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Technical when did the flathead stop being king?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by chappys4life, Nov 23, 2011.

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  1. I like your take on the way it was. Since the Y had a head start on the Chevy, I wondered if it even began to catch on. Cool.
     
    dana barlow likes this.
  2. 33sporttruck
    Joined: Jun 5, 2012
    Posts: 530

    33sporttruck
    Member

    Dana, Damn good post and your Car is looking Good!!!......... Jeff
     
    dana barlow likes this.
  3. spuds
    Joined: Dec 30, 2008
    Posts: 401

    spuds
    Member
    from Idaho

    If its a traditional hotrod Henry is King!! In my world!!
     
    dana barlow likes this.
  4. jamesgr81
    Joined: Feb 3, 2008
    Posts: 283

    jamesgr81
    Member

    The flathead is an anachronism, so be it, Nothing wrong with that, it's a major part of hot rod history. And there is something to be said about the timeless appeal it has to some. The sound of a flathead winding up is pure automotive joy.

    If you want to go fast, you go with what works, and the flathead did but now it don't. That's not the point. To say that everything but a flathead sucks, SBC's are boring is silly. There are thousands of 32 Fords does that make them boring?

    I got no problem with flatheads, whatever floats your boat. I used the term faux retro to describe guys that weren't even alive in the 50's trying to recreate something that never existed. In reality, all the guys abandoned the flathead and never looked back. So many cars built now are what we think the past should have been, instead of what it really was.

    Bring on the dummy Appletons, wolf whistles, squirrel tails on the antenna, Smitties, I like 'em. They are just as much as part of the past as the flathead.
     
    Gary Reynolds and dana barlow like this.
  5. sub006
    Joined: Jun 7, 2012
    Posts: 56

    sub006
    Member

    By the summer of '62, when the movie was happening, most flatheads were not racing. Used SBCs were common and cheap enough for anybody to get one and drop in their old-school coupe or roadster.

    My dream Ford is a '39 Standard woody. Love that waterfall grille with the Zephyr headlights.
     
  6. sub006
    Joined: Jun 7, 2012
    Posts: 56

    sub006
    Member

    Excuse me. As I was saying, I also dig the iconic teardrop '39 taillights plus the last floor-shift in a Ford for many years. And my '39 woody would have a flathead, but warmed up some!

    My fun car is a '64 Sting Ray convertible, got it 48 yeares ago in high school. It's now kustomized to resemble a Grand Sport. SBCs are cool, but my favorite car is going to get my favorite engine, a '70 Cad Eldorado 500!
     
  7. Not quite right, not all the guys some of us dinosaurs ran flatheads through the 60's, 70's 80's 90's and even today. Started out at 16 with a flattie because that's all I could afford and you could get speed equipment for pennies because everyone else had given up on the flathead and that equipment was just lying around waiting for some young un to pick it up. Then once I got hooked that was it and it has been that way for the last 53 years.....and now to another generation I hope....
    Early 60's
    [​IMG]
    Now....
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  8. "
    I got no problem with flatheads, whatever floats your boat. I used the term faux retro to describe guys that weren't even alive in the 50's trying to recreate something that never existed. In reality, all the guys abandoned the flathead and never looked back. So many cars built now are what we think the past should have been, instead of what it really was. "
    Yep, right on. There are guys that are like Civil War re enactors, they are 50's-60's re-enactors. Really, the whole idea is the exact oposite of the time period they imiitate.
    There are so many "rules" about what's "traditional" it's ridiculous.
    But that's kids for you, trying to belong to something. It wasn't really as complicated as they make it out to be, it's kind of amusing really. BUT, younger people won't get what you are saying, they are clueless as to what you mean, that's just the way it goes. Nothing that flat black, tats and rolled up Levi's can't cure! Having fun is great, I just wish they didn't take the whole thing so damn seriously!
     
  9. Who says trying to build an era-correct hot rod can't be fun? I'm having a blast building my "anachronistic" early 40's era roadster pickup and have met and built friendships with some real salt of the earth folk in the process. :D

    I think it's a little unfair to paint all the younger "kids" with such a broad brush...there are a good number of period-correct 'freaks' here on the H.A.M.B. that have a huge amount of time invested researching and documenting period photos/surviving cars and apprenticing under the guys who built and ran them. Their faces may seem fresh and their years few, but they can get grease under their nails and bust ass in the garage with the best of 'em. It has nothing to do with 'fitting in'; if we wanted to do that, we'd be building the same O/T cars all of our peers are into.
     
  10. I'm not painting anybody with any brush, nor am I implying kids aren't good people.
    What I'm refering to is the post above that accuratly says nobody mourned the flathead, anymore than they mourned the Model B. Come on, it wasn't like that, it was make it better, faster, there wasn't much thought given to "tradition", hell, faster and better WAS "tradition".
    There's an old saying "too much is just enough", , now to me , THAT'S as traditional as trying to be "period correct". when bigger, more powerful motors came around, OF COURSE they got put into hot rods! What's hot rodding all about?
    What turns me off is some abstract ideological purity, a lifestyle of some imaginary time that, as the other poster said, never really existed.
    Man, in 1955 or 1963, if a guy could have gotten a modern EFI, OHC motor, he would have been the coolest guy in town. What I'm saying is, there's room for everybody, don't be snobs or purists! HAVE SOME FUN.
     
    volvobrynk and 40fordtudor like this.
  11. I thought we were having fun :D

    I agree, respect (in spite of differing opinions) goes a long way.
     
  12. More fun than ever runnin my flattie............
     
    volvobrynk and gwhite like this.
  13. 270dodge
    Joined: Feb 11, 2012
    Posts: 742

    270dodge
    Member
    from Ohio

    yep, yep, yep.
     
  14. bartmcneill
    Joined: Dec 23, 2009
    Posts: 395

    bartmcneill
    Member
    from Ada, OK

    I got to agree, the SBC engines became king in 55.
     
  15. 40fordtudor
    Joined: Jan 3, 2010
    Posts: 2,503

    40fordtudor
    Member

    I have to throw in with Gary Reynolds----I'm from the 50's/60's and it was ALL ABOUT getting an edge with your ride. In fact, the times/things changed so fast they went by hardly noticed by a lot of us-----yet we WERE there. Cars were the tradition. No pigeonholes.
     
    Gary Reynolds likes this.
  16. FOURTYDLX
    Joined: Feb 22, 2006
    Posts: 718

    FOURTYDLX
    Member

    This 40 had one in 56
     
  17. st.rod
    Joined: Jan 18, 2009
    Posts: 143

    st.rod
    Member

    Gotta still be the King. After all its real hard to spend that much to go so slow. But ya' always have hot water

    Larry
     
  18. King Callie
    Joined: Jul 26, 2012
    Posts: 59

    King Callie
    Member
    from Virginia

    I have spent enough green to have 3 nice SBC's already, but building my 8BA has given me more enjoyment than any other engine I have built (there has been a few).
     
    spuds likes this.
  19. 1gearhead
    Joined: Aug 4, 2005
    Posts: 464

    1gearhead
    Member

    The Flatheads demise began in the early 1950's when the overhead valve V8 motors started appearing. It was no longer competitive engine for competition and as now is a nostalgic novelty powerplant. Sorry if this hurts some feelings, but fact is fact.
     
    Gary Reynolds likes this.
  20. Yup. That's the facts!
    Flatheads are cool, roadsters are cool, but so are a lot of other things.
    FACT is, unless you are rebuilding a car actually built back in the day, you are creating a copy, a replica if you will. Nothing wrong with that, but I REALLY don't like the Holier Than Thou attitude displayed by some guys, that THEY know what hot rodding is all about, and others don't.
    Fact is two dozen "period correct" Deuces all IDENTICAL down to the paint does get a little boring. If I see a car powered by some oddball motor (God forbid, a six, a Stude or anything different), I'll look at that rather than what's become, sadly, another "period correct" belly button car.
    Yes I "get" that the HAMB is about what it's owner defines as traditional cars, I obey the rules, I love them. I like EVERYTHING mechanical be it Rolls Royce Merlins, Mopar sixes, Maytag washers or lumber mills! I love shit that's iron and steeland aluminum, bolted and riveted or welded rather than electronic. It's ALL the same theory and era.
    I have a friend who won't watch anything in black and white, another that won't listen to any music after 1963! How tedious and boring!
    Flatheads ARE COOL, but they aren't ,and never were, the only game in town!
     
    volvobrynk likes this.
  21. Gee fellas, how about we just say 'to each his/her own' and be done with it...life has its own fair share of drama, let's move on & get back to the traditional rods & customs we all came here for.
     
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