Hot Rods What's wrong with a channeled hot rod?

Channeled cars are stupid. Here are a few of my favorites...

 

Here's Mike's roadster. He was from the S.F. Bay area.The car still exists. However, it has been unchanneled and restored to stock. One of the nicest, cleanest channel jobs I ever saw was on a '40 Ford 2 door sedan. Whoever did it was very meticulous. They used a spot welder to attach every new,finely crafted body mount to the body.

 

My first hot rod was a channeled 29 Model A roadster. When I decided to relive the past I couldn't fit in a Model A anymore and even a stock 32 roadster doors were too narrow so opted for a body with longer doors and cabin.

 

That's true and a channeled coupe, in my opinion, looks out of proportion. I don't think the question is if they are traditional or not, the question is what's wrong with a channeled hot rod and my answer is, they hurt my eyes. But to quote another old line, "to each his own," right?

 

My thoughts exactly


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Jim, I have to mention Al Drake, from Portland. In some of his stories about rodding in the early '50's, he talks about some of the early, primitive channel jobs done back then. Some of this may have given channeling a bad name in general way back then. Things (mostly) have improved. Build 'em the way you like. K6

 

My point of this little rant is duel purpose, first to ask why do so many of us think that a car that has been channeled for 50 years is in need of unchanneling to make it traditional? And second to ask what's the big deal about putting a subfloor back in it anyway?

 

My turd is chopped, channeled and sectioned. I'm five seven, but if I was six foot, I'd never be able to drive it.
I like it, I like the look of early channeled Coupes, each to their own I guess.
Unfortunately, like vegans, some feel the need to tell you all about it.

 

Why did Kopper Kart need changing ? the Grabowski "Kookie Kar" ? I would have thought leave them as is and build your own but smarter people then me hacked them......I don't know you will find an answer to the first question, ............ second one it is somewhat painful but no worse than rust repairs...

 

It comes down to personal preference. I am not fond of channeled hot rods. I do like some though.

 

My favorite 32 of all time.

 

And one of my favorite Model A's.

 

The appeal of a channeled hot rod to me comes from seeing so many back in the day. I always wanted to build one, but did not want to cut into an intact coupe body. So I started with this old race car, had no floor in it at all. It is a lot more work to build a channeled car than it would have been to go with the stock floor approach, but some of us like to be challenged. Old number 69 is now the black coupe - a lot of years and a lot of work between the two pictures - but mainly for me a ton of fun!

 

As you can see in my Avatar, my roadster is channeled. The roadster was built in the early 60's, as was my previous roadster that I had when I was 25 years old in 1965. If you don't like it, that is your problem. The people that I associate with like my roadster as what my license plates signifies, OLD ROD.

 

Never was a fan of channeled cars and would never build one. I have seen a very few that looked ok.

 

If the person that is building a channeled old Ford knows what they are doing, they can look great (like this one). The only problem is that the channel job eats up lots of interior room....IF you can fit in comfortably.....no problem. I guess I prefer the looks of a highboy, but I'm glad there is a variety of different styles.

 

Bad rod, that brown car is also my favorite car. That look and attitude could not be accomplished without a heavy channel.

 

As the owner of a channeled A roadster I can tell you that done correctly they can look great. Mine had been poorly done back in the 60's; channeled 6", floor hacked out and grill shell sitting higher than the cowl. It looked bad and drove worse. When I went through it I raised the body 2 inches, put a real floor in it and got the top of the grill even with the cowl. Looks a lot better now and is a little more comfortable to drive, however I'm still sitting on the floor and the top bar of the windshield frame is right at my eye level. Next time I mess with it I intend to raise the body another 2" or go back to high boy style. The biggest problem I see with channeling is that it messes with the steering wheel, pedal and seat relationship; it may work ok for a short person but not for my 6' height.

 

My first rod was a channeled 33 Chevy coupe that was a butcher job. The termites had gotten to the wood. So we welded tubing in place. It was mounted on a shortened 49 Chevy frame with a 55 Olds motor and trans and rear. I didn't care or know any better .I was 16 and had a hot rod, no matter how much of a POS it was. It kicked ass on the rich kids Mustangs and I could hang out with my engineer boots and black leather jacket like all the other greasers with real hot rods.
Good times . I could fix that car today and not just beat the crap out of it like I did back. It is a wonder I didn't die in that death trap.

 

That's the tognotti coupe- "the avenger". Wedge channel 10" in front and 8.5 in the rear.

I like this one better

 

Years ago I was in a club where one of the members had a channeled '32 roadster. It was one of the most beautiful cars I had ever seen, detailed, black and with tasteful flames. It just screamed "hot rod". We were at a club picnic and the owner was making a beer run. He asked me if I wanted to ride along. Of course I said "yes". It was one of the most uncomfortable cars I have ever ridden in. In contrast my AVATAR is very comfortable. (Yeah, I know it needs big and little Kelsey's)

Charlie Stephens

 

I love my grumpy little channeled piece of garbage.

Is it comfortable? Compared to what?... Not really but it does drive really good and is stupid fast and always fun.

They've always been around. They'll always be around. They're no harder to sell than anything else.

 

Is it comfortable compared to what? An unchanneled coupe....I guess.

 

Stop being a boner a boner!

 

My three window was a channeled car out of western Kansas but when I got it i decided to unchannel it and run it sometimes full fendered and sometimes a hi-boy. It was a tough decision but since I love the look of a 32 frame, I couldn't make myself cover it up with the body. I love them both ways though.

 

In the car building arena things are very important. We pay a great amount of attention to stuff. Just to name a few - drive line angles, pedal ratios, linkage, steering geometry, camber, caster, toe, Ackerman, gear ratios, Trans selection and shift recovery, brake size, bore calculations, instant center, anti squat, bump steer ,,, need I say more?
Bearing clearance, bore taper, port shape, valve lift, piston to valve clearance, ring gap, piston coating, compression ratios, ignition timing, carb jetting,,, ok enough right. All that stuff is important and some more than others but still important.

What about the physics and ergonomics of the human body belonging to the driver?
What good is all the above?

 

Of everything named above very little would change from raising the floor label. Pedal location is pretty much it.

 

Makes no sense. Channeled was out if you wanted to run because of height and make sure you didn't tell anybody you were even thinking about it?

I thought that most rods running were chopped? Wouldn't that exclude them from running because of height mods?

Maybe the judges had their ear to the ground getting the scoop on who was thinking about channeling and couldn't see high enough to tell if the car was chopped.


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What says hot rod more than a chopped and channeled deuce coupe? Maybe a little uncomfortable to some because of the lack of room, that can be partially cured by dropping the floor below the top of the frame like a Jaguar. Been done by many including myself with success, just dropping the pedal area makes a big difference. Most importantly however, why is it necessary to call someones' pride and joy junk or ruined simply because you don't like it. Too much of that attitude going on lately regarding cars and a lot more.

 

If you were a kid with a torch and some coat hangers. Channeling was something you could do. Chopping or sectioning required skill and talent. At least that was my concern. And anyone who thinks there were no channeled cars on the lake or at Bonneville is very misinformed.