so..who started the trend of putting unfinished cars in car shows?

Wow, I bet you're a real fun guy to be around.

I like finished cars as much as anybody, but I also like to see the things people are working on. How many times were Cole's and Bass' cars rolled out in bare steel? How many dragsters do you remember with bare (or no) bodies and a couple of sponsor names before they got their great paint jobs?

Sure would be boring to see a sea of finely finished, $100k fairground cruisers with old farts parked next to them afraid to get scratches on em.. kinda sounds like an NSRA shindig. Maybe that's your bag? Me, I actually like to see some of the beaters. Those guys seem to be having more fun.

 

Ahmen!In progress is one thing,but in a state of decomposition is asinine.

 

I've had enough of the " Show Cars " in my life, building them, driving them, and having to worry about someone or a rock or such scratching the paint. Thats one reason I sold my last 55 Chevy, was having to baby sit the damn thing. I pulled motor and tranny, and let someone else have the headache. I have painted some of my latest 23 T's I've built, but from now on, I'll be just fine, with no shine. Put on a coat of Flat Black, and let it eat......

 

Most of us have little to no budgets and are building our cars as we can afford to.. I wish i had shiney fresh paint, but i still have more Kustomizing to do before i paint

 

We had an indoor car show here in Eugene this weekend (the Eugene Roadster Show). All of the cars were finished, but half were just boring stuff that we have all seen a million times before. I would rather see one in-progress steel '31 than 15 more fiberglass '34 kit-cars. Bo Hopkins was there selling autographs...my god he looked fat and old.

 

You aren't alone. I have spent the last 50 years appreciating great workmanship. I see custom cars as rolling art, a way to express your individual ideas, and showcase your ability to build well-engineered, finely finished machine. That is what I go to shows to see.

 

a car is finished when you sell it, other wise it is a work in progress...

 

You're wrong!!!!!
They've had club displays with barn finds in English shows for decades. They've had tons of cars in major shows with their windows blanked because of unfinished interiors forever, as well as having cars in primer.

I wanna see the inner workings of someone's hard work, ain't no sin, maybe you might learn something.

 

For someone relatively new, I'd want to be able to show a car that's in progress. Even if I didn't enter, I'd drive it to a meet or show, perhaps with nothing else but to get some insight on what some others may recommend. Plus, anything I've got my hand in, I hope to be proud enough to let others view it as opposed to waiting til it was finished.

Is there ever a finished stage?

 

I like all cars in any phase, As far as who started unfinished cars at car shows. The big three. With their future cars.Most didnt run, werent wired. Some didnt have engines and as pointed out earlier soaped glass because they had no interrior. As far as showing up with a unfinisised in progress ride, Had to get to the show somehow didnt they. A unfinised daily is cool. A not quite dead yet original is just that. Not a unfinished.

 

Is there ever a finished stage?[/QUOTE]

Not really

I like to see cars with character and history, or a theme or purpose. A mint condition stock restored '57 Chevy? Nice, I'll check it out. But a old barn found, slightly weathered and kinda beat up '57 Chevy drag car from the '60s? TOO COOL ...you can see the history and ideas of the person or persons that went into the car for it's soul purpose. A good car has to tell a story.

-Dean

 

finished car..... didnt know you can finish one . shhhhh dont tell my wife.. Im a younger guy with a 6 year old girl, wife and just a little extra cash , but love hot rods. i think a hot rod should take years of building and years of making your car yours... spent all winter work on it to get it to primer. Gotta drive it

 

I can certainly remember shows out here in the early 70's having a unfinished class but the entrants were normally still of a real high standard. The norm was normally a finished to high standard chassis with body in progress. The current scene is a differant beast again and most just reflect lack of class.

 

This thread makes me glad I don't go to shows anymore. Too much bullshit. If a car rolls up at a cruise, I'm all over it. Unless it got pushed off a trailer two blocks away. There are too many great club get togethers that have great cars, to drop the money to see a few "specialty cars" along with the cars I could see at a good cruise.

There was a time when I wanted to enter mine in the Autorama here, when it's finished, in honor of my dad, but I have since gotten to where I can best honor him by driving it and having fun. Plus, I hate sitting in lawn chairs.

 

I can appreciate any rod or custom, painted ,primered, or bare metal, that has the look, and shows good workmanship. I remember when I was a kid in the 60's half the rods and customs in my town had primer on them somewhere, I dug em then , and still do today.

 

I remember back in the 80's shows started having a "construction zone" for unfinished cars. That may have been the begining at least around these parts.

 

Maybe I'm wierd, but I like'em all. I enjoy seeing classic restorations, customs, street rods, unfinished, daily drivers, four doors, tractors, waggons, bikes, bicycles, rocket powered pogo sticks, whatever.

 

When I had no money and I decided to make my Studebaker truck my every day drive I was glad to see shows that had under construction classes .Most of all the real car guys did not care if mine was in primer .All of the so called rules blow my mind .Hell I jump in my car hall ass down the road for a little clear my head time and I see no older cars on the road unless I am going to a show .Hot roding Is not about rules .Primer, Paint, Rust, Tar. Buy it, build it, who cares. Just drive the wheels off. My 2 cents

 

When ever my dad was building his 40 Dodge sedan in the early nineties he first got it running and driving and drove it into a local corvette show and parked it on the side, got out and looked at some stock corvette's. He looks back at his car 5 minutes later only to find a crowd gathering by it. It had no widows, no interior, it was rusty, 2 sets of junkyard wheels on it ect. But people were looking at the craftsmanship of the work already done to it and it was right there in the open, no paint to hide it. Much more interesting to look at than a bunch of bone stock corvettes.

I don't know about you but as soon as my project is road worthy I like to go to shows and park it and look at other people's rides, no I don't enter it, usally don't even park in the show area, but it's fun.

 

yea GG..I try to have fun,maybe I don't pull it off as well as others,I don't know..but I try.
Its just in the last couple years I started seeing a trend at shows and cruises of alot more rust proudly displayed than in years past.
I never meant to offend anyone not able to afford a paint job,or anyone cruising before paint..rather I was questioning the guys who consider a rusted,junkyard look "a finished product".
when I was young I remember the wild paint and murals you only got to see at a show,just thought things were straying away from that more and more.
thanks for all the reply's!

 

Scarynickname : quote : "Maybe I'm wierd, but I like'em all. I enjoy seeing classic restorations, customs, street rods, unfinished, daily drivers, four doors, tractors, waggons, bikes, bicycles, rocket powered pogo sticks, whatever. .. "

NOPE : (IMHO ) you`r not wierd .. , I, 4-1 totaly agree with everything you said, ... so if it turns out that most hambers think you are wierd , then please find comfort in the fact that you are not alone !! ..
Klaz

 

Probably someone long ago,and who cares,there will always be works in progress. Real hot rods are driven,i would rather skip a car show,and go for a nice long weekend drive with friends,than spend all weekend at a show. Who cares about trends? Hot Rodding is a way of life,not a "Trend".

 

I had my finished but bodyless chassis in a pretty big (for Arkansas) show back in the mid 70's. It drew a lot of attention and the promotor was tickled. Back then there was no entry fee and while the public had to pay, participants got free tickets, trophies and some cash awards.

 

Sometimes the half finished jobbers are some of the coolest cars at the show. It could be worse. I'd rather see all the weld spots and spot primer on a rod than the 20 year old who shows up in a rusting s10 with rims and his mighty ebay special "electric supercharger" lmao

 

I think whether or not a car is "finished" is determined by the owner/builders opinion. One mans "finished" might be anothers "getting ready for paint". Just my 2 cents.

 

Seeing as I just borrowed a trailer last night, so I can bring my unfinished, and probably not running, (I have all day Thursday to see if I can get it to burp) car to Billetproof.

I ran out of money, time and skills (I have to learn how to do most of this stuff as I do it, so it takes double the amount time to do most anything because of re-dos, start overs and "I bought the wrong" parts)

What I have done is my blood, (Take a look at my arms if you see me at Billetproof, I am covered in half healed burns, cuts, bruises and I walk with a limp), sweat (filthy, un-air conditioned barn, with one window), and tears (I'll bring my latest credit car statement).

You might want to walk up to me at Billetproof and tell me how my car doesn't belong... I would suggest you don't.

 

Two greatest joys in hotrodding are building a car, and driving it. You finish it, half your fun's gone. Car shows are great, but I agree with tfeverfred, the events with the drivers, in whatever stage, have the most to look at, under, all over. And I think I'd go nuts if I didn't have any parts to hunt.

 

I love in progress cars at shows.
A couple of years ago some guys brought some in progress hot Rods to Old Style weekend on trailers. More or less mock up state.
Realy nice to see and a lot uf guys circled around during the weekend.

Gives you a great chance to dream. Where is he heading with this?.... what would I do?........yeah that could be cool....I could do that...... and so on.

Makes your mind work if you are able to what's before you beside the pile of parts.

No idea who did it first....impossible to tell I guess.

Paul

 

So..who started the trend of putting unfinished cars in car shows?

Guys like me!!! Well I guess what I mean is we were not allowed to enter our cars in street rod shows because they were not finished, so we started shows or cruise nights, or runs..... ETC: where it did not matter if your car was a beater or not bring it on in!
I've only had one car that I would call "finished" and that was back in the late 80's early 90's. In high school (early 1960's) I had a '49 Ford, '50 Chevy, '36 Plymouth, '55 & '56 Mercs & Fords and they all were under construction.
Later on your plastic Easter Egg painted 33/34, 350/350/9" TCI framed just got your doors blew off by a BEATER!

 

From the eye of a show car spectator an unfinished car is a work in progress, and since it’s not “painted” it can still be altered, changed, chopped etc.
And since it’s not done it can be anything I as the viewer wants it to be. Because it’s not done I can see past the cracked glass, primer spots, and rusty chrome I can see what it could be. Makes my mind go wild with ideas.
A finished show car is done, its modifications, paint, upholstery are what they are and I always find something I would like to change but, since it’s done these “changes” wont happen. I become uninterested.
A car that’s “in progress” has possibilities and options, to me the car has an endless horizon, infinite style changes that can be as wild or simple as the mind allows.
A finished car has reached its “end”.

I must admit that money gets in the way of me having a nice paint job, upholstery, chrome, etc. and it does not help that I want it perfect or nothing at all and perfect is expensive, more then I have anyway.

Or maybe it’s just my ADD that gets in the way.