I understand what you are saying, but I think you are wrong about this part. The passing of time has added value to it ( and I don't mean value, money wise) The limitations that were built into these cars, all those years ago, is that makes them disappear today. It takes a strong conviction to put up with the compromised performance and looks, and with the ridicule of fellow Hot Rodders. It probably takes a healthy sense of humor too. Cause, you have to be willing and able to give the space in the driveway to the ugly duckling, when it could be occupied by a prettier & faster car. Like Sam's '55... The last two owners of that car were not committed enough to it to do that. Automotive Darwinism...
Waxing this way and that on inter thought,no ,as you get older,or at lest me,I kind of don't care much for change,but it happens anyway,darn! OK lets be real real,we like for the most part this computer crap. So is it a dubble standard YES. I for one wish there were never any rat rods or flat as a finish{it primer dam-it]dose not look cool. But we're all having fun with nuts and bolts,some times more nuts. Most that maybe doing some wrong stuff for lack of real info,don't even wish there fake BS bubble to be broke,so there not going to hear facts... In any case thanks much for the parts I like,I'll try not to bitch too much about the other . HAVE FUN!
Besides me,I'm sure Jim McNeil wouldn't appreciate it,haha(owner of the Hirohata). EVERY car that isn't brand new,has a history. That doesn't mean it's history is relevant to Hotrods or Customs of the past. Is every car that ran at Bonneville and El Mirage significant? I'd say no. Many are important cause of who raced them or what records they had. Most are just "also-rans". Will ANY custom Merc built today every have the prestige of the Sam Barris or Hirohata? Nope....They were trend setters,inovaters. Some today will be famous due to popularity or their builders. But,they are all i the shadow of what came before them. Think of all the FED's and Gassers that raced in the 50's and 60's. Are all historic? Nope. Some were just the cars that filled the field...lost to Don Garlits,lost to Stone,Woods & Cook,lost to Don Prudome.
I was committed to preserving the past, and only made a few changes to personalize it. One change was I painted the dash. The dash had the original paint on it when I got it, and I wanted it gloss black. An improvement, I thought... and I still used all of the original things like steering wheel, gauges, tach etc. Another change was with the seats and roll bar... I could not fit in the car, so I built a new roll bar that would pass tech, and went with two seats instead of one. And alas I got rid of the original fiberglass front end. It was thrashed. I wanted to match the patina on the steel front end to the fiberglass one... but never acquired the skills to do it right. I got the "thumbs up" from the original builder... which was nice. It let me know I was on track with what I had done and preserved. I think I would take it one step further than "committed". I was so committed to it that I felt owned or maybe even constrained by it. So much so that I wanted someone else to be the caretaker of it... Unfortunately it went into the wrong hands. But then again... it's just a car. Sam
That is what I meant... You wanted it to be preserved, but you didn't want to be the guy to do it. So in a way, that car's days were numbered the day you bought it. And now its gone.
Do you ever think that after Ryan hits "Submit Reply" he reclines in his chair, wrings his hands and lets out a devilish laugh? I think he's messing with us.
That's too much responsibility for a guy like me. I'll never buy another "caretaker car" as long as I live. Unless I get a good deal... Sam
The original poster of inane prose, is stating an opinion, and it is worth not one whit more or less than anyone else. There is not a person alive that can give the final say on what is traditional. The sole thing about hotrodding is the individual effort and taste of the owner/builder. Having lived thought he golden era of hotrodding, I am totally out of touch with many who call themselves traditionalists. I still enjoy building cars, and blasphemy aside, I prefer building to driving, always have. In the old days I raced them and was totally loved that, but the building was the fun. Hanging out in the old club house wrenching, lying, and watching dirty films. I am also suavey, always have been, could also possibly be Gringo. I heard the Cisco Kid say that once.
You want your car to remain the same forever? DON"T SELL IT. Oh wait, when you're dead your heirs will sell it.... or send it to the scrap yard. It's just a car. Enjoy it while you have it. When you let it go, forget it.
I'd also probably say that it wasn't the car's days that were numbered... rather the car's history that was numbered. Good thing it all appeared in Traditional Rod and Kulture so someone can use that as a reference down the road when the value of cars with history demand even more money than they do now. Let's face it, if a car has a story that can be documented back to 1962 (like my '55) it is worth more than a car with equal patina/parts/components that has no story. What happens to it along the way may change some sentiments... but the stories never go away. If the value is determined to increase by those in the hot rodding community (following the supply and demand model) ... it will have to increase to such an amount that the car is of more value left alone... or on some rare cases... restored. As for that blue roadster... I'd knock the ugly off of it and drive it. Done carefully, you could preserve much of the cars past without bastardizing it. Sam
Ok, I'm still a relatively new guy, but I'll throw in my .02 worth.... The first thing to remember is these 'time capsule' cars exist because the owners lost interest in them. They didn't 'worship' them, it was just an old car they owned and at some point they sold them or parked them, to be forgotten. Most of them aren't comfortable or convenient to drive and that's still true today. So fast-forward 40-50 years (or whatever 'era' you think personifies 'pure' hot rodding) to the present.... Ryan founded this site to preserve 'traditional' hot rodding, and the definition of that is the rub. Some will say it's cars that mimic the 'spirit' and looks of the cars that were built 'back in the day' and look down their noses at anything that doesn't meet their definition. For them, 'traditional' is the end product (the car), although there seems to be some allowable 'leakage' in recognition of the fact that some of these cars simply can't be operated safely in current traffic as they were originally built. For others (and I'll put myself firmly in this camp), hot rodding is more of a 'process'. While this has been debated here before, it's still true that 'back in the day' most of these cars were created because the owner wanted to improve them in some fashion and didn't have the money to buy something 'off the rack' that would give them what they wanted. So many of these were built with whatever was at hand, with varying degrees of success. So which is the 'purer' vision? One thing sometimes ignored by the 'trad' guys is the fact is there's a finite supply of 'trad' parts (excluding the repro stuff, and I'll get back to that) and tracking down/rebuilding a lot of this stuff isn't cheap anymore (spawning the whole 'rat rod' thing, which in a way is closer to the original ideal than many people are comfortable with). The repro stuff, while plentiful for some things, isn't cheap either and isn't always in everybody's budget. So is the guy using a late-model donor car because that's what he can afford an apostate or a 'real' hot rodder'? I'll throw one more comment out here, and hopefully this won't get me in trouble... I see a lot of posts asking what wheels/tires/paint color/etc, etc is 'correct' for my rod/custom/race car/etc. This really bothers me; it's your car, and you're supposed to be building it to suit your tastes. If you want a car designed by committee, buy something stock. That's the one thing that to me seems to separate real hot rodders from the rest; they had a vision of what the car should be and went with it. Not always successfully, but a vision nonetheless...
Ah, one more comment..... The business of 'documented history' is overblown. Just because a car appeared in a 'little pages' magazine 'back in the day' doesn't make it significant. They had pages to fill, and a lot of what you saw was forgettable.
Not everything old is good. Not everything rare is valuable. There were far more out of proportion poorly built cars than magazine cover cars. So if you really want hot rod history there's far more frogs than pricesses. Personally, if I owned an iconic piece of hot rod history I'd leave it alone. Something not so nice would probably get changed (improved?) but we'd still loose some history.
I did that with a vintage Cord passed down to me.I was the car's bitch for 20 years.I'll always love it,but from afar.I thought I'd get teary eyed when that car was in a trailer headed to it's home,but when it happened,I was free at last.Anything I do now is a labor of love.
yes i agree with you, everybody had their own time in life to do Hot Rods and Custom the style they want to do it. 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and all the rest, and i respect that, right now is 2010's and the new generation have their own ideas, we should respect that, Not every body is the same , And i respect the ones to dare to be different. I'm from 60's era but i like them all.
I would say the guy using a late model donor might be a hot rodder, but that doesn't mean the product is traditional. A traditional hot rod is one that looks/feels like or follows after a product of the era. Conformity (in varying degree) is inextricably linked with 'traditional hot rodding' - so questions about correctness of a component/paint color ought to be asked/welcomed here in this vast repository of knowledge. IMO, this website is not devoted to "the spirit" of hot rodding, nor to individual whims/desires for self-expression, but rather the premise that the finished product conforms with precedents set by hot-rodders of a given era. A F1 Honda engine in your 40's chevy might be in the spirit of hot rodding, and may cater to your personal ideals of self-expression, but that doesn't make it 'traditional.' Having said that, I tend to lean far to the "period-correct" extreme of traditional hot-rodding...I enjoy the pursuit of parts, methods, and techniques lost to the ages. Maybe that makes me more of a 'restorer' than a real hot rodder - I'm okay with that.
Well said. The problem is where do you "draw the line". Paint starting to flake? Rust showing on the chrome? Steering wheel cracking? Do you fix it and if so does that ruin it? I have zero respect for people who don't drive their cars, but driving a masterpiece is risky. Who here would rather sit behind their car at a show than drive it in a poker run? What real Hot Rodder would not want to make their car faster or better looking? How do you separate the cars that are too historical to be messed with from the sea of what's out there? That's why I could never own a masterpiece. Seriously - if ya don't drive em hard they ain't worth shite in my book. I'll let you rich guys preserve history and I thank you for keeping them "pure" in case I need inspiration. I gotta go work on my car now...
Every word and opinion recorded here is the absolute truth. The contraption we call a "CAR" is the reason we are all here for, right? And what we do with it is what has kept this sport, hobby, or passion alive. So do with it want ever you choose and be happy, if not change it or sell it. Hopefully there be others who follow this love. Just a few words from an old man who wishes he could/would have done more.
BINGO! We have a winner!! Hit the nail on the head. This ^^^ explains the tension/disconnect us older folks feel between having grown up in the Go Fast era, where there were no rules to follow, and participating in this Paranoid Forum because we know that, without rules to follow today, you will get the God-awfullest POS cars imaginable showing up at car shows (thinking they are cool). The more car shows I see, the more I subscribe to the tenet that we need rules . . . guidelines . . . the more I appreciate a committment to HAMB-defined tradition. And don't fool yourself, it can be defined. From 1965 backward, there might be a lot of wiggle room, but it rules out anything after 1965. 'Course most of us love breaking the rules, it's a guy thing. That's it right there. By modern, think he means "contemporary".
The Jalopy Journal
