Interpretation of Hambers building styles

I would like to have this thread be taken seriously.

Interpretation of the words period perfect or traditional conjurers up the question of what era.

Are you shooting for the late 30's early 40's period style or do you lean more to the 50's and early 60's styles.

During these time periods the builders approach to hot rods & custom's saw many different & distinctive looks within the all encompassing word we call traditional.

The words probably means different things to most of us but we all know the basic look,,a time period.

There are literately hundreds of great looking cars being built every day here on the Hamb and the vast majority have a lot in common with the styles of the bygone days.

Very few are period perfect and takes a ton of dedication to build a hot rod or custom in a certain time period.

Personally,,I would love to build a traditional,period perfect 1932 Ford roadster along the lines of a late 40's build using no reproduction parts,,but the problem with that thinking I am a realist and know I have a handicap that would necessitate my use of a automatic transmission.

So,with the automatic transmission the period perfect just went out the window!

My thought is we all like the period look,but I think we each envision something different. HRP

 

I'm a believer in traditional. I enjoy that traditional, just-rolled-off-the-assembly-line look. You could call it the 1950's Detroit Unionist look.

 

HRP,
You know me well enough to know that on my own cars I am not a purest. I lean real heavy toward a '60s style car, that is where I am from. On my own car I will probably drop the ball on some piece or another, some due to physical limitations that I have and others due to cash flow.

That said for me a car is a progression if it is a keeper. I have to drive my cars, I don't own a weekday car and a hot dog stand cruiser. I may roll it out with the wrong wheels because thw wrong wheels are what I have, but the plan is to get the correct wheels before all is said and done.

Here is an example of what I am saying. I bought a '46 long door coupe in the '70s. I needed transportation while my bike was apart. I kept it for when the occaision arose that I needed it again. When I bought it the cad mill that was originally in it when it was first built was laying by it. A friend helped me stuff the engine in it and I drove it home. When the engine got tired I stuffed a Clevland Hamster in it that I got cheap.

Over a period of about 4 years I collected the pieces to go through the cad mill. it took a while because of my living situation which I will not go into. I finally had all that was needed to stuiff the cad mill back in it. So I did that and began saving nickles and dimes to repaint it. All the while the car saw regular use either by me when I needed it or by a friends wife the rest of th time. I owned that car a long time. Eventually it was finished, but it was not one of those things like I built it it is done and now I am onto bigger and better things.

My current driver is also one of those I will make it right eventually and that will happen with time. It is a true built in the '60s parts hauler. But is has a later small block in it as well as needs different seats and bumpers. I have some maintenence issues that I will need to address then it is going to get an all over paint job (we have the paint already) and different seats which I also have. Bumpers can happen any time and the engine is last on the list, no one ever looks under the hood anyway.

 

I would like to build multiple styles and era's so I better get started while I'm youngish. Money will always be my handicap! My holy grail would probably an early to mid 50's style 32. If I was doing a race car, it would have to be early to mid 60's gasser style. Custom would have to be a 50's style!

As far as all original parts and steel...I'm sure I'll never be able to pull that off and get to build all the cars on my list, so I'm willing to settle. I gues my builds will have to pay homage to the real thing but I hope to stick to a traditional style!

 

Beaner, I think the approach you took with your coupe is the most traditional route of using what you have when you have it. Period perfect cars look sweet in magazines, but if your traditional ride is a daily, it is hard to replace wipers with chrome bullets on a 60's bellflower/Watson looking ride. I have some modern rims for my 50 Chevy that I will be using because I bought them for another car, and cant afford the much needed white walls for the original rims. At least not now. This is an excellent thread idea, I hope it is taken seriously. With do many "hot rod" terms out there, it is hard to know what the right word to describe what you are doing is.

 

I think it depends a lot on when and where you grew up....what you actually remember, or just what you learned from reading and talking to older people.
When you actually start buying parts, your pocketbook is probably your biggest decision maker. Those old cars that were built out of what was just laying around at the time are very hard to duplicate now....a lot of it was considered junk then, and its just GONE now. Sometimes the price is just more than you're willing to pay.
For this area, at least, I'd say late 30's - early 40's is pretty un-realistic...most people were just trying to eat and stay out of the weather, there wasnt a lot of money being thrown at cars.
But then I'm not telling you anything you dont know already.

 

Quote: "Eventually it was finished..." Beaner

I can relate to that approach. You do what you can/when you can, with what you've got. It is the main factor in how a car turns out. When I think about it, I know if I were living in the 40's or 60's my mentality would be the same. Its the mentality that created what we now call "period correct" or "traditional". Over time creating that same look is becoming more and more difficult and costly. ...This is something I've learned from my dad and its something my girlfriend will never understand.

 

I also am in the process of trying and I do mean trying to do a late 40's early 50's style 32. In doing so the car has sat a long time because I have been collecting vintage pieces by my choice. I have come the the point where I am actually starting to put it back together and needless to say I'm pumped! But, will it be period correct? I doubt it, but it will be a close representation of my teen years and what we did. For us old guys I think that is what it is all about and to have that piece of our life back with us. So to me that is what a period build is right or wrong.

 

As I mentioned in my earlier post,I am well aware that I too have to make concessions to achieve my ultimate goal.

Substitutions such as automatic transmissions will be prevalent in any cars I build for myself in the future,,money to lavish on my project will always be a deterrent for me and I'm sure I'm not alone with the finances that are required in building the next hot rod or custom.

Like Beano said,,I use all my cars and decided a long time ago what I ultimately was a 32 Ford,,I have went through a lot of Model A's,40 Fords bought ,sold,traded and scrounged to have the cars I want.

My truck build was to pay homage to the style I have seen over the years and I employed the building ideas from Hambers.

But to pigeon hole it to a certain era I am at a loss. HRP

 

what I am trying to re-create with my 56 Chevy pickup is a 60's style shop truck. So if you were to roll up to a shop in the mid to late 60's and see this mid 50's step side pickup with the shop logo on the door, worn paint, upgraded wheels and some mild suspension work. In the process I'm adding things like power disc brake, radial tires. Automatic transmission and a small block upgrade with electronic ignition.
I was always a big fan of seeing the push trucks in vintage drag racing photos in Hot Rod magazine when I was growing up and the look always stuck with me. So when I got my hands on a mid 50's pickup, I headed in this direction.

 

Interpretation. That is the key word here. As with many things you will find that the lines are blurred. At some point old styles start to over lap with the new styles coming in. This seems to be the case especially with custom cars but with hot rods as well in regards to the use of certain engines-trans combos,stance,ect.
You are very correct in stating that everyones vision is something different and to me that is what makes it fun. If everything looked the same the boredom would be unbearable.

 

I like all of em. My personal preference is for the 60s. Right about the end of the true kustom days when quality was on the rise and paint got better. I also like the later 60s with psyco paint jobs and wide Indy tires that almost didn't fit. As to what I'm building, I have 2 underway, stalled for the moment, but still as active as can be. 1 is a 61 Belair aquired here. The build will resemble what someone may have done with Gramp's old car or just a good used car that was maybe 3-5yrs old. Lowered, 3X2, chrome reverse wheels, stock color in perfect form but laiden with pinstriping. There's a few things that wil be added to tip the hat to other art forms here n there. I'll pay a minor homage to the lowriders, a bit to the Bellflower style, and perhaps a touch of the drag/street racer with a simple wheel change. All in all it should be a dream bubbletop without the need for $25K fire breathin 409 that only gets 6MPG. Actual use will be paramount in this build and an OD automatic isn't something that's seen without looking for it. As for what's kool going in it, I have an old MK10 ignition box, some early Mallory distributors, a polished Offy set of trips, and just shagged a decent pair of gennie Cal Custom valve covers. It should be "just right".

The other is a 54 AD pickup. That's gonna be a long way off but there's things I want to do that I had visions of in my early teens. Somewhat inspired by the R&C Dream Truck, my mods are both subtle as well as in-your-face. Te nailhead is already here, some other Buick stuff, body mods I've never seen, and it did "sketch out" to be very kool once done. To remain true to form I won't use any parts newer than 66. I simply don't believe there's a "cutoff date" for traditional cars. My dear departed Dad and I built a 38 Dodge PU in the 70s. No wire wheels or Cragers, no gumball tires, just Cad power and stock Cad wheel covers. Not a single "credit card" part on it.

I also have a Packard 160 bus cpe to restore. Not willing to leave it "alone" I've located an Edmunds for it, have the right skirts, have 15" Packard wheels that will accept 47 Cad Sombraros. I can leave the Edmunds on it for CCCA or AACA Judging as period accys are acceptable. With a simple wheel change and the right stance, I see as welcome at a meet like the Round Up as it will be at a concours. Picture a more well off enthusiast that bought the fastest car available in 41. The lightest Packard 160 offered to start and few changes to gussy it up some and wick up a bit more power. Now if I could figure the right 6 numbers this could all happen in about 2yrs. Till then I gotta earn so they wait. Such is life...

 

i like cars period. from bone stock model A's to 60's muscle. i like some more than others. the huge problem for me these days are the lack of "old junk" around to build the cars we want. its hard to go to a junkyard and find a straight axle now. there was a thread the other day about a guy wanting a new steering column, and getting bashed because of wanting something new. how many cars do you see in a junkyard with straight axles waiting to be taken.there arent alot of 1980's vans left to pluck the steering columns out of anymore. not around my area anyway. i built a model A in the early 90's and used mostly used and junkyard stuff. im building a new one now with mostly new parts. im sure everyone would love to build an "old school" rod but finding 40's spindles to mix with 50's brakes and so forth and so on will be damn near impossible in the next 20 years. while most of us would hoard this stuff away, unfortunatly the majority of people just scrap it and move on in time.and could care less about history.when scrap is $300 a ton the people that didnt care really dont care now

 

my interpretation for me is the look of the late 50's early 60's i was 10 in 62 living in san diego we took many trips to oregon to visit friends dad always drove by some shops with hot rods andcustoms so i was bit early i have always been torn between hot rods or customs but its more about keeping the torch burning for the history of how it was...the look ,not the sum total of parts. hot rods were always changing when we got to the seventies the cars lost their appeal to me. for me its the look that counts modern parts are fine but they have to fit the look of the 50's no billit....Dave

 

Great topic. I'm new to this and learning. I like it all and respect all the build styles. It is all craftsmanship and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I dig it all.
So I've started a 31 coupe build and now really have to step up to the plate with what I really want to build. Traditional is important, but I want a driver and then there is money to factor in.

I figure that in the 40's average guys had little to work with. They were building with what they had and were striving to "go forward" with hopping things up, not "go back" in time.

So I am going to stick with that idea but with a touch of "go back". OHV v-8 (Ford in a Ford), 9", modified original A frame. It will have a late 40's - 50's flavor. It will be what I like, factoring in my budget and available tools with traditional roots and modern drivetrain.

By the way, I never could have even started this adventure without the Hamb. Incredible knowledge and people sharing make it happen.

 

As far as I can remember, have always been into cars, started reading every rod related book I could find when I was about 12, got my drivers license in 62 and although I like them all, was mostly influenced by cars built in the late 50's and early 60's. I haven't built a lot of cars due to life but have built a few, and pretty much every one " looked " similar to a early 60's build or at least my interpretation of what I remember. I don't remember ever building a car one way or the other just because it was traditional or because that was the way " they " used to do it. My builds always depended on funds and I rarely used aftermarket parts but did rely on junk yard pieces etc which I rebuilt. However I usually nailed the old school look . I have always attempted to maintain the look that I grew up with while making the car as reliable as I could with the parts available at a reasonable price which means I usually used sbc,sbf,auto trans. elec. wipers and 12volt elec. systems. Even used tilt on a couple. When I bought my " ready to drive " 34 , I knew that I would be redoing a lot of it as it was what I would call a street rod, polished wheels, modern style interior etc, was planning on rebuilding the orig. chassis as the vette rear was poorly installed and the rest of the frame was boxed with 3/8 plate, cut up etc. I decided to replace the unit with a tci chassis simply because I didn't want to spend an extra year building one and I wanted a hot rod to drive sometime before my 70 th birthday , And yes , i went with independant frt. suspension, running full fenders and won't be all that noticeable. But, it will be/is built as I remember the way they were as far as interior/exterior etc were. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm into building cars that resemble the look of cars that I grew up with and are what I call hot rods and have never attempted to clone a car from that time period just because it was traditional. Sorry if this was too rambling...only had 1/2 a pot of coffee so far..

 

I tend to build and like a mid 50s early 60s daily driver kind of hot rods. I like a fully functional minimalist look to cars. Purpose built vehicles really grab my eye. I was in high school from 60 to 64 and there were lots of those kind of cars that served double duty in my area.
(Drove to work or school and raced or tinkered with on weekends).

 

If you don't follow a certain era when building your hotrod or custom, you end up with a hodge-podge of different era parts. I HATE that!
When mocking up my 33 ford pickup I used all parts made before '48 except the '49 ford dash....maybe it was a late 48 dash? Anyway, I thought it was fun to stick to a certain era. Like a serviceman coming home from the war may have built. Bias plys, 36 spokes, generator, mechanical fan and fuel pump...the whole schmeer. I rolled it outside after winter to get a look at the truck in mock-up stage and just started driving it then.before any paint or bodywork...was fun but I really wanted a painted hotrod.
My latest car could have been built in 69-70. That's when I came back from the service and at that time I REALLY wanted to build a hotrod but had no $$, no place to work and no tools....now I do.
Building a late 60s-early70s style hotrod gives a guy a lot more freedom than the earlier era....parts are a lot easier to find and I could fudge with radial tires, electric fan and plastic wiring if I choose but I don't have to. I can go either way and still stay true to the era I'm working with. Makes it even more fun than building a late 40s car.
I'm having a blast with mine...changed engine choice 4 times since I began the project....3 different wheel-types and suspension? 4 or 5 different setups without actually turning a wrench!
I am wandering off the 70s path when it comes to paint color. No panel paint or lace--flames---scallops..candies..none of that, in fact I've picked a muddy, green--tinged tan color used for 48 ford steering wheels for my color..everything but the engine which has been painted black...
Havin a blast building and staying with my era. Even it the paint is totally boring according to 60-70s standards.

 

Mike you have hit on something that I think is hard to get across to people. Someone wants to know about a traditional hot rod from say the '50s and everyone says look in an old magazine, but an old magazine will not really give someone a sense of what was actually being done on a more common basis.

Magazine cars are exceptional examples of what we would all aspire to own but seldom will own or build. I like the Rodders Journal because they occaisionaly show pictures aquired from someone's old album. Drivers or neighborhood cars are a lot different than what the magazines normally protrayed.

I lean more toward what I remember being driven around where I was when I was a kid, some of the cars were surley show quality but the majority were not.

 

the "One Star Thread Rater" strikes again...

 

''My thought is we all like the period look,but I think we each envision something different. HRP ''

Like my bored out and violated six-two setup w/ nitrous.........old......but new...but not....no kit manufactured for it.....tons told me I would blow it up....the nitrous-oxide company said it would not work............just trying this is HotRodding to me.......but I like to mix the old w/ the new....eventhou what some consider new is very old....We all do not know everything and can be blind to the hard facts..........It art to me.........A hotrodder back then saved up for the part that would make them faster and would utilize everything that is avaible today if it was available back then..........so why is it different today and perceived as a no no....I am no building to satisfy you, him or her.....only me and my vision....I respect the past as mush as I respect the present..You can build a replica of the past, that is ones perogative, you can mix and match to match your vision and some builds are soley dictated to your budget, but that makes none of them wrong........Littleman

 

I like all eras, but I have been particularilly fixated on the late forties for much of my life. Thing is though, my cars are DRIVEN. I've had flatheads, I've killed early Ford transmissions, I've sheared axle keys... DONE.

I kind of look at the building of a car from the standpoint of an evolving thing. My roadster pickup's profile came right out of one of Don Mongomery's books, But the Halibrand no holes (still 16") would have been a bit later before they fell into a hot rodder hands as Indy take offs - so now we're at say '52. But then later, our intrepid owner would have gotten his clock cleaned at a light by a new '55 chev and thought "This flathead deal sucks". By the time he actually got around to swapping in a Chev small block it was '58 or so and he found a damn near new 283. Because he was a bit older and and didn't feel the need to follow every trend,(Or worse, found himself ensnared by a winsome glance, a well stocking'd thigh Preferably with those sexy seams up the back, and a pair of 36 DDs) he never stuck wide whites on it, he already had the best wheels money could buy so no chrome reverse or new five spoke mags. The old interior he had put in ten years ago was holding up fine so why update it? So let's call it '58...

I know as Rocky said above this can be a terrible hodge podge of eras, but as long as it is held to certain date and your research is in order, I don't see problem. Lot's and lot's of cars were occasionally updated like this over the years, yet retained what made them cool in the first place. I happen to love the early sixties "showrod" era as well as the late seventies early eighties era that I started this mess in personally, but those aren't part of this build.

Just for the record, I will at one point before I shuffle off this mortal coil build a period correct '29 on '32 rails with a flathead. I've been stockpiling the stuff for that build for years. But never, I mean never, crouch down and look underneath, 'cause you'll see the T-5 hidden up there and your face will melt if I don't kick ya in the seat of the pants first!

 

Well, I guess I kind of buck "tradition" as seen here on the HAMB a little, but as I see it, those guys back then weren't attempting to stay in an era, they were just building cars with what they had, and what they liked. I build the same way, in what I believe is the true rod and custom tradition, which is, to build what I like, without too much concern about trying to do what's acceptable or "tried and true".
To listen to some folks here, you'd get the impression that a new set of rules were introduced with each new decade, when in reality car styles simply evolved and changed according to available parts, tools, tastes, trends etc. When it all went awry, was when guys started building things just to be different. I've seen a lot of goofy looking cars built by highly skilled professionals with bad taste, and I've seen a lot of beautiful cars built by lesser skilled amateurs with a good eye.
I guess what I'm saying is, if you want to insure that you'll build a nice car, pick through what's already been done and copy it. Just remember, it can start getting a little boring, I mean there are so many 49/51 mercs out there now with the same treatment, they almost seem to have rolled off an assembly line.
But, if you have the artists eye, then take inspiration from the past, but go your own way, and make it your own. That's what the builders of every GREAT car of the past did.
Repetition is the death of art.

 

Although I'm a big fan of strict period builds, I couldn't do it myself. I just always find myself veering from the straight & narrow..getting creative, so to speak. So, I prefer to call my method "traditionally inspired," using styling cues from different eras that will (hopefully) blend in to a final product that you just can't put your finger on.

 

Growing up on the east coast at a body shop. I learned as a little kid that the customs being built here weren't my cup of tea. It wasn't until the middle 70's that I started learning about the late 40's west coast builds and wanted to build something in this style. Most of the cars I've had started out with were a couple hundred dollar pieces of junk....so building something period correct was almost impossible, money wise.
After thirty years of dreaming, we started building our truck to "look" like it came out of the late 40's but with modern parts underneath. Someday I'll try to build a period correct car in this style.....but like most of us here, right now money is the hold up.

 

AMEN! brother Pork!!!!

The cars in the magazines were state of the art just like today. I couldn't build magazine car in 1963 any more than I can build a Ridler award winner today.

I built my roadster and Spt. Coupe in the late 40s early 50s style.

Now I'm building an early 60s style 56 Ford. Staying true to the era that you choose is what matters to me. Gawn I hate anachronisms. I personally detest electric fans and alternators on a supposedly period style hotrod. Part of the fun for me is researching what was available in that time period. Since I was around then, I'm building from memory mostly and I don't need much research. I was building period-ish hotrods starting in the 70s. Accuracy was not important to me back then but the old hotrods were plainly an influence on me. I have evolved but I am still true to my roots.

 

Personally I do not care if a car is absolutely 100% period correct as long as the exterior of the car fits a specific era. (i.e. no Cragar mags on a '50s style car, no billet anything anywhere, etc.) And even those cars are fine with me as long as they're not trying to pass themselves off as era-correct.
I know there are guys who get off on just the right hose clamps and such. That's fine for them but I'm just not there.

Having said that, my '53 Chevy is a bit of a mish-mash because I made the classic mistake (pun intended) of mixing different eras together in the build. When I put it all together in 2000-2002 I had never heard of the HAMB and just had various magazines to go by. Consequently, I have a mid-50s build style with elements of early '50s and late '50s a bit of a street rod interior. At least I didn't use '59 Caddy taillights!

The '51 coupe that I am building now will be much closer to a pure '49-52 kustom style inside and out but I still refuse to care if the drive train and suspension are "correct" for that era and there is a good chance I'll use bucket seats, which is more mid-to-late '50s style. So be it. It is a car, not a museum display. And I might take it to a show here or there but it will be my driver, not a "show car."

There was a guy here in Joplin who drove a '46 or so Ford coupe every day as his daily driver. It was 100% original inside and out. But I'm willing to bet any time something like a hose clamp or spark plug wire needed replaced he went to NAPA and got it with no concern for how "correct" it was. Cars are machines, and those who get too purist about it take out all the fun for me.

 

That's the best explenation of what a hot rod should be I've heard so far.......

 

I seem to have a stalker that that I have rubbed the wrong way at one time or another and always rates me with one star!

Other than that I really enjoy reading the thought process you guys have expressed through out this thread.

Thanks for staying on topic. HRP

 

This is super easy for me. I love traditionally styled hot rods. Although I'll deviate from that anywhere I see fit. If I get that warm fuzzy (and slightly scared) feeling from my car, I've succeeded. My favorite cars successfully mix tradition and innovation. As long as the scale tips farther to the warm (trad) side, I'm usually a happy camper.