History Was beater culture a thing in the past?

Nowadays you see people driving beat up cars and not really caring, I was wondering if the "shitbox" culture was a thing in the past? (not referring to rodent type)

 

Beater culture? Really? You’re pulling our collective leg, aren’t you?

 

Most people drive what they can afford.

 

There have always been a few folks around here with cool old beaters. One old rodder lives down the Valley from me drives a faded out 55 Chevy wagon. No plans on fixing it up, it is his parts hauler

 

Is faking patina considered good or bad in Beater Culture?

 

It's getting to where you're gonna have a lot of dough in a shitbox, too. I have about 10k in my latest one that looks horrible.

 

Not good in ANY culture for the most part! There are exceptions however.

 

Define "beater culture."

 

I can't think of a single person when I was in my teens (early 60's) who drove a "beater" and there certainly wasn't a culture built around them. It was a matter of what a person could afford. I baled hay all summer in 1961 so I could buy my first car, a 1950 Ford 2 door sedan that was just about worn out. I was more concerned about keeping it running than cosmetics. On the way home, I found something that had to fixed immediately, when taking off from a stop sign or light the driver's side seat back would fall into the back seat. The only way to remedy this was to drag yourself back into a vertical position and hold that position until you could steer to the shoulder of the road. I learned to fish the broken half of the left side axle out of the rear end using a wire coat hanger with a loop in it. That was the result of the clutch and newly rebuilt $17 transmission holding up against the torque of the Thundering 239. Something was going to give and that day, it was the axle. I suppose you could have called it a "beater" because it sure got a 4# hammer used on it often enough.

 

Picture numbers 1 & 3 don't have a single "beater" in them. #2 is questionable

 

I am in the snow belt. When I was young and drove muscle cars for daily transportation a beater was mandatory for the winter. It was extra nice if it was good on gas. You drove it the days you were broke after you broke the good car doing something stupid!

 

Growing up in a mixed neighborhood you could see that BEATER society was not a planned or staged thing. It was not an option to willingly run a BEATER but a necessity when Mom was working two jobs feeding 5 kids on a impoverished take home pay. Driving slower on four bald tires and keeping a case of 30w oil in the trunk adding a quart a week, kept the wheels turning for many.

 

Exactly, you bought a beater with a heater to get through the winter.

 

Most people, me included, drive what they can afford.

 

The "beaters" that are a problem is dumbass dick beaters asking you when you're gonna finish it.

 

Of course "beater" cars existed, not everyone could afford a new car or a show quality hotrod or custom, and a lot of the ones that ended up nicely finished were driven with primer spots or whatever while they were getting built. Especially among high school kids who typically don't have a lot of money or build skills and were probably proud if they had any functional car.

I don't think there's any shame in driving a low budget or unfinished car or something that really shows it's age, any more now than 50 or 60 years ago.

I think the issue comes in when people start to fetishize the rough looking cars, clearcoating over old surface rust or using fake vinyl wraps to make a car look rough, often paired with brand new shiny wheels and extreme lowering, stuff like that. Those cars would obviously look out of place in the time period that the HAMB represents.

 

Drivin' a beater didn't make you a member of the in-crowd. There was no culture aspect to it.

 

I still remember my mother trading off her new '58 Dodge for my Dad's '52 Mercury for the day because she thought she would get a better deal when she went to buy a Christmas tree. That is about the only instance that comes to mind with someone preferring to drive a "beater". Mostly, everyone tried to better their ride, around here anyhow.

 

Growing up in Minneapolis when I got my drivers license in 1966 a lot of people had summer cars and winter beaters. You kept your cool or good car in the garage all winter, and bought a cheap rusted out car that ran good and had a good heater for the winter. They dumped so much salt on the roads, that if you drove your good car year round it would have rust holes in it in 3 years.

 

I think generally, people were too busy just making ends meet and happy there was beef on the dinner table to belong to or care about any culture. At least any they were completely aware of.
And I think that anybody who enjoyed modifying cars naturally made them just as nice as they could. Some were works-in-progress.

 

I don't know about history but every car I've been able to get to a point of driving has been a beater. The ones I decided to "restore" were taken apart and never got finished.

 

Ain't that the truth.

 

Most of us have a different interpretation of what a beater really is, I have never heard of any culture surrounding the word, I have referred to my old Deuce sedan as a beater ever since I have owned the car.

A beater can be a daily driver hot rod or custom, old paint or primed, I like to think it shows it age but still loved, I don't worry about parking in any lot and it's not a show car. HRP



The car is all original sheet metal.

 

Then as well as now, there were/are people who drive their cars into the ground..they lack the passion, treated similar to a household appliance to them..wears out, buy a new/different one.
A car "enthusiasts on the other hand driving a "beater" is just broke, or it's a project car awaiting its turn.

 

Back in the 80s I worked at a porsche specialist shop. It was considered cool to own a really nice 356, and to have a beater one,that you drove all of the time. just to show how committed you were to the culture.

 

Hell I’ve always gone from mock up to paint in my projects, removing patina was my job.

 

Since the OP is real young, I'll attempt to tell a story.

About 20-30 years ago, the trend in hotrods was to have the latest-and-greatest of everything. This was the age of tilt columns, high back bucket seats with cupholder consoles, hidden/flush fit everything, lots of monochromatic paint jobs, etc. For Sale ads of these cars would generally list off all of the vendors that provided parts for the build.

"For Sale 1940 Ford coupe, pro-built with best of everything, Flaming River column, Painless Wiring, Fatman MII suspension, Dakota Digital gauges, too much to list. $XX,XXX"

And so on. It was expensive to build one of these cars, and some in that community looked down on anyone that didn't have the money to do just that. If you hear HAMB members gripe about "street rodders" or "gold-chainers", this is who they're referring to. Many surviving historical hotrods and customs were unfortunately "upgraded" with this type of stuff at that time.

Eventually, a counter-culture movement started, with simpler DIY builds, using early parts and often finished only with primer or whatever was left on the body to start with. Mexican blanket upholstery, brushed on paint, etc. This went hand-in-hand with a new interest in what would be called traditional builds (built to mimic a specific period in history, which is NOT necessarily unfinished/primered but also doesn't necessarily exclude them)

Some builders took that a step further, building cars that were intentionally rough or dangerous looking, and when that became a trendy look, some builders spent big dollars trying to emulate the rough look, even when it cost more or when it was hiding the same latest/greatest technology underneath.

The difference between those two can be hard to separate, but you'll generally know it when you see it.

 

My uncle had a rough 38 Ford coupe on the farm that his brothers used to chase cows home for milking in its last days. It was his driver in the late forties

A 37 five window beater was occasionally sighted in the early sixties , before I got my license. It later languished along side a gas station outside of town for a dozen years after an abortive attempt to make it into a race car.

kid that lived behind me had a high school 39 Chevy coupe beater an the 66-67 time frame.
another kid had a beater 57 Chevy. Not sure these guys were hard core hot rod guys, but they were at least on the fringe.
Many people that worked in the local iron ore industry had a beater work car to avoid getting their new car covered with red iron ore dirt. Even today, a huge percentage of the population have a winter beater to keep the salt off their good car.

I always kept at least one beater car that was the sacrificial winter beater. Still have one for towing and hauling in Michigan. Took my old, rusty Ram to Arizona three years ago. It hasn’t deteriorated further in the three winters we have been here, so a beater may be a regional thing.