Inverted snobbery?

yeah, I think its more impressive if you built the car yourself... but I don't knock you if you bought it outright and can't turn a wrench... however I may give you a little ribbing or two.

What bugs me to no end is the guy who buys a car and tells everyone he built it himself.

 

two of the most important tools:your wallet and your ingenuity. If you dont have enough of one, then you just have to compensate with the other. no shame there at all.

Do your best, give credit were credit is due, and be honest to yourself and no one can fault you on anything you attempt.

rick

 

I agree with pretty much everything in this thread . The thing that gets me is a guy who tells ya he built it all himself , when you know for a fact who built it and where it was built , pro. or homebuilt doesn't matter to me as long as you don't misrepresent yourself or the car.

 

Theres probably not to many people that say they built their cars that actually did everything,paint,interior frame ,engine and all,but whether you build or have built the end result is you enjoy the hobby and the wide variety of people and cars in it.I built the engine in my car and did most of the bodywork,but can"t paint or do upolstery but its mine and I enjoy its thats all that counts.

 

If I could afford it, I'd love to have a pro built car. I can't, so I don't, and while I try to the best I can, my cars aren't "perfect" by any means. I tend to get in a hurry and skip little detail things which, if I were paying someone else to do, I'd want better. The other side of that is, there's only one of me, my time is limited, and I want to drive 'em before I'm dead. So, some stuff gets skipped.

Brian

 

It shows how inane the snobbery is when the example that was used to represent a car that was hired out to pros is in reality a car built by a member of the HAMB as a tribute to an old custom.
All of this crap is a waste of time. Build or have built, Just enjoy the hobby.
Give it up.

 

I built and performed many operations on customers' (friends'!) cars when I first opened my shop in 1976. A number of 'ops' were performed for very minimal $$, with the agreement that the work would be credited to me, promoting business.
When the first one I did appeared at the San Jose Autorama in '76, the owner took ALL the credit, folding the dashboard down to display the electrical (relays, junctions, hand-loomed wire, etc.) as HIS 9-day handiwork.
To ease the pain, he installed some wing windows in my F100. (he cracked both putting them in)
He seemed to start a trend...two other asshats pulled the same act. (they were all 'old friends')
Snobbery is one thing, but the other is another I don't tolerate. Busey said it best:
"You know, I'd like to believe ya, but I just can't."

 

Exactly....

 

I am very sorry that you are unable to enjoy the great experience of being able to work on your own vehicle, it sounds to me that if you could you absolutely would. I admire you for being involved with the keeping and presenting of a fine automobile. Many a person would find an excuse to foster rather than the drive and focus to pursue a passion. I hope that you do not take negative comments personally, the world it seems is more confused than ever. It is of late highly fashionable to be irreverent to the feelings and respects observed to be good and proper manners. It is a sad signal being sent through a culture where it is much preferred and easier to tell someone to fornicate themselves than it is to extend a hand and offer them friendship and understanding. For some reason it seems that some have taken to boosting their own morale by denegrating and belittling the possesions of another. By doing this they hurt only themselves as they limit their own scope of achievement and vision. Be all that you can be, achieve all that you can dream, put forth your dreams to motion, hold back no fellow traveler. I admire you sir, do not dismay that your journey has attracted some companions whom do not show your vision due respect, they will fall to the wayside as the journey soldiers forth. Enjoy life and friendship where it may exist and foster no hatred for those who can not know it. Thank you for your inspirations.

 

Yeah, that's just flat-out wrong, which is why I carry a show board with me giving credit to everybody that does anything on the car, even to the guy that did the show board

I also have the two main builders name's lettered on the glove box

 

What in the hell is this?

 

Since it's my '54 Ford singled out as the homebuild, I'll put in my 2 cents...

I consider the car a "homebuilt" car, but it wasn't all done at my home. The paint and bodywork was done by a few friends of mine (Dave and DJ Bushka) in a workshop behind thier house. The stainless was was done by another guy guy, (Bob Clark) whom I now consider a friend, and the mechanical work was done by myself and a friend Nate. The interior was my first attempt and still needs some more work to be completely finished.

I am capable of doing a lot more work on the car than I do, however It is much more enjoyable to handle the concept/design of the build then pay someone else to do the grunt work and the really challenging stuff.

I enjoy shop time as much as the next guy (I call it my "therapy") but life - family, kids, business, etc... prevent me from spending as much time as I would like in the shop. If it's going to one of my daughters ball game or fixing the fuel guage on my car, I'll see you at the game!

So, I have two choices - take some time away from the hobby or pay to have work done for me. I choose to farm out some of the work.

The upsides to this decsion far outweigh the downsides. My kids are only young once so I'm going to enjoy time with them now. I can do more on the cars myself after they are gone. I also am able to enjoy my cars sooner than later. Hell, my '54 was stock in December '09 and winning awards in May of '10. That couldn't happen if it were all up to me. Perhaps the biggest benefit to me is the people I have met along the way. During the build of this project I met several really cool people that all lent a hand. Not only are we now friends, but we all share a sense of pride in the car. The painters, the stainless guy, folks I bought parts from... We feel like we had a part of making the car something neat. When we are standing around chatting a local show and someone comes up and complements the car, or it wins an award, we all feel a sense of accomplishment.

The shared experience is priceless!!!

While I commend those who "do it all" I don't think any less of those who don't.

That being said, it is hard to relate to someone who just buys a "turn key" car and then thinks he's an expert at everything.

 

built or bought, just dont trailer it! That shit is fake in my book!

 

Kripfink, I hear you brother...I completely understand where you are coming from. To be honest, I see a lot of hamblitically correct mentality here and it really bums me out. I'm not sure how ANYONE has ANY cause to think they are better than anyone else...regardless of financial, political, racial, religios, or whatever else status they "think" they have. We all put our pants on one leg at a time and we all $H!t sitting down. To be honest, the mentality I see from some here makes me a little ill and somewhat ashamed of the hobby I have been involved in since I was 12 years old...nearly 30 years now. If you're going to snub your nose or shoot a dirty look at a fellow hot rodder, HAMBlitically correct or not, then YOU are the one with issues. Does the NON HAMB stuff belong here? Perhaps not, but to beat an FNG with a stick and make sure he's good-n-bloody to make a point like a bunch of ravenous wolves really only serves ONE point...it shows YOUR mentality. Kripfink, God bless you brother!! You have figured out how to enjoy the hobby despite your limitations...my hats off to you. The only "check-writers" I have issues with are the ones who snub their noses at wrenchers like us because we didn't have $100K to spend on building a ride. Live and let live already.... some of you guys need to get off your high horse...you have no right to be there in the first place. Blessings my hot rodding buddies...

 

Paul i know you had a lot of input in the build of your ride , you didn't just hand over the coin and say " Kustom this " you had the vision of what you wanted and put all your passion into the project this included many trips to Royal Kustoms and endless phone conversations and emails with Jim and Julie of Royal Kustoms along with other professionals that have worked on your panel van all of whom have their names pin stripe on your dash and also on a special show plaque pin striped by tootall Paul who does all of your pin strip work.
Plus I doubt if many on the H.A.M.B can say they have a full Kustom show car as their daily means of transport .
I bought and imported my ride pretty much the way it is now , I have worked on it a lot my self making improvements and also have paid to have it converted to 12 volt , have the lake pipes put on by Royal Kustoms .
Their would not be any pro Kustom and Hot Rod shops if there were not any customers .
There is no way you should leave the H.A.M.B you live and breathe Kustoms
I'm proud to have you as a personal friend .
Colin

 

Took to long typing I see you just added the pics of the deadations to all involved lol

 

I concur, and mine ain't building cars.

I had my stock A transformed into a Flattie 8 powered car and paid for all the work to be done. I had the vision, I had it built.

Driving it, using and fixing it I can and love doing. In all we've visited nigh on 8 countries in it this year (if you count Wales as a country - no offence to the Welsh).


Paul the Kripple Kart is a wonder, and Jim is a great guy (and Jules is a great lady), one of the few over here I'd trust to build me a car.

 

I built my cars, from frame off, including every nut and bolt, except the rebore of the block, the cutting of the glass, and the mixing of the paint. If I had paid someone else to do the work, it might be more proper to say, 'I hired somebody to build them'. But if I said 'I built them', is that snobbery? Reverse snobbery? Fuck, I don't know. Fuck, I don't care.

 

I can be a snob, when I ask someone a gearhead question about there car and they don't have a clue what the hell I'm taking about. I don't really care if they built it, the had it built or they bought it.

I think people respect different things and I expect a certain amount of knowledge from anyone driving a nice Hot Rod or Custom so I can relate to them. I need to be able to speak in my native tongue and say toploader, wishbones, supremes, pin-walls, bellflowers or wide whites and know that I'm being understood. Maybe it's wrong, I don't care, it's the way it is.

 

The only reason this "inverted snobbery" came about is because some street rod gold-chainers were having their cars built and then going out and saying things like,

"Oh yeah, I built this whole car myself. Yep, did it all, every single bolt."

Of course, they didn't really know much about the inner-workings of their own car, so naturally we gave them the beat down. I don't think anyone really hates a guy with a nice car just because he didn't build it in his own garage.

 

IMO the guy who should feel inferior is the "Johny-come-lately" who has no passion, understanding or respect for others and the history of "our thing", or desire to learn. Typically he's had little or no input into the design or exicution of his fashionable ride and is only really consirned with its ability to elivate his social status. Yes friends, he's the architypal Poser and he's amongst us.
Paul, I know for a fact that you are not him!

 

Funny, me and my friends had this same conversation over the weekend. We all build our own shit! Reason is we dont have the $$ to pay someone to do it right. Our conversation started cause I have an uncle who looks like a gold chainer and he pays to get all his cars built. He was building bad ass cars from the late 50's till about 10yrs ago when he was financially able to pay to get em done right. He does have the talent to build em but he would rather pay. This is a hard question to answer, if I were rich I would probly pay someone to do the BS work but I think I would have to be hands-on on my own projects. Some people golf I play with cars

 

This post is funny, to me that is. I do all of my own work, at least the stuff I know I can handle which is about 99% of the work on my cars. A few weeks ago I blasted my '37 Buick project's frame and body for the second time, long story. Anyways I posted how I hated blasting and if I could afford to have some one else do it I would have. I got a bunch of replies, many telling me I'm not a true hobbyist because I didn't want to do one aspect of the hobby that I detested. A couple of the posters told me I should get out of hobby if I'm not willing to get my hands dirty. I wonder how many of those guys will have the balls to contribute to this post and give the same opinion. I doubt if any will because so far the tone of this discussion is it doesn't matter as long as you're enjoying your car and the camaraderie that comes with it. One person who replied to my post about blasting had a great reply, he said he doesn't clean his own septic system but still enjoys a good crap.

 

Snore! I prefer to build mine as much as I can, but I have had my best experiences teaming up (and paying or trading) with friends i.e Alex Gambino and Matt Seret.

Also it's not inverted or revers snobbery, it's just snobbery.

Just like blacks not liking whites is not "reverse racism", it's just plain racism.

To me people are like cars, if they're cool, I like them regardless of what they are.

 

Most of the cars that I see in this area of the country are muscle cars,street rods, tri-five chevys, and Corvettes ,MANY of which, the owners pay to have built. Kustoms and traditional hot rods are not often seen at local cruises and car shows here. What I see is a lot of snobery coming from that crowd ..more than anyone else. So... I confess... I do have a chip on my shoulder against people like that.

I've seen that snobery from both sides of the isle at a lot of the traditional rod and Kustom venues that I've attendend too.

I guess it's the society that we live in.

 

Pretty basic IMO,

Don't take credit for something you did not build

Give credit to the guy who did build it

Nothing wrong with having work done on your car by someone else. I firmly believe that someone who claims to have done everything by him/herself is full of shit. Everyone has to get help from a knowledgeable source at some point. No one does it all. Even something as simple as buying a set of tires & having the tire shop mount and balance them means you had help.

Like has already been said by more than one person, as long as you are honest about what you have done & what others have done it is all good. The guys who pass someone else's work off as their own are the only ones that should be ashamed of themselves.

Hell, when Dad & I were building our A coupe we did not hesitate to ask for advice & assistance when we hit a snag. I am sure that Paul & DW Horton got sick of us & our questions, but they were always helpful & patient. Help like that is what makes the car community a cool thing to be part of.

And Paul, from what I recall of your build thread you were just as involved with your build as any one of us. There is more to building a car than the fabrication & assembly. I know several guys who are talented when it comes to putting a car together but stylistically they miss the target entirely let alone miss the bullseye.

Just my 2 cents.

Tone

 

One of the greatest things about rodding is just hanging out with like minded people and friends. Enjoying the passion most of us share. The mixture of experience and knowlege that exists.
It's the monster egos that can be a pain in the ass. Weather it's driven by "look at what I have, did and/or bought". "Ain't I sumptin?" That's the kind of snobbery that sucks. Being proud of your achievement is only human. Beating people over the head with it gets old.
There's always something new to be learned in this wonderful obsession of ours.

 

Kripfink, I admire your sense of humor actually. Mentioning the "kripple kart" in your original post... I'm glad to have you here! Just keep having fun and let whatever criticism from whatever "experts" are out there slide off and don't let it weigh you down. I have several friends who have all sorts of things that COULD get in the way of them being in the hobby (wheelchairs, prosthetic legs, just plain stupid , etc.) but they do what they can and pay an expert (or someone a little more nimble) to do the rest. No shame in that. Some of my other friends have family, career & personal obligations that keep them from pulling 8 hours in the garage every night after work. Same respect goes out to them. It's the maroons that buy a complete car, or the ones that claim that they did ALL of the work themselves when they didn't, and then brag about their building and troubleshooting talent that piss me off.

One of the other posters said something that kinda resonated with me though... It's not like we're handing someone a pile of body & mechanical parts and saying "make me a cool car". The sign painter that is doing the door logos on my 49 truck and I are collaborating very closely to make sure that I get what I want. He can paint 1,000 times better than me, but I have a lot of creative input, so... does that make my truck any less bitchin' when it's finally done? I hope not! If I tried to do the logo that I have in my head by myself, it'd look like a four year old did it with can of paint and a stick. And yeah, he's definitely getting the credit on the sign, along with the radiator shop that made my hose connections work, the guys at the rubber supply that made the AC hoses longer, my friend who did a TON of welding and fab work in exchange for dinner a bunch of nights, the Muffler King guy...

Stick to the things that you're good at, if anything, and pay or trade favors with someone who IS good at it. As long as you're having fun and participating in the hobby who cares what "they" think???

"HAMBlitically correct"... I'm going to have to remember that one!!!

 

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I have always built my own cars, done everything but upholstry, and sometimes, even that. One of my best buddies doesn't have the talents nessesary to build anything but boy, does he love cars. He is probably more of a gearhead than I am. It really pisses me off when I hear someone say,"yeah, it's a nice car but he didn't build it, he bought it". The fact that he didn't build it has absolutely no bearing on the quality of the car or his love of the hobby. Another thing while on my soapbox, the term "goldchainer". That pisses me off, too. If a guy has the money to put into his car, what's wrong with that? I believe that just about everyone of us puts in every dime that we can afford. I have come to believe that when you hear someone put down a person or his car, it's because the speaker is jealous of the other guy's good fortune.

 

Even most owner-built cars still have some stuff that was done by others. So if someone was to try and decide what is cool or not, then where do you draw the line - 100%, 90%, 80%, 70% owner-built? Too hard to make the distinction.

It's great that a person has pride in doing it themselves, but to look down on those who don't or can't is also a slap in the face to the guy who did build it for them, because without that customer, they'd be out of work. I know a lot of guys who really need those customers.

The only time it bothers me is when someone intentionally tries to deceive and make it sound like they personally built it and take credit for other's work. Some try to blur the lines, like commissioning the work means "I built it."

But treating those 'customers' like second-class when they do admit they didn't build it, just encourages them to hide the facts.