Whats your opinion of flamethrowers on a hot rod...?

I think she's runnin' a little rich there, Merle.

 

Stupid

 

Just like the gal with a bone in her nose,interesting, but not for me!!!

 

Just do it... IF I have another sled that doesnt drag tail then Ill have them again...
They come in handy for the people that wont get off your ass....lol

Everything can be overdone... I shot nice fluffy flames about 4 feet with echo cans... I wouldnt do Huge tips or injected.. but thats just me..

 

I find them to be silly at this point...

 

Jeez zman, that is quite possibly the most restrained post I've ever seen you put up on this board. Are you high or something?
Paul

 

lol, naw, just got out of the dentist for the first part of a root canal.

 

If you like em run em. not for me but I do like to see them from time to time.

 

Um... not so much.

 

If Autoloc makes them,they must be cool

 

I like flames on cars they belong on. But actual flamethrowers (real fire) would seem to be more authentic in the real world of impression.

'Straight' folks (unconscious of our motivation) would wonder at someone painting fire on an automobile. To them, the 'real thing' would seem to be more 'tangible'.

There was a number of guys with them on shoebox type Fords (mild customs) at '50s Nite in San Jose around '80, some of the guys demonstrated them. (laughable, a slow puff of yellow fire out both pipes, at just above idle speed)
I thought, 'What a waste of effort...these guys need a lesson...'

Back at the shop I rigged a coil tester, 12 feet of Packard 440 wire, two NGK plugs, and a Mallory Nascar fuel pump from a tee in the 3/8" fuel hose next to my F 100 tank.
Hit the switch to the relay at 4,000 RPM: the coil tester fired both plugs twice per second; the Nascar pump powered and delivered 42 PSI of fuel into the scavenger pipes and shot two plumes of WWll class flamethrowers 40+ feet out the back!
Thursday night, I drove past the entrance, all clear...then 'lit it up'.
The San Jose Police happened to be inside the parking lot, Whoops! They tore out of the lot, came up behind, and took no time in "Lighting ME up"!
It was a hard explanation, but they didn't write me, better yet didn't arrest me or impound my truck.
Back at the shop, I removed all traces of the illicit fire show that night.
Some guys were at Billetproof 3 or 4 years back, and lit some that made mine look like candlefire. Technology will always 'improve', regardless of its validity!

 

Mouth breathers really like the spectacle.....(I was gonna say booger eaters, but that would be too harsh.)

 

The only flame throwin I like...

 

Flamethrowers on hotrods don't mix. However, I dig them on the right sled or custom.

 

whether you like flames or not, that is an awesome picture.

 

Never seem 'em on a hot rod...mostly on customs. Kinda cheezy but cool.

 

You shouldn't have to ask. IMHO a guy going by the name of "Stuntman James" would HAVE to have flamethrowers on his car!

Seems as though the movie Grease-(1978) that had the Conv. Merc with flamethrowers, helped revive flamethrowers around that time along with the rest of the "just like in the 50's" bolt ons (fuzzy dice, etc.).

Of course it all got taken to extremes and way over done with some guys trying to out do the crowd (trunk murals of their car at the Drive In, James Dean , Elvis, and Marilyn, etc.) 100' flamethrowers.
Example; In the lifted street truck scene, guys were puting 44" tires on lifted Toyotas...which spurred equipment citations.....and an "I guess we're done with this trend" feeling.

 

Thanks!

 

Just dumb to me .

 

They have been around since the 50's, but I can't remember ever seeing them on a "HOT ROD". Was strictly something for the Custom crowd.
If you like em, and do them in a subtle way, in other words no huge tips or pipes and hide the ignitors then there is nothing wrong with it.
Not my thing but to each his own.

 

Break out the Big red clown shoes. I think they go well with the current trend of acting like a curcus side show.

 

Tits on a bull comes to mind... I like fire though

 

On the coolness chart, I'd place them near fake duals, valve covers over the top of other valve covers, and nonfunctional multicarb setups.

 

impractical? as far as i know i don't know what that word means.. see... i put blowers
on flatheads and dual 4s on bigblocks .. i'm a fuckin hotrodder.. i'm not sane enough to know what practical or impractical mean.. they don't factor into my mind..

"fun" factors into what i do and think.

and flamethrowers are always fun!

 

They would be cool if you could find someone who has them that has the common sense to operate them, and also the common sense when not to use them.

 

Like to watch em,would'nt want em.

 

.....about as cool as fake spotlights, continental kits, sun visors, non-functioning lakes pipes, curb feelers and multiple antennes...I'll never "get it".

 

my wife's merc has them and that's exactly what they do, a small blue jet style flame. Now and then she fires them off to make a kid or an in-law go "oooohhhhh", no big deal.

Like most things it's something that loses it appeal over time, I doubt they have been fired off more than twice in the last 10 years, whereas they were fired up alot in the first couple years on the road.

 

Flamethrowers are cool on customs as long, as they are the small blue flames out of normal size pipes. When I was little we always went to the "James Dean Fest" in his hometown of Fairmount, IN. I always loved the Flame show they put on and to this day I still want a chopped, slammed, Merc w/ flames. They have been taken overboard but traditional (damn, I'm sick of that word) ones still look cool IMO.

 

In my estimation Flame Throwers are as dumb as a Burnout Contest. What's the point? Low I.Q.? Why not spend the money on something to make your car go faster and take it to the track. If you can't spin your tires from a 60 mph roll, your engine needs more work.