Hot Rods Interesting Documentary:

Move along folks popcorns all gone!

 

Sure are a lot of guys posting here that think they are better then everyone else.

I've seen a lot of very poorly done cars, I don't see anything in the video that make me concerned for the safety of the people on the road around him.

That is not to say I would not have done some stuff differently, but I'm not alarmed at what I saw. If his stuff scares you, you need to really look at some of the rides at the big shows.
There is a lot of really scary stuff under all that bondo and paint of some of these so called great trophy chasers. Gene

 

I can’t help but respect this guy. He’s living his life doing what he wants to do, the way he wants to do it. Building cars his way. He reminds me of a lot of cats I’ve known in my life. I’d sit down and have a beer or a cup of coffee with him just because I like his spirit.


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I liked ruffness of it , with out the trashy look of ratrod cars .

 

I watched that last week. I thought his 32 was kinda raw, but not a rat. Didn't see any goofy shit, skulls, spidy webs etc. I didn't pay much attention to his welds, but the one thing that stood out, building his toys outside in the sun. Living in a high rainfall area, I thought that risking skin cancer would be worth it, must be nice to wake up to Sun most days. Seems like a chilled out cool guy.

 

So I had a few minutes to look through your roughly 3800 posts. . . .
You made a cool air cleaner.

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He comes across as a Hot Rod Hippie, which is all right with me. He's clearly a free spirit that's into "doing his own thing" and isn't concerned about impressing others. He's resourceful (grew up on a farm), loves to work, and sees his projects through with a minimum of tools and shop. All this in my book, is early traditional Hot Rodding where a guy and a few pals would put together a Rod with a lot of used parts and many times no garage.
He could sit and watch TV all day but prefers to be active. Sure his cars aren't show cars, but , he's having fun. And he's probably getting more 'shop time' and building done than a lot of us with big shops full of tools and specialized machinery.

 

Thanks for the compliment, I thought you were going to get nasty for a few minutes there...
The threads are even more interesting.

 

The cars you see with the spider webs, skulls, saw blades and such aren't rats, they are cartoon cars. Unfortunately the name rat has been applied to everything rough or unfinished looking as well as to the cartoon cars. My car has been called a rat with it's rust spots and less than perfect paint, I don't mind because it looks ratty to me, too. We used to call anything less than perfect ratty looking. I think the modern term of calling all of them rats came about when a bunch of guys started building cars without billet aluminum and polished chrome, and painting them flat black instead of highly rubbed out colors, people though they looked ratty compared to the high dollar street rods, and the name had a new meaning. If some people could get over themselves and actually look around, there are some pretty nice cars out there that are labeled as rats but are far from the angle iron and rebar crowd. I've seen some suspensions that were works of art, if they had of been under a straight rust free shiney body they would have been the talk of the town. There have always been shitty builders and always will be, in everything and every style you can think of. Just because it's a little raw around the edges doesn't mean it's a shitbox or that it's unsafe. If it's got saw blades and wrenches welded everywhere, then I concede it's probably a piece of crap.

 

He reminds me of friends I had early in my car building years that would take on a project(s) with no tools or facilities to do so. He just never bothered to evolve much from that point. I'm not saying this in a derogatory way... he obviously is completely comfortable with his situation.

The build style is not my style, but hey, not everybody dates blondes. I happen to really like brunettes. He makes the comment about growing up on a farm and making do. That seems to be his build style... make-do-rod. At least he's finishing what he starts. No excuses.

I would toss a few bucks into some PPE and an upgrade for the welder, but that is the manufacturing plant geek coming out in me. I spend part of my day specing welds at work and hang out with engineer types, so I can't help but want to see good structural welding, even on make-do-rods. The rest of it... whatever spins his world.

 

Ha! I have to wonder if there would be less hate for the guy if he didn't have a 32 three window...

His cars are rough and unpainted, so what. He isn't spend 20G on paint and Bondo. Maybe if it had a flatty and some wires it would be easier for some of you to accept.

 

Cool vid....

To me it was rough but not a C-rat-p rod to me a rat rod is some cobbled together nonsense that " resembles" a car. I think the rat rod craze started when the boyd coffin toms and Troy trepainers(sp ?) and all the other big buck builders sort of took over and anything less then a $150000 " pro street " anything with massive engines concours chrome etc sort of took over our hobbie

That was right around the time the HAMB ( thank God ) showed up and a few other sites ( ol skool rodz was ok at first )

Then the bad wagoners showed up with their 1 foot tall pomps and knock off pendaltons and over the top rat rods
( there was one posted here a while ago that was getting fixed with pipe wrenches in the steering and re-bar used for bones !!!) yeah that's safe, traditional and hot rod ..... no not even close, nope, nada, zip for me.

In my books a true hot rod regardless if it's a pre ww2 rod 50's custom 60's 70's etc is build it safe build it sound and build it to what you like and your tastes. If we all built cookie cutter boydsters it would be pretty boring

Years ago I built an O/T vw rabbit plaid interior all sorts of 80's bolt on and speed parts with a screemer of a solid lifter 4 carb 4 banger with a 4 speed and a 9 lbs aluminum fly wheel ! It was a rocket and always drew a crowd, anyways anyways the car is not HAMB worthy but the build sure was as it was traditional to that type of car and the era that it would have been considered " cool" or " neat "

 

Only because you are responding right after me...

I enjoy his style of build, and have an original paint build in my future that is less than beautiful, but more than acceptable for its planned use. I have a level of OCD that will not allow me to build even a "patina" car without a certain level of balanced fit and finish. But that is just me. It's a disorder.

I have no hate for him, and could not care less what he has or builds. I do wish for him a 220V welder and a bit more patience to place some quality structural welds... Only because I care for his safety!

Seriously, he's finishing cars, with (obviously) almost no resources. That alone puts him head and shoulders above all but a few posters on the average forum, if posters were forced by an honesty ray not to lie about their accomplishments.

 

Entertaining

 

I certainly enjoyed the video and took a liking to the guy as he is a free spirit who enjoys his life and building what he does still using the same style and methods basically as he has forever! Reminds me of watching someone building a hot rod back when I was young, although I have always tried to do it a bit better than he appears to do it, but that is just one of my personal quirks and I don't hold that against him. I would love to spend some time with him, either offering a helping hand or just chatting about hot rods! Edit: after all isn't that traditional?

 

Oh ya and as for his welds...

I have seen guys with big fancy tig welders produce welds that had less holding power than a bead of silicone smeared on the surface. Just because it is pretty doesn't mean it is gonna hold shit together.

 

Yep, reminds me of me when I was young, no money, no garage, minimal tools but having the time of my life working on hot rods and driving them. Now I have the tools, the shop and the money but then life got in the way along the line..

 

I have seen those too. Those guys should also spend more time placing quality welds.

I work in an industry full of specialty welding, certified weldors, and engineered details, so I look at welds a bit different than the average Joe. I think I said that in my first post on the subject.

 

Dude is doing what he wants how he wants...I can't get over how small minded some people are who think the world starts and ends with the HAMB editorial position.....it's a big world out there folks...

 

I watched the video and came away with a few observations:
A. I like the dog
B. The dude probably is not married
C. Someone's welds look worse than mine



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An astute summary!

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A lot of us are trying to recreate a traditional hot rod. I think he has mastered that. I know my farmer father and uncle had about the same to work with in the 50 60s. A lot of opinions of a rat. Dad has called my pickup one.

 

Looks like the guy's enjoying himself, on his own terms. Don't see a problem with that. Even if he does know what the Hamb is (which I doubt), chances he seeks it's approval are the same as hitting the lottery twice in one day.

 

The guy reminds me of my cousin (and I sent the link to him so he can enjoy it too), not really my kind of build, I too, am a little OCD on finish. There were some comments on his welds (they didn't look great) but you should see some of the factory welds on my 53 Stude. I've been a Hot Rod Magazine subscriber for almost 60 years and in the latest issue there is a picture of the Cook and Bedwell A/Dragster and the welds look about like my crappy welds Maybe "less than perfect" welds are period correct.

 

I bought this already narrowed rear end with nice welds. I'm going to go over them with my mig so it looks like I did it.

 

liked the vid
will show students and very interested in what their reaction will be (may have to edit the last part a bit)
I have worked on many 6 and a few 7 figure cars........and my 4 figure junk
nice seeing a hotrod being used for what it was created to do (burnouts and pissed neighbors)
at least the guy enjoys what he does and drives his crap
and could care less what anyone of us think

 

The guy in the video reminds me of a local guy by the name of Ed Prout here in CT..If he is still living he would be about 80, give or take a few years so you'd have to be an older fellow to remember/know of some of the stories..I was told he worked out of an old mushroom cave in Bristol, Ford based race cars/engines..Ran an Altered in early 70's then a pro stock Pinto in later years. Older guys used to tell me of some of his antics, witnessed couple myself at the drag strip..

 

I enjoyed watching it and would love to be able to work outside like that all year.

 

Take it from somebody who knows this guys and rode in his cars. He could give a RATS ass what all the naysayers are saying. His car is fast and safe. And he just loves working on cars and I'm glad I'm learning under him.

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