Don't get me started,...well, I've started. Perhaps a bit of a stretch from the core intent of this thread, my first entry is,..... Ya know, when you agree to be a "friend" on that FaceThing, you get tagged with all kinds of extraneous shit, like pics of dogs snuggling with kittens or the wife's vegetable garden, and all the friends, friends stupid comments. It's enough to make one "unfriend" a friend! Now that's off my chest, lemme expand on the theme. How 'bout the gentrified description of our beloved cars as "classics"!???? Here are classics in my opinion. Below are "Hot Rods" in my opinion,.... or "Street Rods",....
Most of what we build cannot be considered a classic to anyone but us. We do start with sheet metal that can be considered classic. But In my mind unless a hot rod or custom has providence it cannot be considered to be a classic. In my mind in order to be a classic it needs to be stock. That is just with world according to the PorknBeaner. My pet peeve is people who want to talk about what was and do not know what was. I was in the reading room this morning reading a '62 Speed Mechanics magazine. I have no idea where it came from, I recently found it on top of a tub of parts in my garage. I digress. Back to my example. "Radial tires are not traditional." Two thirds of the cars in the magazine had radials on at least one end. Another bunch of them had motorcycle tires on the front. I like bias ply tires so this is not to disrespect bias ply tires just to say that my pet peeve is people who speak and do not know.
I picked up a stack of 6 good tires at an auction for a friend of mine for a T project of his. Looked like bias ply. Michelin X. Looked em up, and turns out they are radials. Michelin started producing them in the late '40s apparently.
How about calling old race cars classic? They're just race cars. Outdated maybe, but just race cars... I'm much better now
Michelin, Pirelli, Dunlop were all building radial tires a long time before we think that they did. The early tires did not have steel belts yet. Those happened in the later '60s as I recall. We lived in NorCal in the '60s. The old man put radials on when I was really young (I don't remember how old). He said if they were good enough for Euro Sports cars they were good enough for him. He drove his car hard in the mountain twisties. Older radials did not look like modern tires. Different era different technology.
When I was coming up, the only American Cars considered to be Classic were Duesenberg, Cord, a certain mid 30s Chrysler model ( not Airflow ) I can't remember. Other than that, Classic was Rolls Royce ( some bullt in Massachusetts ) Bentley, Bugatti, some models Mercedes etc. I imagine one day it will be any rear drive with a frame chassis.
The term Classics gets bantered about with reckless abandon. The AACA long ago established what are true Classics and the Model A in your first picture is not one of them. Great car, but not a Classic.
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance started in 1950. The cars were considered to be classics. I was not born until 54, but it was happening when I was coming up.
LOL they build more Model As than there were people I think. Someone told me that he was going to restore a model A coupe that he found. I laughed, the world needs another stock Model A real bad.
I think that decrepit is a better description. 3 owners (one twice), lots of miles and rode hard and put up wet. I do not know about classic but if it were not for fuel coupes I would need to See Alice.
Bill, I agree with you on the use of 'classic' for any car more than ten years old. 5 window A coupe, fenderless highboy ... people just don't know any better. Rear diff is another one. Unless you're in 4x4 world, saying rear diff is totally redundant. There are dozens of examples. But again, people stroll into or dive into this hobby from many directions. (And that's about as kumbaya as I'm going to get) p.s. Yes, they should do their homework first.
It doesn't help that the states offer special plates for 'classic' cars and then define those as anything over X years of age, usually 30.
Hey Bill, your definition of street rod based on the 2 photos provides is a lot tighter than mine. I would have considered both of those to be in the hot rod camp. Now, if they had Billet wheels, a pink and teal heartbeat graphic, or a crying baby leaned up against them, all bets are off and the owners lose their hotrod cool status cards.
Here they call them antique plates, and your car has to be 25 years old and only used for "special occasions".
My pet peeve is people feeling they have to categorize someone else's car, or tell them how they should have built it.
The "next year my car will be a classic and I can put classic plates on it" The fools who run this state put a 20 year rolling year on Classic plates back in the 70's when it was requested by car clubs in the state with a set year model cut off date. With the 20 year foolishness every vehicle that I own qualifies for classic plates the newest by one year. A frigging 2002 VW Passat sedan is not a "classic" by any stretch of the imiginaton. Last time I was at the dump there was a guy there hauling trash in a pickup with Classic plates on it. A rule book no no if the right state patrol trooper had caught him. That nonsense can ruin it for the guys who does only use his truck with classic or yom plates for fun time things. I don't know if it is still a thing but the "what is it worth?" when someone walked up to you when you were anywhere in your old car or truck was the biggest gripe for me and caused me to bail out of the hobby for several years and go sailing.
Yeah, what is that? It's just rude. I hate it. People don't ask about your shoes, your house, your salary etc. Well, they shouldn't. And it's not because they want to buy it or offer any context like "I'm thinking about building something like this, about how much do you have in it?" It's just an inane probe into your private affairs.
The Jalopy Journal
