Hot Rods Ever use this site as a way to help someone from ruining a great vehicle?

So a guy sees me looking at this site on my iPad and says " are you into cars" I said yes I am, he asks what I have and I tell him.. He than says ohh cool I'm working on a truck like yours..I'm gonna turn it into a RR...he's going on about pipes coming through the hood, raising the rear end and putting 50's out back, getting rid of the bumpers, painting it flat black, with "wild flames".. I asked if he started this yet and he said no...I asked to see his truck...nice Tn 66 F100 black and white 2 tone custom cab...I then showed him Ryan's thread on the turd,pics of my truck, and the F100 thread on here...thankfully he hadn't started hacking the truck up yet....I pleaded with him to not do anything to irreversible to the truck and spend some time here and on the F100 thread...I hope for the poor trucks sake my intervention was successful ...ok let me have the "it's his truck" are you the "taste" nazi, threads...you all like a certain style of vehicle it you wouldn't be on this site ha ha

 

Sometimes, we're educators and preventers of irreversable carnage.
Other times, massive fabricators and saviors of irreversable carnage.

 

You didn't tell him NOT to do it, only tried to expose him to something more favorable, that he had no idea of. It would also be easier to sell later. I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

You can 'advise', but go cautiously...

A RR 'artiste' can find the stealth and savagery of a lynx when 'cornered'...

 

I've tried to steer friends not so much away from the RR thing 'cause most know better but, sometimes it's difficult to get them to stay away from that Billet Aluminum conundrum.

 

My thoughts are,,,if you want to build a piece of crap, start with a piece of crap.

 

does not only have to be a possible RR. clown cars can be terrible too. can't stop adding more to a ride that does not need more.

 

I don't mind the billet as long as the item is machined one off because the guy [or girl] can, I tried billet wipers once but they were so crude and bulky I machined my own..Nor do I have much issue with cars that are not finished being run but like to see some "getting" there effort....I cringe [having one I am opinionated!] when mention is made of another shoebox being made into a custom but have to wait and see....Funny when some one says they are building a RR I ask "why" but never get an answer...I used to critique but gave that up when it was considered an insult...

 

You probably did that guy the biggest favor anyone could have.
It kills me to see a really decent vehicle turned into a rolling piece of .........!
As stated earlier in this thread, if it was a turd to begin with and you get it back on the road, well good for you!
I've seen too many really decent cars "ratified" and never even get finished.
Those who chase trends, never seem to catch up with them.
KK

 

The RR thing has pretty much run its course and I see the fad waning. I put my current car build up on FB initially and someone I know asked if I was going to make it into a RR.... last time I conversed with that individual.

 

Sounds like just the same thing the restorers are saying about us here.

 

You did what was in your heart. Maybe it helped. Maybe not but you tried.
We were at a large car event and wandered upon a hotel parking lot filled with rat rods. As with most cars, we looked many of them over. Some had amazing workmanship and use of drawer pulls, traffic signs, and gate hinges. Most looked like the after photos of a flood or tornado!
I'll admit a lot of work went into some of those cars. But as I step back and look at a lawn chair for a seat and a water faucet for a door handle I scratch my butt and mutter "WHY?"

At the same time I sometimes wonder why a car guy would take a very nice original rust free antique car and chop it up to make what he calls a custom or hotrod? We all have different wants and ideas. The world needs ratrods!

 

True True...but much of what we are into has a time and a place in Automobile history...and a huge industry built up around it.

 

It's a Ford, anything is a improvement

 

HMMMM....I had been looking for a pre-war Chev four door sedan to drive and work on, something with, maybe, no interior, or bad paint, just to put a 235 in and drive.
Found a very nice example with minimum rust, good interior, thought "AHA".
When I saw good photos I asked, "What's that on the ground there?" He replied, "I was goin' to RR it so I torched out the front suspension, there's a Mustang out back I was going to use for them parts to slam it".
Car looked so nice, he could have driven it there, for all I know.
Wish somebody would a done an intervention and saved that good automobile.

 

You done good,I hope he will listen. HRP

 

A guy I know just bought a nice model A sedan body. He had built some 4x4 s and 70 trucks before. His initial plans would have ended up as a cross between a rr and street rod ( quite confusing) I sent him here and now it's going flathead 50s style which will be both cheaper to build and more valuable than his initial idea. The education a guy can get here if he wants is limitless.


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Pkap and some of those nice old cars end up jacked up as four wheelers. When all's said and done it's like we've all said and done....it's your car, do what your widdle heart desires....even if it looks like shit! I rarely swear but at times it just feels right.

 

You did the exact right thing. The whole purpose of this site, in Ryan's words, "The Jalopy Journal was formed ... to spread the gospel of traditional Hot Rods and Kustoms to hoodlums worldwide…"

 

Your right. I'm sure the owner is thinking a sbc swap as we speak.

 

And yet we praise the builders of customs that are so far removed from the original vehicle that often it is a struggle to determine what it was. Drawer pulls,canted headlights, parts from a dozen vehicles etc etc.Many of the early 60's show vehicles were just plain strange to me.
Don't get me wrong,I dislike the RR thing like the rest of us,just saying that other than fit and finish a lot of The customs featured in some issues of Custom Rod Builder and their ilk in the "good old days" were possibly viewed as treason by traditional rodders back in the day.
Just my off the wall train of thought.

 

Maybe in a few years we'll be able to buy rat rods cheap and turn em into real cars again. I've seen worse pulled from fields with trees growing out of em, or rescued from creeks, built into fine cars right here on the Hamb.

 

Man I hope you're right.

 

Doesn't hurt to share some earned expertise to someone who may be new to building and not have a lot of experience as to what is out there and whats available. But if he is determined and wants to do something different, let it go. There are plenty of cars out there. I thought years ago we would run out and it seems there are more available today than back then.

 

Is the guy's name George Barris by chance?

 

I dunno, people keep telling me that my Falcon would look really cool in flack back, with red wheels.

 

Or black wheels that seemingly are on everything today.

 

I'm okay with black. It never goes out of style.

 

When it fits theme rather than a trend. How many black wheels 20 years ago. 10. Today.

 

Been reading that for years, some people's wishful thinking. Just like the purists hate guys like me that will cut up a stock original car. I would never stop anyone from doing anything to a car as long as it is not something that would make it unsafe to drive.