Hot Rods The Real Hot Rods,blue collar guys, hard earned squeezed dollars, No Frills that started it all!

How many of us have truly seen the real Blue-Collar man’s Hot Rod’s created in the ‘50’s, where the lack of money did not deter them from a dream and passion, where desire and real hard work was normal, their hard earned dollars got squeezed not only to make a living but to obtain that OHV engine and transmission they spotted at the local salvage yard that they can see it in the frame rails of their Model A.

The Coupe was nothing to look at, it was well used, faded factory paint at best, some or all the interior missing, but they were in love and passionate of having a car they could drive every day, to work, rain, snow, run the streets with the new found power of a OHV engine like a Cadillac, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Lincoln, Buick, Ford, Chevrolet … which they understood the results of Power-to-Weight-Ratio.

These were our Dad’s, Uncles, Cousin’s, Grampa’s or that guy we really never knew his name but were stimulated when we saw them leave the gas station, pull onto the road and punch the throttle wide open and see their Hot Rod vanish in a few seconds ….. We were hooked.

I’m just a few weeks from turning 66 years old (Lord willing) and got bitten by the Hot Rod bug when I was 8 or 9 years old. My older brother took me to a guy’s house on a country black top road on a sunny Saturday afternoon in rural Iowa, where upon our arrival I saw it, a ’30 Model A Coupe, no fenders or hood, very-faded and somewhat crusty original black paint, body channeled every bit of 8+ inches, black –ish steel wheels with very worn tires, what I think was a homemade seat inside. He had found a wrecked Chevy that sported a 327 4bbl and 3 speed manual transmission which he transplanted into the Coupe. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, who knows, I may have even drooled, but then I heard the guy say “you wanna ride in it?” ….. “YES SIR” I quickly said. I got in, he got in and fired up the stock engine with straight pipes all the way out the back … we drove away from his barn to the road, turned right and the next thing I know the engine is screaming and he lets the clutch out …. The tires are screaming as the Coupe lightly swerves side to side….then bam, he shifts to 2nd gear and it all happens again …. We must be flying!

He shut’s it down and we return to his barn, I’m hooked, I want one …. I never lost that desire and dream….. I was finally able to make that dream come true in 1989 and still have it today.

These are the guy’s and cars that have my greatest respect. The following pictures represent what I’m talking about, No Frills, No Speed Equipment, Little Money to speak off, just hard-working guys with a passion, desire, creativity, a torch and a dream.










If you have old photo's that depict this style of car, please feel free to post it.
And if you have a story to share that fit's this, please share it.

Sometimes I feel that we need to realize that this is not about how much money we can spend, or how perfect it needs to be made, but rather it's about the passion, desire, creativity and driving them all the time, rain or shine.

Real Hot Rods Rule !
Glenn

 

Yep…easier for a kid to drop (channel) the body, than to reconfigure the chassis! There was one that looked like this in our neighborhood when I was in my early teens!

 

Great story Glenn!

 

Yeah, a great story. I've posted mine in the past, but fits your { low $$ } as I gave a farmer only a $100. for mine. It's never had interior. I also then gave our mailman a $100. for his worn out, but running old Chevy for a parts car. Added a 9'' Ford rear from the junkyard. It was also our second car at one time. I even put snow tires on it sometimes in the winter. Now after two SBC's it has a 389 Pontiac from a totaled Bonneville, and tri-power from a swap meet. Low Buck U.F.O.

 

This is Pete Chapouris in highschool

 

I was about 8 or 9, I was already building models and buying little Rod& Custom magazines. The first real hot rod that I could see and touch was a friend of my Dad's. I was with Dad one day when we went by the local watering hole. Dad saw his buddies hot rod in the parking lot and turned in. He went in for a beer and I went over to check out the hot rod. It was a 34 Ford coupe, no chop, channeled, with what I later found out to be a bored out 312 with 3X2s sitting on top of it. I went in the beer joint and Dad was sitting in a booth with this kind of rough looking guy. He gave me a dime and told me to get a coke and sit down. He told the guy I was his kid, he has been outside checking out your coupe. The man said "The keys are in it, did you fire it up to see how it sounds?" I told him NO SIR!! He laughed and told me to come outside and he would let me start it. I almost tore the door off the hinges getting to the parking lot! I got in the driver seat and he said make sure it ain't in gear, I hit the key and it came alive. He told me to kick those duces in, I was about the coolest kid alive in my mind right then! He said I will take you a ride sometime, but I better get home right now or my wife will be bitchin'. He took off, it got a little sideways and I heard those duces kick in, WOW! I later found out that he had built it when he came home from WWll in 1946 with a stroked and poked Merc flathead, when he found a totaled 56 Ford with this 312 he up-graded the coupe. I guess he beat everyone in town and a bunch of other places until run a 57 Chevy with two fours. I though he was the coolest man I ever met!

 

Great Pictures.

 

Absolutely.
But I have to say...
Mostly due to the relative lack of available tin these days, I think there are those who might find it necessary to dig even deeper than hot rodders of yore to summon what's necessary to reach their goal. And I think most of them are right here on the HAMB.
And if we can't make them pretty, at least right away, that's fine. The go pedal doesn't care.

 

Not Very Frilly But Faster Than Electricity...

 

Truly seen one? I truly own one! My dad bought his 1936 Ford Cabriolet ion 1957 and started customizing it. he worked on it for five decades before old age, bad health and no money finally made him stop working on it. The first six photos are his progress from 1957 when he first started working on it through 1990 when he gave up on it. But in all that time he kept building the car like he would have in 1957 because that's the only way he knew how. The last photo is him sitting in the car in 2008 after my brother and I finished it for him in 2005. He passed away in 2018 but he was able to be driven around it for 13 years. I am now the caretaker of Ralph's 36 and my son will be the next caretaker after me.

 

That is such a nice story. And a beautiful ‘36!!!

 

some great stuff here. were they always coupes or did a few sedans sneak through?

 

Very interesting read…..however, there needs to be some perspective. You could buy a running Model A with registration papers off a used car lot for 100 bucks in the mid fifties and even cheaper from a private party. Junk yards were a dime a dozen and war surplus stores were a great source for cheap parts like AN fittings. Midnight Auto Supply was alive and flourishing! Too, minimum wage was $.90 an hour and gas could be as low as $.19 a gallon during a gas war. This observation is from a hot rodder growing up in So Cal during the 1950’s.

 

This was my 1934 Ford 5 window coupe, 1948 Merc engine, 1936 Ford trans. Don't remember the rear end we used. The year was 1957, I was 15yrs old. Built with the help of my older hot rod friends. At the time I had about $125.00 into the, what I called my Hot Rod. A lot of money for a kid working at a gas station nights and week ends!

 

This discussion kind of reminds me of Albert Drake's books about early hot rodding in the Pacific North West. I like seeing these authentic early rods when they were just old cars that guys were fixing up, not ICONS. I grew up during the '60's in the SF Bay Area and don't recall seeing any hot rods while I was growing up. I don't recall seeing any rods until the 1980's and that was a rare sighting! I'll admit I was more interested in choppers and the Hell's Angels had their club house in the next neighborhood. I read in Choppers magazine the advice that a chopper was all about profile. I'd say that hot rods are all about the stance and the attitude.

 

Posted these pics before , but a friend of mines owned since the 60’s . All steel , 426 max wedge, 9” rear. I would love to have it.

 

I was born in 1950 and was crazy about cars from a very early age. So if I heard any hotrod or loud engine fire up around my neighborhood I was on my bike and racing to go see it up close. The vast majority of hotrods I saw around my home were guys building in their one car garage, or driveway, so none of them were big dollar rides. Most didn't have professionally built engines, and were either good engines found in wrecked cars, or guys having the machine work done and assembling the engines at home.
The cars ranged from some amazing home built cars, to some sketchy enough even a kid under 10 yrs. old wondered if they should be on the road yet? But it inspired me to want to build a car as soon as I had money saved to afford one, and years before I could even legally drive it.
I've always appreciated and been thankful for the guys who were a decade older than me and allowed me to hang out around their garages when I was young. Whether they did things expertly, or not, I still learned what to do or not do. And allowing a kid to hang with them inspired and encouraged me to do the same.

 

I remember this old hot rod '28 or '29 roadster pickup with an ugly v'd windshield and Dodge Red Ram Hemi that I would pass on my way to school in a back alley. I couldn't figure out why no one ever worked on this way cool car. Now that I have spent years doing this, I know why.