Hot Rods how do you feel about fiberglass hot rods???

The older I get, the more I want wood.....
(Sorry, you left that door wide open. Someone had to say it.)

 

The important thing to remember is,,,
It's not what your Hot Rod can do for You.
It is what can you do for Your Ht Rd

 

Absolutely. But these days when you look at the engine choices in hotrods it often looks like people have forgotten about the benefits of reducing weight.

 

Yes I sold it but didn't mean too, a guy ask and I put a high price and he said he would take it, I am a man of my word,could I have gotten more if it was steel?, let me put it this way, I bought a running driving steel 5 window for less than I sold my glass roadster.

BTW, if the right priced glass roadster showed up today I wouldn't hesitate, the steel verses glass doesn't bother me in the least and I don't buy or build hot rods as investments. HRP

 

No apologies needed. Don't be so hard-on yourself.

 

I re-bodied a rusty car with a fiberglass replacement more than 40 years ago. The donor was 7 year old genuine Henry and rotted completely out. We twisted the doors off. The glass car was my daily and got driven rain or snow (salt). I still have it. It has been sitting in a dirt-floor barn for 37 years, un-washed. Not a lick of rust in the body. It outlasted genuine Henry by a factor of 6, so far. I guess it depends what you want to do with it. Only way I would replace with metal now, (recently became available as repro), is if it was going to be a garage queen. Yes I would own a glass car, no I wouldn't care about it much. I like it. Mike

 

Personally, I would rather have a Henry steel or a G.M. tin and wood body. However, I think people make a big deal about fiberglass cars, but from the post war era there were 'glass cars.

The Woodill Wildfire 52-58 which was basically a fiberglass version of an Allard...


...Diablo Speed Shop started offered 'glass T-buckets in 1957


Buzz Pitzen's Diablo bodied T-bucket was on the December 1960 issue of Car Craft and the June 1962 issue of Hot Rod. and on the 1962 Hot Rod Yearbook.

 

Well post up your address and leave the door unlocked and see what shows up

 

I've been eyeballing a glass bodied 32 for a while that would be times over out of my budget range if it was real 32 steel. On the other hand there is an all steel sedan the same distance away for a better price but the interior screams STREET ROD ON A BUDGET and would have to be all redone to be right.

 

I have one of each, probably prefer steel cars but the availability of 34 coupes her in OZ means glass is generally the only way to go for many. But I would not hesitate in purchasing another glass body. Glen

 

Had a guy walk in my shop recently, asked if I buy old cars. I told him no, I build cars for other people. He said he had a 32 Ford for sale, I laughed and said I couldn't afford one of those anyway.... then he said it's $4000. I repeated it back to him, and he said yeah it's a 32 3 window fiberglass body, and a set of 32 rails. I told him I wasn't interested. So he left and I went back to pushing my sanding block.... then it hit me! WAIT!!!! I ran to the door and the guy was already gone! I would've loved to had that body

 

I'd rather work with steel, but...when I wanted an open car ( a 32 full fendered Ford roadster was my dream) I stumbled on a glass 27 T project that had languished for 25 years, most of the necessary ingredients were there, engine, trans, nine inch Ford, suspension etc. so I bought it, then spent more money than I should have. I looked at the project as a learning experience having never worked with fiber glass, I did learn that I didn't want to work with fiber glass again..but I am glad I did it. It doesn't really fit on this forum, so you won't see many pictures of it. When my grandkids/kids ride in it or drive it, they don't really care, they think it rocks, that is what really matters to me.

 

Where I come from (Sydney Australia), getting into a pre 48 hot rod was way out of my league price wise. When we moved to NZ 30 years ago, I saw a fiberglass roadster for sale locally for $8k (nzd) I jumped at it, my first hot rod. 4 bodies were built by an ol fella that was local to me, and I got to meet him. This was the very first one out of the mold apparently and all done in his small garage. Same car is probably worth 50k (nzd) down here now. That said, I have just purchased a 29 A Tudor, steel, to which will be built into my retirement hot rod. Personally, I like them all. My 5 cents worth, cheers

 

Oh despite not being particularly fond of 'glass I always defend the traditional aspect of it. Even the famous "uncertain t" was a 'glass body

 

I've had one glass car, built many steel cars. I have ridden thousands of miles in others glass cars and what is most important to me is the quality of the body. My Wescott exp. spoiled me for many other brands. Mr. Wescott set the standard in my feeble opinion. However, I don't like working on fiberglass. Just being next to a bare body makes me itch. I think there's no question that if repros hadn't been produced this hobby would be like the brass era cars. Some would be involved, everyone else would be watching.

 

No, I don't think you understand what I meant.............Nah, don't worry about it.

 

Would you rather have this 34 roadster or a fiberglass car?

 

Sorry but I don't understand the purpose of this thread.
Is it creating discord between people with the same passion?
Would that make sense?
In almost 50 years in the world of classic cars, I have seen many nice things (clubs, events, websites...) disappear due to quarrels that are often artificial and non-constructive.
Since its creation a few years ago, the "Normandy Beach Race" event has been a huge success in France while hot rods were very criticized and sand races only known by a very small minority of people. .
Having spoken about it with quite a few other participants, this success also seems to be due to the fact that there are not these eternal quarrels over the quality of cars (it is well known that only our car has no fault...) and that the main thing is to have a good time between people sharing THE SAME PASSION, without judgment or classification.
That changes EVERYTHING!

 

LOL... don't over think it....

 

the thread is about how do "YOU" feel about fiberglass replica's, not how do you feel about other people having and enjoying fiberglass replica's.... just kinda getting a feel to the movement.... same goes for more door cars,,,, there was a time that they were the kiss of death in the hot rod crowd and everything was done to disguise the fact... handles removed... doors welded shut and such... which led to most more door cars getting the front clips removed and scrap the rest..... now.... the new gen doesn't seem to care how many doors it has... same with glass cars... the new... or just getting into hot rodding crowd, likes the cheeper price to own a hotrod that has the look...

 

what would you rather have is the question.... I've seen glass cars that look just like that car... hence the most first asked question.... is it real or a kit car... I've seen times where guys have come close to blows when their car was called a kit car.....when you pull out a catalog order every part and have a shop bolt The parts together.... what else would you caLL IT???? A PARTS CAR???? ANY WAY, the thread asked how do "YOU" feel about fiberglass cars... I was wondering if something has changed with the old school OG hot rodders,....sorry, a fiberglass 32 , will never be better or take the place of a real henry ford 32, or any other year.... sure there are glass cars that have more value,... but to a collector..... pretty sure OG is still on the want list..

 

For me it has boiled down to - I would rather have a steel model A than a glass 33. This is sort of like the 2 door vs 4 door debate…

 

It really boils down to "How bad you want a certain car" I'm nuts for 39 Ford tubs and Cords so I'd take a fiberglass one if it came along. I have an OG 39 Ford tub 4 Dr convertible so I would take the right fiberglass Cord, the original style in a heartbeat, but not the distorted SAMACO ones they are just ugly.

 

News flash..........that is a fiberglass car!

 

I agree with Anthony ^^^^^.............there are some poorly done fiberglass replicas out there, and while I'm not one of the guys who try to pick flys**t out of pepper when looking at cars, I will say that certain poorly done replicas have things that just jump out at me. Still, I look at other details and try to find things I like, just like I do with any other car.We all look generally at each car and evaluate the the choice of car, then how it looks overall in general, and what we would have done differently or what will give us a great idea for our own car build. What I mean is that we all evaluate what we see. What peaks our interest varies from person to person. I enjoy seeing nostalgic rods, or the incorporation of some unique or hard to find parts.........but I don't worry if everything is not perfectly period correct. I try to enjoy what I'm looking at and find positives. I've seen plenty of great looking fiberglass repro's, and I think they are fantastic. When its all said and done, my personal opinion is I like any well done car.............

So any reproduction is then "wrong" be it fiberglass or steel.

If you sell any version of this type of car, it becomes a matter of how much it cost you to build vs how much it can sell for.............not just what it can sell for.


The thing to me is that most any car we build today will have concessions made to use things that are not original or are copies of original parts and were not available in 1965 or prior years. As an example, almost everyone uses a reproduction frame as a starting point. Then the rear end of choice is often from a post 65 vehicle, along with the automatic transmission of choice. Many manufacturers of the wheels we like didn't exist in 65 and their wheels are either reproductions or similar to popular wheels of the day. We seldom rely on electrical wiring like they had in the 40s/50s, and how many people are running disc brakes that were not available in 65? By that I mean the actual years of manufacture for that particular disc set up...or an aftermarket disc brand. We make all kinds of substitutions to build our cars. Personally I like both steel and fiberglass replicas if they are good quality. Its kinda rediculous to not recognize that the availabilty of replicas has been one of the main reasons our sport has remained viable and interesting...........because it lets more people participate and take pride in what they built.

 

Top rod builder from Charlotte asked " Who's body is that" Smootest glass body I have ever seen" He should know better. I t takes work to make them smooth. Cheap ass Gibbon body. $4,000.00 delivered. Charlotte Goodguys award. BEST BITCH'N 2000. Goodguys award 2013. 1st place DEUSE DOIN'S

 

I don’t judge others by my standards, but IMHO it’s gotta be steel to sit in my garage or roll down the highway with me at the wheel. Call me a steel snob if you want (others do). And I’m fine with that.

 

Brookville 1929 rear clip. $2,800.00 list price. Tops of the 1/4 panels so freak'n rough. I worked for hours. Hammer & dolley. Then the bulls eye pick & vixon file. How the hell did the tops get beat up so bad. I finally gave up and Bondoed them. The top curve around on the left side pointed in the air. The lower right corner was all wrong. The panel below the deck lid was curved way too much in the middle. An amature job. To save on shipping I picked the parts up at the Tennesee NHRA show. In a box and in laqure primer. Didn't notice they were junk. Didn't get to totally unpacking them for about 6 months so I felt too late to complain. A very DISHONEST deal. I built the car from the 1/4 panels forward. OK, now make excuses for them.

 

I almost hate responding to threads like this as they are just click bait and designed to illicit a response...and it worked for 3 pages so far.
A buddy bought one of those Dynacorn steel 1st gen bronco bodies. They also knock off 69 camaros, mopars, mustangs. He wanted to stick a coyote in one, and 33" tall mudders, roll bar, lights, real cool dune ride.
Two great reasons this to do this;
1. you get a perfect body with no rust to repair, no dipping, no welding (other than customization)
2. you didn't destroy a valuable collector car to build his toy.
3. and I'll throw in one more, it was probably cheaper to paint than piecing together an old body and straightening it out, then throwing a quality paint job on.

The same applies to glass bodies of prewar cars. Build what you want, out of whatever is available, make it yours and drive it like you stole it. Stop worrying about what others think of your car and maybe one day we can grow up and stop the elitist "facebook" posts designed to ruffle feathers

Go build something.

 

The rest of the story. Several years before I built the 29 I purchased a pair of 1930 1/4 panels for $500.00 from Brookville. They were 2nd's. Just what I needed and the price was right. No rust to deal with. Building a recreation of the 1960 San Diego championship supermodified. The only thing I found wrong was one side the bead beside the trunk was wider than the other. That didn't bother me. How did that bead get wider? No problem for what I was building.