"We drive hotrods for the attention" Kinda long.

I was just browsing in another thread and came across this statement. It's far from the first time I've heard/seen it, but I gave it some serious thought the other day and wanted to hear from some other folks about it.

I believe this to be true for SOME people, and there's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't make anyone more or less a hotrodder in my eyes. If you're putting in your own work whenever you can and you're proud of your ride, no matter how many imperfections you see in it every time you take it out, that's a hotrodder to me. I grew up around old cars. My dad has had his 59 Vette for 46 years. I learned to drive in a 74 Stingray. I drove that 74 to High School and easily had the coolest car in the parking lot, but I know I never got laid once because of the car I drove.
I've never been well off and a lot of my buddies seem to have money falling out of their asses, but it never bothers me. I've always done the best I can with what I have and I do as much of it as I can, and that is what makes me enjoy hotrodding.
I've owned a few old cars, basically what I could afford, none of them what I'd consider nice until my 55, which needed some work to get to where it is and it's still never going to win any trophies, but it was all worth it. That being said, I don't drive a hotrod for the attention. In all honesty, I like the attention that it gets (for the most part), but it's definitely not one of the reasons I drive one. It's not about trying to sound cool, but if I was the last person on earth, I'd still be driving that hot, smelly, rough riding, louder than it needs to be 55 every chance I got, because it's MY car. I like to go to shows and cruises to see all the cool stuff out there and I enjoy getting compliments on my ride, but to me it's not the reason to have a hotrod. I mean not everyone is going to like your car, so why worry about anyone liking it? I made it what I wanted it to be and if people like it, cool. If not, no problem.
I know not everyone will agree with what I think and that's alright, but I post this here because I know there are a lot of guys who have been hotrodding for a long time here and it seems to me that doing it for attention would have worn off long ago.

 

I like what you wrote. If no one in the world liked '56 Nomads except for me, I'd still own mine, because it's my favorite car in the world. I like it, and that's all I need.

 

Nothing wrong with you Sinister. You are just what I call a true CAR GUY. I am also sure if we talked at an event somewhere, within 10 minutes we would become good friends. Its not about how much money you have or how cool your ride is. Its because you just really love hot cars. I know I do, no matter the year, make or model. If its cool, its cool.

 

right on man, that's how i feel about my 55. dime a dozen, sure, but i love them.

 

That is about perfectly said, right there...

 

that's what it's all about. i've been on both sides of the issue. i really got into hotrodding with the 5.0 mustangs. i did my own work, bought the parts i could afford and managed to put together a respectable street sweeper. at any given cruise night (not shows with a year cutoff), i could hand 1/2 to 3/4 or the cars there their asses and have the same if not more work put into my car, but there's always those that don't want you there because it's not "cool". now that i show up in something "cool", the same people that would turn their nose up to my mustang are complimenting my 55. i mean what the hell is that? so i make it a point to park my car next to a late model if at all possible, because it's bullshit to exclude a real car guy and a real hotrodder because he likes the newer stuff. hotrodding is under enough fire without infighting. i can dig a $150,000 built by Jesus himself rod just as much as something a guy built in a one car garage by himself. that's what it's all about. i know the HAMB is hot on the traditional thing and that's why i come here, because that's my thing as well, but like you said, if it's cool, it's cool.

 

I don't drive my car for attention, but it is fun having old timers come up to me and talk about "back in the day." I enjoy the stories and whenever I see them again they always remember me as that kid who drives the old car. Even in grocery stores.

Also, nothing puts a big huge grin on my face than cruisin at 55 in my Plymouth.

 

Sinister, I suppose you're talking about me. I'm not sure I meant it the way you took it. I think all of us have a love for cars that most of our wives do not understand and probably never will. I by no means have a hotrod for the soul purpose of cruising just to see people look. I can get in my coupe and drive for hours and not care if one person sees me along the way. It is the freedom of driving in a car that by all intensive purposes was left to die 50+ years ago. With all that said I think there is still a little room for liking it when the 70 year old lady stops you at the gas station and ask what year your car is? She then tells you a story about how she used to date a boy in high school that had a car just like that. Now correct me if I'm wrong but you don't get that attention in a 2008 Silverado. So to be fair, I do like some attention. Nice thread btw.

 

Sure, I like attention- but I'd drive old iron if it were just me on a backroad, in the middle of the night, where no one could see.

I like old cars, and that's just me. I think it's cool. I'm a young gun (18), and driving around in an old car really connects you with the older generations. You get to swap hot rod stories with the guys who started it all back in the day! Just driving an old car somehow turns you from a hoodlum to a good kid (in their eyes.)

My family (like most people's on here) have been hot rodding since they came out with the automobile, I'm carrying the torch. I feel connected to my hot rodding ancestors. I feel the spirit whether I'm driving something old or something new, a hot rod is a hot rod- no matter how you want to slice it.

It's cool(er) with an old car, though. It's almost like I can see through my grandfather's eyes. Live life in his shoes. It's so much more than just hot rodding. It's my life, it's my family, it's my blood. It's everything.

Attention is cool, though.

 

"I'm almost dreading, to get gas, sometimes, hoping nobody would talk to me about the car, yes I can be grumpy at times (but can appreciate compliments too)."

I know EXACTLY what you mean. I know the average person just sees an old car as something outside the norm for them to see everyday, so they like to check it out. I can rattle off cam specs and carb tuning to them, but i know they have no idea what i'm talking about. you get the occasional gearhead that can speak the language, but those are the guys who more often than not just say "nice ride" and go about their business.
it's a strange affliction we have. to the outsider, we're weirdos. we're destroying the environment and depleting our natural resources with our dangerous old death traps, and i can see how to the uninitiated, it could look that way. but in my mind, i can't imagine NOT having that pride in something i built that puts a smile on people's faces, even if it wasn't my intention.
i drive an old car because i like old stuff. i like how mechanical and free they are from electronic bullshit and power assisted nonsense. i like dumped mufflers because i love the sound of a v8 shaking my guts. more often than not, i'm in my own little world when driving my 55. it's just me and the car, everything else just kinda falls away. it sounds cliche and corny, but it really is the only therapy and stress relief i know.

 

I agree with the original poster.

I'd actually rather be invisible to the rest of the world. I built it because I liked it, because it's what I wanted....I don't enjoy every dumbass at the gas station thinking my Impala (Oldsmobile) or '52 ('31) ford is cool. It makes me nervous when someone on the highway slows down to look at my car. And I can't hear what you are yelling from two lanes away over my exhaust. I would love to just disappear into a sea of Hondas and Toyotas when I drive my cars.

 

right on!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't do shows,cruises or anything involving other people.
I built my car to drive. It is a street legal RACE CAR.
I do my fast driving on logging roads and certain roads closed
to the public.
Just the way I am.
This hobby is big enough for everyone.

 

nah man, i'm not calling you out on it, what you said just brought it back to mind.
the greatest compliment i ever received was from an older guy who looked like he'd been through hell and seen it all, tell me that watching my car pull in instantly took him back to when he used to hang out at the local burger joint when he was a young guy. i didn't know what to say to him other than "thanks". it sparked off a conversation about the hot rod he had when he was my age and how things were so much different back then. if i had to name a reason why the attention a hotrod brings is a good thing, that's it.

 

Yes I think we all like the attention to an extent. We all like to be recognized for all the time and hard work we put into our cars and trucks. But what I like most is when another car guy/gal walks up and you talk for 1/2 an hour about all kinds of stuff. Then they walk off and someone asks you who that was and your answer is "another car guy/gal". You always have something in common with others in this hobby/lifestyle and it is a great environment to spend time with your family and friends.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

 

I drive old stuff because new stuff doesnt have soul like the old cars. My 61 unibody gets thumbs up every day on the way to work, yeah, its my daily. When I had my last 57, I couldnt leave the house for a loaf of bread without it taking 2 hours, everybody wants to look, talk, etc. I dont mind, heck, when I was into Fox Mustangs, nobody cared, I was just another punk in a loud obnoxious Mustang. With the 57, I was the middle aged guy with the loud obnoxious old car. Now, with my unibody, Im the dude with the loud obnoxious old truck. When my latest 57 is driveable, I will become the old fart with the loud obnoxious old car. I do it because I love it, not because of any attention, positive, negative or indifferent, I get. Enjoy your ride, regardless of what others may or may not think.

 

getting on i-95 in an old hotrod is a terrifying experience, if i'm honest. instead of disappearing into a sea of cookie cutter cars, i always wish every other car on the road was a hotrod too. there's a mutual respect between guys and girls with old cars. i still wave at every old car i see and 99% of the time, get a wave back. human by birth, hotrodder by choice. i do get down on people who dump on other people's rides, but in the end, i just don't think you'll find a better group of people than the true car guys.

 

ha! i get that from my wife all the time. "who was that?" or "do you know him?"
nope, not a clue, but he seems like a cool guy.
my wife understands. she doesn't really "get it", but she's always pointing out how many people are breaking their necks to get a look when we're out for a ride. that always makes me smile because i know she gets a kick out of it.

 

My daily is an AMC Pacer because I want everyone to know how cool I am.

 

i think we're living the same life, lol.
with the rise of the barrett jackson car "culture", it's always good to hear from the guys who have been doing it their whole lives and won't stop until they're in the ground.

this internet thing is ok sometimes. we're all spread out all over the world and since we can't all be sitting at a bar having this conversation over a round of beers, we can do it here. the HAMB gets a bad rep sometimes, but this is why i come here.

 

When I got my '51 Fleetline(in the avatar) , I remember my Dad telling me stories of when he was just learning to drive , and my great uncle and aunt had one , they were on their way to Ohio where my uncle worked , and the car was a 6 volt system , the battery was going dead , and you had to drift start the car , they left from southern West Virginia(no need to poke fun) on their way to ohio , my dad at the time was a green horn with a clutch , my uncle was trying to sleep in the back seat , and the ol man killed the car , my uncle started bitching , and put the ol man in the back.... I think of that story alot when I drive my car , my dad is my best friend , and my uncle was problably my 2nd best friend....

 

my daily is a 96 lincoln mark viii, because i want everyone to know how cool i am, too.
most common "compliment"? wow, it's ugly.

 

it's amazing the memories cars can bring back to people.
my dad's first car was a 55 bel air hardtop. when i told him i was picking up a 55, you could see his eyes light up. he's told me a million stories about when he had his, and then when he sold it to "my asshole idiot brother who trashed the goddamn thing". the maltese cross (my dad's side is german descent) on the dash speaker grille in my 55 is paying homage to his 55, which he did the same thing to. my dad and i used to go to a lot of cruises together. me in my 55, him in his 59 vette. he was diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple years ago (which he's since beat) and hasn't been up to going, but he was always asking me what was there or what i had done to the car lately. he's far from the hotrodder he used to be, he just likes to get in his 59 and cruise (he's had it for 46 years now), but he still loves to be around it. hopefully he'll be able to start coming out again soon.

 

For the most part I don't like attention but driving the above 51 GMC it was really hard to remain inconspicous. The one time I took it to a gas station I had tons of people looking and pointing and laughing. Having expiered tags from 1972 and the whole beat up look of the truck in general was more than enough to get people to look but to top it off I had a motorcycle gas tank gravity feeding the carb. I hopped up onto the bed of the truck and fileld tha huge 2 gallon gas tank. I felt like a rock star with all the attention and people asking about it.

My first old car was a 53 Plymouth in 2006. It got a fair bit of attention. I didn't drive it all too much so it didn't get too annoying. The next old car I drove was a poop brown 65 Rambler American 4 door. It was beat up and smoked horribly. I had one old guy say something to me once when I was on broke down on the side of the road. He said,"Whattya got there, a piece of crap?" That was honestly the only comment I ever got on that car. I didn't drive it much though. That was the closest to invisble I've ever gotten driving an old car.

The next old car (well truck) I had was a 63 F-100. I drove it daily all through the snowy Wisconsin winter up until June. It was a hit with people, the ladies for some reason especially liked it (that is the type of attention I can handle). I sold it cheap since it needed a lot of rust repair and the kingpins were shot.

The last old clunker I had on the road daily was a four door 63 Rambler Classic. Up until this point I've never had an old car daily driver that garnered so much attention that I got annoyed. But for some reason this car attracted a lot attention. I would actually go to gas stations that had less people to avoid being badgered.

The latest old clunker I am fixing up for a daily driver is a 57 Chevy. I have a feeling this puppy is going to be a magnet, but I don't care. I love driving old cars. Every since I can remember I've been into old cars. Now that I own my own place I can have as many clunkers around as I like which I have been exploiting that freedom to it's fullest.

 

I just fuckin like my cars.. thats why.. could give a fuck what anyone else thinks..

if they like it.. i like them alittle more than i prolly would.

 

If I was into cars for the attention, because of my age bracket I would be dumping every extra dime and few minutes into a new nissan 350z, not my Model A; instead of going out riding with my friends on my modified Harley, I would have a Suzuki GSXR1000 like my friends, my daily driver wouldn't be the beat up old 260,000 mile F150 that I love, it would be a Prius, and the high school car sitting in my parents driveway that I never want to get rid of would be a 91 honda civic with a fart can, not a 12sec 5.0 that I built when I was 17. Its all about the cars for me, always has been. When I came to realization a few years ago that some people do this for attention it really set me back. I couldn't understand how people couldn't admire the machinery and the engineering once dug into the car, instead just caring about getting it done to hit the show, or to cruise main street. I've been able to get along with any car guy, whether he has a skyline, chevelle, 50s wagon, or a hot rod. Car guys are car guys. Cool cars are just that. I'm with you on that, and there are some good quotes in this thread. I do it for the love of the machine.

 

Exactly.

 

I don't believe it for a minute that everyone doesn't feel a bit of "look at me", "I'm cool, I'm driving an old car" or something similar when driving an old car versus a daily driver. Those that deny it the most are probably ...

 

To be honest the attention gets annoying. I've drove old stuff since I was 16 (now 30 something) I drive old cars cause I like old cars.

My wife hates it, but as I told her 20 years ago if she don't like it she can leave. That still holds to this day.

I don't care how much cash I will ever have (though I like nice finished stuff) I will still own 1 or 2 that will never be finished w/primer spots on it somewere that the common folk don't understand, and that's fine cause I didn't build it for them.

As for everyday people if they get it thats fine, if not well..they can just go to hell driving there ugly little who knows what the kinda car it is, nor does it matter as it will be thown away in 2 years time anyway.

 

I love the attention. But I'm not into hot rodding BECAUSE of the attention. It is very nice to see someone take admiration in something that you built. Its self expression, and someone is expressing pleasure in seeing it. One of the greatest compilments around. But at the end of the day when i'm fallin into bed, the last thoughts in my head are about the sound of the motor, the way the wheel feels in my hands, not the guy who stared at it with a smile at the gas station, or the hot chick I took for a ride that day (okay...maybe I'm lying about that last one, lol)