Hot Rods The next trend in "traditional" hot rod builds?

All them inliners sound like they’re missing…….cylinders

 

Higher gas prices? No effect on me.
I pull up to the pump, stick a credit card in and top off the tank.
Every month the Wife pays all the bills (she's still working)...and it's like I'm getting free gas.

 

The price of gas has doubled + , in order to hold the line financially I'd have to build a traditional 4 banger that gets 35+ m.p.g. , that ain't gonna happen with an old design engine , points ignition & a carburetor , period ! I'll just drive less

 

If you can afford to build a vintage engine, vintage car, etc, seems gas would be the least of your headaches.
But to be honest, I always thought it was about building what interests you.

 

I panicked during the gas crisis during the 1970's. Not gonna do that again. I do feel sorry for the workers still commuting to and from work.

 

It's a valid question I suppose, and I was a bit blunt. But you know... just the idea of it bugs me. Considering everything... my age, and I don't want to get political, but... things. I was thinking about all this just recently. Bottom line, it feels to me as if it's become even more important to resist circumstances that might influence us to change our way of having fun and celebrating our little piece of America's past. Translation... When it comes to a lot of the old guys... You'll have to pry it out of our cold dead hands.

I'm not a racer and not what you'd call a horsepower freak. But I was thinking I might easily become one. Just because I can. And because there might soon come a time when I can't. Or we can't. 500hp+ big block/4spd in a 2000lb hot rod. Yeah.
Okay, a 5-speed with overdrive.

 

I let my brother talk me into buying my first new car in 1971.
Being concerned over the price of gas I bought a 71 Vega Gt.
I’d probably would still have one of the last made muscle cars if I had threw caution to the wind.
That Vega rusted out and fell to the earth.
To hell with worrying about fuel prices on our old cars. It isn’t like we drive them everyday.

 

My GTO with tri-power would easily do 20 plus MPG as long kept my foot out of it.
400 CI, 4spd, 3.08 gear and 3500 lbs. It also would completely roast the tires if you wanted

 

The high price gouging of gasoline today isn't going to last. We just need to ride it out for a bit. This isn't like the fuel crunch of the 70's. There is no crunch but only oil people making a massive profit on our backs.
Do it if you want a 4 banger. It won't be traditional but at least you'll have one.

 

Grow corn and run them on alcohol

 

Maybe it's time for Edelbrock to bring back their old SP2P intake manifold...

 

I'm not too worried about it. I will drive my cars as I always do. My '56 Chev is a 235 three on the tree. I consider it my "economy car". lol I also have one of those little chevy II four bangers in my stash that I envision putting in a '26 Dodge. (also in my stash). That would be a fun little gas saver that beats the heck out of driving a Honda or something like that.

 

Every time gas goes up like it is now, I see people rushing to trade their larger cars and trucks on crackerbox cars to get better gas mileage. The money they might save on gas in a month goes into a new payment---where are they saving anything other than in their minds?

I drove small shit when I had a daily commute, so did my wife. As we got older, we found out we liked larger vehicles better, more comfortable, safer. Wife has a Expy, me a full sized pickup. Both get about 18 mpg. I expect my 47 Lincoln, being a similar sized car with a similar sized engine, albeit with a carb, should get close to the same. I'll give up a few MPG's to be comfortable. The 302 in it is as small as I would want to go as big and heavy as it is.

On a side note, I also have a Ranger pickup with a 4.0 V6 5 speed, and it gets 18 MPG, too. So it's not always engine size that matters.

Life is too short to drive slow ugly cars! Build what you want, and enjoy it!

 

I remember during the 70s gas crunch how the magazines freaked out. Cover headlines like "Drive your rod with a vacuum gauge', or "small motors are cool", "Do you really NEED 8 cylinders?"
At the time, all I could think of is how stupid it was for "us" to pretend to be practical. None of the automotive things I like are practical at all. I do remember sitting in lines for gas, being almost up to the pump, and the attendant putting the hose on top of the pump, signifying the station was now out for the day. That sucked, especially while driving a 390 powered 66 Mercury that got 10 miles to the gallon if I babied it. Which I never did.
The car I'm working on now probably won't even get 10 MPG. If I can finish it, and drive it, I doubt I'll worry too much about the price of gas. I'll try to save money elsewhere.

 

Big stroke + light weight. After that it's stock up on non perishables & ammo.

 

Double dog dare you to say a 4 cylinder engine is not traditional. I have ethanol free gas delivered to the house so I getter mileage on all of my vehicles.

 

I've been thinking/planning of doing a sprint car with all Alfa drive line. I had a '74 2.0L Spider and it sold me on the package. First car I went over 100 mph in and it hooked me bad. I think it redlined at 7,500 or 8,000 RPM.

 

I just sold the one I had .


To answer the thread, I HAD a 2.0 Ford motor (pinto) in my '28 when I bought it. I tried to keep it in there, I started to build around it, but I couldn't do it....I just couldn't see myself having fun with it. I change to a 327, but the hopped up 2.0 will live again in the Hillman. I still have some fuel mileage in mind for the '28....it has a 5spd.

 

Overdrive is a BIG part of the answer. Some say (me) that overdrive transmissions have had more positive effect on fuel consumption than computer injection. The lower cruising revs, and the more favorable final ratios that can be run in all gears, gives better performance from less fuel. More for less is always good, right?

 

Traditional is traditional. This isn't a trend.

 

As mentioned, alternative fuel ...back yard fermentation, if need be, our collective mind power will find a way

 

As you know Mike,I don,t follow trends.
I,ve liked and built the same type of junk for years.
I actually prefer it to not be trendy,parts are cheaper

 

For most of the folks on this board, the increase in fuel cost will be negligible because many folks don't really drive that many miles with their collector cars. It's a fact. If you're only driving 3000 miles a year, it's really not that big of a deal. But for those of us who log 10,000+, the awful fuel economy many of these cars get can be palpable financially.

While it might seem that scaling back cubic inches and horsepower is the key to fuel economy , it certainly doesn't need to be that way. In fact, when GM was introducing the Kettering engines, ie the Rocket Olds V8, they had a series of experimental engines with high compression and found that the high compression engines got significantly better fuel economy. Which makes sense because an efficient engine produces power. But in my opinion, the biggest factor in increasing fuel economy is gearing, and more specifically, an overdrive transmission. In terms of HAMB appropriateness, the T5 and other modern OD manual transmissions have gotten a pass here. But automatics like the AOD, 700R4, 200R4, or the computer-controlled 4L60E/4L80E are persona non grata. But FWIW, that to me is the key to unlocking not only fuel economy, but also modern drivability with an obsolete engine, where you can really take advantage of all of the low end grunt an engine like a nailhead Buick, rocket Olds, Y block, Caddy, etc., could offer.

Anecdotally, I took a 1000+ mile trip chasing my buddy with a 56 Crown Vic powered by a Y block with a 500 cfm Edelbrock and an AOD, with my 56 Olds with a 324/Jetaway combo. He cruised comfortably at 75-80 and got 23 mpg on regular gas, while I had to keep my foot in my Olds to keep up, and guzzled fuel with 14 mpg. It makes sense, keep the load off the engine and you'll get better economy.

 

While it may affect buying habits for daily drivers, I don't think gas prices will affect the car hobby much. After all, hot rods / antiques / muscle cars / etc. for the most part are driven pretty sparingly.

 

Remember Volksrods?!

My '34 has a 231 Buick in it and would probably get decent mileage. I'm still going to slap the 392 dual quad Hemi in it though.

 

My 34 pick up with the 330 Desoto gets wicked mileage!
3.50 gears, 7.00-16 tires and overdrive. 500 cam carb, properly selected camshaft.
300-400 km on a cruise weekend and put $35 bucks in the tank. I can handle that.
It ain't no slouch for power either.

Build for torque and efficiency.
I think that makes more sense than some shitty 4 banger.

 

My wife has a turbo charged 4 cylinder in a modern car. My coupe gets within 2 mpg of her car (17 mpg city, 20-22 mpg highway), the coupe is a lot more fun to drive. I built my coupe to make me happy (which its done for 12 years now), but it isn't "traditional" by the HAMB standards, so I keep the hood closed. Nearly any upgrade to improve the gas mileage on the coupe would not be cost effective (it is already efi, has an od trans), the cost of the upgrade from the point it is now, would be more then the extra cost of the fuel, over the life span of the coupe.

The next thing we came to the conclusion of was that we would rather put gas in the coupe and ride around an extra hour then we would pay some entry fee to a car show that we sit in a chair behind the car all day at. We put nearly 6,000 miles on the coupe last year, we may have to limit ourselves to putting 4,000 on it this year, but probably not, at this point.

As far as the original point of this thread, I don't see the limitations of this board changing to accommodate rising fuel costs, also most of the stuff here talking about modern off shores motors is way past its current limited spectrum. The HAMB era is pre 1965, when expensive gas was 32 cents a gallon. Enjoy this board for what it is about. Gene

 

I'm in the final stages of building my T coupe. While I have started stuffing a Geo Metro 3 cylinder into the next project, a 1934 Austin Ruby, I am not yet married to the concept. The fuel crunch has definitely made me going electric. No fuel system, no cooling system, no charging system, no clutch, no transmission. Could be an easy build. No offence, guys.

 

The easy way for me to buy fuel for my 6k miles per year, 20 mpg hot rod is to have a mid size 10k miles per year daily, that gets 40 mpg.
It is not that difficult.

 

If prices stay high, I might have to pull out the Simca, and get started on the 215 Buick and 5 speed that I have for it. Not likely, with the three I am trying to finish right now.