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Hot Rods The Meaning of Craftsmanship in Hot Rodding

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by JimKing, Nov 24, 2021.

  1. 1971BB427
    Joined: Mar 6, 2010
    Posts: 8,717

    1971BB427
    Member
    from Oregon

    Although I'm in awe of guys who build the meticulous, perfect hotrods with every little detail perfect; it's never been my M.O. I tend to admire that work, but find I'm not on that level, and I know what I can and can't build. As others have stated, I build appropriately, and my cars are driver quality, not high end show cars.
    I get compliments on the cars I've built, and some are very flattering; but I can always find plenty of flaws in my builds, especially cosmetic flaws. I make sure my builds are mechanically sound, and safe, and don't cut corners in either of those areas. But I'm not going to make my chassis and frame paint or finish like they're going to a car show. And I usually make them neat and clean underneath, but just paint the frame and chassis with brushes and rollers in black, so they look good if somebody gets down and looks underneath.
    I'm usually in a hurry to finish cars too, as I get excited whenever I start a new build. So if making them super nice takes a lot of time, I'm probably going to settle for pretty nice, and not show quality.
     
  2. GEZSFRK
    Joined: Jul 19, 2013
    Posts: 72

    GEZSFRK

    In a metal shaping class I went to I was talking to Lazze about a project I wanted to try and what I was trying to do, when I finished he looked at me and said “you say try to much. Just do it and if you screw up just do it again!” Best fabrication advice I have ever received!
     
  3. I mostly agree with this. While I admire the guys that go the distance, the cars can take on a 'coachbuilt' appearance and the 'hot rod' vibe is lost or looks out of place. Now I'm more of a custom guy, so excellence in paint/upholstery/finish doesn't bother me as that's more in keeping with the style. What I do see with many high-zoot builds is what I see as 'excessive' attention to detail, along with too much complexity, overly elaborate designs, modern design cues creeping in (this seems to be an issue in particular with interiors), and 'hiding' the mechanical 'bones'. I won't say that 'period correct' builds are cruder (although some are), but simplicity was certainly more apparent. It can be a tough call; how much is too much can vary from car to car and even person to person. But adding almost endless details for me distracts from the core design.
     
    ClarkH, texasred, alanp561 and 7 others like this.
  4. stanlow69
    Joined: Feb 21, 2010
    Posts: 7,348

    stanlow69
    Member Emeritus

    Craftsmanship. I guess it goes back to the story of the guy who worked for years for a homebuilder. He was about to retire. One last house to build with his longtime crew. He hurried along making mistakes and finished it in record time. Less quality than he had done in a longtime. The owner of the company gifted him the house for all the years he had worked for him. Do the job at hand to fit the project you are working on. If you are working on a 100,000 dollar car. Use parts and hardware to fit that quality. If fixing your wife`s late model. Make sure it`s gonna be reliable. When cutting down a tree. Do it in a safe manner. Do things as a professional would do them.
     
  5. cfmvw
    Joined: Aug 24, 2015
    Posts: 977

    cfmvw
    Member

    I'm in the process of installing a 200 amp service to connect to the grid. I went to a lot of trouble to make a nice framed mounting base for the meter box, and making some nice mounting bases for the service mast to secure to. Could have just cut away the siding and installed some J channel, but I like to make nice stuff. And yes, I did make a couple of mistakes that I had to go back and fix, but I couldn't leave it alone as "good enough". My previous home was a new modular cape; it was a decent home, but everything in it was contractor grade, and after a few years it started to show, and a lot of it I had to repair or replace. When I built my new house, the only thing that was contractor grade were the switch plates, and I weeded those out in favor of nickel plated brass ones as I could afford them. It's still in a semi-finished state inside, but I enjoy being able to take my time making trim, countertops and restoring old doors and features found at architectural salvage. True, the quality costs more, and it takes me longer to be able to afford it, but as my Grandpa always said, "If it's worth having, it's worth waiting for".
     
    JimKing and loudbang like this.
  6. Bert Kollar
    Joined: Jan 10, 2007
    Posts: 1,232

    Bert Kollar
    Member

    I strive for perfection and settle for satisfaction. I realized some time ago I couldn't get to perfect.
     
    40FORDPU and JimKing like this.
  7. Your Moment of Zen....
    Kodawari in Japanese means the pursuit of perfection. It is passion, persistence, commitment, and attention to detail. But it is so much more than that. It is an entire concept whose definition requires at least a couple of paragraphs. It is so beautiful because, once you have truly connected to it, one word can be a placeholder for an entire world view.

    The key to kodawari is that it is personal in nature. It is partially rooted in pride, but not the petty kind. It is the kind of personal pride that you feel when you are alone and you know that you tried your best. It comes from that deeper presence inside your head that watches you and knows when you are cutting corners. Whenever you ignore this discipline you feel weaker, and when you engage with it you feel stronger.

    Such discipline is not rooted in some grandiose scheme to impress others or to achieve external validation. It is your personal standard, and it is how you foster self-respect. While you appreciate the beauty it creates along the way, you also realize that you never fully arrive anywhere.

    Which brings me to something my grand-dad used to say that applies not only to the car hobby, but to life in general... (grand-dad was great about teaching me a car lessons that also applied to life)
    "Don't hold on to a mistake just because you spent a long time making it"

    Chappy
     
  8. nrgwizard
    Joined: Aug 18, 2006
    Posts: 2,513

    nrgwizard
    Member
    from Minn. uSA

    Chappy;
    That's good. Thanks.
    Marcus...
     
    loudbang likes this.
  9. choptop40
    Joined: Dec 23, 2009
    Posts: 5,113

    choptop40
    Member

    If one cannot continually improve the skill of car crafting....thats ok too....having fun is the bigger picture as long as its safe and you dont shit on someone elses efforts...nuff said
     
  10. I've always had the attitude to set the bar high and try to reach it, if I get to that bar I then raise it higher. It can be both maddening and gratifying at the same time, but has made me a better builder throughout the years. It works for me, your results may vary.
     
    X-cpe and loudbang like this.
  11. Most of my life I've been a watchmaker and a jeweler which requires a lot of practice , my uncle was my teacher since he was certified to teach and was a master clock maker, he taught me many things other than clock and wath making., he also schooled me in doing the best I could whether the was a times or a rolex, each was special to the owner. When ever I fixed a broken part I would ask him how was the work, he would look it over and ask me "would you except it if it was yours" and sometimes I'd say yes because I knew it was right he'd say I would have too, and sometimes I was not sure about the quality of the work say probably not, he would had it back and say redo it till your satisfied ot the best you can do. And I've used this in every ive done , of its requires more knowledge than I have to do it right then I would go to someone that could do it. Craftsmanship is just you doing your best and knowing when to seek help.
     
    41 GMC K-18, loudbang and wandi harry like this.
  12. Lots of things affect the quality of one's work: tools, materials, time spent, design, and more; but when you are starting , you will most likely be missing some of what you need. My approach is to get it done to the best of your ability at this particular time. Once a project is 'done,' as you use it, start figuring what is not as good as you would like, and then figure out how to make it better. Once you have that done you can develop a plan on how to do things better the next time. I have taken cars apart multiple times to make them better than they were before. Being 'done' , for me, is just the start in the next level of doing something better the next time. I am not competing with anybody but myself. ...but I always want to keep improving.
     
    X-cpe, firstinsteele and loudbang like this.
  13. pnevells
    Joined: Sep 5, 2008
    Posts: 546

    pnevells
    Member

    A man has to know his limitations.......When building the Shaker my favorite phrase to my son was , "its a race car" I love to try new stuff but ususally not on the car , do your best and know who to ask or take things to that you can't do is really important. Craftmanship is in the eye of the beholder
     
    firstinsteele and reagen like this.
  14. I have been known to hoard up an oxy or 3 when I have to install an engine or do other heavy work... I rarely drink when I swing a wrench.
     
  15. I would say that model car building changed my approach to working on 1:1 cars. Model cars, on a contest level, there is little room for error. It has to have good paint, fits and how clean it is are paramount. Eyeball-engineering comes into play.

    I'm super fussy about what shows and what does not show. I first and foremost have to be happy with it. I take the extra time to clean and paint things. I make a lot of my own parts, those have to be functional and have a good esthetic to them.
     
    Just Gary and X-cpe like this.
  16. X-cpe
    Joined: Mar 9, 2018
    Posts: 1,958

    X-cpe

    This reminds me of when I taught high school woodshop. Kids would bring up a project and ask, "Is this good enough?", knowing the answer, just hoping for a pass.
     
    BigO likes this.

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