The rusty, half-assed, cobbled shit today is 70-80 years old now...it's not that simple anymore... And who gives a shit what anyone looks like. But, yes. To answer your question, alot of us do still see/do see stuff like this today
Talk about being late to the party. Whoa, it's almost seven months of this thread being active and I somehow never saw it! This is great, considering I've got a late 50's Model A Coupe build on the back burner. Awesome thread...
Awesome thread though! Amazing cars...I'd give both my left nuts to have been part all this. Probably safe to assume that not EVERY car built back then was cool. I can't imagine people saving pictures of pre-ratrod ratrods. So, based off my knowledge I'd say were all doing a pretty damn good job keeping the traditional style alive and even as it seems to evolve, it doesn't stray far from it's roots, Goin' fast and lookin' good. It seems that the majority of guys that WERE around then would rather buy their BS-POS "rod" at Summit
Which means? If you're implying, that if the paint is faded, that it don't shine, a car isn't '50 correct, you are wrong. I'll challenge that premise because I was there. I remember that just as many of kids, maybe more, in the 50s didn't shine their paint. I don't have any pictures, but Mr Bill Van Dyke did; see his posts #83, 84, 85. I assert that the pictures he posted are authentic representations of the time. Mr Bill Van Dyke obviously shined his yellow '32 and the flamed '40 that he says were his high school rides. He took pictures. I didn't shine anything, and a lot of people didn't. I didn't take pictures. My cars were oxidized, never felt SIMONIZ in their existence. '34 Chivvy Pickup(original paint, faded to the oxide primer in places), 38 Chivvy coupe(white enamel, oxidized to the point it looked like primer) '39 Chivvy(with knee-action, yet!), '49 Ford convertable that I used to tow my race car, ( top in tatters, pink paint faded, etc.), If I had pictures I would proudly post them as representatives of how things actually then. A lot of hot rods were withougt shiny paint. Of course I knew people that spent all day shining/waxing their rides, but I didn't. It took a lot of work to take off the oxidize, a good days work. It had to be repeated every few months. I do remember washing my car(s). I don't actually recall any desire to shine them up, but I might have? I'm sure that circumstances, the reasons for which are obscure, have faded in my memory, but I'm absolutely certain of one thing. It didn't happen. Primarily, if I recall correctly, I wouldn't have spent the money, it SIMONIZ or any polish/wax product would have taken sustenance off the table, or gas for the race car, or beer after the races. The only new paint on the race car was the # on the side, and the name of the sponsor. It was a reality.
Well, they were shiny here in Southern California, for the most part. And if they weren't, they were going to be very soon. I guess it depends on where you lived at the time. Lots of nice weather meant you could drive a hotrod here year-round. Girls liked guys with nice cars. We kept 'em shiny...
We don't presume to attempt to give more credit to shine than to otherwise. To do so is narrow minded. The girls that picked me had more brains than to choose a guy only on the merits of his car.
The Jalopy Journal
