well it took a long time till I found an email address I c'd create an account, then I forgot email address n password, till I remembered a few moons ago. now I feel like I'm online 48 hours a day with eight open topics n other pages I read with the other eye. glad here use dudes the alphabet and numbers. created some months ago a shitsta account to find some friends I had on facefook which I deleted coz I got bored being banned n dont agree with their communism standards, bans n censorsport, where a bunch of money n like eatin whores waste their time. communication there is like ya talk to a nut. far outta space.. only dumb shitsta gang sign language most time like three hearts or fire or laugh or cry crap.. I'm way too dumb for this retarded stuff, must be the new rock n roll but more rofl n lol! some still use a few words there but most are just lame lurkers imfpov (in my fuckin point of view) plus those africa connection fake accounts with their dumb porn links in private n group messages that add ya there without ya even knowin those freaks. why they just dont throw stones at the moon 100% vertical n wait if they get a reply?
I think build threads are worth the time personally. If nothing else, it is a good way to document what I did and helps motivate others it seems. At least it helps motivate me to follow along with others. My only problem is finding time to do the work lately. I hope to get to work on my Merc project in the next year or so after I get some stuff done on my house…
I like reading through and keeping up on some build threads. Guys and gals that can do work, take photos and post them , etc, it really is difficult to do. If I was asked to take pics of an oil change, post the pics with explanations , it would take me 8 hours to do it.
I'm here everyday at least twice a day. I always find something interesting to read or look at. There is so much talent on board here with automotive history , fabrication , tips , art , articles , how to videos and stories to name just a few.
Quite often on threads like this, before long someone brings up the fact that the "young" people have no interest, are always on some social/gaming device, "all they do is hole out in their room", with no in your face type interaction, only are in a virtual existence, etc.. I'm sure many may fall into this description, but like all generalizations, is simply wrong. I seem to always have one or more 4x4 types of vehicles, so attend those swap meets as well....You want to find out where the "younger" generation with mechanical interest are?....attend one of these events. As far as this site is concerned, it is a shame that any "opinion"/ "drama" type threads' responses will outnumber build threads 10 to 1 easy. I frequent this site far more than any other because even weeding out the BS, is by far the most relatable to me. On the topic of the initial "buy in" is too high for the "younger" crowd is concerned, may be a small fraction of the actual problem (they know how to, and do, spend money). Project cars, even on this site, often are way over priced, by the time you calculate new body/paint work, interior, plating, engine/trans, etc. I realize the irony of my posts about contributing to yet another drama type thread, but I do contribute to build threads when I have knowledge that in some way may be helpful, often it may only be with a "like", but feel its important for the poster, to know, people have/are reading his posts.
Well as far as a buy in for the hobby, not a traditional hot rod, but the hobby. The younger crowd leans towards the 1-1.5k stuff that’s running and can be worked on and spend money along the way. My oldest daughter is in the Tuner Crowd”. I Josh them quite regularly. But what they are doing is no different than what I did 35-40 years ago. Buy something 15-20 years old and running or capable of running, enjoy the drive and kill weekends doing stuff to it. When they lol at my stuff on jack stands, etc, almost in unison is “man, that’s a lotta work “. I don’t equate that to being lazy, heck, they are driving their projects
Okay, I've wondered about this since the day I joined and haven't asked the question yet for fear of appearing "dumb". What's a robot and how does it get access to the HAMB?
I agree with many guys here and all I can say is we are a needle in the haysack. with around 8 billion human beings on this planet we just have round about 5.200 hamb members that are online right now which is less than one of a million of human beings worldwide and I dont know how many haven't been active here since are year or more. some just signed up but never made a post. don't know how many members the hamb has in total but a friend of mine from south australia joined the hamb in january 2011 and was last seen in april 2011 online. actually I just checked n saw that daily a hand full of new members sign up. anyone knows the total number today or where I can find it? would be interesting to check out how many new many joined in a week or a month. of all signed or active members usually only 1 to 5 % are active posting. most just search or read stuff and maybe ask a question whithin a day or a week, month, year later. just like on other forum platforms only the hard core is really active daily, posting, chatting, helping, showing progress of projects and so on. I don't know in how many forums I ever signed up but there are many different for different rides and there's always the same issue just like here. the hamb is the most interesting of all to me with history, racing, projects, picture threads with many different krazy rides where ya sometimes have to scratch your head but also think wow, that's sick I love that kind of thinking outside the box. what I just don't really understand is the period correct traditional stuff like pre 49/50 or pre 64/65 but why not pre 72 or 81? I mean back in the day dudes didn't give a flyin fuck about period correct stuff. they just tried to get some rides and / or parts as cheap as possible, remove all crap, add as much power as they can, try to combine new stuff just to go faster and faster till something brokes. then ya learn what mistake ya made and can learn and improve and fix shit and go ever faster and faster next time. it's not just about the feelin of goin fast like hell but also to try old / new stuff which is nothing but race engineering and breaking records. that's what I love most about hot rodding. sure there are also great custom show n shine cars and nice restorations and survivors with nice patina and history but that's not so interesting to me personally. I love krazy fast rides, easy wild tech that gives ya respect when ya building and racing some fine old stuff. actually I'm thinkin bout to built a t bucket from scratch powered with a 1st gen hemi but those projects take their time and in germany ya dont get em that easy like in the states. am also thinkin bout to buy an old tin lizzy in top condition as a daily driver without a heater n crap like that. just an original stock 2.9 litre 20 hp roadster to ride from a to b and back daily. the hemi t bucket project is the opposite just to build one of a kind krazy race car. I'd prefer a high reving 241 cui with racing parts to built a very light but very strong and fast hot rod. cheers from germany
I can't start another build thread just to keep you guys from complaining about not enough new build threads here. Start your own.
good question, I would like to know that too. never interested me really coz I dont know what a robot is and how a robot can sign up but yeah, wtf is a robot?
Basically, a computer that's set up to automatically do and post particular types of things on websites. Ads, contrived narratives, etc etc.
I can't answer all your questions but I can answer a few: (1) Pre-65 because @Ryan said so. There is no democratic process here and the rules are pretty much set in stone. If they change, it's because Ryan wants it that way. It you want a website dedicated to "pre 72 or 81", invest your own time and money into it. If you choose to do so, I wish you all the luck in the world. (2) For the majority of us in the US, things aren't always easy. Unless you have unlimited funds and/or an inexhaustible stash of good parts, building a car that fits the guidelines of the HAMB is a labor of love for most. I envy those here who are able to start and complete a vehicle that is exactly what they envisioned without having to decide which is more important, everyday necessities or materials for the car. (3) In my opinion, I think your idea of buying an original vehicle, Model T or whatever, is a good idea. After you go through the labor of getting it running properly, you might find that any changes you want to make aren't earth shaking, just things that will improve the performance of what you have. That's what I did when I was a teenager. My 1950 Ford was a dog. To improve it required learning what needed to be done and working my ass off to afford parts. For the most part, the learning experience was hard and expensive. I didn't have the expertise of the people on this forum to learn from, so after my efforts failed, I learned what not to do and then I got to fix my mistakes.
Heck, I just turned what could have been a boring work trip to Australia into a hot rod trip of a lifetime all because of the HAMB. Whether thread count, build threads, or whatever happen to be shrinking seems somewhat irrelevant to how valuable the people are that frequent here. Where else can you find a group of likeminded folks all over the world to meet, share stories and ideas with when it comes to these old cars as long as you like the traditional styles?!?!
Some threads like old photos have many repeats.. a good thing for newer members. To older ones seeing them again and reading new comments are good…
Bots aren't some nefarious AI conspiracy. Every search engine and database uses them. From Wikipedia: "Googlebot is the web crawler software used by Google that collects documents from the web to build a searchable index for the Google Search engine." Because of all of the bots, you can find hours old (minutes old?) H.A.M.B. threads on Google and other search engines. The person(s) that administer the site "invite" the bots with code to get covered. Having a zillion bots crawling around indexing everything that gets posted is a good thing. When I watched my sites, I got visited once or twice a week. I thought that was good. Mike PS, upload your pictures here. If you want to link to some picture, download it to your device and upload it here. As long as Ryan keeps it going, no red x's. I hate photo hosting sites, they go away and we get all of the red x's on old threads. I either upload to the board or, occasionally, use something from one of my own domains. (If that goes away, I probably won't care.)
I agree that keeping a build thread going can be a royal pain but in many cases it can be beneficial to a new guy that is struggling, case in point the Ranch Wagon, when I was building it few people were interested in wagons, but I was building a '52-'54 Ford that was basically the red headed stepchild in the Ford line up and many things I did could apply to these years. The thread was started on 2003 and finished in 2012, trying to keep the threads interesting and taking all the photo's was a lot of additional work but the documented photo's and the explanation has helped me to remember how I modified parts and what I used to substitute parts that are no longer manufactured. I am constantly getting conversations on how I overcome problems, I am more than happy to share what i have learned so others can move forward with their progress. Like you I'm not building as much as I use to but I disagree with it not being worth the trouble, I know you have shared a vast knowledge many times in the past, as far as the membership every now and then someone will complain about how another doesn't do things like himself, I usually let it go. Sadly, the Hamb has lost a lot of elder statesman whos knowledge can still be found if you look for it, those of us that are left need to continue to share what we have learned. HRP
That's a very good point that I hadn't thought about...and have been guilty of hitting the like button on many of the threads that I follow. On the other hand, when people hit the like button on content/updates I've added to my build thread, it indicates that people are still interested and/or are following along.
I will probably pass my stuff to my son and grandsons, along with my tools. As far as interest goes; my son will have to do the not HAMB friendly project with his sons. I'm trying to finish the Hot Rods if I can. My son will use FI on the OT car; because he has no use for carburetors; the agreement is "no modern engines". I don't worry about the future value of my cars because I'm not selling. The time I get to spend with him and the boys is my value and reward. I agree the prices are sliding down.
Having been a member for nearly 12 years now, I can say that the stuff that I came to the hamb for (build threads, tech articles, road trips) are fewer and father between then they were when I joined. Most seen to have been replaced with "post photos of red cars" or "Old guys complaining about how young guys don't care" posts. while I was messing around with vw's in my earlier years (cheap hot rods) and have been burned by some.. questionable thread freezes... I stuck it out, and started my first build thread here last year. and my opinion is likened to this : It takes SO MUCH WORK. .remember to take photos .take interesting photos that actually show what you are doing .sort and upload photos .place photos into the thread .write an complimenting story that people can read and find interesting .proofread the whole thing .post when I was building the T it was sometimes a multi day process to find time to do. and I would get 3 likes, maybe 1 comment. Not gonna lie, I got annoyed a couple times, cause I was nearly killing myself building this car, late nights and weekends, while having a full time job and a new kid and wife that like to see me. and I took time to share that all for what seemed like 2 people. It would be different if there was no one on the Hamb, but I would then see dumb* threads get 19 comments the first hour they were up, and have 0 useful information in them. Needless to say, I feel the Hamb isn't dying, it just takes commitment to make threads that matter, just like the rest of social media, and it takes effort to make decent 'content' that's not just a sensational "controversial topic, look at me" post. To that end I'm gonna try to keep making posts that are as well informed as I can be, and try to post stuff that I would want to look at. You should too. The only way we make sure this lives on, is by making it a fun, informative, and interesting place to be.
I used to post a lot of stuff. I have a lot of pictures saved to add to threads or start new ones but procrastination is kicking my ass. I am on here reading all the time.
Thanks for documenting the T build for me…I may have been one of the two? Although, you do make me feel like a real slacker considering how long it takes me to do anything anymore…
Thanks for that information. I would never have known if you hadn't explained it. I'm still checking when I open a door into a room, though. Those little devils might have figured out a way to escape my computer .
The Jalopy Journal
