LeadSledMerc I did start it for those reasons. i know i ranted about someone else's car. I know it wasnt cool for me to do. It is still about just throwing out cars you would like to see in it. need louvers ? OK! W e all get your not into customs. Im into louvers. i think they look ugly on cars. i have always thought this way even as a kid. Im not ito STREED RODS. Im sure thats your style too. A bunch of billet shit bolted to a car.
LeadSledMerc, I have apologized to you already for my poor choice of words, and once again I'm very sorry to have insulted your car. That is very much not in my nature to do. I maintain what I said earlier that I think it is very well done and admirable, just not what I would prefer to read about. Pat Ganahl (as always) did one hell of a job on the article explaining why early Chevs are seldom customs, too. That was very much my point, even though it's not to my particular liking, I read the article because it's a very nicely done car. As far as my business is concerned, I do quite a bit of work for customers building customs, and they get the very best work I can do as all of my customers do. I find my personal feelings don't get in the way with regard to the vehicle I'm working on be it a custom, rock crawler, hot rod, airplane... Heck, I'm even having a good time laying out and punching some cabinet doors for a high end install here in town. Once again, quality is the main focus. BICKFORD, I have made my feelings known, I'm done. I tried a couple of times to bow out gracefully, but that is not in my nature. Whether you like louvers is of little consequences to me, that's up to you... I won't try to change that. If by mentioning Street Rods you are trying to imply that I'm a "gold chainer" type, you have no idea how far up the wrong tree you are barking! I go back far enough in this hobby to when that was the prefered title, but even as kid I liked and built more traditional cars. (My first was a '35 5w coupe bought with paper route money at 12 in '77, built with the older nieghborhood guys cast off stuff, 265, '39 trans, '40 rear, etc.) So attempting to lump me in with billet and graphics probably isn't your best play so far. You went into this by insulting an aquaintances car because it didn't meet your rules as to what should and shouldn't be. I guess I shouldn't be insulted by that because I really don't have a dog in that fight. I tried to play by your rules and show something I would like to see, and suddenly I'm a Street Rodder! Odd how that works...
You have not only insulted Keith's (LeadSledMerc) 37 Chevy, but basically every Custom Car enthusiast on here. But thats apparently your choice. But what strikes me most is your apparent lack of knowledge how a magazine like the Rodder's Journal works. A magazine like that can only work if there is a balance between the subjects they publish. If they would skip the so much hated by you Custom Car features, then they would miss out on a lot of subscribers and single copy buyers. Result, the magazine would die soon. Same goes for the other subjects, if any of those are dropped from the magazine they will loose to many readers, and the magazine will be gone before you know it. We Custom Car enthusiasts care less about the Hot Rod and drag stuff in the magazine than the Custom Car subjects... obvious. But The Rodder's Journals quality makes even those articles interesting enough for the Custom Car crowd to buy the magazine anyway. For me personally I try to find a point of interest in each and every article they put out there, and usually I manage to find just that. I do get frustrated sometimes if they again put a future in there on a 32 Ford that looks nearly identical to half a dozen they had already published in the past, and because of that spend less pages on a Custom Car or Custom Car related article. But then there is always the great photography and writing that makes even those articles sort of intersting. Its the balance that makes this magazine great, and also the fact that they are still around today. A good balance makes sure the Hot Rod people read it, the Custom Car people read it and the Drag Race people read it. Without this balance the magazine will not survive, so it is important to keep that balance. Another thing some seam to forget about is the fact that Hot Rods Custom Cars and Drag Cars belong together. For as long as these cars have been built they have been bonded together. Many Hot Rodder's became Custom Car guys, Custom Car guys became Hot Rodder's, you name it. A lot of Hot Rodder's had a Custom Car to tow their Hot Rod are dry lake racer to the races. In most drag race or dry lake photo from way back you can spot multiple Custom Cars in the parking section... These cars belong together, and will always be. And if you want to produce a magazine like The Rodder's Journal that is based on this bond, than this balance has to be respected. And if you call one of these elements "filler" material, then you just don't see the whole picture and you just don't get it. I think this photo is a good visual to this statement. AHRF photo And to get back on topic.... my vote to keep that balance in TRJ for an upcoming issue is a long feature on the Junior Conway Clone that Jerry Daman finished about a year ago. This could be a great article with wonderful photography by Steve Coonan on the clone, and many pages of old photos of Junior's original Shoebox.
I would like TRJ to do a feature on Tether cars (then and now).They have their roots in Hot Rodding with a number of early Hot rodders having owned and raced them.Here is a pic of a beauty built by an Australian longtime racer Tony Peacock just so you know what I am talking about .Cheers RM
NeedLouvers has appologised twice for using the word "filler" to describe customs. All this fuss makes me wonder wheither ya'll are insulted because he used the word "filler" to describe customs, or are you insulted because he simply doesn't care for customs. Lighten up.
I can ruffle some feather just like you can. Seeing in you last reply i ruffled the crap out of your feathers. Touché
I too will read most every article in the magazine. I paid for the thing so why not read it. i dont have a vast knowledge on hot rods or drag racing, but i do appreciate them. I might skip the articles on a cookie cutter street rod. I cant get into that stuff at all. Or a article on some famous person who has a street rod. Now when its a hot rod that was built or one from back in the day. im into reading that. The selection of there customs have been shitty. they will have a car that pretty much stock maybe lowered with a paint job on it. thats gonna be there custom car for the issue. I get very disappointed at that. One of my favorite articles was.. The Nisei Racers- The Story of Japanese-American Hot Rodders and WWII. Issue 35 pager 24. Thad had nothing to do with custom cars at all. I happen to stumble upon one of the camps that they took the Japanese-American to while working. This article was great for hot rodder's and what went on in America during that time
BICKFORD, Other than my personal upset for those I have wrongly insulted, consider my feathers unruffled! Takes a bit more than implying I'm a "street rodder" to get me going... Although the couple of my friends that have posted to this disaster are probably getting a good laugh! Rikster, I am well aware of how the magazine world works. I have collected paper since I was 6 years old, and have literally everything in print pertainent to hot rodding since Hot Rod #1 vol. 1. I even have have a few of the old POST customizing books from the late forties/early fifties. In yelling at my again, you reinforced exactly what I said in my second apology to LeadSledMerc. His car was interesting enough that I read the story even though I normally wouldn't. If you guys hit Phoenix at any point, Let's sit down, I'll and buy you a beer and we can talk this out face to face. I also never miss LARS, usually Grand national Roadster Show, Hot Rod Reunion and several other California shows. But at this point I'm done apologizing. Can we get this thread back to what BICKFORD states it originally intended for?
Hahaa Chip, you stepped in it. As far as being a businessman is concerned, I highly doubt Chip is cutting his throat when he opines about customs. Y'all need to go to the store and buy loose fitting boxer briefs. I know I'm much more easy going since the whitey-tightys.
Chip- I left this thread to go make a Clamato and Windex, and I come back and you're on your second apology? Dude, what have you done? To get your mind off of this thread, I'm going to bring you a new project for the shop. I just bought the Hirohata Merc and when I get done fitting the blown Hemi and the 16x12 ET IIIs, I need you to punch louvers in the hood, roof, decklid, dash, and all down the sides. I grabbed a screwdriver and popped off a few emblems that said "Barris" on them. When did Chuck Barris build cars? Was it before he did the Gong Show? Viva La Hot Rod.......
I get a good laugh out of this whole thing myself. Its a forum. We all have our own opinion on what they like. Thats what makes everyone different and special. we dont all have to like the same stuff. You dont like customs. Thats cool with me. I'm not some period custom snob that for sure, but there are somethings i dont like on customs or people categorizing something as a custom when its just lowered. Y most of the cars i want to see a feature on are customs. I will apologize for calling you a STREET RODDER. Not cool on my end.
Great input... I appreciate the craftsmanship... design, construction, & stories that bring it all together as living history... the photography and balance is why I bought the first issue and that is why I will continue to And as much as I agree on to many 32's - I still want to see Dick Smith's 32 featured... I want the story of a 58 year old owner built hot rod that had inovative ideas and still wears it original paint because it was built to be used and last... a fiberglass removable top (because it was driven) the custom guys can appreciate before most rodders had ever heard of the stuff
Hot rods,customs, and drag cars(racers) ain't always been one big happy family. It may look that way in the pictures, but it wasn't that way. Drag racers refered to street driven hot rods as Dairy Queen or Shoney's cars(cruisers). Lot of the older hot rodders are not big custom fans and vice versa for the old custom guys. Okay everybody group hug and let's move on. d
We need to take a writers break and post more pictures... even traditional hot rods have custom modifications... turtledeck was shortened over 6" and yes that is lead Even the nose of the Willys has modifications and has lead work... so we share the skills we just have differant visions... thats what makes our sport
Pardon me if any of this has been featured, but how about Paul Bragg? Lots of inspiring metal work in the thread below, & it would be so good to see some of it in TRJ. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386068&highlight=paul+bragg
I would like to see an article on Barris/George Cerny Buster Litton "Panoramic" 1949 Ford and the clone being built.
First, sorry to high jack the thread - we all have favorite cars we'd love to see featured in TRJ. And that speaks volumes about the esteem we place on that magazine. It would be the ultimate honor to have a car featured there. But I just can't help myself. We have to understand the economics of reality. Love and passion just ain't enough. So I wanted to remind all of us that we need to give a little to get alot. The magazine is doing fine and they do far more with their revenue than many others could ever do. But these are challenging times for most of us, and that includes magazine publishers. Tracking direct return on ad investments on an "image" magazine like TRJ is more difficult than the monthly's. That's why we have to go out of our way to thank the guys (and gals) that do support TRJ with steady advertising. Or suggesting to your favorite manufacturer that they should advertising in TRJ. It does help a lot! TRJ is doing fine - I just wanted to point out, that there is a connection between ad revenues and the desire to be able to run all those additional features and stories we would all like to see. Now back to the original intention of this thread - sorry again.
Dare we say,that with this thread started by Brickford,that Rodders Journal is out of touch with the "community".
Ok, I'll bite......which community? TRJ is the best publication out there, and they certainly aren't out of touch. Why do we have to nit-pick the best magazine out there? Let's start a thread where we can bash on a magazine that we can all agree on, like Tiger Beat or Rosie?
I agree, Someone stated he was still alive and did attend some car events... I'm curious how old he would be now? 80's ? I wonder how many 70+ year olds we have on the HAMB... I'm pleasantly surprised to see comments from time to time that would place them as teenagers in the late 40's and early 50's... that kind on history will soon be lost and I'm thankful to the magazines in publishing thier stories
Yes, I see him at least once a month, and he and his wife Judy are always tooling around their flatty powered '27 "T" coupe he built for her back in the sixties. I would say he has to be 80 or so. Judy is a good bit younger, and gets along with my Judy quite well. Heard quite a few good stories about their courtship from another local hot rod legend (and "adopted dad" of mine) Ron Olmstead. Seems Judy's dad wasn't too found of the thought of his daughter dating a much older "hot rodder" trash type, so the whole local hot rod community went to some pretty great lengths to help garner them some alone time! That's kinda why I suggested Phoenix hot rod history as well as Dick's, 'cause we have lots of it, and most of these guys are still around. Don Marks, Dick Smith, Ron Olmstead, Dave Hill, John Evans, Albert Eschenbaugh, these names might not be common household names in our hobby, but talk about a batch of guys who have "been there, done that"... And, proudly, their all friends and mentors to me. Most aproaching thirty years now. Breifly, beyond the guys above, we were at one time the home to Crower Engineering, Loper's Performance, (still there!) several Indy shops and builders, Manzinita raceway, Beeline dragway, Deer Valley dragstrip, Perryville dragstrip, Mel Larsons speed world, Phoenix International Raceway, Firebird raceway, AMT models custom shop, and many, many more interesting hot rod and racing places. Some will seriously disagree, but I have always thought of my home town as hot roddings "second city".
There is an all custom car magazine. Its call Kustom Illustrated. I have all the issue to this magazine too. It is getting better with every issue and i think its starting to get better then TRJ on the custom car side. They have been doing article on custom cars from back in the day to today. They also did a 3 issue spread on the THEN AND NOW build at last years GNRS show. This mag in TRJ size would be an absolute killer. Rod[/QUOTE] Well said, Rod! If there is anyone out there reading this that likes customs and isn't a subscriber of Kustoms Illustrated magazine, you are missing out big time. Full color, 4 issues a year for $20.00. You can't get 4 issues of ANY magazine for only $20! Check it out.
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