When did we all become restorers?

This...

 

We need a stronger box.

 

I've seen cars on the HAMB that not even a restorer would touch in their wildest dream! When they see the finished product they'd even be shocked on something that they passed up.

 

I didn't restore mine , I just wanted to bring it back from the grave and make her safe to drive on the road and I am still working on her.Bruce.

 

When I got her I think you all remember she had a motor knock , leaking transmission , no brakes and more .Heres 2 years later, blood, sweat , and crown Royal but still no heat lol.Bruce.

 

....so, dont ask for pizza at a "HAMB"burger joint or you may wind up with a crabby patty?

...no offense, I get what you are saying exactly but I couldnt resist

 

We are all restorers is some way but some like to make improvements on what the factory did.

 

I'm a newbe on this forum, about 4 months ago I joined after spending about 6 months checking the site out about once a week. I wasn't quite sure if my projects would fit in with what this forum is about. Traditional Hot Rods and Customs built in a style period correct. I'm in my late 50's and grew up around sports car racing and hot rods. Every friend my parents had were ether sports car racers, salt flat guy's or some form of hot rod builder. I've watched my dad help his friends build or work on their AV8's and belly tankers. Even the sports car guy's were hot rodding their Italian, German and British cars with American Power. That's Hot Rodding. I spent lots of my youth being my dads gofer and later the tune and clutch guy. Now I'm the guy racing but sad to say dad is "not of this earth" any longer.
I have 3 street projects going on at the moment. One is my dads old race car that he put back on the street. I'm just backdating some of the parts ( engine block, tach, and other gauges and different wheels).
The 37 Deluxe 4 door is my son's car that my dad bought him when he was 13. We got the car with a Mustang 2 crossmember installed. Its going to look pretty stock but with a 327, parallel leaf 8" and suck the bumpers in. sitting as low as reasonable. Pretty traditional execpt the front suspension. My truck is a totally different story. I'm using as much of what I already have in the running gear and suspension parts, traditional but not period correct. I'm going for a 62 mild custom build. I personally don't like seeing a car at a show ( indoors or out ) with the hood and trunk up. I hate that! I'll be using lacquer paint, some candies and a white or white and color interior. Chrome wheels or hub caps, I haven't really decided. I really hope I can fit 16" wheels around the front brakes. The tape says they will fit but I need a test fit and cant find one with a 4.5 on 5 pattern. So sitting in a parking lot only a sharp eye would catch the race car inspired chassis components.
Anyway what I'm getting at is, I think the Board here has been very generous to the posters projects and pictures posted. I see plenty of 70's type T's, painted bumpers on customs, and coilover fenderless rods ( which is probably the way I would go because of the ride quality). But coil overs have been around plenty long enough.. Seems to me like there is plenty of grace here on the HAMB. Build them any way you desire but try and capture the look of a set period in time. For a pre 50's car Its even tougher to get it right.
Just my nickels worth of chat.

 

Those are more then outside the box, they are not even in the warehouse.

Actually to ad a little confusion to the thread my wife tells people that I restore old cars, it comes from years of being a hot rodder/biker being a negative thing.

 

I re-read this post multiple times before deciding if I wanted to reply, so here goes....

Let me preface this by saying that I love the HAMB, and 'get' what a 'traditional' car 'built in the style representative' should look like. To get a better appreciation of that, look up the definitions of 'style' and 'representative'. I also love the DIY aspect found here; the wealth of information here is fabulous. With that said...

In any group, you'll have basically three kinds of people; leaders, followers, and critics. The leaders follow their own path to wherever it takes them, good or bad. The critics are the 'control' on the leaders, generally seeing themselves as 'in charge' of the group. Generally resistant to any change, they can tend to stifle creativity even when a 'leader' comes up with something that does fall into the 'group' idea. A case in point was the 'goofy shit' '34 coupe recently posted. Unquestioningly built 'back in the day', this car had numerous features not normally found on 'traditional' (as defined by the 'critics') cars, yet due to it's timeline is as 'traditional' as anything out there. Guys like Ak Miller, Tex Smith, Norm Grabowski, and Gene Winfield didn't become icons by listening to the critics, and not everything these guys did became widely copied either.

The 'followers' generally side with the critics as the 'safe' course, so you get a sameness in the group. So to answer the OPs question, yes, many have become 'restorers', lacking the creativity to come up with something 'new' but there's still enough 'leaders' out there to make it interesting.

Sometimes this site is like a bipolar girlfriend; you love her on the good days, but go WTF when it gets weird...

 

Lmao -

 

So this means we can post all of our "off topic/creative stuff" here? ---------------------



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I didn't think so.

 

Well there was a time that your scooter (scooters in your case) like mine were totally acceptable.

I think the whole leaders critics things was a little off. There are leaders, people follow them, there are critics who wish that they were leaders and there are rebels those who don't "give a damn about the rules."

Then there are people like me, I am a legend in my own mind.

 

Crazy Steve, you nailed it.

And Beaner polished it.

 

X2

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, ( my favorite part is coming up ) so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

 

whatever it take to get the GIRLS!! that's what it's all about!

 

The point I've tried to make in all my posts is that just because new and creative stuff isn't being posted on the board, it doesn't mean Hambers are only drinking the traditional koolaid. The traditional stuff is just part of the total package, it just doesn't show up here.

Benno,
I'd like to see some scooter stuff here, the Jockey Journal really isn't the same since Ryan sold it and Dragon died. I haven't posted over there in a year or so.

 

My take has always been more toward PRESERVATION rather than RESTORATION. It gives you more freedom to be creative and do what you want. Also found a PRESERVED project is sometimes easier to sell and buyers are less likely to pick over every little detail like they might on a RESTORED project.

 

I don't consider myself a restorer but I find that with each new project (the quality of what we can find or scarceness of a chosen car ) has made me have to somewhat restore the car before I can hotrod it. My latest Willys is a good example

 

Oh man ,,,

 

Well I'd post something to get it started I guess. I haven't been in any real trouble in a while.

I never really hung out @ the Jockey Journal. Bike sites that would cater to someone like us would be hard to find I am afraid. I have bumped into a few places that seem OK but after you get in there that are inhabited by too many fellas that have watched too many movies and TV shows.

 

I'll stand by my categories. Sure, there's sub-types within the basic type; but what's a 'rebel'? Just a leader who doesn't care if he has any followers...

 

Everyone has a different opinion, so here is the way I look at things:

If you have a mint old Ford, keep the hot rod build on the mild side....not a restoration, but for sure not all hacked up....sort of what you could call, conservative H.A.M.B. style.

If you want to build a "wild" hot rod, start with a roached out body, or a fiberglass body.

There are a limited amounts of the original stuff, so treat it with respect.

With the roached out old tin, save it from the crusher.....go wild.

And on the fiberglass side, there hopefully will be an unlimited supply, so have at it. If you screw it up, sell it and buy another body.....most are made in the U.S.A......keep an American shop in business.

 

I am not a restorer by any stretch of the imagination but the one thing about those shouting "Traditional" is why in the world would you put together a hot rod that is souped up and put 70 year old brakes on it???

 

I still play records on a turntable.

 

Here's my " restoration " I lost my restoration how to book so I just winged it.

 

Tudorfritz - Well done.

 

Nice wagon! Ill bet a 4x8 sheet o plywood fits in the back!