Hot Rods What's wrong with a channeled hot rod?

As I usually do when he posts something I agree with 56 Don. Car in question and I'd say the hate comes from seeing so many cars that are either really hacked in the channel job or channeled so far the body is hanging several inches below the frame rails rat rod style. That blue Model A in post 22 would look a hell of a lot better to me if the bottom edge of the body was up even with the bottom edge of the frame .
I have similar little east coast rod magazines and yuppers a lot of the cars were channeled or maybe that was what the magazine editors liked or thought would sell magazines.
Here in the PNW the first real hot rod I saw outside of an indoor car show was a chopped and channeled Model A that was super low that showed up at a football game on Bainbridge Island in fall of 61 when you could pull in and park around the end zone. Only the guys with cool cars seemed to do it though. To a 14 year old high school freshman that car was a mind blower.

 

I've had guys asking me for 45 years , when I 'm going to unchannel my car...NEVER! The wedgy stays :

439902.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:20 PM

History shows it isn't "just" an east coast tradition.

 

I know the point you are making however bodies hanging below the frame have always been.

 

Hold up , wait a minute.

A deep channel on a car makes the car appear to have a lower profile at the expense of it functioning well as a car. There's ways to achieve the low profile and actually hang onto the functionality of the car but it's rarely done- because it's more work. That "extra work" isn't within the grasp of a lot of guys vision.

A rat rod channel with 10" high door jambs, flat seats & a 13" tall Trans tunnel with a dumbo look out back is not really appealing

 

I Love Channeled Hot Rods, always have, always will.
Ground hugging, and a blast to drive.
I'm with ya Jim.

 

Personally I love channeled cars, and dislike chopped cars.

Can't wait for the hate on that post!

 

That's the revisionist/restorer wing of 'traditional' hot rodding bitching. Reducing a hot rod to the lowest common denominator, a nearly stock car with parts removed. Not much skill needed to just remove a set of fenders.

"Channeled fenderless coupes and roadsters were popular in the east and midwest for the low sports car look. In California they were practically unknown". Horse puckey..... If you look at the AMBR winners from '50 through '56 (the Ala Kart changed them from hot rods to show rods in '57), most were channeled and they weren't all from the east coast. And the 'traditionalist' icon '32 Ford only managed one AMBR win in the first 28 years; the vast majority of winners were Ts or As.

Did these cars inspire a lot of hack jobs that reduced some bodies to messes? Without a doubt, but so did chopped tops. Not to mention the uncounted cars that were lost to jalopy racing.

And while I'm not a particular fan of '32 Fords, if I did want one, it would be a channeled roadster WITH original fenders. Done right, easily the sleekest looking of the breed.

 

Nothing wrong with them it is a traditional touch in Hotrodding......I am generally just surprised at the absence of Hamb worthy material period around my parts here. I do visit the odd cruise and even in daily travel see many oldies but you know...No Hamb inspiration.
I suppose it varies by region. But even in our coverage I see we struggle a little to find truely on topic material and that of course has been covered elsewhere.

 

This car has been channeled longer than most on here have been alive. And firmly in California I like it.

 

I think some of the dislike of a channeled car stems from how the radiator shell and grill is handled. ?

 

i like em channeled ...my pile

 

Race car so that wheel well to tire deal I mentioned earlier does not apply. Bob

 

Take a look at this....
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/eddie-dye-roadster-trj-photo-shoot.1077571/

 

A well done build always looks good. Continuity, flow of lines is key. A channeled car with a radiator/grill shell that sits higher than the cowl looks like crap to me. While not a fan of heavily channeled cars, a well done mild channel job looks just right to me.

 

Channeled a few inches with a skirt added. Makes the body taller.

The seamstress said:
So you want it closer to the ground, let's cut 4" out of your legs.
The customer said:
I want it lower, you need to make it longer, why cut anything to make it longer. Add 4" to the skirt.

 

Vicky, I think you are talking about one type of car with your last comment. It doesn't have to be that way a channel can be done and still remain tasteful. You certainly are correct about the work no matter if it is channeled or not, and there are a lot of guys that just won't do the work.

I like the look of a channeled car, now with that said I am a big man and channeled cars especially if they are chopped as well are just not user friendly. I think that is the negative of channeling a car it just cuts the usable room inside down to a uncomfortable place.

 

I had a 32 channeled coup loved the look but you do give up leg room and your seats on the floor, not for long distance driving..

 

Why not move the floor pan down too?

Or -
think of it as moving the frame up into the body and everything else stay where it is supposed to be. Unibody style and you have the best of everything.

This is metalshapes' car
"Unibody roadster" but it gets a removable hard top too with a Nasty chop.

 

for those that want a channeled rod but need more room, pick a "big" car to channel. this is my '31 buick with a 5" channel. at 5'10" i can't touch the firewall with my feet and the seat could go back another 6".

 

If you look at the early little books (mags) their was no rules to early hotrods. Some stuff could look a bit proportioned odd. But it was all right and about personal expression. Some stuff even resto rod looking. A well proportioned car looks good chopped, channeled, customized whatever.

 

You know my grandpa told me when it comes garages, build a big one because they always get smaller and when it comes to women pick a small one because the always get bigger.

I suppose we could add here, much like garages, when it comes to cars you want to cut up then start with a big one because it's gonna get smaller. I think grandpa would have said it better

 

this is true! altho it is funny i like a car with a little "awkwardness" too; a little crooked or bent adds some drama [good], sometimes a wheel well that is low just accentuates the look. always bothers me when i see a thread where they take a unique old hot rod and undo a channel and take off all the details to the point of "cool, just like everybody else"

 

I like channeled cars, i feel like the dislike of the 3 window from the other thread was the quality of the job done (plywood floor) and the poor seating and pedal placement. Those things were holding the car back from the $40,000 price tag the owners were looking for.

Sent from my LG-M153 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

it is interesting that the plywood floor is considered a bad thing. most early cars used wood. the '31 i posted has a sturdy 3/4" steel tube frame work for the floor. my plan was to skin the bottom with sheet metal, fiberglass insulate between the tube and then screw down a plywood floor. the wood should be a good insulator of vibration and noise.

 

Nothing wrong with them if someone else owns it,I am too tall to fit in one.

 

I cut into my '34 3W and channeled it 6". Did a nice sanitary job and could be reversed if so desired. Getting a channeled car to sit and look right is not a job for the faint of heart.

I am just over 6' tall and with the seat set back some fit in it just fine.

 

How does a channel job hurt the functionality of a car? It does not change its handling or ride at all. Seems to me that a channel job is the least harmful way to lower a car. Except for the lack of head room it really does nothing to the car.