So we like to restore and preserve history of cars from the past. If that's holds true. Should we repeat all of it. Including building cars with wrong parts thru together by someone in the past. As in dually wheels, mismatched wheels, newspaper scoops etc. Most of that was young rodders building with what they had. If they could they would have built them different. People today building 4 door gassers , patina cars or worse yet fake patina. I guess I should build one of my early cars. It had different colored fenders and doors. I couldn't afford aluminum firewall so a road sign turned backwards worked. That would look cool today. When will they bring back braided spark plug wires? My point is we should not repeat all history. We should learn what not to repeat. Learn from their mistakes so it doesn't happen again.
You seem to have a vision of what history Should have been, not what it was? Good or bad, all those things you dislike DID happen. If you don't like them, don't repeat them. Hot rodders were/are innovators. They tried different things to go faster, etc. Most worked, some didn't. Why worry about what was wrong in the past? Build your car the way you want it!
The cars that most of us had when we were younger in are teens and early twenties were built when coming up with gas money was tough. So if you want to build true authenticity send me all your money and build your car on the skinny...
I don't even want to repeat my own history, much less anyone else's! I would be embarrassed if someone (even myself) saw some of the work I did back when!
They say if you don't remember history, you're bound to repeat it. I remember mine and choose not to repeat it. But I do have a selective memory....
I have to laugh at my neighbor, he married his wife twice, devorced her twice and just moved back in with her..
I made a lot of mistakes in the past and still do but every car gets a little better. When I had my first car in the early 60's I didn't have any money or a place to work.
Reminds me of the times in the 60s when whoever's car was being used for the local nightly cruise routes it was common practice to ask your buddies for "a buck for gas" before picking them up. LOL, I think I'll try that today and see how far I get.
When I built my Model A pickup it was built with a slim budget, a mortgage & twin girls there was very little spare money but I was able to scrounge,swap labor and use junk yard parts exclusively, I was proud of how it turned out. I sold the truck many years ago and never looked back, but one day a friend told me about a 1932 Ford pickup mixed in with a huge Model A estate sell. I bought the truck and built it like I wish I could have built that Model A so many years ago, I couldn't imagine trying to replicate the first truck nor would I want to. HRP
This is a 52 chev I built when I was in my twenties back in the early eighties. 54 235 with a thickstun 2 carb intake, fenton headers, 3 speed and a 3.55 powerglyde rear. 50 Pontiac tail lites, 56 Buck side trim, 57 Buick grille. Stepped A arms, 54 uprights and clipped coils, 3 inch blocks out back. Honduras maroon paint with frenched headlights and molded hood, nosed and decked. White tuck n roll interior with a 59 Impala steering wheel.. The only thing I hired out was the upholstery except for the headliner, I did that myself and I horse traded and bargain shopped for everything and had right at 1000 bucks invested total. Man that was a fun car
Hello, History is down for good. There is no way to bring back those good old times. For us early hot rod/drag race guys/girls, it would be to put the sportsman or small guy classes back in place with the same classes at the national events like they used to be. (Not just fuel funny cars, top fuel and bikes.) The normal guy classes that made everyday driving a hot rod or modified car on the street fun and exciting. Sometimes, it was just to be near the action that made is so real. Just before you blast off into the horizon… (58 Impala, front row ring side seat…) to watch Jack Chrisman/Ed Losinski FED get ready… Gas Coupes and Sedans, Street Roadsters, Modified Roadsters, Altered Coupes/Sedans and even front engine FED race cars. The stock car classes would be put back in place with those that buy a stock car, could race it legally and safely. A place that anyone could race with what they had in their daily drivers and sometimes, something just sitting in the garage. A 1951 Oldsmobile Sedan, sitting in the garage, just waiting its time… The rules would be for the pre 64 classes for all divisions, before the crazy idea that street cars ran open headers/straight pipes, spoke front wheels and were not legal to drive on the street as per local DMV rules. Yes, it sounds like 1955 to 1964 in So Cal and elsewhere for every drag racing/hot rod enthusiast. It can’t just be funny cars and rear engine dragsters that are run for million dollar budgets. Jnaki It is not the way of this fast paced/social media/cell phone in the face neck angle scene. That causes a conflict with the way technology is driving the world. Some good, some not so good. We are living better lives due to advancements in technology, so there is that. But, we can all dream back to those good old days when a teenager/20 somethings could build or modify a hot rod or race car and take it to the local dragstrip to see what it could do at any cost or low cost… YRMV We don’t dwell in history, but is is fun to revert back to those time when we were young... “When we were young We were small but we didn't know it When you were hurt You would smile so you didn't show it” “When we were young We were brave, we were wild warriors And you liked to race So we'd run to the distant shores” “And I can't believe you're mine Can't believe you're mine” “When the night came we would both say goodbye and go But now that I'm older I'm sleepless outside your door So let me in” “We are wise We are tired of growing All of this time You and I How did we not know it” Gas Coupes/Sedans Jr Thompson 1959 original sound Altered Coupe Bolthoff/Donnelly 1960 original sound Rakers Car Club Competiton Coupe 1959 original sound Gary Cagle/ Herbert Cam Special 1959 original sound Sidewinder original 1959 sound
I like 4 doors. Plenty we’re built back in the day Even two doors are cool I like mismatched panels and primer I dig paint Asymmetrical headlights and multiple engines, yes 6 tires on a drag car. Mmmmm I even think the Spencer 32 is cool. Ed Roth creations, Bill Hines funky customs, a drag car built from a coffin. I’m in Recreating the unfinished ride from your youth, sounds great. I’d drive it. Dents, scratches, faded paint, a little surface rust are all beauty marks for me. To each their own. There’s plenty of room to exist in the same universe. Some of you guys that lived in an era when As and 32s….were littered all over the place. I didn’t. Those that did probably built within their means yet aspired to a greater level . Someone from my era might be just as happy with the beater you actually had.
My first car in the early 60s. I bought it with $35 from my paper route money when I was 14. Did all of the work outside in the yard. The lower rear quarters were made out of steel cabinet doors and the rockers were from JC Whitney. Nosed, decked, frenched headlights and a cut down 55 Ford grill I got for free. It had a 6cyl with a piece of shit Fox Craft floor shift and was painted with a little diaphragm compressor outside. I'd love to recreate it today but I'm sure I'd use some better parts. lol I forgot to mention, the bodywork was all done with Black Majic. Anybody remember that crap? mber t
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