Traditional rods-why 1964?

Maybe I got the date wrong, but for a few shows, like Billetproof, cars newer than 1964 aren't allowed. Why is this? The advent of the Muscle Car? Was that when the Big 3 began the race to increase displacement? Did everyone add cupholders in the vinyl seats then? Maybe it was when the rear seats in station wagons got turned around to face (gasp) forward. Non-points ignition? Indoor plumbing?

Just a question. Thanks for any info.

 

Beatles. Mustang.

 

Mustangs came out in 1964 1/2, GTO's came out in 1964. It was the begining of the end for a style of car. Before 1964, if you wanted big power, you had to buy a big car, or you had to build your own. There weren't really any cars that I can think of that were fast, but inexpensive. If you wanted a fast car you had to pay top dollar or build a hot rod.

 

Personally I think this is a great cutoff date, Pre Mustang, pre Viet Nam War. The world changed after that.

 

damn beatles
end of civilization as we knew it

 

A guiy once told me that 64 was the real end of the 50's.

 

Perfect answer.

 

Now really, was there anything really cool built after 1964? I mean, I can dif a '65 Impala or maybe even a Rivi but, come on. The focus went from really cool looking cars to hp wars. Don't get me wrong. If I could get say, a 426 Hemi Roadrunner or Gtx or even a Super Duty Goat, I'd take it. Those motors make bitchin mills in the right early iron.

 

because,,NO MATTER what you are into,,weither it be hot rods,customs,basketball,dirtbikes,skateboards,golf,dildos,RACES.. etc...

...it doesnt matter,,there is ALWAYS someone who wants to caterogize things,,,..

 

i've been thinking of getting a '65 T-Bird like the one my dad had when he was a teenager. i know that year is above the cutoff date for most shows, but fuck it. just because a certain show says '64-older doesn't mean you can't get a 65 and newer.

 

64 was when Elvis finally topped 300 pounds. The whole world went directly down the shitter immediately thereafter.

 

Lots of shows have a cutoff date. Lots of people too. I think those people are the ones who are also biased on certain name brands (Chevy, Ford, Dodge) and hate everything else, you can probably find them in the mall buying von dutch crap and dale #3 crap too. Ignorance.

I think 'traditional' shows shouldn't have a cutoff date, but the vehicle must meet the requirements of the era. Riviera's were still cool in '65. Cadillacs, GM & Ford Trucks were still cool til '66. Along with a handful of other cars and trucks. How come newly built "bobber" bikes are allowed at these shows? Or cars built by Barris, Roth, Starbird, Etc in the late 60's-early 80's allowed when they don't fit the traditional style? You see loads of cool custom 64-66 cars and trucks that look right, but aren't allowed. Bullshit.

Sure I'm not a muscle car kind of guy, but I still appreciate and admire a nice, clean muscle car. Same goes for modern shit as well. Some people get it, some don't. If you didn't have a cutoff date at your show...it doesn't mean you have to allow these cars into a traditional show. Doesn't mean you have to allow some dork kids flat black, whitewalled S-10 pickup either. Allow the cars that fit the bill, and thats that. I've been to too many 'pre-63' shows and have seen cars and trucks into the early 70's there, along with billet-clad street rods, and bone stock shitboxes. Yet you look outside the gate, or in the parking lot, and there's hundreds of traditional hot rods and customs that deserve the spot in the show before the ones mentioned. It's all politics and dick sucking.

Makes no sense. I say fuck em. Do what you do, like what you like, fuck em if they don't agree.

 

November 22, 1963, to be exact.

 

ever try to flake a 65 anything roof ? too big ,trad guys cant afford that much flake ...................

 

I think that's right.
I don't know if you can call it the 50's or the 40's or whatever, but there was one era that started at the end of WW-II and ran up till Sept 22 1954 the day the SBC became available, and the next was from the SBC to the introduction of the '64 GTO.
Even decade splits of '40's, '50's and 60's don't make much sense because the styles and available milestone speed enhancing parts didn't wait for the ends of any decades.
'49, actually the last three months of '48, saw Fords become just like "regular cars" instead of the potential hotrod, buggy sprung cars Henry insisted on.
Some people do have their cutoff date lines.
I know I do, but as someone said, different makers had different milestones.
Sorta like, I don't think SAAB has built a car since they quit building the 3 cylinder 2 stroke cars.
And a VW without an air cooled flat four in the rear ain't a VW.
and Factories CAN'T build HOTRODS, it's an oxymoron of terms.

None of the above applies to customs though.
Maybe Kustoms, but not customs, but that's a different thread subject.

 

It's always "felt" like decades change around the half-way mark. Kinda like the 50's ended in '65, the 60's in '75, and so forth. It seems to be in the way cultural trends change about half way through the decade. My opinion from observation..

 

I wasn't there, but looking at old pictures and magazines...
It seems that 1964-65 was when folks stopped dressing like adults and started dressing like children.


The world ended after the mid 60's. We just haven't admitted it yet.

 

Seymour .. quick , right, and no arguement can be given...

 

i like the fact that i dont see some dumbass with a 1968 impala painted rootbeer brown in 1976 with corvette pipes new billet wheels and one of those stoopid stuffed midget kids puking on the tire and some old lady in a poodle skirt helping her husband polish the thing up like some glorious show car......sorry for the rant i was at ace hardware for some sheet metal and there was this crappy car show there and i saw this exact car. maybe im just jealous!

 

I'm pretty sure it was really 1959.

 

I think 64 is a good cutoff. The country's "age of innocence" was going down the pooper about then. So was the music and the dressing styles and the attitudes and the ..................and so on. But what do I know? I'm just a FNG, born in 70'. The plate on the front of my 66 Fairlane says "GROOVY". It's a good conversation piece, but ugh!

 

I JUST ABOUT TINKLED ON MYSELF. STOP IT!

 

I think Heathen makes an excellent point. I was in High School the day JFK was asassinated. Believe me, everything really DID change from that day on! ...I mean in many dramatic ways. It seemed everyone began to lose faith in a lot of things. in particular, the government. then came Vietnam, Nixon, etc;...the rest was, as they say, history. IMO that set the trend.

 

Yeah, it could be based on any of the aforementioned posts. I was born in '65 and started my life in the hippy dippy half of the 60's (that's a bummer, man). Tingler, spot on. haha
Anyway, I think the cutoff is based on styling. The fact that cars really changed, across the board, in '65. Where the factory sedans and hardtops etc., had that sectioned, long, low, wide look, '65 models started slabbing up, more knife edges and squared taillights popped up where rounded edges and more jet age taillights reigned supreme. Well, that, and the birth of the pony car. Then again, maybe not.

 

Where would you "stop it", what do some of you see as a good cutoff time? And should there be one? Were any of you other old fucks like me still "doing it" in the 70,80s, now?

 

If it were up to me, the cut off would be 1956.

 

Please not this shit again. Do a goddamn search. lock this

 

I'd say all of the above is true , styling , muscle cars , society changes etc , but at least one point was not mentioned , VERY soon we wll be seeing an earlier cutoff date at BTT50's , this year they say plainly NO MUSTANGS, but as soon as next year , they may well back it off to 59 or '62,believe it or not its an effort in downsizing the event. the 49-63 cars have always been a kind red headed step child thing , not a grey bearded rod (well maybe now ) they did'nt fit in w the "I was at the dry lakes in my 32 coupe" crowd or the hood scooped ,lumpy idled tire smoker, miniskirted big boobed blonde eye candy "show me your tits" through a haze of burgerz n brat smoke crowd (but enjoy every minute behind the wifes unapproving back),nor do all fit into the custom car area , just kind of stuck in the middle like i said.

 

I was born in 64, maybe that's got something to do with it.

 

You are looking at a moving target stopped in time. It will change in a few years. I was a die hard "pre-48er" for obvious very important reasons at that time. Those reasons don't carry as much weight today. It was important to us then...not so important today. I hope I will be healthy enough to drive my rod to the shows that will be limited to pre-1980. Maybe 97s will be cheap again when NOS systems and turbo chargers are breaking the bank on Ebay.

It's like the weather...don't like it? just hang in there it will change.