History Traditional cars

Growing up in the 50's - 60's, I feel that people have lost sight of, or never really had an idea as to what traditional really is. Cars in primer were a rare sight, usually only as long as it took to get enough cash to get the car in shiny paint, as for patina, rusty or rust showing through the paint was almost unheard of. No one wanted a tacky looking car, pride in their car was formost on their minds. Cars that were unsafe were called shot rods or worse (rat rods). People took pride in their rides, if you saw a primer spot on a car it was there only for a day or two untill they could get the color sprayed on the spot. As far as cars that the body was channeled over the frame to extremes were almost non existant too. You might see a salt flat car looking like that, but not on the street. If you know someone who has hot rod magazines from the day (when it was not a yuppie magazine) back when there was the green colored section in the magazine, look through some of those magazines, these will show you what traditional is really about. Time to get off my soap box.

 

I agree with you over the lack of primer spots on cars in the old days - I can remember my dad touching up the paint on many a car so as to blend everything ion. May not have been a perfect match but I recall that all this started to change when the two pak paints started to come in plus as the late 80's and 90's progressed the cost of car up against the cost of a touch up almost reversed and people started to view the car as a disposable item. That's not to say that those interested in cars were totally this way but the levels of professionalism have lifted and so has the price. I recall pranging up my first car - spent two weeks working my butt off to fix it and Dad not letting me drive it till the top coat was on and dry. It was a matter of pride. Nothing shabby was coming out of his workshop! Plus the Local cops couldn't pick on you as everything was tip top and ship safe.

 

I'm in complete agreement with this.Other things nobody ever saw were mustang II front ends,but I did have a 48 chev independent front on my steel bodied 28 chevy in 1960. The only time a frame was "clipped" was when you were rebuilding a total.What the hell were disk brakes? The factory cars didnt even have those untill 66 and then only on a BB corvette. If you showed up at the local drive in with an auto trans you would have been laughed out.Air bags??? ,well maybe on one or two pure show cars that didnt run anyway.
The term "traditional" has been morphed (IMO) to mean something more like the dreaded"street rod or retro rod". Oddly enough,fiberglass bodied cars that are frowned upon and sometimes just made fun of here,DID exist then. A good friend of mine had a hand built "T" with a glass carson top that he hand built in the late 50's. He inspired me to build from scratch my all glass 28 chevy in 1962.
Thank you for provideing a platform for ME to vent on!

 

In the '60s, I sure don't remember any cars left in full primer for more than a week or two pending a paint job. Cars under construction could have primer spots for months, with primer usually getting to cover more and more of the car as it neared being ready for paint.

I, too, think cars in permanent primer are just a bit trendy and silly looking, definitely not my recollection of traditional hot rods and customs seen in northern California during the sixties.

Right now my Model A project is in primer, multiple colors, and I expect to drive it that way this spring as soon as I get it running and while I finish a few more details. It will never be seen on the road in a single shade of primer. My avitar car has a 15 year old paint job and primer in a few spots where rust repairs were made or holes were filled. There will be more primer spots added until I finally get it to a new paint job. Never will it get to a permanent state of a single color of primer while it is being driven.

 

Don't disagree, but it's been discussed half a billion times.