Hot Rods I had to ask -

There's your answer...

Now remember, my car is a daily driver and I love driving it. It has almost 100,000 miles on it, and last winter alone I put on 7000 miles in 4 months in FL. Yes it has some road rash. It's not a trailer queen, but it bothers me if someone carelessly touches my car without invitation. No, I'm not a trophy hound, but I love car shows and cruise-ins.

Well, one time while pulling in at a big cruise-nite, a customer/friend saw me and came over to my car in a rant. He put his hands on my window sill and started in about some stupid s.o.b. touching his car. He got a little more than emotional, but I wasn't buying into his rage.

Pretty soon he smacked his hand on my window sill in frustration and gouged the paint right off the window bezel with this HUGE diamond ring! His ring is worth about 10 times what my car is worth and he thought NOTHING of it. He acted like it didn't happen!

Was I mad? Hell yes I was mad! Did I do anything about it? No! If I'd have done that to his car he'd punch me in the face and sue me for damages!

Amazingly, stupidity or lack there of, has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of money someone has or doesn't have. Don't lie... Everyone of you would be mad as hell too, if someone did that to your car no matter how much or little you have in it. We all know you can't fix stupid!!!

OK, rant over. Back to our regularly scheduled program...

 

Wow! Definition of the word hypocrisy!

 

Snowbird buddy that goes to Orlando for the winter was telling me about a guy in the area that has $80k in a '57 Chevy. Asked him one day how it ran, and the response was, "I don't know. Never fired it up." The guy trailers it, and rolls it off and on the trailer for shows. Has no idea if the guy that built the motor actually built him a motor, or just painted a "grenade" and dropped it into the car.

Maybe I'm too damn opinionated, but that seems a horrible injustice to the car, and a waste of money.

Roger

 

To quote my husband's words. "Sometimes you own a car, and sometimes the car owns you"

He has owned so many ,that I heard him once tell somebody "If you spend more than a grand [$1000] on a car, the damn thing can wash itself"

 

Yes indeed in the end it all simply stuff. And Its not healthy when your stuff owns you. I see folks who work for Horses. I like horses and have owned some over the years. However I never spent big money on them. I got those $125 dof food Crowbait wild Mustangs From the BlM. Tamed them and rode the crap out of them and sold them. Next year get Two more. They weren't Hothouse animals. They came from the Barren Open range out West. and A poor pasture here was lush in comparision. And yet I had know it alls tell me I needed to feed the grain every day and have the vet dose them with chemicals every month Ect. Be it vehicles , Horses, Motorcycles , A Trophy Wife A house or lawn Ect. Its all the same. Do you own it or does it own you?

 

Other than looking cool that's the reason mine is going to be rattle can black so if anything happens to it it's just a quick blast of paint and back at it. As for me I'm driving mine to hell and back again it isn't going to particularly pretty so I'm not going to be to worried about the appearance. I've also met a few guys who have done higher end builds they trailer it to some of the shows, but you'll still see it on the road sometimes.

 

My dad once said to me...
Not driving your car to keep it clean and safe is like not banging your girl to keep her fresh for the next guy.
YMMV
Chappy

 

Drove mine all day at the "Hines Park" cruise yesterday.. Great fun

 

IF U HAVE A TRAILER WHY NOT USE IT BUT DRIVING A HOT ROD IS MORE FUN

 

It seems a few of you guys are of the opinion I am down on anyone using a trailer to transport their cars and that is not what I was trying to imply or the take away from this thread, I was merely pointing out how I had never seen anyone using a trailer to take a car to a monthly cruise in and I have attended many cruise in's in my life.

Yeah, I've seen hundreds of trailers at car shows and I realize age, health, distance, convenience and possibly monetary value dictate a persons discussion to trailer a car and that's cool with me, again I just had never seen anyone trailering a car to a cruise-in. HRP

 

The question was asked If everyone else except you was blind would you care what your car looks like

 

I watch a lot of U Tube. One guy Kenny Kizzle has a number of tractors. install brand new tires rebuilds the engines ect. and he hardly uses them . he uses one to remove snow of occasion to make a video, but uses his snow blower for the most part. Yet he drives then on the road and drives them for fun to shows. Myself I use my old tractors. and Most times haul them on my trailer to take them where they are needed to do some work. I suppose if we are not careful we can be compulsive obsessive about almost anything.

 

the only time mine is on a trailer is if its fuckin broke and I can't make repairs on the spot.......... and besides they are meant to be driven..............

 

You and I have the same philosophy, and I think a trailer is the greatest thing on earth when my car is broke.

This is proof that my car has been on a trailer, it's was broke. HRP

 

Had a guy I worked with and lived near me who bought a model A. He had joined in on the fun of owning a hot rod a little later in life than most of us. He was a sort of arrogant guy who loved to brag and the kind of guy who would buy something and suddenly whatever he bought was worth double what he paid for it cause he always had to win or have the upper hand. He was very knowledgeable with fixing cars but every time I would see the Model A it was being pulled in to car shows and cruise nights on a trailer and left on the trailer. The car wasn't a high dollar by any stretch in fact it was an old resto rod he bought for less that seven thousand dollars. He told everyone it would overheat so he couldn't drive it far. I offered to help with the over heating issue but he would just ignore everyone that did. I came to the conclusion because of his pride and arrogance the fear of a breakdown on the way somewhere and being seen on the side of the road was something he might not be able to handle.

 

Joel...This is an extreme example.

 

My '55 F100 has been on the 'slideback' ONCE since I've built it (from a stolen/vandalized/stripped insurance write-off in '72)
1972, it was dollied by a 'hook and chain' with rear axle dolly from holding yard to my beach house, in Aptos.
I rebuilt the truck, drove it to the gas station to lift it and check things out (final)
and driven it ever since.
New engine I built was installed in 1995, then I 'lost' both side engine mounts and engine jumped forward, jamming a heim end in throttle link in the thru-hole in the firewall. 'Zoooom! Screech!' Shut the ignition off, rolled to a safe place.
Thank the gods of insurance, my little truck got delivered 8 miles home safe and sound.
When it was on the slider's bed, I mused..."If it was BLACK and perfect, would I take it to a show like this?"
NAAAAAHHH!!! Grateful for the ride home, but That's enough!

 

I would like to have a small trailer to haul my car to a couple of long distance shows I do. Saves my back so I can enjoy the car at the show... l totally understand where HRP is coming from- I think the definition of "cruise in" is to drive your car there! Otherwise wouldn't they call it a "tow-in"???

 

There are a lot of guys on this site that built or own cars that don't even run and are never driven. Enjoyment in the hobby comes in a lot of forms and to many it is having a garage full or a houseful of show toys. Who cares? Build one over buy one? Drive it vs trailer it? Race it rather than fetch groceries in it? WTFC? I wish I owned a trailer, I'd go to Rod Run out at the coast next weekend. And if anyone asked me why I dragged it out rather than drove it out I'd give them a one finger answer.

 

Ding,Ding, Ding, we have a winner!

Simply and eloquently, Exactly the point I was trying to make, HRP

 

You are the only one to see the car in question, if you never saw it arrive, and it was just parked there like every other car, would you look at it, if so was it a nice car?

Bob

 

I had to grin as i read this. I am just the opposite of what you described above. I Back mine out and drive to the local get-together (usually between 7 and 50 miles) and when i get there, i just park my car and begin visiting, looking and admiring, bench-racing, and enjoying the event (no wipe-down). I love seeing these old cars in motion and i love driving my cars. I often get criticized for leaving the bugs on the front of my car at an event. I've even had some of my running biddies come over and begin wiping mine down (and i fuss at them for destroying the road-patina). But unbeknownst to most, i wipe mine down once it is back home. Be forewarned, I dont recommend this to anyone as i am kind of a non-conformist, ol'fart.

 

I saw your car at New Brighton Stockyard Days, whether it came in on a trailer or was driven to the show is irrelevant. Beautiful car, thanks for bringing it out.

 

I'd say that every area of the country has similar guys who trailer their cars everywhere because they " have too much money in them to drive them" While actually having more in the tow rig and trailer than in the car.
Every area has it's well known trophy whores too who pack up and leave ten minutes after the notice that you got a trophy and were to line up for the awards are handed out or placed on cars. I've even seen a few bitch to the guys putting on the show that "their" car was better than the one chosen for said award and that they should have got the award. One reason you never put "best" on picked trophies at you car shows witout having a judging sheet to go by. Around here the Mayor never picks what I though was one of the better cars in the show anyhow and usually pick one like a relative drove back years ago or the one the owner actually talked to them about when they were looking at the cars.
Still at my advanced 72 years I see a lot more reasons for trailering than I might have 25 years ago when I rather stuck my nose up at it.
1. Road trip is too damned long for your own body to handle hours and days behind the wheel of a car that wasn't really built for long distances.
2. Gas tank won't make it between gas stops in some western states. There are a couple of places where there are signs on major roads that say "next gas/fuel 100 + miles and that T bucket with it's ten gallon tank that gets nine miles to the gallon with it's blown hemi isn't going to make it.
3. Car just flat ass isn't set up for road trips. It does great within 30/50 miles of the house where you don't get too excited about burning more gas than you would have if you had trailered it but endless hours on the freeway or two lanes with 4.11 gears and a 4 speed and a gear drive get tiresome after the first or second tank of gas goes through it.
4. Which may well be my reasoning in a year or so. Towing behind the pickup/camper or motorhome gives us a place to stay without paying 50 to 200 a night and we can travel a lot further, stay gone a lot longer and see a lot more country. We can drop the hot rod/custom off the trailer and explore or hit an event and go again. Plus my sister in law's place out on Divide Pass road southwest of where Ryan's place is is a mile or so up a gravel road that will eat anything up. It isn't always about winning awards or how valuable the car is it can be because it is the most practical and maybe more economical

Actually around here locally I have seen more trailers and fancy tow rigs hauling rat rods (usually in enclosed trailers) because they simply cannot pass inspection to be titled or registered or insured if they didn't already have a clear title. They are the new pro fairgrounds rigs replacing the alcohol burning blown hemi Willys that used to rump around events every couple of hours when the car didn't get enough attention sitting still.

 

PUSSY'S
Frickin gold chainers!
Whats the sense of having a car if you cant drive it?

 

I see that here with trailer guys...to each his own...I would rather make sure I am going to get there than taking on a chance on wrecking the old car...especially if he is doing a show in the near future...
I have never enjoyed driving old rigs so I get it totally...

MikeC

 

the guy is not really good at thinking if he is towing a car 10 miles to a show, the odds of getting damage would most likely increase by putting it on a trailer for that short distance.

I've had lots of cars on trailers... none of them would run under their own power at the time.

 

Prime example . I put a set of tires on the hamb market place today. They were my setup tires for my Morris. This clown asks me the build date . He says his tires are 11 years old and have less than 2,000 miles on them. Why have the car if you only drive that far in 11 years ?

 

Mark, that's great. I wish I'd seen you there, it's been a long time.

 

I own a truck and a trailer, The only time my cars get towed is when I buy em and bring em home . At that point they are usually just a body and chassis. From the time they are up and running I drive em everywhere . I understand why some folks tow their stuff where ever they go, but I like the adventure of an old vehicle on a road trip.