Okay, I'm looking at the cover & all it says is; "BUILD YOUR FIRST ROD" (next line) "Quality doesn't mean big spending" (next line) >$5,000 then on page 18 "Cheap Thrill" "Jim Crew's $5k Hot Rod" I take this to mean it is what it is - a story on what the guy spent to build it - IT DOES NOT SAY HOW TO BUILD A.....IT IS NOT BASED ON EVERYTHING NEW - NO! It is based on what just about anyone of you here could do with parts you have saved etc.....Just my 2 cents here.
2XCrash, Unless you have a lot of old parts just laying around, I don't think you can build a good ride for less then $5K, less then $10K YES. If you added up the fair market value of the free parts and what you have around, what would it come to in greenbacks. Add up all the free parts and freebies and the cover car might be $12K to $15K. I agree the title was very missing leading. Cool Shorts forever Cruiser 49
Hey guys don't get me wrong. I think it's a great ride. I love the motor he used. Here's the point of my rant. I've just finished a devoric,(and got 50% custidy (sp?) of my daughter) and had to sell most of any stash parts to get by. I want to read about something that might be within my reach sooner than later. That's what's advertised... I was bent at R&D, not envious at the guy who has parts lying around..... I'll stick to lurking on the HAMB and watch you guys do it cheep. It's still cheeper than a subscribtion to R&d..... and way more entertaining....
Well, I guess the question to ask you then,,,, what were YOU hoping to get out of the article? Obviously with a build price of $5k you HAD to know that VERY low dollar or free parts were going to be massively used. Or were you expecting some new ULTRA CHEAP shop to sell a kit at givaway prices? What were YOU expecting from the article????
If you can't find a 2-3grand old car and fix it up and make it drivable well... just keep bitchin and looking on e-bay for your parts .. AND WAIT UNTIL THEY ALL DROP IN PRICE! No ...you may not have a deuce or a model-a with a flattie and 32 frame but odd stuff is out there.. pick-ups and four doors just hone your skills in looking .... and really if you are judging a book by its cover ....... carefull bridal magazines are for getting married and so on and so an Paperdog
i replied to this a few minutes ago ....never did make it.....time and money are my biggest enemy.....often people forget about buying another persons project ....often at the sellers worst time.....i built my wifes t for just under 5k .....granted i bought the car as a stalled project shortly after a friend found out he was going to be a father.....it came with a fresh 355 and several boxes of parts from jegs....sold off some of the stuff i wasn't going to use....used some on my anglia ....so i recooped some cash ...which helped the bottom line....used what parts that were laying around.....got the grille from my mom's neighbor...she didn't want it.....her uncle left it ....and she left it out by the garage....which i looked at for about a week before i stopped....price was right....(free)...used some paint i had left over for the flames....did bum some purple toner for the candy....a little left over black centari did the frame...i did pay for the interior ....but it didn't break the bank ....as this wasn't a show car...the t i am putting together now....i have had for 12 years......traded on the body ....built the chassis....used a left over toyota motor and 5 speed out of a wrecked truck ....the rear was out of another truck....bought a speedway front end ....and some hairpins.....had the radiator made ....but it was less than half of what a walker cost....at this point ....i probably have more in wheels and tires than i do in the whole car....heck there are more in the rear tires than in the wheels.....you have to remember ....you can set up a network among friends.....bartering is part of building ....and shiny paint will make any part look expensive....haha brandon
preach it Sam...you ain't lyin'...if you ain't got the 2 T's, you better have a wheelbarrow full of the green stuff...
I was hopeing they had found the hot rod fairy and that all I had to do is put a check for 5 grand and when it cleared a new hot rod would be under my pillow... WTF. I thought I would see how some parts like the 84 ford 4banger and the t5.... What did he need to do to mate them up.... How did he mount them. Where did he find his parts . What junk yard parts work and what doesn't..... Don't call it a 5 grand build, call it a 5 grr build and some help from friends...
I can see why the fustration in the article. I saw the cover and never found what they were talkin about. Yes a cheap rod can be built. I think Sam's reply sais a lot. We built a car for $1200. It was supposed to be $999. New front tires blew the budget. I now have about $2000 in the car. had to replace some shit and a new shiney paint job added to the price. I even got the body on ebay...$150. No you're not going to build a 32 Ford cheap....just ain't gonna happen. Clark
Call me Krazy! But i looked at the Mag. and i can't figure how he spent that much money,must be in the wheels and the rear end. I have a respectable built T-Bucket And i have built several Rods and i am working on a "46"Ford Pickup now and i will have a hell of a lot less than that. I have several friends that have discussed this car with me and they agree with me! Maybe its us?
Well hell, the great minds at HAMB here can tell you the cheap routes, what works, what doesn't. All you have to do is read and ask. You all should save the $$$$$ on any magazines and just read HAMB!!!!!!!!
in my opinion car craft has been cutting throught the bullshit with the listing of every part and price they paid. they assume that normal people dont have tons of hookups or even the lead on a cheap car. its funny reading rod and custom how they try to make me feel like i am some lazy loser cuz i cant throw together a $5000 hot rod. Do they really think if i had a rod shop tons of free parts and lots of hookups that I would not build a rod? come on!
When I said you COULD NOT build a rod for $5,000 it started such a shit storm I left the HAMB for quite a while. Not somebody prints that you CAN do it and everybody pitches a bitch that it CANNOT be done. How do you want it? Crybabies!
Thats the way it goes around here............. dont cha know? Im still on the fence about it....... I can horse trade alot of stuff for alot of stuff............ does that count as free? or do you count the money you have in the parts you traded off?............ are they just counting actual cash spent when you phically start building? or does the clock start when you say your collecting parts for a project?................. more fuel for argument.....................................................
It CAN be done, but it takes dedication and time. Not just time to build but time to wait for the right parts to pop up at the swap or in the classifieds. In fact it may take years. Don't expect to put a time limit on a low-buck deal like that in the real world. Just a couple of years ago I found a '23 Studebaker touring front half at a swap for $150 and it was nice. Not counting the motor, I think the car ended up costing below $3,000. We could easily have put a junk yard mill in it for a few hundered but Nick had a souped up flattie from another project that we dropped in. I don't like when they claim a price and the main components were free either, but with dedication and elbow grease you can build a ride for that money. I've done it.
anyone else remember the guy recently who just through a car together in a month to sell off to fund his REAL project?that thing was built and dready to drive and awesome.i wouldnt mind a how-to on THAT creepy
basically,,,,magazines are for DREAMERS,,,,the title "build a hot rod for less than $5000" (or whatever the fuck it said) ,,,was aimed at those "DREAMERS" .....obviously,,,people who have a clue,,,could read through and understand,,,
Not everybody Jim, seems like alot of people are backing you up here on coming in under 5,000 on projects. By the way, if you ever run for political office it will be this way also, 1/2 the people feel one way & 1/2 the people will feel the other way. Like Ricky Nelson once sang; "You can''t please everyone - so you got to please yourself".
The funny thing was, I read it and my first thought how could someone spend $5000 on a home built. I am a scrounger and a pack rat. my budget for my GMC was set at $1500, with paint and uhpolstery it might go to 2 grand. its a running driver with 55 cad and eldo tri-power and I'm at $817 and 340 of that count was a labor trade not cash. now I have alot of rod shops that I do work for and I'm always asking for stuff in the scrap pile. or ask "are going to throw that away? How much would you take for it? FREE gosh thanks! my chopped 52 plymouth wagon was built from three cars and 2 of those were Free. I'm in the wagon less than $400 and think around $4000 done I think what I'm trying to say is "not everyone can do it! but it certainly can be done-------- Jim
yeah,,alot off people here can build a hot rod for less than 5K,,,but its going to take scrounging,,conections,,being lucky etc,,,,but,,to print that in a mag,,would leave some to believe,,,all they had to do was get on ebay,,or hit the local swap meets,,and be able to ASSEMBLE a car for 5K......
i dont need a magazine to tell me how much i dont have to spend on my ride. these kinds of headlines have been around for years. typical magazine horseshit.
I bought the mag because I thought the car was neat, not because of the headline. Anyone with enough inginuity can scrounge up parts and build a car himself for cheap - I've picked up enough free and low buck parts now as it is, I just never have gotten the right combinaton to put an A together. But I have like $500 tops in my '50 Chevy and I'd be going down the road with it with a T-5 installed for maybe another $500 if I just went out and bought the rearend and stuff I need to finish it off. It wouldn't be super pretty, but I'd be having fun with it -
I guess I'll never build a car for five grand. I don't have the time or patience to wait for the freebee's. Besides, I've pissed too many people off in my area to ever expect them, nor do I want them. I'll pay for my stuff, and get it right away. What work I can't do(damn little), I'll also pay for. It seems this 5000.00 rod building shit is just another form of 'one-upmanship'. Most on this board bitch about what the 'goldchainers' pay, but this thread is more like bitching about what the 'dogcollar' crowd won't pay.
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