Hot Rods This ain't no disco, this ain't no rat rod, this ain't no fooling around!

there were several cars that epitomized the very late 80's-early 90's resurgence of (slightly)rough, but reliable drivers. this was one of my favorites, what was yours?

 

All I see is a sky with clouds...... Can you zoom out a bit?

 

Pics too small. I really don't have one I can think of. The 80's and 90's were a dead zone. I almost lost my attraction for hot rods during that time.

 

one of my faves also. those guys had alot fun with that car. kept reading street rodder magazine from start to finish on that car. they put alot of miles on it.

 

smokin' minivan!

 

Ryan...Monsterflakes off his Meds again...

 

I remember reading that he bent his flex plate on a speedbump, so they left it running for hours till they could find a place to fix it-

Yeah that was a unique car at the time...

 

I remember one like that it was just a bit smaller though...

 

Wasn't that a coupe first? Then converted to a convert? Either way I loved that damn car the Spanish fly ( a 46 ford that graced the cover of Rodders journal was perhaps my favorite

 

Rudy's yellow '34 5W coupe comes to mind. Most of the other cars of that time that caught my eye were from other countries...they were way ahead of us on the retro stuff.

 

I don't get it....

 

That's the Talking Heads and David Byrne for all you really old, nonhip fogeys! I kinda like the flames....only certain cars can pull that off!

 

X's 2

 

"...I aint got time for that now" Talking Heads song titles Life During Wartime for the 1980's title reference. I like the flames, the car and appreciate the obscrue reference.

For me the Berkhart Eastwood, and Gray Baskerville's roadster as two cars that fired up my appreciation of throw back rods (Ok, ok; maybe neither were rough)

 

Jimmy White's Model A

Hate to say it, but I first saw this car in Ol Skool Rodz. LOL! But I was visiting CA in 2004 when the magazine came out and drove over to his shop. Super friendly guy and of course has been doing great all these years building customer cars. I'm always glad to see something new and kickass coming out of Circle City Hot Rods.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AxAW3oV8tw8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

this car?

 

Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far betta

 

My first thought to the first words http://youtu.be/X5ouOa9k0gE

 

NNOOOOO!!!!! This style of car was one of the reasons I lost interest in cars in the late 80's/90's.
Excuse me while I go check out the "What us traditional rodders were going in the '70's thread" for non HAMB style cool cars!

 

That car had it's issues but It did a lot of hard highway miles for several years. Back when a lot of guys were afraid to get past the city limits signs on either end of town that bugger was doing banzi runs across the country to events on a regular basis. And Some are pretty well correct if they name it as the grandaddy of the "I don't need to make it nice to drive it" brigade. If you are driving a flat black car with flames painted on it, this is the car you copied in some way shape or form even if you think you have an original idea.

 

That's obscure? I'm hipper than I thought I was! I was just walking around the grocery store doing the "Same as it ever was" arm chop the other day and my girlfriend thought I was nuts!!! Damn five year age difference...

I agree with the Eastwood Barakat car, that taught me that it didn't HAVE to be painted to be cool... Might even be cooler with out! The others that nailed me hard on this deal were Bill Vinther's and Cal Tanaka's coupes. But when I stared at my own back yard and saw the Plymouth sitting out there on the day my new Street Rodder with Pat Barnhart's '48 in it (still a coupe then) came, well, I lost my mind! Soon I will figure out the great mystery of my scanner and present pictures of the Plym from the early nineties with bright orange powder coated steel wheels, wide whites, grey primer, and about 2" of ground clearance!!! Ya, that car hooked me just a bit...

 

Shiat, that car makes me think of Lumpy Rutherford!

I've always been more of a hot rod guy so yea, like the others say, P-Wood Barakat Deuce on the cover of Hot Rod magazine was more my style.

Maybe not so much a reacher but the Boyce Asquith Deuce roadster, Cole Cutler's 34 coupe, even the Chapouris Lime Fire car really got me going. Also that 34 Chevy he did was bad azz. Oh, and the late great Jim Ewings coupe. And McMullins roadster, and Pete's CA Kid, and Jakes coupe and on and on....

 

sorry guys, that was my full size scan. i'll resize it next time.

it was taken at the peoria americruise, after the top was chopped off and the flames added from the 1st incarnation.

after driving 'fast', uncomfortable and somewhat un-reliable cars for years, i made a big change in what i was doing.

having a garage queen that was only good for short trips was dumb, so i started driving my cars,and i discovered that the fun was in the trip, and that a mechanically sound car with the right stance, wheels and tires was the key.

while it's easy now to look at that and say, "what a cliche', fucking red wheels, black primer, flames. etc", those guys drive drove the shit out of that car, which is more that can be said for the clown cars, rat rods and shitboxes that think this car is "one of us".

 

also, there's a lady around here that drove a primered '48 olds convertible all over the place. it got it's mechanical stuff right, then snuck up on it's ultimate awesomeness..

 

i believe that this might be one of those "context" issues that we see around these parts with the different age groups. Looked at in the light of todays absolute traditional perfection, (more traditional than it ever was?!) this car might npt be a stand out. But when it was featured and the more common street rod was the peach sedan in the picture, woo hoo!!! Also the fact that you could go to any rod run in the western states and it would pop up randomly... That was even cooler! Some where I have a picture of it in the convertible and flames guise parked next to my then fresh Plymouth at the pavillions in Scottsdale one night.

 

Will Handzel's 10K model A roadster. IIRC it was on the cover of R&C back in the early or mid 90's.

First I was like LOL whut. Then I figured it out.

 

I agree, in the late 80 early 90's magazines (remember those?) seemed to feature flawless cars and gave the impression that this was the way to go, in fact a few came right out and said you needed much $$$ to get into the hobby. Also mags were featuring adverts products in tech, much like now, so if a car say a 36 had one pin hole in the tailpan, it came off and a new one from EMS or others was added. No tech on how to repair. Mostly Street Rodder but Rod and Custon as well. This was a far cry from my fathers R&C and Street Rod action in the 70's... the cars I saw growing up were put togther cars with parts guys made or found and most left something to be desired in the fit and finsih dept, all of a sudden fit and finish was of upmost importance. See R&C 36 Ford build, they go out of there way to say how rough the 36 Cabrio was, and today you could have driven it like it was when they bought it. For a guy like me in that time all I had was the new mags to go by so it seemed like unless you had a riddler car forget it. ( I am over simplifying it to make my point)
All cars needed a new frame, (TCI ETC) all needed new panels, forget fixing what you have.. all of that started during this time.

Now come theses guys with "drivers" who could care less about paint, and perfect etc.

It made the hobby more fun for me.

 

It was one of the forerunners of todays 'so da fook what it ain't perfect' driver's. They put more miles under it the 1st year than some HAMB'rs do in 10 yrs.

 

I think the key thing here is to realize two things...

The first...drive what makes ya happy without being critical of what others are driving to make them happy.

Second....in my case it was a matter of walking a fine line of fit and finish mixed with reliability with the understanding that due to its drivability it will suffer from nicks, dings and road wear....

That said I come from a long line of blokes that has never finished a car in my entire life....I firmly intend on finishing at least one to see what it feels like.