we run out of vintage and classic cars to hotrod? The way it's going we may run out of cars to chop, drop, channel, and section before to long? Then what...not many barn finds left out there...
Theres lots of old guys that have kept this stuff. They will die off, and younger fellas will keep it. And we will keep more than we need. I have enough shit now. If I keep collecting it up at the rate I am, and last another 30 years, my place will be the big deal to read about. I dont think the stuff is going to run out anytime soon.
by the time theyre all gone honda civics will be vintage, ill start burning some rice. Im stocking up on giant spoilers, fart can exhaust, and stick on tribal graphics so I will have the shit in 30 years when these things are collectors items. also stocking up on OEM smog equipment so I can resell to the resto crowd.
The only thing that will stop the hotrodding of cars is the outlawing of cars. There are thousands of cars available at any given time at swap meets, junkyards, crazy old man estate sales, and just about everywhere and anywhere you can go in the US and Canada anyway. While you're out riding in the Rockies take a good look at some of those old WWII era snowfences lining the hills and mountains. Yep, those are old car frames stripped from under junked cars and strung together with miles and miles of cable, CCC projects no doubt. and in mining country those old shafts and wells are often filled with , you guessed it, old car bodies and frames, and along creek and river beds throughout the country, you can forget about the ones that were lining the beaches and barrier islands along the Gulf Coast though, the sea has claimed them for the mermaids rides.
i know where there's a 48 plymouth coupe, all stock, been sitting in the same spot for 5 years now. there out there, you just have to hunt them down.
Check out what I found today...literally down the street...although, does it count as a barn find, if its not IN a barn? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167490
there's nothing wrong with building a new body. a lot of guys are doing that in steel today with hand tools, slappers,a nd english wheels. Brookville is using the new stretch/draw die technology to make the new 3 window 32 coupe. Expensive, but I enjoyed looking at what a new one could be like.... Fiberglass and carbon fiber work too....in that case it's all about style....but a lot of the traditionalists won't touch a plastic car... I'll probably never run out of projects, I have 7+ Model A's in 'da collection, and two sons who want to do nothing but build hot rods...
...with all these shit threads lately, it looks like I'm gonna be spendin' alot more time in the crapper.........outta my way, I gotta POO!!...
It'll be a long time before we run out of vintage tin. It will be getting harder to find of course. Unfortunely it will become a money game, the cost vs demand thing. I already cring when I see what we are paying today for builders that are so rough we wouldn't drug them home for free back in the 70's.
Still plenty of stuff out there. Even in my salt infested area there are a few old hoarders around. There's an old guy, down the street, with about fifteen 60-66 chevy trucks and several early impalas. All told about 30 cars in his back yard. If you ask him they are all projects and he won't get off em. Then the state came in and said he has to get rid of em within the next couple years or put up a high fence. He's probably the kind that will send them to the crusher before he sells them, which is a shame.
I have to wonder if these retro-looking cars will be the next hot rods in 50 years. I don't think they will be built anything like we do now, but I'm sure there will probably be enthusiasts after that curvy old look. There will be a lot of cars just built in the last 10 years that will be flat out extinct. I see no love for many of the utilitarian or fad cars out now.
Once we finish chopping them all what is there left to do but make 'em tall again! There will always be something out there to hop up or customize, my flying car will be faster than yours!
To be fair, we are not earning the same wage we were back in the 70's either. It always has been and always will be a money game. It's what the market will bare. Is a 4" drop front axle worth $300? Only if someone will pay that. Old tin is the same way. If no one wants it, it is cheap. If too many want it, the same POS tin is very expensive. We are victims of our hobbies current popularity. Wait long enough and the pendulum will swing to the other side. Dave
We will eventually run out of vintage tin just like the cowboys ran out of horses. Sad really. Seriously though, Eventually we WILL run out. Its just that simple. There will most likely always be an example or two of a real hot rod laying around, but they'll probably be in museums or in guarded private collections. Think of rich folks like Speedy Bill Smith. Take a look at medieval armour. How much of that shit is laying around for the taking? How many suits of armour were built back then? Must have been a bunch.....right? I'd wager there aren't too many "barn finds" in the suit of armour world. Hey, but guess what, there is a crazy bunch of shit heads who replicate the medieval armour and stuff and prance around slapping each other with swords at renaissance festivals. Vintage obtainable tin WILL dissapear. Vintage looking replicas will always be around.
I would'nt worry too much about runnin' outta old tin just yet...E-bay seems ta' be full O' ones that people can't seem ta' get on the road... There are a WHOLE mess O' projects out there, right now...that will never meet fruition...and many that will, and will exchange hands, over and over again...
Your hot rods will fall into disrepair some day, be tucked away from prying eyes only to be resurrected by some enterprising hot rodder. Yes, eventually old unmolested tin will disappear but what your hot rodding now will provide the raw materials for the future. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I'd be more worried about legislation that would prevent us from freely enjoying our cars in our lifetime.
You can buy my hot rod projects. I'm giving up. I'm getting into the suit of armour world. So far all I've been able to find is a vintage wingnut off of a medieval codpiece.
Them boys are even worse, over there! I think they hang ya' out ta' dry if you don't use the word " Ye " in reference to someone... I think I am gonna just hide my car for a couple O' years 'till all this B.S. is done...then take it out and enjoy driving it, without having to worry about getting in an argument over metal, and what ta' do with it...
You are right to a point, the interest in old cars/rods/classics grows every day and the real steel is drying up..it is hoarders like me,other guys out there, that will keep it alive. I don't have any relatives that are interested and when I'm gone HAMBers will the first to know about my stash...
Enterprising young rodders will be scouring the country side looking for some vintage fiberglass. They will be building traditional 70's style t buckets. We all know the purists won't have anything to do with carbon fiber. Anyone even suggesting a vortec powerplant over a sbc will be banished as a goldchainer. then again, maybe not
When the Govn. tax us into driving little electric hybrid junkers. and no one can afford Special interest cars.then you will see the death of Hotrodding!
I think I'd rather carve up some miscellanous body parts into a bucket before move to fiberglass. There is still alot of old cars around. Just not too exposed.
Hmmm, Let's see, in the mid 70's most of us (teenagers, budding hot rodders) earned $1.50 an hour pumping gas. I found a complete, original 34 Ford 5 window, nice old car that came with a fenderless Olds powered 34 5 window "for parts" for $1500. It would take 1000 hrs. to pay for it. That kid today makes what, maybe $10 hr. $10 x 1000 hrs = $10,000. Suppose you can find any complete 34 for $10000, let alone 2 for that price? The price of old cars have gone up much, much more then the cost of living. I don't think the pendulum will ever swing the other way, the supply is drying up and the price will climb fasterand faster as is does.
The Jalopy Journal
