, lake pipes that are not hooked up and dingle berries around the windows. The sad fact is people are still buying curb feelers. I've seen them sell on this site and eBay for pretty good money. Who is buying them? Just went to a car show recently and saw a "cry baby". Whats with that? I thought that crap was over.

 

yea lets get some pictures in this thread

 

by the way i see the "gook wagons" of yesteryear as one in the same with the dorky ratrods we see nowdays with nonfunctional spider webbing, plastic skulls and bats and god knows whatever else they can bolt on there grille shell (leaned back at a hideous 45 degree angle) hahahaha

 

Holy cow!!!! I saw that guy last week when I was up there. I was on 20 between Elkhart and SouthBend. I chuckled at first then as I got closer I could tell HE thought it looked good! Anybody EVER see's me driving something like that please just use a grenade launcher on me.

 

Spot lights.....real or fake....

 

How about those 10'' long rear spring shackels iffin' you couldn't afford thawm thar err shoxs'.

 

Sorry if this is a little O/T for the thread but a more current one that just screams stupid is the stick-on eyelashes I have been seeing on new Beetles and PT Cruisers lately.

 

Brass knuckle anything & glass doorknobs as shift knobs!

 

I can appreciate spot lights if the car was an original police vehicle and they were added for a department.

I dont like the back window mural decals

 

lmao:d

 

Like one of my signature lines says: That thing looks like he called J C Whitney and said "Send me TWO of everything!"

 

I hate the fake Olds rocket valve covers for SBCs

 

I digress on the curb feelers... Should have shut my mouth when my foot was swinging past my chin....

 

Late models with giant letters across the windshield with the make/model of the car. Like i need 8" vinyl letters to confirm youre driving a honda

 

Some of these are fads that just go away , Some are reminders of the "good ole days". The ones from the past that are still around today were the most popular in their day.

 

Decals of the cartoon character "Calvin" pissing on anything! Hood ornaments on cars that didn't have them.

I live in the hood and see shit tacked and glued to cars that I didn't even know was manufactured! Saw a NEW caddy with fake port holes. How about a '96 Buick LeSabre with 24" rims AND 12" chrome numbers that say 24". NASCAR stickers on VW's and Hondas! Flame stickers! Fake vinyl pinstriping. Throw pillows and/or stuffed animals on the rear package tray. Fake phone antennas (and the driver is on a cell phone). Saw a PT Cruiser with a blower scoop BOLTED to his hood!

 

^^ Pretty much what I was thinkin' .

Some of the things that were mentioned might not be "cool" now , but were cool back in the day ... it don't make 'em bad , just not relevent now . Some of the OG stuff may be relevent to a preiod-correct custom though .

 

I agree and spots would be one of those

 

How about these