Customs Bobber Trucks. Are They HAMB Rods?

There’s a lot of both.
I see a lot of newer bobbers that have the correct vibe and proportions.
I also see a lot of stuff with dually axles, big inch wheels and post war cabs that just look odd.(yep, I’ve seen dual rear wheels on pre 65 builds)
That being said, I’ve seen those newer cabs sectioned and narrowed that look great.
Thom Taylor has done nice drawings and could be partially blamed for the phenomenon

 

So it seems to me that this thread is simply beating an old argument. No. RR trucks.

 

RR is subjective
Lots of crude unpainted, bad proportioned rides built before 65
For some, no paint = RR
Zero pre 65 hot rods were ever built with a 350/350 or Pete and Jakes catalogue parts.
But ........
I guess if you squint and it looks like it fits the forum, post it. The bosses get the final decision.

 

Some of these are well built, safe and thought provoking at the same time. Others are built more to shock than impress, violate scrub rules as well as basic common sense. If it has dual rear wheels, a diesel engine, and/or spider webs, nazi insigna, or rats or skulls it is not H.A.M.B. material. Like porn, you know it when you see it.

 

The powers that be here seem pretty good at understanding the difference.

 

Yep.
I’d give em an A even though I might not always agree
It’s their yard and football.

 

Been thinking on a way to go with this one- solid and pretty original 1-1/2 ton dump truck, with a '41 flathead. Budd wheels, so options there. Original mechanical brakes actually work well. Thinking about pulling the dump system out from under the Detroit Wood bed, which would drop the bed about 8", and would be easy to drop the whole thing a few. Maybe my sweet running stock 352-4V. Then again, pretty stock and original- still has the hand crank arm-style turn signal and glass-lense STOP light

 

Easy decision for me.
I’d drive and work that truck as is.

 

I agree. What a great shop truck as-is.

 

Pretty amazing thread so far, up to 3 pages, and no real, true agreement from the participants, about the topic of " BOBBER TRUCKS ".

This will be interesting to see where all of this leads and how long the thread lasts !

Thanks to @TheSteamDoc for an interesting topic !

 

i pretty much don't care what anybody thinks about what i build. i look at cars for the style and imagination put into them. i don't much care for model A's or '32s either. to me they all look alike, just different paint, interior, engine and wheels. they can be chopped or channeled but then you can find others done the same way. to each there own. i am sure they don' care what i think either. if they do there only in this hobby for there own egos. this is a traditional site so maybe these trucks don't belong here. i do know that RR sites accept them painted or not. maybe what i am saying is this site is more in line with restores than hot rods. if you put big stock wire wheels or wooden ones a lot of these cars would like like stockers. if your going to say "why am i here" i am a nostalgia drag racer and i come for the old drag pics or new builds. sometimes for threads like this for the imagination of some builders.

 

My '36 Ford "bobber" truck. A lot here for some HAMBers not to like. I don't care because it's given me over 40K fun and mostly trouble free miles. This pic, I'm taking a couple of bags of yard waste to the town's compost site.

Gary

 

^^ I don't know how anyone could object to a truck like Gary's.
It speaks "hot rod" to me. Some folks are just too close minded.
But what do I know? I'm always in trouble here.

 

You summed it gary, I feel the same way. Nothing I own is HAMB friendly. I come here for the drag racing vehicles. The altereds, fed's, willy's, all the different gassers, and on and on. What a boring ass world it would be if everyone had to conform to what a handful of people think. God bless people like flatheadgary, lloyd, loudbang and others.

 

"Variety, is the spice of life"

 

I still don't have a clue what you are talking about. All I see are pretty typical trucks posted. I fail to see the issue.

 

Who did? Did the mods delete it? I think some people are just craving attention.

 

Truck doesn't look bad. I do think that the bed, while being really useful, is out of proportion to the rest of the truck.
Aside from that, it's not bad.

 

Based on the recent selling price of some 33-34 Ford coupe carcasses, a truck cab is the cheapest and most available three-window out there. Makes for a cool hotrod. I like them.

 

Stake bed might look better and be really useful too.

 

This is the thing also. Growing up very few used 4 doors. There were some. Now people are left with very few options in a lot of cases. 4 doors is all they can afford and IMO as long as they don't make it look like a clown car that's the essence of hot rodding.

 

I like boobers.

 

I like them too....lol

 

As usual a lot of hair-splitting about what was done when and if they are really hot rods or not. I like the non-fendered early pickups. We built one. Here it is in the construction phase, a '38 Dodge next to a '37 Plymouth.

 

To me there is plenty of room for interpretation but I would agree that those with steampunk parts, overexpressed little details to the point of being main features(like spider webs and maltese crosses) and chotchkys glued to their car for the sake gluing them there is not traditional. Many will say back in the day they also worked with what they had but I feel it would need to be functional. If one says, "All I had available was a brass fire extinguisher for a fuel tank" then I just don't know about that.
There are some beautiful creations craft-wise in that scene(though most are not) but maybe not traditional.

 

I know you aren't being difficult but the problem with establishing an "agreement" is who gets to make the rules? One day what you like or what I like might suddenly be unpopular.

Isn't being called "Boomer!" already bad enough?

 

Just finished reading the entire thread.
Guess I've led a sheltered life, but I didn't expect to see any pre-35 trucks on this thread.
I thought the term bobber truck was only applied to trucks built after 34, that often didn't look as good without fenders as the earlier ones did.
As far as I'm concerned, 34 and back trucks without fenders, and with chopped tops, shortened beds, hoodless, etc., look great.
Some of the post 34 trucks do, too.
Shouldn't be including pre 34 in this topic, IMHO.

 

I grew up in a part of Oregon where the climate was great for cherry trees, peaches, grapes etc etc. The fruit would be hauled from the orchards to the cannery in town. My grand parents owned a cherry orchard and a few 2 ton chevy trucks to haul the fruit to town. One of them was a 36 chevy dually with flatbed and it sat next to the old barn when it wasn't being used. I didn't think much about it because a cousin of my dad's gave me a 28-29 ford coupe to play with....I was 13-14 and the time was in the early 60s.
One day I was hackin around with my buddy, riding bikes down the road my parents lived on when a bright orange 30s chevy flatbed "shorty" drove past. I was blown away! Was all stock except for a massive shortening job behind the cab and had a nice paint job with bright orange wheels....stock dually wheels. The flatbed couldn't have been more than 4 feet long with the rear wheels about 1 foot behind the cab.
As time went by there were more and more of them cruisin our high school....where I caught the bus. They were all the colors of the rainbow and well done. I don't remember any of them being lowered and the only V-8 engines were stock Ford flatheads in F-6's and the like. I was planning to scarf up the chevy flatbed next to my grampas's barn but our family moved away before I could move on the 36 chevy.
These could be called bobbers because the frame was bobbed off so short, I dunno.

 

I don't like trucks of any kind. If you got one, everybody wants/expects you to help them move everything from pianos to complete households. It's like you've just become Allied Van Lines.....