Have we gone soft?

I know Hot Rod Magazine is not really a traditional magazine and most of the cars featured have nothing to do with this website. I still like reading them, as I am young and want to soak up all of the information I can. I try and read all the magazines I can.

Anyways I can not remember which issue it was but it was only a from a few months ago. It was a column done by David Freiburger. He was basically saying that in North America we have gone soft when it come to cars. We care to much about originality and numbers matching and don't drive the shit out of/cut up cars like we did way back when.

I have seen it so many times guys will buy a rust P.O.S. because they don't want to hack up a good one. I personally don't give a shit, I mean it's all metal right? People thought I was nuts because I bought a mint all original '56 Ford and I started shaving the door handles, nosing it, decking it, and I do plan on chopping it and doing other extensive custom work.

I also met a guy at the 2010 Fireparty who had a '54 Chevy which he bought from a museum it was a really low milage car with original paint. He sectioned it, bagged it and is planning on chopping it.

I think that is the spirit I think we need to just not care if you have an all original car why not chop it, motor swap it, etc. If thats what you want to do go for it.

People say they are only original once but do you think Sam Barris, Gene Winfield, Bill Hines, etc. gave a shit when they hacked up a mint car. No! so why should you?

I think it is cool to take an original muscle car and street race it or do burnouts in it, it is also cool to take an original '32 Ford and chop it. It is also just as cool to take Grannys old mint '58 Impala and shave the handles.

I may have completely lost the plot but hopefully there are others out there who feel the same way. Drive the shit out of them and cut them up, I mean they were not afraid to do so in the '30's, '40's, '50's, '60's or '70's right? So why should we be afraid now?

Tell us storied on how you have done a motor swap on a numbers car, or parted out an original car, or chopped a perfectly good original car. I mean it's all just metal right?

 

Have we gone soft? I would ask your Doctor, " Is it low T "

 

Read the posts about making 2 door cars out of 4 doors and making coupes out of 4 doors,
Some HAMBers are doing incredible things to cars and the quality of the builds have NEVER been higher

 

So, ya wanna paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa?
Maybe modify a set of Arduns to fit a SBC?

 

I guess my question would be, how would David Freiburger know how it was back in the day.

 

Freiburger has never heard of guys like me who have driven a 1939 Ford every day for 17 years

 

When they did that in the old days, you could still go down the street to the dealer and just buy another new one!

We'll keep cutting up the nice ones, until there are few enough left that we can't afford to any more.

 

The only panels on my 37 Terraplane that haven't been changed are the hood. But then, how gives a shit about a stock Terraplane?

 

Ferbie is always kicking up poo'. This is NOW. Soft? His lack of a six pack of abs! The rag needs to build cars that are timeless, not 'the latest fad'. People shifted away, how many times do you need to play follow the leader in an interstate parade? Put an old car on the road, or on the 'strip. Save one from the crushers. Turn on a kid to these rides.

 

I am all for hot-rodding, and i am a hot-rodder, but i think a really good original car should be left that way-not restored and not rodded.

 

Keep in mind that when barris, winfield, and hines cut up those cars for the most part they were late model to fairly new. It wouldnt matter much to me all I can afford is rust.

 

As rants go, that wasn't half bad.

 

I'm not praising Freiburger nor do I think he is the shit. Just thought the article was true and even though he mostly does muscle car stuff, it still pertains to our stuff. Maybe I could find the article and scan it. I just think we shouldn't worry about cutting up cars, when they are just pieces of metal anyways. Why not make something your own.

 

I really like the way you think. There are those who don't but f**k em. Build what you want out of what you want. They are after all, just old cars. Oh and nice 56

 

I cut up a pretty nice '34 Ford 3 window. It cost me $50 at the time. I wouldn't do it today. But on that Boyd show they built a '56 Chevy from a junkyard car. If the show was telling the truth, they would have been way ahead starting with a nice car. I guess I am saying
"It depends" What are you building? Do you know what you are doing? Will it ever get finished? Don't go out and buy a nice running Model A and rip off the fenders thinking now it's a Hot Rod. There are sill plenty of "A"s around to that already lost their fenders. Don't take a nice original or restored car and make one of those rodent rods we don't mention here.

 

Exactly build what you want and don't care what others think. Only pictures I have up of my '56 is from when it was stock, will try and get current pics up soon.

 

I say slice it and dice it !!! It's yours!! I started out with a '38 Willys 4 door sedan with a 4 banger HOHUM ! It's now a 2 door sedan with built small block chebbby with lots of body mods and 49,000 miles so far. It's mine and it's fun AND THAT"S WHAT MATTERS TO ME !

 

Rodent rods are a different story all together. Why not build a Model A hot rod out of a stock one? I know a fellow HAMBer on here from Alberta that did just that to a '28-'29 he chopped it, lost the fenders, etc. By the time he was done it was a nice little rod.

 

where is stroker mc gurk when we need him

or tom medley

 

It pays to start with the best sheetmetal possible, but a super untouched car should stay that way. I'd flip it for the most I could make on it and find a not so perfect one to cut.

 

Exactly!

 

I understand customizing a car to make it look cooler, but taking a car from a museum and cutting it up is a bit against my morals. It was probably in the museum for a reason.. we need some real original examples of what stock cars were like back then too. That's like taking a girl who's managed to stay attractive and young looking for 35+ years and giving her plastic sugergy in hopes she'll look better. Some cars just should be left alone, because they look fine that way. Some cars should be customized. I also agree with those stating the fact of how the cars were new when Barris and Winfield started cutting them up, they're now pieces of history which will never be manufactured again. Would you care at all about cutting up a '99 Ford? No.

 

Maybe he can chop a Lexus?

 

You want examples. Let's see. I've chopped Knucks, Pans, & Shovelhead Sturgis'. I've put fender flares and spoilers on old Corvettes and lots of other stuff. And I can tell you your attitude will change. It maybe towards more radical, maybe toward more stock, but it will change. But cut up cars will always be cut up cars, they'll never change back to uncut.
Larry T

 

I drive the shit outta mine every day. If it breaks I fix it, that's all that matters.

 

What ever it maybe,if you own it,it's you alone ,that makes the choice about the direction of the build. Save it as a stocker , rod it or cut it into a full custom,do what ever you want. This is not a group decision .

.....................Jack

 

this kid has a couple of good points. the one that really struck a note with me was when he mentioned DAVID FREIBURGER. as far as i am concerned FREIBURGER is lucky to have the oppertunity to spend someones money to play with everything he gets his hands on and he has a staff to handle things and he moves on to the next story. i realize that the company that owns that magazine must get a truck load of comments in many forms, but i sent him in particular an e-mail concerning an article that was written on welding. the contense of the article was the biggest waste of paper and ink that i have ever seen. what it was basically all about was no more than an infomercial for MILLER WELDERS. if i want crap like that i will watch after midnite television. the majority of the articles in the majority of the rags out there are about the finished high dollar projects that were built by someone for someone else. yes they are look pretty and make everyone do the ooooohhhhhhhhh and aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh but i was flat told reciently concerning the DAN WOODS C CAB PROJECT, that i am working on that the rag i contacted only wants award winners and fully finished projects.

what happened to the articles that used to be in the magazines that had a multi issue story of someone building something and sharing not only the progress of it but the theme of the searies of stories was giving ideas on how that person did it. with articles like that one could get quite a wide spectrum of ideas from others.

enough soap boxing

 

When I bought that '34 I cut up it was a 23 year old car with no hood and a frozen engine. So that would be like cutting up a junk 88 Mustang today. Who cares if somebody cuts up an '88 Mustang? Not me. But if it's a nice '34 and your looking for a learning experiance, look somewhere else, please.

 

Pretty much sums up my thinking. Neighbor had a nice O/T 72 4 door Chevelle - he was going to carve it up for parts he didn't really need for a ratty 2 door.

 

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Sorry, got carried away.