Not really, if you do the math. Let's say that there were 8 major car magazines, with 12-issues per year, and they featured 4-vehicles per issue, over 30-years. After culling 5% for duplicates and updates, that is 10,944 vehicles, across all eras from say 1935 to 1965. Break that down to specific windows, and you are not talking about a relevant statistical sample of what existed. Remember, magazines had editors with rules, just as this board has moderators with rules. If a particular vehicle did not appeal to the sensibilities of a singular editor, or it not make it to the top of the feature list, it did not make it into the magazine. They had the trad-police back then, too, except that they were the sole gatekeepers of what you got to see.
I happen to have nearly every HRM from 1953-1964. First two years of car craft after they switched from the honk name. A bunch of similar era r and c plus a bunch of random more off brand magazines. You aren't just looking at feature cars. Those early magazines had very large "letters to the editor" and readers rides sections. Not to mention many event coverage articles. And you end up with at least 60 cars per issue to go off of. And styles aside parts you may use or want to use as a problem solver you may not be sure if an era available part. After buying a speedway front mount for the 57 283 with no side mount provisions I wasn't sure it would fit the period. Happened to look through a 1960 HRM that was an engine swap issue and came across a pic of a mount near identical to the speedway mount. So common timeless hot rod problem solving skills combined with ads and articles that'll tell you if the part was even available then will go a long way
True there Gimpy but locally the actual rods and customs pretty well followed what you saw in the magazines in the same time frame. To me "Period correct" rods or customs means what you saw in the magazines in that time frame along with every part on the build actually having been available in that time frame. Simply meaning that if you are building a roadster that is supposed to resemble what a returning GI would have built in 1946 You can't put 50 Pontiac tail lights on it. If you are building a 55 Chevy 210 with a 327 and 4 speed to be like what we did see in 62/64 when the 327 showed up you can't run a Preformer intake. And no those cars with all the bolt on doo dahs that were the grandparents of the modern day " I got my chrome portholes and gas cap cover at Autozone" brigade didn't make it into any magazine except a Life magazine article about life in a depressed area of the country. Some remind me of the Harley bagger that a guy I had known for quite a while had. He told me that it was "all custom" and proceeded to point all of the bolt ons that he had on it including the the light bar around the big box behind the seat and the gold inlaid covers that could be removed and replaced.
There is one level of builder who would be just fine with the Speedway mount that looks just like the old mount in the magazine. Then there is the next level of builder who would only want a Hurst mount exactly as shown in the magazine. Different levels of period correctness.
The newer "Day 2" topic is what you could bolt at the time. Should be air shocks on most of leaf spring cars, wide rear tires . . Ass end jacked up, with shackles.
This photo was from Life magazine in 1957. I suspect the picture is from an earlier year. It definitely shows what would be in a street coupe in the day.
That is an awesome pic. I feel like my day has gotten better from seeing that. Not even joking. I love teardown pics like that from back in the day. Do you know what issue it was in?
The picture which I posted was from the April 29, 1957 issue of Life. I completely wore out my original copy back in '57.
The word ambiguous would be a better way to describe the term "Traditional Hot Rod". When most people hear that term, they are going to think of a west coast Hi-boy like the McGee roadster- For me being from the Northeast when I hear the term "Traditional Hot Rod" I think of Fran Banister's roadster But there were cars that were cars built in period that were anything but traditional- Chet Herbert's propane-powered, Horning 12-port head GMC, 32 sedan The Nolan Swift Super Modified built in the winter of 1960 for the 1961 season. The frame was built out of tubing, just like the Indy cars of the day. Most if not all supers used stock frames at that time. That chassis ran from 1961 to 1974 it was that far ahead of its time! Many features of this car like the torsion bar rear suspension (this was a 4 bar car) , which would become the standard of northeast dirt modifieds, would not become common place until the mid-seventies which only feel out of favor for rear coils about 5-10 years ago. Mallicoat Brothers Gasser Ohio George Montgomery 33 Willy's won the 1960 US Nationals with a 4 coil over suspension.
Hello, When I saw this funny color 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery rolling up the driveway to our high school/teenage drive-in restaurant hang out place, it was awesome. Most of the cars were the sedans of the time. 50s Chevys, Fords and a few others thrown into the affordable mix. There were a few old hot rod style cars, but the majority were the sedans. The sight and sound was a package all rolled into one cool hot rod. It was supposed to be racer orange, but in the parking lot light, it was off color. The owner was an old friend from junior high school and high school. He had just finished it and was showing it to all of the teens in the parking lot. It was 1960 and the era was teenage fun and sedans were the top of the line as far as fast, hot rod style of cruising. Era correct? Yes sir… our era of being teenagers and allowed to drive. That was the era. Definition: 1. A long and distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic. "his death marked the end of an era" 2. A system of chronology dating from a particular noteworthy event. "the dawn of the Neolithic era" So, the terminology has been overworked and no longer important, if it ever was. Teenagers and 20 somethings had plenty of energy to do things. Growing up and experimenting in different ways of fun activities. It was originally a So Cal thing, but has roots all over the USA. Jnaki Each group of high school teens that drove were a part of that particular era. Some groups mixed into the others, but mostly were the teenagers at the local high school area. Other schools had their own existence and own group of adventures. Was our era theirs? Possibly if one takes into the whole hot rod scene and drag racing as a commonality from the different locations. There was no specific era correct in building or buying hot rods, cruisers or using family cars as the primary driver for school, work or family matters. It was our era and we knew from the older guys that were moving on and had been the cruisers of their time in high school. That was their era and their stories were classic. But, we all knew our time was during the teenage time period and the majority was during high school. Those folks that graduated knew the time to move on was near and then no longer did the whole cruising around their high school area places. Family life, jobs, military, colleges all played a part of their time and new adventures. So, almost everyone knew it was time to move to another “era.” I guess one could describe the style of cars as creative and as we all know, as teenagers, our world revolved around girls, surfing, French fries/hamburgers/cokes and hot rods that we bought, built, cruised and raced. The styles were our own and it has always been that way. Individuality was the key. There are some examples of those hot rods from those old times, but most memories for current hot rod folks are the old magazines that perpetuated the “era” of the fifties and 60s to stay within HAMB guidelines. As the years progressed, everyone had a build that satisfied their own tastes. Some stuck to looking like others, while there were always individual tastes and abilities. So, a 327 SBC sedan delivery 10 years later, a different "era correct?" Or the same era?
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