Folks Of Interest So, how traditional are you?

I am pondering my next chassis build and I got to wondering how many of you fall into the traditional only group?

I am in a constant battle in my pea sized brain. I love the looks of a 100% period correct car, but all of mine are always a little short in that category. I tend to lean towards the "few modern conveniences" crowd.

I like to drive my old junk, so that's why I tend to fall into this group. Nothing wrong with any of the answers, the more the merrier.

So what is your theology?

 

i wish i could find a pair of 7.00-16 cheater slicks. is that traditional for you?

 

Sorry if I could afford one of those 1000 HP Gen III Dodge elephant motors traditional would be in the closet...

 

I was alot like you up until last year. traditionally styled with some modern touches, then I built the 8BA powered sedan, that was all traditional through and through... Was my first taste of it. Now the banger coupe, same thing, very traditionally done. I think everyone should build 1 very traditional vehicle just to do it. There is a essence about them that really grabs the soul. There are enough street rods everywhere anyways so might as well stand out. Ultimately its your car/truck... build what grabs your soul. Don't worry about others approval or disapproval.

 

I am into the traditional cars. "Modern conveniences?" Like A/C, power windows, etc?Nope.
But I will opt for more modern safety features like front discs, seat belts and brighter lights.

 

A T5 makes everything drive better

 

I have one survivor car, built in 1956. Neat car, but it has it limits.

 

Traditionally inspired, my 50 chevy truck has a dropped axle and a bench seat but I am putting in A/C and heat.
I added disk brakes also as CT drivers are dangerous in the best of times. I have been rear ended 3 times in my
daily drivers, so it will get big LED lights also and seatbelts. At 68 I do not heal as fast as I used to.

 

In the works is an A V8 when done the only thing that might not win ( depends ) is the steering wheel. Also I need to freshen up a 57 210 2dr for the Mrs. I just can't trust her to not overheat the drums.
I can ride all day and night without expecting to get crazy twice in a row ( the fail of front drums ). She won't hear of logic from me. Wants what she wants.

 

I built my car long before the Hamb came along, all I knew is my idea of what a hot rod was din=dn't fit in with where the street rod scene was going, I would go to a show and the organizers would park me with the antique/restored cars.

I guess I was more of a resto rodder at the time, I hated billet, Easter egg colors, tweed interiors and graphics.

I adhered to the kiss method of building cars, I love period correct traditional cars but I tend to borrow from the non traditional stuff also, Double master cylinders is a must for me but hidden where they don't show, I prefer a 9" rear axle but I dislike ifs.

I also have no problem with bias ply tires although my sedan has radials.

If I live long enough I hope to build something very close, if not 100% traditional.

So, I'll have to go with traditional inspired

After 34 years I finally installed a heater and non traditional air, but I'm getting old and appreciate some creature comforts but I do keep the hood closed! HRP

 

My group of projects that I favor is the most unattainable, the finished project....

 

My rod has no air or heater , no power steering or p/brakes no p/windows got a radio that I can't hear over my exhaust . But I have a windshield that still opens to cool me down ! The ride is rough , loud and fast and car seems to know my needs after 61 years and that is traditional enough for me !

 

I'm so traditional that I don't even have a computer or phone. I weld (arc of course) messages onto a piece of scrap, then throw them up into "the cloud". But I like pneumatic tyres and front wheel brakes, call me an ol' softy.

 

I build old cars with old stuff. I like the 60's, I like gassers. I buy stuff that pleases me, mostly pre 1970, but there may be some 70s stuff in my parts collection. I don't consider myself traditional, more a mouth breathing, knuckle dragging neanderthal.

 

I like a little bit of every thing. There is some cool craftsmanship in it all.

I like the looks of traditional but I like disc brakes, seat belts, lighter-stronger auto transmissions etc.

My plan is to take my grand kids for cruises and I want to know that the car is built to be as safe as I can make it without totally losing the traditional look. If that means disc over drum then that's what it will have. It's one thing when it's only my life in the car but the minute my 5 yr old grandson sits in the seat beside me then that life becomes my responsibility and sadly with the distraction of today's drivers and cell phones the safety of my vehicle becomes more important.

Secondly I do like to drive, at 18 I took my then girlfriends dad to the parts store, he had to work the next day and we had about 8 minutes to get to the parts store, I got him there in 6. Never said a word until we pulled back in his driveway. He looks at me solemnly and says" boy you only got 2 callings in life, 1 either a stunt man or 2 a get away driver, ain't no other choices for ya". Still let me take his daughter out. He said I handled a wheel good enough he wasn't worried. So I would say yes I'm an aggressive driver and build my cars accordingly.

And for the record almost 60, driving since I was 13 and only 2 wrecks in my life.

 

For Root, stirring the pot

 

^^^^ Me too.
If you have to have a flathead, four banger and a banjo rear end to be considered traditional, well I guess I'm not and never will be. But if you count late fifties to middle sixties style hot rods with Olds, Buick, Pontiac, Cad (and early SBC) motors built with other 50s-60s parts then I guess I'm ok. No P/S, P/B, P/W, A/C, rack and pinion or air bags in the cars I build. Any concessions like disc brakes, Vega steering, coil-overs or 4 link are made regrettably and disguised whenever possible. I'm more the early LA Roadsters/Road Kings type than the Albata or Roadrunners type.

 

Time capsules. I want to borrow a moment in time. Ive had porsche 928s and when i would rip around in em i would blast 80s music ...if i have to choose a moment i prefer itd be the 50s so 50s era rods tend to be my favorite, i like to find old country roads and get lost in time. I dig most cars and eras but if you hand me an unlimited wallet ill be building cars from the 30s-50s with parts from those eras. If you put a t5 in it it just kind shakes the time machine. Not hating and not saying id never because eventually there wont be a lasalle in sight and something will have to give

 

I like my old cars and I like them to look traditional and tasteful. It ends there. I want more reliability and more HP than flathead, straight 8's etc will give me for anything approaching reasonable cost. Also, I want OD, AC, good ride and handling, stereo, etc. 500 mile plus road trips should be comfortable and pleasurable.

I enjoy looking at well built pure traditional hot rods and tasteful customs. I love the craftsmanship that goes into them and sometimes get some good ideas from them.

I don't like LS engine builds in old cars. I like for an engine bays to look clean and organized but not sterile and certainly not with coil packs on top of the engine.

 

I love traditional hot rods. When I started my project, I had the flathead and all the goodies to make it right and then that darn Olds 324 fell in my lap which brought back many memories which I couldn't resist and so, I have deviated, and am moving up the line a bit to the late 50's when the ohv engines became so popular. Regardless, I still feel it is a traditional rod and after all it is my hot rod

 

I like looking at a traditional car but I don't want one... I like disc brakes.... Modern steering boxes... Tilt steering wheel..... AC.... With defrost and heat.... comfortable seats... Seat belts... I use small block motors ... No flatheads... But really I'm not a bad person....lol

 

I have a tradition of building my cars exactly the way I want them then driving the crap out of them. Not trying to fit in anywhere. That said, I like old stuff. Modern stuff not so much.

 

I built my 31 pickup in the late 70’s and into the 80’s. Used what I could find and afford. Long before the internet. In the end it was more traditionally inspired. Had bias plies with 35 wires initially, wandered all over the road and was scary over 50 mph, went to radials on Steel wheels with baby moons which made a huge difference. Had 40 brakes on the front, which worked fine, eventually cracked a drum and had hard time finding good brake drums, so swapped to discs. Plan to swap out the tilt column to 40’s era Ford column one of these days. I think it’s much easier finding older parts nowadays, a lot of the parts hoarders have passed and stuff has come on the market. On my current project much more traditional, drum brakes, vintage 327, but it does have Vega box and auto trans as the only concession. Eventually I’ll build something completely period correct.

 

I felt really guilty about using a modern looking transmission dipstick and tube in the last car I got on the road, and I only caved after trying for weeks to get the other one to seal up.

The only modern stuff on any of my old cars got there either because I couldn't afford what I really wanted to use (i.e. tires), or I couldn't get the old stuff to work, and never for lack of trying.

 

Many,like my self,think the "Golden Age of Hot Rods" was from a bit after WW2 on in too the 1960s.
But the word Traditional dosen't say what years,so years are going to be what ever who is asking is thinking !
Being born in 1942,I lived and was super active with cars,built my self a hotrod in 1959 to drive too highschool,I've kept my 28A Bobtailed roadster.
If you want to high school with me,you would still see the same rod,but with chrome header now,the rest is as it looked,except for up keep=I liked what I did. And still do.! Some small very compromise has been needed too keep having fun.
For those that ask Q's about the times,I enjoy talking about how it really was!
But now n then,some don't like the real view I give them. It's like I'm trying too pop there bubble,of factitious ideas an missreads/misunderstanding,that have become so repeted,the're thought of as facts and loved as being. < even though it's BS.
Things like primer was something other then prep for shiny*{ Was never a finish....ya some never made it to shin=but shiny was the goal*}.
Doz. of other things as well,like big old style head lights. We put that poor working big junk in the trash can,an used 7in. sealbeams that did work well n looked more aero/speedy . But there many now who have desided they love them,and try to defend them. Yup,to day you can get aftermarket repops that really do light up well<That dose not change history back when that big crap didn't work,making them trash can filler.
Yes ,I try to be as Traditional as I can and keep driving.,yet I do buy better battery,better radiator,use a Alt. plus radial tires/of same size I had to start with=Driving by; No one can tell those things are a newer version of same older stuff. I'm too old now 79 to push my rod by hand anywere. That's my Compromise.

 

Bias ply tires, 4 speed, but modern safety equipment like legal cage, up to date harnesses and safety fuel cell.

 

I'm a '70s guy (class of '74) so my favorite style is late '60s or early '70s cars. I'm also a hard core hot rod guy more so than customs so I like drag race car inspired stuff. Bigs 'n littles, big engine preferably with a blower, 4 speed, etc. Lobek style stuff. Just a bit past the HAMB cut off date for traditional. Even though it has been 50 years gone by since 1970 I guess it is still not considered traditional!

Also, I live in NV and it gets frigging HOT here in the summer so having A/C makes the car just more usable. I will definitely have A/C in my '63 Galaxie and my '34 has it now but also a full hood. Once I slap in the 392 I won't run a hood so may not run A/C and only use the car when it is a bit cooler out.

 

Traditional, I get it but somethings get better as time progresses. Like those big ice cubes balls for bourbon, ribbed glow in the dark condoms and push up bras for the ladies. I like some new stuff.

 

I had to put LED units in the 48 Chevy lights that adorn the rear of my '55 early. Too many close calls.