Keeping the tradition alive-Northern California

I started chasing parts for hot rodders in the early 1960 for rides on friday night in their cars. Got a 1929 Chevy sedan in 1964 and put a Hemi Red Ram in it. sold it when I entered the service but never quite building hot rods whether they were American or foreign for a while. Dropped out in 1983 when I raised a family and came back two months ago to a whole new world and not sure I like it. No more father & son building and everything seems to be high dollar preventing the little guy from doing much more than just watching. One daughter of mine is a wrench monkey. Older guys raised me in the hobby and I helped younger guys for years and now it seems like all I get is "Show me the money or I don't have the time buddy" If this hobby has degraded itself down to a bunch of wealthy old men standing around admiring cars they did not build themselves and picking apart cars that were built by their drivers then I guess I am going to be as much of an outlaw in this world as I am in the motorcycle world. If I have offended anyone then too bad because I admired the guys who took the time to instuct me and then reward my running back and forth to the hardware store and garages for parts with rides on Friday night. In today's world mine is a rat rod in the making and probably always will be because I will always be doing something on it but at least I'll have the pride of knowing I did it with help from my friends. When this one hits the road then it will be time to find one for the daughter. For those of you still trading labor, working at nights on each others cars to make a cruise, exchanging stories, and good laughs I salute you and I hope you never die out because if you do then the hobby is truly dead.

 

Well said....

 

except for the rat rod part.

 

Agreed!
There seems to be a overwhelming amount of rat rod terminology being tossed around here lately. Whether it's just a poor choice of words or a lack of knowledge of what this site is about I don't know. Maybe it's time that the "sticky" at the top of the page, has a little box added to it that has to be checked before someone is allowed to post. And to those that take exception to one of us calling out a FNG, for what HE/SHE has posted, I think it's about damn time that you read that "sticky" also!

 

In some ways you are 100% correct, but I do believe that there are a lot more of the younger crowd from coast to coast, than there has ever been. The ideas at times may differ noticeably from what we think, but the motive to change has always been there, and will continue to evolve..............and that is good. Case in point, there are so many more people today that have better tools and skills to do their thing. There has always been a fringe of 'gold-chainers' around, but I bet the percentage ratio is still about the same as it's always been. Just my opinion.

WELCOME to the H.A.M.B......................from Arkansas City, KS.
firstnomad
www.angelfire.com/jazz/flatlandstudio