As time p***es and with the internet offering instant images of automobiles it seems that the old east coast & west coast styles have seen a huge growth and we are seeing the famed styles being built on through out the country. Along with some of the styles I've noticed some trends that I honestly don't get,it's no biggie but the surfboards on wagons that are thousands of miles from ether coast. HRP
IDK about landlocked surfboards, but I'd sure like to see if any regional styles come up in discussion that are either even more specific than East/West or specific to a region other than the coastal US.
The old east coast styles back in the day was usually heavy channel and rarely chopped. HRP One being brought back in Cincinnati. HRP
The Internet has kinda muddled the water on styles but I do notice differaces with local shows with cars that have been around the area forever , but that also depends on budget of build also Ohio area used to have that" lobeck look" always has been an area for outstanding cars with little press even in the 50s some neat cars show up in race coverage from that area LA always kinda had a traditional style , think "Pete and jakes" but then Boyd style too SF Bay Area always seemed to have lots of chrome and hot motors and most driven a lot " brizio " New Jersey area always seemed "over the top" more is better New England seemed very in touch with the past, still lots of old channeled cars around there in the 80s even Midwest from where I'm from ..had lots of machinist and factories farms and repair ect. Seems a lot of conservative good useable garage built cars in that area I guess it depends on what era you discuss I suppose , but that's the way it was when I was really young. there alway seems to be a few proficient builders in a given area that set the style for the rest .. Which probably rang true from the 40s to the 80s when magazines started really pushing the agenda ...and now you have the Internet telling you what's traditionally acceptable and what's not
Tim,the Model A is being restored back to it's original look,I believe the son is restoring his dad's car as it was in the early days. HRP
I don't remember seeing any ''channeled'' hot rods growing up in southern Oregon....there may have been a few around, but most of my dad's buddies all drove 1927-32 cars that were on top of the frames. Lot of whitewall tires of course, and hubcaps for sure...and painting the cars were always with Earl Schieb or DIY with a Hoover vacuum attachment (remember those big lumbering pull along monsters?)..............when it came to the bigger cars, they were all pretty much taildraggers....the more sparks on the tarmac, apparently the better. I remember my father having to 'sweep' the debris from under his low-riding Merc's and Fords with a broom, jabbing at it like poking a hole in the ground...added sandbags in the trunk for height and comfort!!! My dad had lots of hot rods in the late 50's and early 60's....but I don't recall ever seeing on the roads anything ''channeled''....must have an Eastern states thing back in the day. I'm only going by what my dad's many friends were driving, because they were mostly in our yard at any given time, working on them..... ...........^^^ one of my father's hot rods as an example.....I have the car in my possession now
I found the 2 pics of my father's 1st Merc....not greatest photo's mind you, but they sorta give the common at***ude his/their cars had in the southern part of Oregon in the 50's....I thought they were pretty darn cool anyways...by the time the car was painted tangerine color (with the Hoover!---my grandmother painted it pearl first, then tangerine....she was good at painting, because she painted most of my dad's buddies cars!) the rear bumper was 1'' inch off the ground most days...
My formative years were spent in the late 50's-very early sixties in East Tennessee. There just weren't many hot-rods to be seen on the street but, there were lots of 30's and 40's cars cut up and used as dirt track cars. Most daily drivers were just mildly customized with whatever one could order from J.C. Whitney or Honest Charlie like Lee lenses, cruiser skirts, lake pipes and of course the ubiquitous fuzzy dice and or graduation t***els hanging from the mirror. Fiesta caps were always a favorite as well as Dodge Lancers. Didn't see much in the way of dummy spotlights but then by the early sixties we started to see a lot of those spotlights with the rear view mirror on the back side. What must have been a rather "provincial" addition to mild customs were these round cushions that were placed on the package tray that were two-toned to match the car. In other words if you had say a '56 Ford Crown Victoria in Black and White, these cushions would also be Black and White with these colors alternating in a pie-slice configuration. I've never seen them since my youth.
Guys, the lavender Model A was built a few years ago by Bobbie and Tyler Hilton. (eastcoast57) on here. It has been followed by a string of early style builds, including Hot Rod of the year. His cars have had lots of press in all the mags, including 24 pages in the Rodders Journal. He still gets the lavender car out when they have time.
There's a neat book about the rods that were built in the New England area back in the day. It's called Cool Cars, Square Roll Bars. I believe it has been out of print for a while, but copies show up on Amazon from time to time. It's a good read! KK
I so fit in with you guys. Here on the West Coast I started building models in the late 50's at about 10 yrs. old ( mostly AMT '40 & '32s) In the early '60s I drove my ****py 6 cylinder '53 Ford down to the local Mobil station where all the older Rodders hung out. The station owner drove a '33 Five window with a hot SBC. Old Fords were plentiful and cheap back then and there were always several around with Chev motors. None of them were ever too fancy but I lusted after these cars and they have made an indelible impression on me. I tried to style my '40 coupe as if it could have fit in with the rest of the cars at Don's Mobil circa 1962. I didn't like the East Coast stuff back then but both styles seem to prevail across America nowadays.
My '34 roadster when I first got it. It was built in Penn, but I bought it from a guy in Virginia in'78.
Sting Ray,...that channeled A cpe was built in Sycamore Illinois by Andy Didio who runs a body shop there with his dad, where the first 2 "pileups" were held.
Thanks Danny... That's East coast style as I know it...Maybe the addition of motorcycle fenders up front.
East coast style...coupe version, Pa built back in the day : 439902.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:20 PM
Ohio was a hotbed of manufacturing plus The pay was good. So you had a concentration of talented guys with nothing to do all winter and a few extra bucks to spend. Actually there are more ****ty weather days than there are good ones so that leaves lots of garage time for the talent to show up in cars
I think that exact same thing rang true in the twin cities, some of the Pacific Northwest , and S.F. Area lot of high quality cars from those areas more disposable income helps with the chrome bill !
Sorry a little off track and I think its been asked before but why doesn't somebody reissue these wheel covers? With the wheel covers from the same era like full moons, flippers and cones on the market why not these? Sent from my SCH-I535 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
A couple of east coast (Stamford CT.) hot rods from my childhood. The first two are from the mid and late 60's and were mine. The next ones from the 50's. to early 60's As you can see quite diverse!
Thanks HRP The 49 Ford had a Caddy motor and LaSalle Trans. 49 Chevy had a 348 Chevy motor. A coupe had a Nail Head Buick motor. The white roadster also running a Caddy motor. My five window had a first year 68 350 Vette motor and the A roadster a crate 327/365 Chevy motor.
My 31 on 32 rails I started to build in 53, I live in eastern Pa. A couple of my buddy's built chopped and channeled cars but very few seen the road. Coat hangers were the welding rod of choice. Now I drive an old mans car, a chopped 37 Terraplane 4 Dr, but I still live the dream..
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