(BOOMERS ONLY) Hot Rod Renaissances

I feel privileged because of my age to have participated in two hot rod renaissances, one in the 40's-'50's and a later one about now (for the last 10 years).

There were hot rods, muscle cars, street rods and now we're back to the hot rods.

But for you guys that were there for the first renaissance in the '40's-'50's.................how does this latest one compare?

 

I was in the first renaissance and there seemed to be a lot of junk yards around to get those much needed parts.. Now the UPS truck covers that situation. I liked it in the 50's

 

I miss junkyards................Those were the days of adventure on a Saturday climbing through the "Discarded" hot rod parts we wish we had today.........

 

X2. I miss the days when you bought 1 trans and threw 2 over the fence to pick up later.

 

LOL 57 custom your the man

 

I still go to the same junkyard I did with my dad sixty years ago.............it's changed alittle, I can't buy a generator for 50 cents anymore.
Avatar picture is me and my Dad.............

 

Boomers are from 1946-64 we call them kids around here. I never grew out of the old part still work. I build and rebuild old parts. UPS doesn't know I have an address
Jim

 

Some in the 60's, 80's and still playing. All the yards have been gone for a while at least around me. Time just p***es too quickly. Other than parts it seems the same.

 

all the old yards are s****ped out, parts prices are unreal compared to 40 years ago, and its gettin harder to get up off the creeper or floor but otherwise the end result still fires me up just like it did so many rod runs ago...flatheads forever !

 

I don't consider the 40's-50's era of Hot Rodding a Renaissance at all - it was still going strong from the beginning of Hot Rodding, not died out and returned!
Hot rodding really took hold after the war, and since that is around 1945 that era is really the beginning. Yes there was Hot Rodding before the war (and during!) but the strongest era is the late 40's early 50's and it was still part of the initial creation!
So I think what you are really comparing is the start of Hot Rodding to today's Renaissance.

And true Baby Boomers didn't really experience the first era anyway as that era is defined as born in 1946 to 1964, so even the oldest Boomers were mere baby's during the Golden Era, they weren't legal to drive until '61 at the earliest!

 

The word 'renaissance' may not have been the best choice, but I think you get the jist.
Hot Rodding began in Socal in the '30's, but took a little break during WWII. Then there was
a resurgence.

But not being legal to drive doesn't mean one couldn't experience it. I experienced it in many ways between the ages of 11 and 14 (when I finally got my license).

 

i'm a boomer..........and i remember.......

 

One thing for sure they did it themselves. I started after your dates in the early 60s but if you wanted a hot rod you had to buy a project and build it yourself with the help of your buddies.

You had to learn a little more than just bolt on bracket A with the supplied bolts and mount the supplied modified part to the bracket.

There really is no comparison between that time and the current state of the hobby.

Magazines had articles to help the readers do it yourself. Now they just list 1-800 numbers for their advertisers.

I remember a buddy talking to a spectator at a show 30 years ago. The guy asked where did you get that alternator mount? My buddy said I made it. The spectator said no where did you buy the mount?

It's gone down hill since then. To me it's a shame.

 

Card carrying Boomer. I remember my step father bringing a 52 Ford Vic home with a 56 Tbird special 312 home that he had traded for that had held the C/Gas record at a local track. The thing was lowered about three inches front and back but ran like stink and had a great set of pipes on it. I was about ten years old at the time.
I was too young then to go hang out at the gas station in town where the guys in the Iron Angels Car club (first edition) hung out and worked on their cars so they could race at Ellensberg, Wa or Madras, Oregon. Watching Ernie Sanchez's J/stock automatic national record holding Pontiac Catalina flat tow Ross Kincade's 62 Corvette past the house headed to Madras early on Sunday mornings. Hanging out at the Shell station where Oly and his buddys built some pretty fast cars including a 55 Chev with a 401 Buick set back 10 percent that ran pretty good when he could keep it together.

But yes, most of the guys then built their cars with the pieces they could find at the wrecking yards, engine swaps for more power were the order of the day and some of them were pretty well cobbled up messes rather than engineering exercises.

 

Good recovery.

Without trying to pick nits too much, another way to look at it is in the immediate post WWII era the "natural" progression reignited and continued to evolve. Some of the folks then learned some skills in the military, and/or met influential others, that helped elevate and accelerate the practices of the "movement". Then of course guys were more likely modifying their daily driver rather than a hobby car.

I had the enormous good fortune to move at the age of 12 from Chicago to So. Cal in 1960. Talk about a revelation. There were some interesting cars in Chicago at the time, but nothing like California.

The biggest difference between the "Golden Era" and today, of course, is that then, the guys were using the latest techology hardware available, influenced by their personal budget abilities (not unlike today on that specific). Today the "renaissance" folk are steadfastly (admittedly to varying degrees) clinging to "ancient" techology. Those that are actually following the spirit of our forefathers are unmentionable here.

Along those lines, I chuckle to myself when the SBC bashing begins. If you really lived at the time (mid '50s +) only the most brand bias would deny the impact that was rendered by those comparatively little orange lumps (not really trying to start the tired old arguments, that's been done to excess elsewhere, just marking significant event point). To that point I also smile when I see some of the more historically aware, and skillful younger guys today evolving from "flathead love" to "small block love" as they emulate the progression of that time over 50 years ago.

We "boomers" are recapturing (trying anyway) a past we may or may not have directly participated in, but lived through. Despite the difficulties we've piled on our country/society, it's a marvel we are affluent enough to be able to do that. To have others appreciate it as well is a bonus.

 

One observation I make is that the participants in the old days were young.Now at car events all I see are us old farts.I guess its the same people in the resurgence,not a whole lot of new kids into the ole hot rods.Probably because we drove the costs up too high for anyone not yet established in a career to play with the cl***ic styles.

 

I think that's the point, to be able to afford even an entry level car at today's prices,w/ what wages are for the younger gen. has simply put the hobby out of reach for the average wage earner, that coupled w/a lack of boneyard " low tech" parts.'member when a4-spd. was 75-100 bucks out of a 1or2 year old car? not any more, very few V-8's most all slushboxes, a good 4-bbl. was $5 jeez I miss those days !! dave

 

From another perspective, I'm glad there's been another hot rod renaissance since I missed the first one. In our family cars were only for transportation, no fun allowed.

 

Got my first ticket at 14 and had been driving a while...Ohio licensed at 16. Made extra money in High School buying flatheads for $10-$15, whole cars for $25. Selling an engine installed for $50 bucks. Now I'm back to play'n with flatheads.

 

When I was 13, in 1954, I worked for a contractor in Hayward Calif. I told him I wanted to get a 34 p/u and put a Cadillac engine in it . He said I had Champagne
ideas on a Beer Budget. But in 1960 I had my 36 coupe in the GNRS.

 

I started in 58 with a 36 5window and a 49 olds adapted to a 39 trans. adapter purchesed from Honest charlies.

 

There are a hell of a lot more parts available now and more expense.
Back in the day car's were , I don't know how to put it, cruder most of parts you scrounged from a s**** yard or got from a buddy. You didn't buy anything new.
I had a 49 Ford Cp. I built, had the body work done by a shop, weld all the holes shut ( no one had a welder I knew at the time) and painted, $ 100.00 but I was only making $ 52.00 a week gross at the time.
Three of us got a 33 Ford from the s**** yard put a 50 Merc. engine in it ( from the s**** yard ) to run in hobby cl*** up at Williams Grove on Saturday nights. chains around the doors to keep them closed in case of a crash, chicken wire for the wind shield. Flat towed it up the first night crashed it in the second heat race and left it at the track, had no way to get it home.

 

I think it's the last gasp for the end of an era, not a Renaissance. I see mostly old guys clinging to their memories and longing for the good old days. When we all drop dead, the era will die with us. Enjoy it while you can and die happy. Sorry.......... I'm not very cheerful today........

 

I hope that Don Montgomery weighs in on this...he is the master of hot rod history.

 

boom boom. my friend's pop owned a junkyard in the 50s & 60s, so i got to hang around there a lot. things were a lot cheaper, but nobody had any money. at least nobody that i knew did.

 

Boy, howdy! And ya did that....because ya HAD to!!!

 

sorry yer down, there, dude. I dont think the idea of hotrodding is dead at all. Us Boomers just paint on the canvas we are familiar with...the kids and grandkids of us mostly like their own kind of canvas to paint on...the hondas, jettas, wrx's, etc. and you cant tell me that they love modifying their cars to go fast and look cool any less than we did when we were their age. Its all about perspectives

 

Anybody else?

 

"The biggest difference between the "Golden Era" and today, of course, is that then, the guys were using the latest techology hardware available, influenced by their personal budget abilities (not unlike today on that specific). Today the "renaissance" folk are steadfastly (admittedly to varying degrees) clinging to "ancient" techology. Those that are actually following the spirit of our forefathers are unmentionable here."

This is one of the more profound statements I've read on the HAMB.

Barris, Watson, Dean and a host of other customizers took brand new cars off the showroom floor directly into their shops and did mild customs that went on the show circuit. Try posting a photo of a bagged new Ford Fiesta with a trick paint job here today. By the same token, I can't think of a single guy I hung with in the fifties and sixties that would consider a four door Rambler "traditional". I see some cars here that are works of art that nail the forties, fifties and sixties car culture.

There are traditional cars here on the HAMB, but their seems to be no room for the tradition of hot rodding as we knew and practiced it 50 years ago.

 

This one is pretty darn good, except for the fact that the flavor of the original cruising is dead & the whole junk yard fun is over. This whole current thing, however, is driven for the most part by the "Old Fart Factor" (me included). So, post "boomer" people, it's not so bad now. Eat it up while you can & carry the torch as best you can into the future.