Hot Rods This ain't no disco, this ain't no rat rod, this ain't no fooling around!

between that and fat jack's car, i considered buying a 46-48 ford coupe. i even looked at a couple, but my sixties gm preferences overruled that desire.


(stance, stance, stance!)

 

That car made me put my hand up and question all I'd been told Hot Rods should be. Until then, I had the impression that you had to have every aspect of a project finished before driving it.

The ultimate 'kick in the pants' for me was Jake's 'tub. Then I knew I could do this. I want 'finished' cars now and with what I've learned along the way, I can achieve that. . .

. . . still trying to 'finish' one. Any one of them.

CM

 

Sea of red paint. Yeah, I remember thinking everything was going to come out Porsche or Ferrari red. Got real old real fast, and I even had an OT car in Guards Red. Still, not happy with the same ol-same ol, I layed 2-3 coats of frost blue pearl over it to avoid being "another one".

Growing up in a hot rod/race car/vintage car family, you tend to shy away from buying parts to build something. Better to adapt, fab, create. That's where it's at, and that's what makes the cars we love look as they do. It's something you simply can't point to. That same spirit appears to be in the topic's coupe. Fuck the turquois flames and other indices to the era, it had a soul. You need the same kind to feel it let alone see it. The EB Duece Tudor and Gray's roadster had it too.

 

Beaters are definitly more fun to drive than something that takes four hours to clean everytime you take it around the block. The one that did it fo me was Jim Inglese duece. It was so cool when he ran it in primer for about two years, and got even cooler after paint. At a time when easter eggs were the norm he took a step back and built a ride that just defied the norm. After the car was painted he drove the wheels off it. I have a photo of this car just burning the hides at Roxborough but can't get it to here.

 

even though i'm not a rod guy, i've been to plenty of NSRA nationals, and there were plenty of r*t r*dz in attendance, even before the term came to prominence.

there was a sense of elitism that pre-48 cars were the greatest, even if it was some goofy four-door hupmobile or rotten tub with license plate floor patches.

the trailers are still there, in hotel lots, at the show venue or empty parking lots nearby. what has changed is what's being hauled. it used to be pristine fairgrounds queens, now it's non-roadworthy gimmick rodz.

i like cars, and can find something i like just about anywhere, so don't get the wrong idea. i'm just getting tired of going to pre-64 shows and being bombarded with the competition to have the least driveable (non-race car) car in attendance.

 

this one's close, but there are a couple of things i'd change.

 

That one's pretty far away from the original....it was built to look like that, it didn't just happen.

 

What a great thread. Hate to say it, but during the late 80's and early 90's I didn't have a drivers license yet, but went to my share of rod runs with my family. The car that started this thread, Pat Barnhardt's Ford Convert, is a car I have wondered about for years. I remember seeing it on the Americruise in Peoria and I believe Springfield the year before that too. I know I saw the car at other events as well. Whenever people start talking about painting their car flat black and driving the hell out of it, I always think of that car. I can remember people referencing that car when it first came out. A lot people thought it was crazy, but for a lot of people it changed the way they wanted to participate in hot rodding. He may not have been the first ever to do what he did, but he is definitely the one that always sticks out in my head. I always wondered what happened to that car. Thanks for brining back some cool old memories!

 

Another 90s classic Lance Sorchick's 34

 

Sorchick's '34 was a big influence on me. I even went as far as to call him to ask what color he used on his wheels.

I pondered a hard chop for years but my car was just too nice to cut up (I thought... at the time).

 

Damn. That picture is huge.

JH

 

The Will Handzel A did it for me too back then. I remember seeing it on the Power Tour back in the 90's.




Sent from my iPhone using TJJ app

 

I don't have a picture of it, but I remember seeing Thom Taylor's Americruise delivery in 1993 and thinking how cool it was and it wasn't all "finished." But it had the right stance and attitude.
Before that nasty label came out, we just called them beaters and "Beaters are Neater"

 

I followed that build as well...too bad after Pat G left R&C it went downhill for a while...

 

I think my old wagon fell into this category. alittle rough but mechanically it went coast to coast and border to border.. This was before colored primer was cool or building a reliable car with a beater look. during the early times of the HAMB it was well known by folks on the east and middle america..




I miss this car and hate that I sold it to by my avatar..

 

i think the point was, these were solid cars, if not the shiniest, with ultra-reliable mechanicals, comfortable (maybe a little basic) interiors and were frequently on long trips. the 5 minute hop to the local cruise can't compare, no matter how nice your car is.

last one before i got hurt. wheelchair wouldn't fit in the trunk, so i sold it. i put lots of miles on it in a few versions. 40,000 mile 235/glide, it was indestructible.

 

Monster, I remember seeing pictures of your 60.. thought it was a bitchen ride

 

My beloved beater... Highly influenced by the car the thread was started about! Probably the best "reacher" I have ever owned, and damn quick too.

 

Thanks for starting this monsterflake. Beaters/drivers, etc have been cool for a long time. The high school shop teacher in my hometown rocked a 34 Fordor that was about half primer for several years; he also had the old R&C Bikinis and Beaters pics on his garage wall.

Does anyone else remember the "Heartland Express" article in Hot Rod in the 80s, a staffer named Charlie drove to the Midwest for an event in a 36 or 37 Chevy, they didn't have time to paint before the trip.

Later when I got my license I went to quite a few events at the Iowa state fairgrounds in the early 80s; KKOA, NSRA etc. there were many cars and trucks of this description, either unfinished but mechanically ready or finished cars with lots of miles. A half red/half red oxide fridge era F100 with a mild chop has stuck in my mind ever since. Kind of getting off topic here but I recall quite a few off-brand rides as well. There is kind of a lost time period starting with the Peoria Nats and ending with the billet/easter egg era that needs more documenting somewhere since it's not really HAMBy.

 

While my professional life is based on doing completely finished cars, back in the day I seemed to really enjoy driving my projects "in the rough". I had one that was multiple shades of primer over Mopar "Lime Light" green, plain jane wheels, and even snow tires for winter driving. I beat he shit outta that one and used to wash it with a scrub brush. Yeah, even rough I'd keep em washed. I ripped up some pavement with another one that I bought with a banged up fender and minor rust here n there, along with a missing front bumper. In that stage of it's life it had an "angry" appeal to it. Fast as hell, rough around the edges, noisy, just plain mean. Both were O/T for here but the soul was the same.

 

I remember 2 Studebakers in hot rod back in the nineties, one was Jim Ewing's purple primer land speed/street beater, the other a rough black one that had a crate LS-6 454 swap done in early 70's, which was a so-cal street racer. They both inspired me to build my car. -Letting the days go by, water flowing underground-

 

Only goin' on looks- the HAMB cat from Washington state with the big 'n' lil nasty rake f.f chopped suede, black deuce tudor w/ huffed small block. Was pic'd in P.G R&C- early 90's.

 

I think your talking about Dick Page's deuce tudor. Awsome!

 

You got it.

 

this belongs here. the original version of pat's ford.

 

dam!
I scrolled down and saw a hubcap

 

SICK!

 

Dude!.... What's with your avatar????...

 

I was gonna rent a billboard to paste these pictures on. But then I saw a few and puked on my keyboard !

 

Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers

RIP Hilly.