Projects What era hot rod are you building and what influenced you the most?

the 40's to the 60's did it for me

 

Put me down as a late 60's/early 70's fan. I prefer shiney paint (had too many in primer and crummy paint in the past), finished interior and a few creature comforts such as a/c and a good stereo. When my coupe first hit the road, it was a Muncie 4 speed. However, as I aged and arthritis set in my knees, I replaced the stick with a 700R4. At times I miss the 4 speed but knees never do. The one thing that will never change, any car that I have will have to be easily recognizable as a hot rod. No one will ever question what type of vehicle I'm driving. I have always believed that the whole idea behind hot rodding from year one, was to improve the performance and looks of your vehicle. With the emphesis on the performance. That's why there is no way that I'll take drum brakes over discs or bias plies over radials. I will not give up two of the biggest performance improvements to come down the pike. If your idea of a hot rod is a "period correct" car, have at it. I see them as no better than a AACA restoration with all the emphesis on "correctness" rather than what the early rodders were all about. Damn, I HATE the word "correct".

 

late 30's to early 50's.....or today!

 

Gassers, coupes and early altereds man...it was always the gassers, coupes and altereds.

 

I'm planing a late 50's early 60's but with EFI. Then show off some '57 Fuel Injection logo's. It ain't a hot rod if it don't have 3 pedals either. I figure a 3.73 rear end and a T5 5 speed manual should get the job done. Oh and it has to have A/C and decent gas mileage (the overdrive and FI should help with that) and have an AWESOME exhaust sound.

 

I'm building a Ratrod, like the Meth cooks built back in 2003.

 

I am building a 40 Willys Gasser as was run in the 60's. I think the reason is that as a child cars with a rake, and straight axle were the coolest thing around. I had magazines with pictures of them and made models of them . I suspect some psychologist would say I am trying to recapture my childhood & they would probably be correct in some waked out way.

Dave WA

 

I'm 26 and building my T like it's 62'. Short wheelbase with a higher stance, body channeled level to the bottom of the frame, cammed sbc, steelies, cheater slicks on the back and skinny bias plys upfront, 38 dodge dash, big old steering wheel, etc... I don't have the money to make everything pre-62 but my ride will be funtional and pull off the look fairly well in my opinion. As far as why I went that route... Dad was always into the gasser/altered look and I just followed suit. Badass cars came from that era. However my next build hopefully will be a late 40's style with all traditional parts.

 

Early '60's, 1963 to be more specific. The year I was born!

 

era? My signature explains it pretty well.

 

1958 to 1962 for me.
HemiDeuce.

 

The late 40's era from '46-'48 on the dry lakes is what has influenced me on my current build. Plus all the Don Montgomery books i have collected recently have really helped me too The more and more i have dug into and learned about the history of Hot Rod racing on the dry lakes of El Mirage and other places, the more passionate i have gotten about detail and tradition. When it comes to building a traditional ride from that era, which really has gotten me excited, i wanted to do the research first so i felt like i knew what i'm was doing with this first project of mine. The HAMB has been a useful source of help and knowledge as well and i couldn't have done without all the help from here and all the people i have met along my journey into old jalopies and the way they were!

BUILD THREAD

This is just a preliminary mock -up below.

 

I love mid to later '40s-mid '60s era.

I originally wanted to build my roadster in an early '40s manner but I found my Y block for free and ran with that. So now I kind of made up my own history... as completely fucking lame that is.

For instance, a guy builds a cheap low black roadster in around '48-'49 on a shoestring budget. Power comes from a late shoebox flathead for power, and ran it like that until '53-'54 when the Y-Block came out and dropped one of those in it from...oh say a new but rear ended F100 from the bone yard... while keeping the rest of the car in that late '40s feel.

The newest part on the car is from '57 and thats my 9" rear. I tried to keep everything that was very visual/major to the car as close to '54 as possible. Motor/trans/rear of course I wanted vintage parts, but things like the wheels, front brakes, steering wheel, seats, tires, guages, grill shell, shocks etc etc, the shit that people would immediately see and take note of.. I wanted old, or at least repro. More discrete things like the steering column, smaller front suspension components, pedals/MC, I bought new to up my chances of having a super dependable car in the end. The kicker is that Im painting those parts with a mixture of flat blacks, grays, and gunmetals to give the feel of old parts.

 

I have 1940 Chevy truck that I am trying to build like a late sixties style. Big block m21 4spd and olds 12 bolt posi. Everything from that era I can except the front end setup. It is a Fatman MII unit I know it isn't what you call traditional but at least I can drive it. Those old trucks were built for farm fields. Also have a Forty Ford 2door deluxe sedan. Bought it in 95 and plan to build a cross country driver with it. It will look traditional but have modern driveline. I am also collecting parts for a 31 model a track roadster that will be as period traditional as I know how. These are all being done in My garage by myself and a couple good friends. I am doing them to please me and not the period correct police. Too many rules ruin the rodding community in my opinion.

 

Well probably the most modern thing will be disc brakes. Im goin to say mid 60s engine technology will be the latest ill go.I like the ealy dragster era. Id really like to find a car like my gramps had and build it like i think he'd want it.

 

Mid to late 60's is the era I like and put that theme into my 56 chevy. Mostly because my Dad graduated in 65 and has always had really cool cars. That is the time period he always talks about and tells me what everyone was doing to there cars then. He has always been a huge influence on all of my car builds and especially this one I am doing now.

 

It is easy to determine some of the mechanical parts and when they were available.

How do you determine how some of the interiors paint and what wheels and tires were available and popular?

 

Timeless is how I like 'em. A car that will look as good in thirty years as it does today and did thirty years ago. I like fat fendered 1930s Deco cars and the shape, form, flow, rake, fit and finish are fundamentals for me. The driveline is a secondary visual consideration and I can appreciate old school and bang up to date modern. The technology should be under the skin and the outside should be the visual draw - the difference between a car that has 'It' and a car that doesn't - the one you walk around and around examining it in minute detail. It's like sexy - can you really describe it? Maybe not, but you know it when you see it. And for each of us it may be something different - 'one man's meat is another man's poison', as they say. Yet I can appreciate many build styles without feeling the need to emulate them and I am grateful to the builders for bringing a visual treat.

I like the Roy Brizio and Art and Mike Chrisman school of building hot rods - pure timeless class and oozing quality. Wasn't it former Mercedes Head of Design Bruno Sacco who, when asked to define it, said "Elegance is one step behind fashion"?

But then again I love real Willys gassers, hmmm...

 

Mid late 50's ,,influences 40's to early 60's..as that seems when the most experimenting was going on. love all the different versions of thing as they evolved ,,to how some are today. I think some of them were a better design back then ,rather than now

 

I'm trying to relive the late 60's when Uncle Sam sent me off to war. I like the period music and thought that a hot from that era would just be the ticket. It seems like most of what is here on the HAMB is early 60's then jump to the 70's. Hell.... Maybe things didn't change much.

 

The 60's for me. I like the paint options but the real deal is the engine and trans options. When there were flatheads and sixes, you were limited in how much power you could make. By the time 1963 rolled around you could have such a wonderful choice of engines and a useful power range. I still remember the first time I heard a solid lifter engine scream to about 7 grand going through the gears. That guy was one of the first that understood the value of 4.57 gears. I was impressed.

 

Somewhere along the line I became corrupted by the pre & post war era dry lakes cars and that is where my influence lays and why I am building my '25 Chev roadster the way I am.



But I was originally influenced with the Hot Rods of the 60s & 70s thanks to my Dad's Oz Hot Rod mags these still influence me and someday I will build my ultimate 60s hot rod, a channelled Oz Bodied '34 Ford 5w with Y block or Poly.

 

Some of the cars I build are influenced by what the heck I have laying around for parts.

 

Not sure where, but I was shooting for the some where in the sixties

 

Since building drag cars is my business and my wife wanting something to drive...we found a nice 51 Ford to start with.......She wanted the 49/50 front end, so we now have a 49/50/51 in the works........scored a free ZZ4 from GM and it only lasted a few minutes off the truck.......Pat said, "That's mine, mine, mine"........so it now resides on an S-10 clip in the lil shoebox........With a few drag car pieces and parts around it was a natural to use some of it........big and littles with some re cycled wheels. A fully manual 700R4, 9 inch with a 3.70 locker and this weekend it will start it's life under the car with a homebuilt 4 bar setup and some left over coil overs.

Plenty left to do..49 front, 50 dash and a 51 body. Still looking for a good 49/50 hood and a few trim parts for the 49 front end. A friend brought in some seats that look like they may be comfy and work with our needs......I am 6'2, Pat is 5 something.......

It's coming along and the color will be our own TexasThunderRed..........what else?

Not necessarily HAMB traditional and no wide whites..........but should make a nice driver.

Mark

 

I'm trying to restore a 66 Nova AWB funnycar like the Jungle Jim one. If I ever get a chance to get to work on it in between customer cars. So I'd have to say the mid 60's are my favorite car era. Pre-hippie days. Beach Boys, front engine dragsters, short wheelbase fuel altereds and funny cars w/doors. My favorite Detroit body styles are any car of 1965. Comet, GTO, Coronet ect.

 

That's going to be BEETCHIN' man!

 

I agree - I love that look. I've really gotten into the higher stance of the earlier build styles - approaching stock.

 

Since I've lived through most of the eras I like things from each of them. However, I want my ride to reflect this time in historical terms. I don't mean starting with a new car. In my case I started building my roadster from scratch to resemble a car built originally in the 20's or 30's, but modified to look like a contemporary build. The guys building in the 60's (Pick a year) took an old car and made it "Period Perfect" by building it the way things were done at that time. I want mine to be period perfect too, but perfect for this time and space so it becomes my statement and not belong to someone else from a previous time period. Except for the wheels, no billet, no chrome, Just a few exposed stainless nuts and bolts, the rest in paint. Period perfect? only time will tell, but it's the way I want to do it.

 

some of the people that know me say that i work on the "germ" level[detail freak], can`t help it that`s just the way i am. so i`m shooting for a specific time in history for my next build-May 18, 1940. OH, I forgot-7:26 P.M. ha,ha.