Interpretation of Hambers building styles

While I totally understand why some people want every little component on their car to be "completely accurate to some period", and respect them for doing it, that is just not me. I am like Beaner, I want to use my car a lot and be able to readily find replacement parts for the major items should I break down in the middle of Nowhere, USA.

I think a person's vision of "traditional" comes from their early experiences and memories of cars. I grew up when flatheads were something to be pulled out and subsituted with a more modern, more powerful motors, like and Olds, Chrysler, and even the dreaded sbc. I remember grabbing the newest issue of Hot Rod off the stands every month and not being able to wait to try the latest modification to make my car better than it was.

Bottom line, I want my cars to have some elements of cars from the 50's or 60's, but I am not opposed to substituting some other components to make it as safe, dependable, and quick as possible.

Don

 

I've always restored cars back to their original form. The '58 Ford 2 door wagon I am doing now is my first custom. I decided to go custom after finding the HAMB, and I am really enjoying the liberating feeling of not making things factory correct.

 

Amen

 

ding ding ding ding ....winner........

 

Yep

 

I grew up in the 50-60s and started rodding in the 70s. I went through the street rod/ machine and billet era's. I never even thought about "traditional Hot Rods" till I got on this site. I like the look but after 40 or so hot rods(wrecked a few) I will upgrade for safety. The only rat I own is a BBC!

 

VERY well said Don. This is the exact mind set I have when working on my truck

 

Another word for One Star Raters HRP,...Pa-RAT-parazzis!
You're on target. No worry. Be roddin.

 

I consider myself and my stuff to be 'traditionally inspired'.

i like cars. i always have. i like to drive my cars. alot. i like things that are functional, low maintenance and good looking, in that order.

i'm not a purist in any sense of the word but i do subscribe to a philosophy about my stuff. if you can see it, make sure it fits. i prefer 'pretty much correct' cars as a whole so i try to make my stuff fit pretty close. i dont like modern radios or digital gauges. i like my cars to look old because i like old cars.

i prefer late 50's early 60's styled stuff. and thats generally what i build towards. while i really dig the thought of a model a roadster with a flathead and 39 top loader, i prefer a small block chevy and a th350. why? beacuse i can get parts anywhere, anytime and i can fix em with my eyes closed. so i guess by default i gotta build in a later style.

my 48 plymouth has a late model pontiac v8 and th350, rack and pinion steering and power brakes but you cant see it. it has a hideous tilt column which i will have to change eventually, but it works and thats good enough for now. its a work in progress.

i guess i have been looking at this stuff for so long that it just became instinctive and intuitive. for me you know just by looking at something if it fits or not. but i'm not going to kill myself to make sure that every part on my car is perfect for a specific year in history. so long as it is true to the era/style and is not flagrantly outta place. i'm good.

 

The qoute "those guys back then weren't attemping to stay in an era, they were just building cars with what they had, and what they liked" is very true.

This site IS about paying homage to how it was, what they did and what parts they used. I see many members here post, it's traditional to build with what's at hand, or who cares what anyone thinks, build it how you want to. Building with what's at hand and how you want is great, but again this site is deicated to how it was.

HRP, I do take this thread seriously, my personal preferance is vintage all the way, if it came with a banjo and straight axle they should stay, this works for me but it's not for everyone. Many items get a pass for various reasons, late trans, radials, newer brake parts, for safety or personal limitations, and that's fine, but they still have to have a traditional look. 100% correct? That is a tall order for anyone, especially on a budget

 

Im a big fan of the dead on period builds and have the utmost respect for those that can pull it off.
Id love to do a period perfect pre-war build, but dont have the parts resources or the money to do one correctly.
My list of Hot Rod pet peeves is growing with every build and includes alternators, disc brakes (including the So Cal hidden discs), visible 4 bar suspension, radial tires, tilt wheels, etc...
The late '50's style build of my '32 PU (in my avatar) has un-traditional elements such as a 350/350, rear coil overs and Vega steering, but they are fairly well disguised.
My current A project has buggy springs, F-100 steering, 331 Cad and Hydro, so Im evolving backwards to my goal of a dead on period build. If Im around long enough to get to my planned '34 3W with a 331 Hemi/Packard 3 speed combo maybe Ill get it right.

 

I agree with Beaner, Tommy, Don and others of the same veiw. Just remember "TRADIONALY" hot rodders didn't follow the rules. I lived it from about 1948 on from first field car with the body cut off, that was run on dirty paint thinner till the flathead seized to my first road car, 47 Ford four door raised in the rear ( making .50 cents per hr. ) while my friend had a 52 Ford lowered to almost dragging the bumper, till now building a 46 Lincoln Continental Coupe with BBC, A/C, Automatic to a style I like. It's for ME, no one else. I'm 72 and ain't gonna change. Love em all.

 

I had grand visions of 50's styled model a 32 frame flathead banjo rear when I bought my coupe. Along the way I have strayed so far away from that I'd put it in a late 60's era and really it's not even correct at that. Parts such as the hydraulic clutch and aluminum radiator are dead give always.
So due to my limited knowledge, deals on parts that were too good to pass up, wanting to finish it this decade, parts avalabity, and finances I am not era correct but more loosely styled to the era. So realistically it is not correct for this board.
The next one I build I will take my time and seek out all the correct parts once this one is done I'll have a "have fun car"

 

Hot dirty nasty speed is what got me into cars... So they have to be moderately fast. I appreciate nice cars even if they're slow, but for me.... I'll take fast and dirty over nice and slow...

For my own hot rods I aim for an early to mid 60's usually, I like that era because cars were going faster and the parts are a little more affordable.

My Model A roadster has all 1966 and earlier period parts except the T-5. I want to drive it everywhere.

My 1956 Chevy is going to be a mid-to-late 60's build, I'm envisioning the build starting in the mid 60's and being updated as technology got better. However, since the SBC is the cheapest engine to go fast with I'm planning on building a second really nasty engine with race heads and modern guts inside a plain orange "period correct" wrapper and popping it into it and enjoying the ride. Oh.... it's got a T-5 too.... for now, until I start poppin' them!

 

"Traditional".......I do not even Know what that word means!....The hotrodders that myself and many of you seem to idolize, would prolly Punch you in the face If you called their cars traditional....As far as building a 100% period correct car, You better have some deep Pockets....And it is basicly impossible to do anyhow, I do what I want and don't follow anyones rules when it comes to hot rods, Like it or don't!.. I really do not care either way. Also goodluck with this thread, As all the threads like this seem to end up in a Pissing contest and get deleted or closed.

 

So far it has been civil maybe you can help us keep it that way.

Hey kid ( I can call you that can't I?).

There are a lot of things that carry over and once in a blue moon you can actually successfully pull off a blend. Guys were still running Flatheads in the early '60s for instance, while the "modern day" rodder may have chosen a valve in head engine to go in its place.

Customs in my part of the country when I was little through high school were known to drag ass or sit flat, some even had a California rake. Skirts or no skirts.

In the '60s Frieze and buttons was cool, but so were rolls and pleats. A lot of builders were leaning toward narrower rolls but wide rolls were popular as well.

Even styles that were distinctly different within a period crossed lines. Low Riders and customs for instance. Some of the differences were very distinct while others were not and some cars actually defy being pigeon holed into either group.

Then there are the cars that were built in one era only to be upgraded in the next. Perhaps a car was built in the late '40s and is late '40s styled right down the line. But the next owner didn't take the time to completely redo it once they got their hands on it. Perhaps it was an engine or color change and little to nothing else. It got done more than we realize and often it was done well.

While I tend to agree most of the time with the author of the statement that blends are not a good thing there are times that it can be pulled off and pulled off gracefully.

 

I like the HAMB.. I look forward to reading the build threads and technical data and also seeing pictures of some pretty cool hot rods.. I have a sign in my shop that I bought at a swap meet that reads " WILL BUILD TO SUIT" to which I added "ME" to the end.. I'm a happy hot rod builder....

 

Correction...........the SBC is not dreaded. A well dressed SBC looks as good as it functions, and functions as good as it looks!

 

That was a trongue in cheek statement like when I call a flatty a bellybutton.

he's a ford man but he would just love to own one of my SBCs.

 

I kindly disagree with this.

Ingredients:

1 Model A Coupe or Roadster.

1 running '40 Ford 4 door.

Use only what you have between the two. = Awesome period correct car. Not expensive.

 

I started to copy some quotes, but there ended up being too many. In any certain era, there were things done that we call traditional. And then there is traditional hotrodding, which, in my opinion, is using what you have on hand. And this part has changed drastically over the years.
I personally feel too many on here spend too much time picking other peoples builds apart, for not meeting their own interpetation.
When I look at a car..any car..I try to concentrate on how it was built, rather than what is was built from. Because there are alot of great ideas out there.

 

To expand on what I was saying above:

This:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=754835

Plus this:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=717789

It would be a great little hotrod for under 10k... ALL period.

 

And I suppose you Know of a set of tires that were made in the fortys and have been preserved all these years and are safe to run on your model A roadster hot rod. Or was you going to use a set of the cheaply made repo's that are being sold today??....My point is when I said "basicly impossible" I said it because you can not buy all of the true parts today that were sold back then..... EPA laws and MFG (in efforts to turn a higher profit) have made stuff cheap in todays world, example, those Coker firestones, Are not of the same quailty as the real firestones that were made in the late fortys. therefore deeming them not correct for a true period car, and that is just one example.

 

Yeah but your going out of your way to split hairs man. A car is not period correct if it's not using tires actually manufactured in the forties, or air preserved in a can for 60 years? Nah that's going too far to win the argument. Or is it?

And the coker firestones are pretty good tires man. No complaints from me or any of my buddies. Some have put tens of thousands of miles on em.

And actually I do have some crazy friends who do drive on 50+ year old tires. Hard as a rock and scary, but I've seen it. None of it proves anything... ya know?

 

You are right! And I am going way out of my way about this to prove my point...Bottomline is we are all forced to Use what we can get our hands on in todays world, I just get tired of guys who look down on others for building their cars the way they want to, And with what they can get ahold of today. I am not real good with words sometimes, And it is really hard to type stuff the way you intend it to sound, But for the most part I agree with what littleman said.

 

i find it interesting that around here (this thread) many people's interpretation of 'period' immediately means WW2 era hot rods, and then comes the assumption that period correct means out of reach for the average working man. of course thats because period correct means that every car has to have a 32 heavy axle and lincoln brakes and a flathead v8 with thickstun this and edmunds that and so many strombergs and zephyr gears in the trans and cloth covered wiring and NOS nuts and bolts and...... you get the picture.

not trying to start a pissing match. simply making an observation as to how i see this board shaping peoples perspective. not a bad thing just an observation.

i prefer 'period (era) correct' mild customs built in the style of 58-62 which can be done tastefully and nicely on a limited budget, look darn good and can be outfitted for just about any type of driving. with a little more budget i like post war customs, and even more so the pre war customs. i'm working my way through the list.

 

I don't get it!

There was a thread with this same topic this morning that was KILLED OFF!

Makes for nothing more than a drama fest that goes nowhere.

 

Looking down on others for building their car their way? I have friends with street rods, RR rods and other types of rides, all good stuff built their way and I like them.

The looking down as it has been posted is because others want to post their rides that don't fit into the guide lines of this site. To further my point, the sticky about re-focus posted recently. This day in age there is an online forum for just about anything and everything auto related. This being a big site that moves quickly many want to post here even though they know it may not fit the criteria. I, like many here like all kinds of motorized rides, I just post the ones or items related to them that fit in...

 

A Real Car Guy will Lable his car's "Style" by the parts he would like to see on his ride. Everyone else will have the vehicle suit their style. Im gonna Lable mine Late 30's.

Born in 73. Been into cars since, can I say 74, & until this mullenium I always wanted a Jag or Vette IRS, Kugel IFS, & a SBF or SBC in my Early Iron. Boy has that changed, Im into Model A 4 Bangers now & that was just this April.

 

I understand what you are saying but it boils down to that is not what this site is about. It is about building cars like they were built during a certain period in history not about capturing the spirit of what guys were doing. In a sense this is more of a "restoration site".

Would you go on a forum that discusses vintage guitars and show a 1956 Les Paul that you put a floyd rose bridge on and modern pickups and not expect a reaction? It's no different than posting builds with modern components here.

I have no problem with mixing newer stuff in with builds I have done it myself on my build and have posted it here but I certainly don't get upset if someone calls me out about it because in the end technically they are right it doesn't really belong here. Now that being said I think if this was a super strickly controlled period site there would be a lot less interesting stuff going on. It is definitely a double edged sword.

Finally I have a HUGE amount of respect for guys that try and keep their builds period correct as the amount of time required to research, find and get the right combination of part takes serious dedication and commitment.