Hot Rods I think hot rodding is a mental illness

I am pretty sure that hot rodding is a mental illness.

My proof:

We give up every weekend, so that we can bang on rusty fenders, scrape 75 year old crust, grind out metal that is trying to go back to it's natural state, skip lunch to save a few bucks to buy the next chrome piece, scour salvage yards, walk swap meets in the rain, sleet, mud etc, sand until we have no fingerprints, spend months looking for that special part and then we pay way more than we should, every house we buy must have adequate space to house our treasures, we plan family vacations around hot rod events, we get excited when we smell race fuel or hear someone rowing the gears in the distance, we fashion our wardrobes around T shirts collected from events and products that we use, we spend thousands of dollars on tools to help maintain and perfect these rusty heaps, we equate the seat of your pants launches to sex, we are enamored with the length of time it takes to go 1320 ft always trying to reduce that time, if ever so slightly.

Is it a mental illness? I would venture to say so, but y'all are just as crazy as I am.

I kinda like it this way. I can't imagine getting this excited about Golf.

Root

 

No
It’s therapy
Cheaper than a shrink

 

That's the scary part. We all do.

 

Yep myself I am a hoarder. I like to call them classics. My wife calls them junk. My neighbors call it a eyesore. My grandsons think it is the greatest playground jungle Jym that there Is.

 

It is an incurable disease, but it is one of the better ones.

 

I agree, If there is a cure I don't want it, all my close friends have been old car addicts ever since we were kids and although I will agree on passion is enough I have some causal friends that are involved with other past times, the never seem as happy with their chosen hobby as I am with mine. HRP

 

Not to mention that Ryan built a place for people to get on the internet to talk about things they should be working on.........

A self help group I suppose.

 

There's a few of us out here who get sort of excited by golf, but not as much as all the hot rod stuff you mentioned!

 

Very clean place for the cars...
and you should see the kitchen !

 

this is the only way I know how to live. Everyone else is crazy, going on vacations and renovating their houses, buying new clothes. Whenever I get someone that asks "why do you do this?" in a semi confused or disgusted way, I usually respond with "because when you are home playing video games, I'm doing man shit" or "why do you buy a new car every 2 years? I'm recycling"

Growing up as a kid in the Punk Rock/ hardcore scene, hot rods and choppers and such are the next evolution of that. These cars for the most part are loud, unapologetic, way outside the norm, and well like the Punk music that I was/am into its all part of the punk DIY thing. Do it yourself, and do it how you want. They offer a way to be an individual in what you drive in a sea of tan and silver SUVs and Hondas.

Just remember, Old Punks don't die, we just stand in the back and build hotrods on the weekends now.

 

What are you thinking , asking a bunch of patients in a mental hospital if we think were crazy ? You must be better off than the rest of us. At least your asking !

 

Wanna keep your kids off drugs? Get them addicted to old cars. They won't have the time or the money for drugs. Works for me.

 

So that is why I have a twitch every time I go by: a parts house, junk yard (I look every time), and alley??

 

I took this this morning after taking some photos of the F1 linkage to answer a question posed on here. I've got to load it back on the old boat trailer (pretty handy for a 50.00 purchase) so I can move it around so a contractor can do some work for me. When I took the photo I started thinking about how much work I had to do to it. Not sure if it is a mental illness as it gives me a reason to get up and out.

 

In the world we live today it may very well what keeps us sane, with all the crap on the news my time is better spent here or in the garage, or just driving my old beater around with no particular destination in mind.

In other words it is a cure for all the stuff in life that causes mental illness. HRP

 

Is there a problem officer?

 

It must be genetic in my family. My Dad has it, my brothers have it, and I've passed it on to a 3rd generation.

 

I watched all my friends from high school flush their lives away on that shit, me I was too busy saving up to build the Ram Air IV motor for my 68 firebird, or buying a new set of slicks for the 55. hot rods may have just saved my life

 

I don't know if it is a mental illness, but it's a great way to spend time with my 7 yr old in my shop daily and friends. I really feel more comfortable in my shop then I do sitting around the house. Heck if I'm not making to much noise the wife will come out and sit and talk to me, so it works for everyone.

My kid and his friend were hanging out by my shop door discussing a problem with his friends bike. My kid says "Let my Dad look at it, he can fix anything". Made me smile and think someday you also will be able to build or fix anything for yourself.

 

Wasn't golf a vw car?

 

I'm with Randle - I have a mental illness

 

Some people have new Furniture In their living Room I have boxs of disk brake conversion parts, ignition parts and in my office I have new wheels and tires with more boxes of parts for the Ford. The parts are like decor, part of the theme. No there's no woman that would put up with it, at least I hope not but it's just the way I like it.
It took sixty years to finely get here and I like it.

 

As I heard some old codger say in an old movie I think it was...
"Well... ya gotta do sumpin in life..."
And we choose hot rods and customs and antique cars old shit. LOL.

All I know, is when I was 3 years old, the greasers next door would be revving their late 40s Ford Coupe and I'd run to the window to see. I was hooked. Had just a very few other influences. But it didn't take much. I remember watching our Gearhead neighbor Larry. He let me hang around a little bit. He had a steel rod clamped in his bench vise. He heated part of the rod red hot with his torch. After a minute, he picked up a pair of pliers, grabbed the top part of the rod and simply bent it to a 90 degree angle. I was only about 5 years old. I said... Wow, I didn't know you could do that! He laughed.

You guys are my Larry now LOL.

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I need to find someone who’s contagious so I can get reinfected.

 

It's an art
An expression
A skill... many skills
A challenge
A dream
A self fulfillment

They are...
Beautiful old cars
Gilded chariots
Stripped-down Banshees
Time machines
Something I can freaking work on

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Thanks Jeff, you can stay.

 

I’d like to think we’re all hooked (addicted that is, sick in the head) on hot rodding. Some of us have it worse than others.


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