Hot Rods What makes a t roadster a t bucket

The red one is a 23 Dodge front half of a touring.

 

If I could find a 23 Dodge or similar Touring, I would build one like that. Maybe something like a Buick or Studebaker would have a bigger bucket. Something bigger all over, to fit my fat ass.

 

As much as I totally appreciate Isky's cool roadster, because it really is, THE iconic roadster !



Long before I joined the H.A.M.B. I had no idea of who Marty Strode was, and years ago I photographed Marty's cool roadster at the greenwood car show. No doubt, Isky's roadster is the gold standard, but to my eye and for my taste, Isky and Marty got it right when it comes to the element of a T bucket roadster.



IMHO.
Your mileage may vary !
Thanks for posting from Dennis.

 

My RPU gets called a T Bucket all the time and i get pissed about it. In my mind a Bucket is one made of F-Glass but thats just me i am sure. Here in NZ people that build a''Bucket'' style roadster with say a Dodge body have it called a Dodge T- Bucket. To me the term is too loosely used now days for anything of that type of body regardless of how it is built and out of. JW

 

I am pretty sure, there isn't any fiberglass on this vintage Dodge " bucket " roadster.
Photographed at the CHRR at FAMOSO a few years ago.
Still one of my favorites.

 

I don’t consider my 26 RPU a T Bucket at all.
Not even a tiny bit.
It’s all steel and I consider it to be a Hot Rod.

To me a T bucket is a fibreglass body type of thing that you used to get as kits from companies that advertised in the little ads in the rod magazine, companies like Bird or Total performance.

 

^^^^
Probably overall too long to be considered a T bucket!

 

Good looking whatever anyone wants to call it! How about more pictures?

 

@Blue One
You know and we know...
Your beautiful, meticulously built rpu is no T Bucket.
Not even a little bit.

 

A little difficult to distinguish sometimes. I don't try too hard.

 

Early sixties. Early Mag wheels.

 

I would call this one a “Fad T”. Cookie cutter kit car. Can be fun, but past the timeframe of the HAMB.

 

This one brings that kit back into a HAMB vibe.

 

This is one of my favorites from high school. Late Seventies, but I couldn’t help myself.

 

Find the bucket in this picture

 

Unfortunately lots of T bucket builders “made it up as they went”...off on a tangent!

 

I think Skipper's T is one of the best looking cars around, if I did another one I'd be leaning heavily on the influences of this one.

 

Sometimes it's hard to separate them out into well defined categories. Many builds fall in the gray areas in between.
The further back you go towards the earlier times, the clearer it seems to get, but not always.
I don't always know exactly what is what when I see it, but I do know what I like when I see it....

 

I wanted to build a T bucket in my early 20’s but my Dad insisted they were called buckets because if you hit something at speed, they could bury you in a bucket. I am building aT but no bucket. Thanks Dad!

 

I think it's just silly to think that whatever style you build has to fit into such a stringent set of rules! After all, we are building hot rods and most of us see things just a little different from everyone else, we make them our own version of whatever style we want.

 

This Model A with short bed, rear axle moved forward but without the front axle pushed out should by T bucket ''standards'' be an ''A bucket''...to me its an A RPU. JW

 

This also fits the mold of a Bucket, no it's a T Modified. JW

 

Not too many T buckets have a hood of any kind.

 

All these type of discussions are really not only pointless , but silly . With all the other things in this life that are really important ( health & Family for example) , just going for a ride in the car I built that I enjoy that I like the looks of is more than enough for me ! In the end , these cars are just toys !

 

I agree. It's like getting your pronouns right for someone's gender in case you offend them. Who cares if they're stick, auto, or trans fluid? If you've built your car, you know what style it is. If someone else doesn't get it, either educate them or laugh at their ignorance and move on. Build your car how you like.

 

I think “Tweedy Pie” may have been the first glass bucket. No bed on this one. Of course it’s a pointless discussion.

 

i think when grabowski built his, they were known as "lakes modifieds"!

 

It seems that as a group, we always take any discussion... regardless of the subject... to places I wouldn't expect and we learn things. So even if what we learn is that there's no final consensus and we tend to muddy the waters even further, I consider it useful. Even if it's just for the fun of it.

 

I think the neat part is that this discussion illustrates how fairly small variances in dimensions and proportions can very much affect the looks of an open early hot rod. And when in mockup stage, we can play around with these proportions for a look that's pleasing to us.