Folks Of Interest R.I.P. Our Hot Rodding history.........

I don't consider myself old, I'm 68, because I stay active. I grew up during a great time. We all built our own cars, scoured junk yards for the parts we needed and if something didn't work we tried again. We removed engines, rear ends and even bodies. Chopped and channeled and did all the body work ourselves. All of that is gone now. Some kids modify their foreign made vehicles, but are limited by law, on how much they can do. I have my two granddaughters, 9 and 11 years old, with me in my garage as often as possible. They have welded both MIG and TIG and used cutting torches. When I have to take something apart, I let them do it. I let them see for themselves what size wrench they need and find it in the tool box. Our next project is to re-restore my '29 Ford. I am going to let them do most of the dis***embly and even let them figure out how to remove the body, engine and all the other parts, with limited input from me. The only way we are going to keep our hobby alive is by teaching the next generation.

 

Very coincidently I found this Lil tid bit in my inbox this afternoon! May not be Hot Rod related but it is LIFE related and I found it to be mostly true to my observations! Joe



I never really liked the terminology "Old People"but this makes me feel better about it.And if you ain't one, I bet ya you know one!I got this from an "Old Personal friend of mine"!"OLD PEOPLE" PRIDEI'm p***ing this on as I did not want to be the only "old people" receiving it. Actually, it's not a bad thing to be called, as you will see.

• Old People are easy to spot at sporting events; during the playing of the National Anthem. Old People remove their caps, cover their hearts, stand at attention and sing without embarr***ment. They know the words and believe in them.
• Old People remember World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalc**** , Normandy , and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing. They remember the 50 plus Peacekeeping Missions from 1945 to 2005, not to mention Vietnam .
• If you bump into an Old People on the sidewalk he will apologize. If you p*** an Old People on the street, he will nod or tip his cap to a lady. Old People trust strangers and are courtly to women and treat them with great respect.
• Old People hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make certain the lady is on the inside for protection.
• Old People get embarr***ed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like any filth or dirty language on TV or in movies.
• Old People have moral courage and personal integrity. They seldom brag unless it's about their children, grandchildren or their animals.
• It's the Old People who know our great country is protected, not by politicians, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country.

This country needs Old People with their work ethic, sense of responsibility, pride in their country, and decent values.
We need them now more than ever.

Thank God for Old People
P*** this on to all of the "Old People" you know.
I was taught to respect my elders. It's just getting harder to find them.

 

Hallelujah Joe! HRP

 

my grand pa told me many years ago that the only reason you can not do something is you do not want to.and if you think you can or think you can't you are right. the last is you can't lie to the man in the mirror. dam i miss him. i told the same thing to my grand sons and hope they understand

 

I will happily work for the chance to learn. I did not intend to ask for pay.

 

I have lots of unfinished projects, and there are paying jobs in Arizona,, Come on down>>>
teach ya all I know.. only TAKE a minute or two......

 

I was thinking more along the lines of project money. When the project money dries up not much gets done and what I normally do with other fellas cars or motor cycles to make ends meet is mostly just nuts and bolts.

 

As a younger guy (33) I always ask the older guys (I lean on my father a lot too) how It was done, why it was done that way ect...

I am reminded of Al "Suicide" Sanders, my father and I would see him a vintage stockcar shows, he wore cover-alls with racing patches and acted a little goofy so we didn't deal with him much.

We found out he flat-towed a 39 Ford From upstate N.Y. to Daytona behind a 46 Ford Sportsman (woody conv.) with rotten wood. Al slept under a pometto bush and qualified for the sportsman modified race on the beach.

After learning this we got to know him and learned he had a lot of driving history in central N.Y.

Al p***ed on a few years ago.


Al in his younger days-


Photo from http://www.catamountstadium.com/

Al at the Mid-State Stockcar reunion a few years ago-


Photo from http://www.midstateantiquestockcarclub.com/

I always shake hands and thank W.W.II vets!

 

Them old guys in the patched up Bibbies or Work Coveralls are the ones you want to talk to for sure.

 

An old saying kinda goes like this, "What do you do, when all your hero's are gone?" Well, the answer just might be to find new hero's. There are plenty of young guys doing cool, new things with old cars. Just get out there and start paying attention.

Makes me think of all the old guys, who park their fat ***es in a lawn chair behind their car at a show, chasing away kids who have a question, and wondering why no new rides are at the shows. Sometimes, we're our greatest enemy.

 

I really appreciate the subject! When I was a teenager, both my grandfathers showed me the ropes in building cars, and everyone seemed to tinker on their cars, and most of them were hand-me-downs of family cars. Hot rods were a real matter of iden***y to them, me, and my friends,....but as the years past, it appears that the market is flooded with cars of every make & car-image is totally aimed at ''new'' and ''expensive'' cars with gadgets coming out of every nook. Now, I'm in my mid 50's myself, and still tinker on my cars, and I've tried to get the younger crowd I know, to help and participate...but, they don't seem to ''identify'' with the whole thought process. I've asked several young people that my wife & I know, and they say it's to ''old fashioned'' and nostalgia doesn't ring with them the same way...the main thing they constantly say is: ''it isn't new''!!!....I think they may be intimidated by the whole process, and can ONLY compare to modern cars, because it's all they know..and it scares them......I still reach out, and try, try, try to get them interested any way I can...it's all I can do....maybe one day someone will actually get a curious spark.

 

Some very interesting responses thus far. I was particularly interested in those who say that a lot of the younger people just don't seem that interested in learning about what it was like,"back in the day"(a term I really don't like). Also the older folks sitting on their ***es at shows and chasing away youngsters with questions.
The generational gap is something that is difficult at best to overcome. The differences between my generation and my grandfather's was enormous but somehow I came through it in one piece and would like to think that it helped me make it through my life to where I am now.
There were a few of my acquaintances who shared similar ideas and as far as I know have encountered similar results. Others that had little interest in all things automobile are still pretty much of that bent in that to them a vehicle is a tool for getting from point A to point B as easily as possible.
There is also the factor of being constantly bombarded by the media and advertising(try clicking on a subject on Facebook and you will see what I mean if you can get by all the ads);the advent of "non-participation" in sports and other activities and the plethora of video games and the like.
It has gotten to the point where people rarely even converse with one another anymore. But I digress....
As for old people not wanting to share with the younger generation I believe that is a distinct minority. I think most of us,"chronologically-challenged" citizens are more than willing to share with others our experiences. Just my opinion but I think the ones who sit on their collective ***es and ***** about younger kids may be late entries into the whole hot rod thing. Call them "gold chainers" or,"posers" or whatever you like; I doubt they represent the true spirit of hot rodding.
I can remember when I first started pinstriping I wanted to learn all I could about it but there were very few stripers in the area I lived in. When I did run into one of them and tried to start a conversation a few of them did not want to share information;whether it was because they didn't know or they were afraid of losing business.As a result I was forced to learn(usually the hard way)what I could by trial(many)and error(many more). I resolved that if I became proficient in this trade I would never be like that. I still feel that way and have never brushed off a question about it by someone who is attempting to learn. I even started a Yahoo group many years ago dedicated to just that purpose.It is still operational but hasn't been used much lately.
Awhile back a good friend of mine put together a program at a local community college called"Hot rod High".He gathered a group of local hot rodders(engine builders;body men;painters;etc.)and put on a week long seminar for a group of kids ranging in age from 11 to 16 that were attending a local vo-tech school.It was a small group(about 25 kids as I recall)and he arranged to do two seminars a day. I was asked to do a seminar on pinstriping and a good friend one on airbrushing. The best part of it was they actually got to build and put together what we might call a,"rat rod".(I'm still trying to find the pics in my computer).
A couple of the students were really outstanding and at the end of the week they had a,"graduation" ceremony where the parents of the kids attended. Probably the greatest feeling was when one of the parents came up to us and said,"I can't thank you enough for this;my two kids have done a complete 180 and are actually looking forward to attending another cl*** like this".
Anyway there are a number of ways to get the younger ones to take more of an interest in hot rods.The important thing is to actually make the effort.

 

It seems to me that the history is never truly lost until there is no one left to care. Maybe the record holder is pushing up daises, but the kid on the stands might cherish that moment forever. If he is able to p*** that moment along then it never really dies. To me, hot rodding is a mentality, not a club or even a whole lot to do with a car. It's the ability to make the best of what you have. Teach the younger generation to do things by themselves and many of them will stumble into it by accident. We now live in a world that it's easier to throw things away than it is to fix them. I'm only 20, I stumbled into hot rods by accident.But the old folks I've met through the journey have opened my eyes to ingenuity that I have rarely seen in my generation. All it takes is to open some eyes and it will spread like wildfire, I'll try my best to spread the word.

 

One thing I've noticed more and more also, is the lack of knowledge some people have about their own cars they are
trying to sell. I keep seeing model a's called 32's", tudor "sedans called "vicky's", and to some people every old car is a
"roadster" whether it is or not. I was watching one of the more recent episodes of a certain auction, and the so called
"expert" that was describing a 36 Ford coupe( if I remember right), and said it was the same type of car that was in the California Kid. Maybe it's just me,but a 36 Ford looks nothing like a 34. I don't know if there is a book ***led "Hot Rods for Dummies", but there should be.

 

I always take the time to listen to the older folks. Like said it may not be about cars,but almost always interesting. My dad did not start tell me stories about growing up and stuff he had done till I was in my late 20s. His stories are always interesting from being in a orphanage to loosening his mother at a young age. To the first car he owned and of course the women he dated he turns 85 this November. Have already had one close call so I always take the time to listen to him. You just never know what could happen. On different note this summer my family and I got around to a few car shows. What caught me off guard was my oldest daughters interest in the old cars. So it was a good time walking around she would ask about a car. What year make extra. She even took pictures of the ones she like and were not based off how pretty the color was. Her favorite car is is a 77 firebird. I know yuck!! there is one at my work she wants bad. So I made deal A's and B's in school and she would have to learn about fixing and working on it I would get it. She said that's a deal.

 

safarinut, my grandfather was born in 1880, was a bad kid and was given a choice of going to school at 4yrs old or be tied to a tree all day. he picked school, he graduated a mechanical

& electrical engineer in 1899 from kase collage in oh., worked for wright bros, and dated their sister, for aircraft co during wwI. around 1918 he started working on a way to stop the lights at nite from blinding oncoming drivers, he came up with wats called a depressed beamhis patent is whats used on most every car in the world, wheyou dim your lights, thats his patent, he sold it to GM in 1921-22for $50,000, thats how they moved toFL in 1923. he drove all his life without a ticket untill 1958 ilake worth fl he got his first ticket for not dimming his lites...the cop wouln't belive his story....

 

Cool story!

 

What a GREAT story! Thank you so much for sharing it. He sounds a lot like my grandfather.

 

As I said before I am one of the younger guys in the auto lifestyle I do not veiw it as just a hobby, and I want my cars to be period correct.

At a cruise in a man in his mid 50 who puts Chevy LS, ES, EI EI O engines in fifties Corvettes. Could
not understand when he over heard me say "I excited about this new stuff."

As far as teenagers my dad is semi retired and works in the local vo-tech in the welding program.
The new auto teacher (Who is in his early 30's) brought the I.M.C.A. modified he crews on as a treat for the students to work on. They don't wan't any part of working on it.

 

Go to a cruise nite, stand (or sit) and watch. It is a show for young people and their families put on by old people and their cars

 

I'm not so sure that is the case everywhere. I used to attend a fair amount of cruises(seems like there is one every night of the week around here in SE Michigan)but have cut back recently due to other commitments. When attending this past season I noticed that there were a lot more younger people who were building older cars. Of course there is the usual turnout of Corvettes(of all years)and muscle cars(big around here) and street driven buggies(legal in MI)that are basically a roll cage and driveline on a tube frame and a smattering of motorcycles(including automobile engined bikes). There are always a few so-called,"Rat rods";the majority of which are actually pretty well built. These seem to be preferred by younger rodders. Then you occasionally get the REAL oddball stuff;like a mid 60's Ford pickup with a functioning jet engine mounted in the pickup bed or a 41 Willys coupe with an all aluminum Donovan hemi on it complete with BDS 8-71 blower atop it. Some really nice customs show up as well.
I really don't see too many families attending these meets but I ***ume that some do. I do see a lot of older folks walking around inspecting the cars that are not participants. It is always good to see a smile break out on their faces when they see a particular car or something that is attached to one.
I will say that one particular car show I attend every year(the Frankenmuth Auto Fest)does have a HUGE amount of families perusing the cars. This is a 3 day event and draws a large number of vehicles(the last one was around 3000).
Anyway I want to thank all those who took the time to post on this thread.

 

BTT

 

LOL the last good guys I went to I power parked my '65 Galaxie on a dare ( and an offer of free hot dogs). I rolled in and parked. Rolled the windows down and took a walk. This Chebby club had parked around me. it took me several hours to get back because my legs kept giving out and the gold cart guys would give make a lift. Anyway long story short when I got back the chebby guys were waxing and cleaning my ford, they said it had hand prints all over it and they were sorry that they didn't watch it closer for me. I laughed and told them it was just an old car and not to worry about it.

That old Ford got lots of miles on it setting in the front row that weekend and I met lots of interesting people along the way.

 

What a great story Safari nut. Thanks for sharing. What a great man.

 

My T isn't a show car but at shows it still gets lots of attention. One of the best trophys it ever won was "Kids Pick".
I can't tell you how many kids have had their picture taken at gas stations and parking lots in that tub.
Oh and Ray, thanks for all the tips and mentoring when I decided to try my hand at striping (again) a number of years ago.

 

Someone suggested looking at the old topics and postings on the HAMB. I clicked on HRP's profile page and then clicked on his posts---read most of them over and it's not hard to see what he's all about. Got to write down some of the old hands and do that---Ol Curmudgeon, Porkn******, 56 delivery, etc.

 

That's exactly what I just started doing for my Dad here on this site!
He is 84, but not very computer savy. He's reading everything, but I'm posting his stories & pics. Check out: "Ray C*** Revisited - 39 Custom Ford Conv. Survivor"

Sent from my SM-G900V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Being a tradesman and small business owner, had the good fortune of several Senior mentors, all my life, most of my friends have been older than I AND here's an observation I"ve made, when I was young and brash, I did listen to my elders and gave them the benefit of doubt and some respect, as I have become a Senior, I Do Not see that in today's young people, But, everything changes with time and "It Is What It Is" Read some good stories on this thread and there is hope and our HOBBY Will never die, just change with times.

 

“Just remember, when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.” Charles Schultz

Go build something.

 

I agree with you. Theres an awful lot of guys here who want to rewrite history to be something it never was. Nobody tried to make traditional hotrods with International trucks or 48-52 Dodges or off brand cars.