Is traditional the new billet?

I DON'T THINK SO !
Traditional Rod might be the new "HOT ROD "

BILLET ROD, SHOW ROD, STREET ROD , RAT ROD and TRADITIONAL ROD
ALL HAVE THREE THINGS IN COMMON
1. Rods
2. People
3. Hatred for Money !

I'm Done .

 

Shit, I love money... I need more of it. If you don't like it, give it to me... people need money to buy rods. Poverty does not a traditional hot rod make. Social status does not a traditional hot rod make. The perfect blend of thought and part selection does.

If more people are putting that blend together, great... I like cars, and if they are not jumping on the band wagon and fueling the aftermarket industry and digging gems from sheds to put back into circulation and building fresh new rides to inspire and drive, then they will probably find something else to do and that does not help the big picture of hot rodding.

Magazines document trends. The original HRD, CKD, TRJ, Hop-Up, the HAMB... even Street Rodder and R&C... they were documenting this "new fad" ten years ago. Ya gotta start somewhere, and if you are just now joining the party and proceed with education and thought... I'm good.

 

I see a lot of people typing their thoughts and ideas but it's all taken pretty personal... when really, it's about the cars and the community. You can't have tradition without it.

I don't care what people say, we need those shops... the Gambino's, Ionias, the A.S.S.es D HAHAHA), Brian Bass's, etc. They keep the game evolving... and they come here and share with us.

We need the craftsmen (and women) whom are building HOT RODS that make us all take second, third, or twentieth looks. Think of some of the build threads here... Chris and his highboy roadster, or his A coupe, Bass and the Wade Model A, or his 29, or the roadster, Plowboy, KiwiKev, Chris Casny, Flop, Salt Flats Speed Shop and the Vicky conversion, Mr. Ford's, Scootermcrad, Kevin Lee and Lucky Burton and their Chrisman-esque builds... and on and on.

We need the passionate, the spokespeople, the historians, the PERSONalities... like Ryan, Denise, Evel, KIRK!, Rikster, 0WLarry...oops 3WLarry, and the list goes on.

And you know what? That's just a snippet of the H.A.M.B community... you know....not even out there in the real world.

 

To the hell with how people want other people to build their cars....

As for me I am building my car MY WAY, no matter what anyone thinks....

Funny thing is, is that once I started visiting the HAMB, my idea of what a car is supposed to be has CHANGED.....

Prior to my discovery of the HAMB, my way of thinking was already way more traditional than the street rodding crowd, I did not care for billit outside or in the interior of a car, I already knew that my wheels would be steel and 15" or 16" tops, I knew my transmission would not be an automatic, and I already knew that my build would not have any "scallops" anywhere, inside or out. I knew my paint would not be trendy, and I knew that my upholstery would never be mistaken far a mid 80s high dollar Italian sports car. I knew that my 39 would have every stitch of exterior trim.

I knew my car would NOT be red or would it be powered by a SBC...I already hated trendy anything.... So much so that I felt like "an independent" who had shed all of the trendy shit.

Well since coming to the HAMB, my build is not quite as traditional as I would like NOW. BUT I am a little to far in to make a radical change of direction, so I will stay my course, but MY next car will be a car that I don't need to watch what might be showing in any pictures I might post...

I will be building a TRADITIONAL car not because I want to kiss anyones ass, (and I won't) but because the HAMB has changed my ideas of what an old car should be....

It will likely effect others the same way, then there will be the "cling ons" who will the try to "re-define" what traditional means.....

Might get nasty for a while, but I am pretty sure that the definition of "traditional" won't get kicked around here too much, and the HAMB will be right where it is now long after "trendy" has drifted into open water...The HAMB and the TRUE meaning of TRADITIONAL can prevail, and if the cards are played right, to end up in even a better position than they now enjoy....

 

Thank God now maybe that "Things" are changing we can move on from unpainted, primered, satin finished, patinaed, unfinished looking, no interior vehicles and build some finished Hot Rods without being accused of being "Not Traditional".

 

I see some common denominators here. I see a lot of responses that have a feel of wanting to fit in somewhere. I see a few cop-outs of 'I build it my way' or "I build it myself"...yeah I say that's a cop-out. Not once has there been a mention of any other facet than the typical 'hiboy' thinking regarding traditional stuff with the exception of some minor mention of kustoms. Of course it's not the new billet. The trend gig never embraced early sports car racing, early oval and dirt trackers, nor has the current trend to the old ways seem to carry the timeless thoughts that spawn unique and special builds. To me the truth really seems to be to want to build a belly-button hot rod and shout "I get it!" when some of em never did nor ever will. Plowboy's vision is a traditional as can be. Denise has a traditional hot rod. Safari-wagon has the real deal too, a few of em. There's too many to list in order to define what I'm trying to say here. Flop in PA is right on the money with his build. All of us kids, young and old, want a certain something. In my opinion there's no definition to that just as I said in my 1st response. You knew it when you got the 1st taste of it, that undefined look and vibe, that one that long ago said things in a language that can't be found or translated. To some it was another fuckin Deuce coupe or roadster (sorry for that but you know what I mean). To others it was an altered wheelbase Mopar. And to others yet it was Carrol Shelby or Jim Hall. To me it was Ray Dietrich, Howard "Dutch" Darrin, T. "Bob" Gregorie as well as Barris, Roth, Spence Murray and the Alexander Bros.

There's no way in HAMB that anything like this will ever 'catch on' as a trend.

 

watched his taste in cars drop dead.......later he passed on. dont wish death on anybody . God Bless Boyd may he R.I.P.

sorry for the misunderstanding

 

There are a lot of styles , a lot of different cars, It all comes down to one thing for me, the more people playing with cars the less chance of us getting legislated . I dont care if you like vws, tuners, muscle cars, restos, or pinzaugers.

 

Im just happy that graphics and tweed dissapeared

They did didnt they

 

They are undoubtedly lurking in the shadows awaiting the cue to come back into vogue.

What goes around comes around.

 

Just wait, Billet will be the new traditional!

 

The parts industry will call it "Traditional Billet."

Stranger things have happened.

 

No, they didn't. Saw two recent builds at a local GTG this past weekend, both painted pastel colors with tweed interiors. One had contrasting Steve Stanford - style scallops.

Seemed like both cars were either a little behind the curve, or WAY ahead of it.

Personally, I like lots of different styles, and I draw from lots of different influences from pre-WWII gow jobs and lakes cars to lowered fullsize trucks and aircooled VW's. Long as the car's got some style, and some attitude to it it's all good. I even like Donks because they make me laugh.

Some of those early billet cars (Lil's 29 roadster, Vern Luce's Boyd-built '33) really turned rodding around in an era when things were really flat and same-old same-old. I mean at the time Hot Rod mag was not too far past the Vans and street freaks thing, and street rods were kinda stuck in that brass-lamp two-tone resto-rod deal. Bleh.

The one big problem I always had with the me-too billet cars ( pro-street too) was that it was too easy to get the look, without the engineering to back it up. And because it was easy to update older rods to tha new hottnesss pasteltweedbillet look it seemed like everybody just fell in love with the shit and next thing you knew the T-bucket crew was on that trip, trucks, even VW's.

The "traditional" gig is a style. There's always been guys building those kinda cars, and there always will be. It's just that the billet pendulum swung too far out and now it's gone way back in the other direction for a minute.

 

Tell that to the guys in the early fifties that built their cars out of it!

 

Plus, fiberglass T's have been around since '61 or '62

 

I am finally glad to see mags like Street Rodder and Rod and Custom start doing speads on more traditionals and customs. I have had enough articles on 32 - 34 Ford streetrods to last a lifetime. I never cared for billet primarily because it looks fake and I would hate to keep that shit clean and shiny. I have better things to do with my limited money than to invest in billet. My 34 currently has a set of Centerlines on it but are being replaced with a set of artillery wheels. I was going to sell the Centerlines, but now maybe I will keep them and make a killing off of them when they become "traditional" in 20 years or so.

As for interiors, mine is Tweed, sculptered at that. It's tastefully done and in the car when I got it. I don't like leather, nor indian blankets, and I don't want vinyl because I don't want the seats sticking to my sweaty back and ass in the summer (no a/c). Is the car true traditional, hell no, but it was a drag car in it's former life and I am for the most part pleased with it and plan to keep it pretty much as is is.

I would feel like a total hypocrite if I changed it just to please other people. That to me ain't what rodding is all about. If I like your car I will tell you, if I don't I'll keep it to myself. There are no awards for being a total ass as well as a hypocrite.

 

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by kpapesh
Traditional is definitely becoming popular, that's not a bad thing. Nothing fiberglass is tradiional
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

A lot of glass was used back in the 50's and 60's building custom rods that were certainly more traditional than some of the new all steel "traditionals" that are being built today.

I have recently seen a 32 3wc built in the traditional style with many of the 50's era goodies. The car had an original steel firewall and and a beautifully dressed out flattie. Everybody was convinced it was an excellent example of the real deal, until some one saw the fiberglass in a corner of the trunk. There were a lot of surprised people when it was learned that the car was a fiberglass body that had built over the last 3 years.

Maybe not real steel, but it sure the hell looked like it. Tough to tell if it was real or just memorex.

 

Really?Tell that to Ed Roth's family.Roth made a lot of things of his show cars and parts out of fiberglass.

 

Right on the money

 

Ill take all the billet take offs you guys want to give or send. Not joking.

 

my answer to your question is no.........dig this thread

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146912

 

I am glad that when I started doing this there wasn't the need to know what was cool..or a fad..no internet..no group think forums..
We just did what we knew was in us..didn't give a dam about what others thought I should do..
Never knew or really cared for others to like my stuff..

Still don't..

Just an old guy..who just didn't care..and still don't know the rules..

 

I like the traditional style. If its totally circa current, thats bitchin'. But the traditional look is just as bitchin to me!

I have to agree with some of the earlier comments about Street Rodder, infact, I just sent in a subscription card for the first time in close to 10 yrs!

 

After reading all of this... Is it a question of taste in cars or developing identity through what we drive?
My old man always said there were very few things in life you had to respect...but if you respected a man's family (friends included), paycheck, religion, politics and automobile, we'd all get along just fine.
I can admit certain things make my blood boil, like ricer kids and fart cans..but hell that's their thing. I catch hell from my students who think my 51 chevy is a pile of junk...they don't get my style either...My buddy said the young are supposed to rebel, and if we don't get it, that means they are doin it right...shoot I am 32 years old, I'm not supposed to understand the average 16 year old kid..

I always go back to music, and how fads get blown up and killed..punk came and went, now we have this emo nonsense...
Ya gotta figure, it is frustrating to see the parts for our beloved cars go up in value thanks to the internet and ebay...the days of the barn find are kinda vanishin because you better believe that old farmer has been on ebay lookin up what their stuff is worth...I thought I was going to get a killer deal on an old model a in a field, only to find the guy had done some ebay searchin...but this stuff is cyclical, it will go away and we'll still be here doin what we love...maybe the prices will drop on some of these parts..
I guess you have to ask yourself, are you pissed because your identity is defined through your car, or did you as an artist, shape your car to align with who you are?

Either way it's a very personal thing and I think we all have a right to be annoyed. There are countless threads on here where individuals have expressed contempt and vexation over some idiot who clowned on their ride. It's like a slap in the face or pissin in your beer..I guess we have to accept that trends happen, you weather the storm and move on. Build your car the way you want it built and drive the piss outta it...maybe ina few years we can pick up some nice trailer queen traditionals for a song when the masses move over to something else..

 

Mike, I can dig where you are coming from.....but, the kids are doing shit cans, monte carlos, malibu's because thats what is available nowdays, within their budget. I just bought my kid a 99 chevy cav. all I could afford to get him into.

My Dad braggs about buying 32 fords for 50.

I bragg about buying 67 gto's for under a grand

will my kid have any braggin rights

sorry kid....all we can afford these days [ slim pickins ]

 

holy antiestablishmentarianism batman!
after decades of traditional cars being ignored like they didnt even exist we are complaining about cool cars being in mainstream mags.
holy crap!
maybe since custom vans havent got any press in the last 20 years they will be the next big thing?

red steelies and bias ply wide whites are the new billet.
like it or not.

just because the whole world is finally catching up with the hamb its no reason to flush the whole build style down the toilet
enjoy not being the underdogs of the automotive universe.

 

I agree with you Haney..Lots of it still has to do with taste...
Some of these kids are just into the fast and the facetious thing...
But hey, we all gotta start somewhere.

 

Thanks man, didn't mean to jerk anyone's chain, I was just surprised at the new trends. Really, it is only a concern for the guys that build cars for a living and the potential parts prices-offerings by the aftermarket. I wasn't trying to say that we should look at trends like a compass. Of course you should build what you like, whatever it is.

 

Trends always repeat. Always.

 

Got the october issue today, same thing. I can't wait for the repop chinese early hemi parts.