Event Coverage WISCONSIN FENDERLESS HOT RODS & WISDOT

You have to have reflective tape on the mud flap hangers for years

 

I feel your pain. My Hudson was originally registered in 2005 and a short time later it came to the attention of the
Transport Department and I was told it did not comply and could not be registered as an individually constructed vehicle either. The particular Officer was like a Gastapo member,turning up at my home at 7am dressed in his
"special uniform" complete with the epaulets for maximum intimidating effect. They did not like the air bags of course
as well as the fact it was on a Holden chassis. There was also a well founded knowledge that a particular hot rodder who was associated with the Department and the "officer"' would complain to him if he did not like a particular hot rodder's car. There was a bit of a vendetta going on about the Hudson with this guy. Yes a so called hot rodder dobbing in another. A nice piece of work.
So the car was taken off the road in later 2005 and then the battle began. We made changes including going back to coil springs, required to use injection on the engine, and lots of other things. Still no luck.
In the meantime new rules were drafted here in Australia called the National Code of Practice that really relaxed many of the rules related to modified vehicles. I retained an Engineer who specialised in modified vehicles and with the new rules but same car it was approved. Only took about 7 years,yes 7 years. Now I drive it everywhere and that included bringing it over to USA last year and doing 6000 miles across the country and back.

 

I would suggest that you folks in Wisconsin take the time to take a glimpse across the St. Croix river into Minnesota. Back in the seventies and eighties, when you guys were doing who knows what, the guys in Minnesota (mainly the MSRA) were getting organized, including creating a rapposrt with the legislature. As a result crap like this doesn't happen here; Minnesota is one of the most "rod-friendly" states there is. I hope it's not too late for you over there.

 

Been hoping lately that someone in the know, from the MSRA would reach out to CurtR.....send him a private message and help us get going in an organized direction. Crap like this can spread from state to state! The MSRA is an amazing organization.....lots of Wisconsinites are actually members!

 

CurtR, a boner,MILWSCRUFFY and all others from Wisconsin , Let's meet up at Iola and get this thing moving.

 

I think it would be really helpful if all 3 of the threads covering this issue were joined together as one thread. Keeping up with 3 different threads is almost as bad as trying to keep up with who is in charge of what in WI government.

With the situation involving so many possible vehicles and so many vehicle owners, wouldn't it be a good topic to approach the State Prosecutor about? Isn't his job to keep track of what the State Police are doing in his state? Gene

 

I am really starting to like Georgia.

 

Is that the first chip in a windshield you ever got ? I have gotten many over the years and almost all of them were from O.E.M. full fendered cars and trucks. I never whined about them. I just chocked it up to stuff happens when you live in the world with others. Do you remember the U.S. vice president that hit someone with a golf ball while playing ? Maybe there should be a law against playing golf by elected officials ? They make laws every day that take away the things we enjoy simply because it doesn't effect what matters to them. We have to do whatever we can to stop them .This fenderless car thing has been going on longer than any of us has been on the planet and just because a few whizbangs not into what we're doing decide they don't want thousands of people to enjoy a hobby the way it has been enjoyed for decades is not a reason to cower down. This country exists because of our willingness to fight.

 

Good idea about 3 threads are too many....hopefully the others will fade away.....Keep this one going.
There was a post on one of the other "fender" threads about the "NEW"Secretary of the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation (WISDOT). He might be someone we should be finding more about.
Pic of other post by "doyoulikesleds":

 

Is that yours?

 

I guess if we all thought the same as you it would be a perfect world. For you that is. There wouldn't even be any hotrods if not for taking off fenders. The very first thing done to a car to make a hotrod was guys taking off fenders to makethem go faster including Henry Ford at Indy to race the other manufacturers. Thats who we are and where we come from. I guess in your eyes we have no right to just want something that you don't. I don't see the correlation between people hunting on your property and driving on streets that belong to and are paid for by all of us. Maybe if those that don't want anyone killing animals passed laws that said no more deer hunting, you might understand. I myself choose to live and let live.

 

I think you are cherry-picking to support your stance using that car as an example. That is an extreme POS and not even wanted on the HAMB. Now back to regular programming.

 

I don't think that Rat Rod is licensed and legal. I saw it at BTT50's and I don't believe it had any license plates on it.

 

@Old wolf, I'm beginning to wonder why you are even on this forum. Sorry a fenderless car doesn't float your boat. Problem being they float lots of other peoples boats and that's a good thing. Sure , maybe we can make an amendment that address's POS RR dual wheel clown cars. Again, wondering why you're on a traditional forum when most everything you post is anti-traditional.

 

The percentage of fenderless cars on the road on any given day would seem to me to be very small. Give us some numbers of the damage caused by your " flying debris theory " And then tell us how many of them were caused by fenderless hot rods. I believe the rat rod crowd is really hurting hot rodding, To me they look and are intended to look like unfinished pieces of junk. Someone that really doesn't know the difference will lump them altogether. I also agree your on the wrong forum, your not going to change many minds here. Everyone has there own opinion and your entitled to yours, I just think your in the wrong place to do that ( just my opinion )

 

I believe the entire issue here is that WI has had laws on the books for years that spell out how certain cars are to be judged as being able to be used on the street, and up until recently, those laws were followed by the State Police.

Suddenly, without any change in the laws, one or more State Police officers are issuing tickets contrary to what the laws and history have allowed for many years. It also appears there is no process for an appeal of a ticket that was issued contrary to what the laws and history have allowed.

When you give anyone the opportunity to single handily ignore the written laws and do as he pleases with out over site and without an appeal system in place, the entire system of checks and balances is undermined and soon the entire system of written laws and how they are applied comes into question.

Weather or not all vehicles should have fenders is not what is at stake here, the fact that someone in law enforcement can do something contrary to the written laws without being questioned, disputed, or corrected, is.

The laws have not been changed. How they are being ignored has. Gene

 

I have never heard of anyone being hurt or killed by flying rocks from a fenderless roadster however I had a nephew killed by a bullet from a deer hunter and yet I would not want to see deer hunters rights taken away from them. As I said earlier,we live in a world of different people and different likes and I like to live and let live. We live in a world where the government sent a school teacher up to her death in an experimental rocket , made us wear seat belts supposedly for our safety while they transported all of our kids in school busses not equipped with them. There are way more dangerous things going on than taking fenders off of hotrods. The founding fathers never had a thought of motor vehicles or highways. Their soul purpose was to limit the power of government on the people. There were right to travel laws and no restrictions on how or what you could do with your means of transportation. The term driving is a privilege, not a right came up when later legislators began ignoring the constitution to fit their desires and pocket books. Our freedoms have been compromised and people like you are the cause. You can find something in everything that could possibly cause harm to another but everything cannot be outlawed. I can see you are dead set against the rest of us that like fenderless cars so this is a dead discussion but if you get your way on this you can take credit for killing more than half of the hobby we love. All I can say is thanks alot. Obviously you cant see how the , as you called him,pig headed guy could not enjoy his car if he put fenders on it. People run fenderless cars because they love them that way. Its not because they are being rebellious against the law. I like fendered and fenderless cars but I would bet that the majority of hotrods are fenderless.

 

It seems to me that this entire thread has gotten sidetracked and is no longer on topic. I don't know if this was done on purpose or not, but this thread needs to either be shut down and re-started or it needs to have a bunch of posted deleted in order to restore it's original line of thought.

 

Ok , this is very simple , since you are obviously in the minority here ,and the last I checked , laws/ rules are written to benefit the majority , why don't you stop driving on the public roads .Since you feel that open wheels create such a horrible safety problem . That way, the rest of us can go about enjoying our genderless , bumperless ,hoodless , lacking washer fluid cars

 

So far this thread has gotten almost 4000 views since Monday , And God only knows how many views on the other two, so the subject has great interest. My question is has anyone else been pulled over for equipment type violations in their collector type {20 years or older} cars and trucks in the last year and a half. Is this actually a state wide problem or the result of one officer preforming an action that now his bosses and the court system that supports them are attempting to sweep under the rug. Not trying to start an argument, just interested in knowing of any other situations. Still looking for answers and only finding more questions Larry

 

The tbucket guys from Wisconsin report no troubles ....AFAIK

 

Thank You !!! It's been frustrating lately with certain people going way off topic and putting a very important thread at risk. Thanks for the leeway and understanding, much appreciated.

 

In the state of Maine there is more interest in changing laws and making money. Maine has a street rod plate (fender less and hoodless. one compromise adding seat belts and directional. Basically NSRA safety inspection. After the street rod plate they added a Custom car plate it ended a lot of tickets. When there is no clarity in the law this is what happens.

 

Did I read this correctly that there is no process for appeal? That is pretty hard to believe. I'm not in WI and have no skin in the game but it was my belief that anything could be appealed in the legal system.

 

You have the right to file an appeal, but if the appeals court reviews the case and in thier eyes if the judge made the appropriate decision based on the law as he or she understands it they wont hear the case again. you can continue to file more appeals, but the outcome is often the same. Also finding a lawyer to take on the case could be a challenge in itself. Lots of questions, still no answers Larry

 

The WSP Trooper stopped Mark's and Brad's car at different times. At the initial stops and ticketing both cars were licensed with annual standard plates not "HOBBYIST".

Near as I can determine WSP sees no difference between an annual plate or "HOBBYIST" plate. It's the vehicle because it is modified.

Curt R

 

I remember pushing my fender less high boy when it ran out of gas tripped and ran myself over.....wish it had fenders then

 

This all sucks.... There must be a way to have a conversation with the people enforcing and interpreting these laws. Maybe we could hold an event? invite hot rodders and lawmakers with the hopes of finding common ground? You know something positive to promote and spark conversation. I feel this Us vs Them situation might not be good for anyone.

AND @Ryan @corncobcoupe is there anyway the Old Wolf guy can get deleted from this thread? hes not even from WI and seems to keep derailing this conversation. I'm sure he means well somehow? but its kind of annoying.......... Does he even like Hot Rods? Maybe he should join the "Dump Truck Hamb"?

This is pretty important to fenderless hot rods, and ALL modified vehicles. Its a slippery slope and this needs to stay focused!

 

I put him on the ignore list, but a deletion would be better for all!