Show rods of the '60s were ugly then and are still ugly now...in my opinion. They were the result of the ISCA (and others) point-system whereby modifications were given scores and whatever car had the highest number of modifications...no matter how tasteless...won the trophy. Yuk.
Yes, there were exceptions. The Ala Kart comes to mind. But there were so many others, some of which started out great but "evolved" year by year in order to keep winning trophies, which were - to this traditional-minded guy at least - not very attractive. Nor did they function very well as hot rods. You know, the kind intended to be enjoyed by driving and racing, not by the number of mile-high trophies it wins surrounded by angel hair and mirrors. Guess I'm just kinda' opinionated that way, ya think?
The 'evolving' cars were the last straw for me. 'Car Shows Suck' buttons were worn by a group of us in the '70s, much to the chagrin of the car show gurus...LOL The whole show just became a 'bag'...
Well, when thought of in the context of say, Godzilla and Gamera, it becomes a little bit more endearing, at least to me. Totally looks like:
[ QUOTE="patmanta, post: 10617631, member: 150577"]Well, when thought of in the context of say, Godzilla and Gamera, it becomes a little bit more endearing, at least to me. Totally looks like: [/QUOTE] I'm not in love with it by any stretch,but there are some interesting things going on.In other words,I wouldn't kick it out of the garage for eating sushi
never cared for roth, starbird, or any of the other freaks designing cars back then. seems like they were kinda the same as the rat rods today...shock and aagh. (I know)
Too many drugs back then. Did you notice the cab is not setting squarely on the frame on the front view?
Only a few made it out of the fugly category. Even some of the famous ones, the Beach Boys Cover car, are pretty strange. But I am of fan of Ala Kart and some of Wilhelm's stuff. Gary
yeah, I noticed it's all crooked. The back window is not even square to the windshield! I guess they never looked at that view when they were building it. I've learned to look at things like that, when I'm building something.
I understand about the far out custom rods of yesterday. I'm of a restro rod freak but like rat rods. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Oh. My. God.......I think I like this little car. Even though it is all kinds of crooked. Gives it character.
i think they did a good job of making the modifications uniform and wether you think, uniform ugly or uniform cool this car is a good example of that type of show car. i like 3/4 photo angle
Must be a typo on the 59 Comet tail lights, since Comets didn't come out until 1960. The nose is butt ugly, but the rest has {or had} potential..........
......ummmmm.....I would take it. Pick me, pick me ! Yoo hoo....over here please ! Not my taste, but as a crusty relic....count me in
Every era has its abortions. There were also some AWESOME show cars in that era. The Beatnik Bandit, The Excalibur, the little coffin are a few examples. Now look at the 80's and 90's You know... those powder coated bumpers that matched the car colors--- remember those? Those big fucking goofy wheels with rubber band tires? They were such a hit. CB radios too, remember... Now lets go to the modern era with cars laying on the ground and rat rods.... Too fucking cool doncha think? You can bad mouth the 50's and 60's all you want, but they spawned blanked hoods, frenched headlights, tunneled antennae, quad headlights, lakes pipes, fender radiuses, fender flares and lots of other custom touches that we use to this day. Most the custom shit I see on the road today pales in comparison. My .02
The show cars of the 60's are what got me into hotrods. I built models like The Pie wagon , the Patty Wagon and others of that era. I was ten in 66. I kind of like the little car but I wasn't building cars back then.
They made names for themselves and can reflect, if still alive, how they changed hotroddn forever- can you? Man! so much anger here. Attacking for no reason; grow up and accept that all the things you guys say are traditional and have copied, were each, once considered crazy. Remove a hood? It rains. Bob the fenders? You'll stop less mud, why? It's all stupid- so is 95 percent of every hobby -everything in life is when you think of it-really. Calm Down and love- don't hate. It really does take too much energy. It's so much nicer to ask someone how they did something and learn than to say it sucks. Really.
Nice to read a few here at lest under stand the times,if you were part of the shows like me,the understanding is much EZer. I had a show car my self that I did most of the shows with in Florida an Ga. in the late 50's an early 60's. Got to see some when they were new,of a few of you call guly now,yes some were,but many were not with the eye of the times=that you don't have. But both then an now I think designing and building any type of fullcustom grillshell on 1920/30's hotrods takes a lot of art to pull that off . Only a few ever did that were not guly an had flow with the rest of the rod. .