Hot Rods Todays messed up takes on how hot rods were in the 1950s n 60s

This is like a lot of topics in that all that's missing is a milk crate and a beverage. Talkin kool, talkin shit, but talkin hot rods either way.

Is it serious? Does any of it matter? To us, no and yes. These days there's quite a few who pitch a tent in their skivies at the sight of a tach sending unit, a beehive oil filter, a flathead, extra carbs, etc, etc, etc. Sure mostly Fords because they were plentiful and had V8s. Then we got other better engines and stuffed em into those flyweight Fords. Hot rod. Faster. Dad liked Caddy engines. I liked high zoot SBCs or thundering BBCs, but I had wood for street racing. Now I'm all about my left elbow on the window cruising at night. Thats when we did it. And right on, there were no "cruise night" gatherings organized. What happened happened cuz like-minded folk were doing the same thing. We gathered to instigate and enable races. Not always but enough that we made a mark. So if my youthful-by-comparison view means anything I feel a bit sad for cruise night crowds. Lawn chairs and home before dark? Oughta be on a Schwinn instead of in a car. Just sayin. "The life" was mobile, it wasn't static in a Big Boy parking lot. I give a lot of quarter for age and experience, but the experience was haunting a handful of stops. Just sayin. Next...?

 

Late 40 and Early 50 fords definitely had hot rod flattys in them.

 

Way too much posturing guys. It's almost like whoever stamps there feet and yells the loudest is the winner.
Remember, never offer an opinion without also offering respect........

My apologies to @dana barlow . He was actually there, and probably didn't deserve for his thread to end up here.

 

Unless your parents were cheap!

 

And here in is why you never hear me Tell someone how to do anything on this board. What I will do if it might help is give my personal firsthand experience of a Parrell job and its end results be it a good or not. They can do with it what they want. No skin off my knuckles.

 

Last one, and then I'm out.

It would be interesting to one day have the complete “real history” of hot rodding.

Most of the time I just hear a lot of frequently contradictory opinions about what exactly it is.

We often see one guy make a claim of something being done, or having done it, only to have a pile-on telling him that it never happened, and that he made it up, or did not do it.

That guy will post pictures, and then get told that it was isolated, and not popular, because nobody else did it.

He will post more pictures, only to get told that since it did not make the magazines, it was not popular.

When he posts pictures of the same in magazines, he will get told that it was not traditional, because nobody else did it after that, and no amount of evidence will convince anyone otherwise.

All we have are opinions. Eye-witness testimony is inextricably linked to the vicissitudes of memory and contact.

High-end period builds and show cars aside, much of what I have seen in survivors from that era would fall into the modern rat-rod category, in terms of quality, less the re-bar, skulls, and barbed wire, etc.

The same is reflected in magazine coverage from the era.

Construction was often shoddy. Parts were frequently marginal. Engineering was non-existent. You know, the same kind of stuff that gets a builder a whole ration of crap on this board, if they dare to do it now.

They were largely built by kids, with little money, no experience, and minimal tools, in back yards, sheds, carports, and driveways (or even the street).

They used what they could afford, get their hands on, and make fit.

Many of you speak of those days in such glowing terms that one would be remiss if they were not convinced that every single car built was not an Oakland Roadster Show winner, and record-holder at both Lyon's and Bonneville, with all being worthy of magazine coverage, were there enough paper.

If we were truly sticking to the tradition of how these cars and sometimes trucks were built, there would need to be an overall lowering of the average build quality on this board, with numerous well-liked vehicles from respected builders outright getting the boot.

Many of you own and drive vehicles that far exceed the quality of award-winning show cars in the “traditional era”. It is a cool thing to see for sure, but they are a dramatic over-representation of that quality of build from the era. Those that have not achieved that level own and drive vehicles that far exceed the quality that was ever achieved by a kid, or young adult, in a driveway.

But yeah, lets call-out the “kids” for doing it wrong.

 

I gave over 3 decades of my life so that some people could enjoy the freedom of being sanctimonious jerks in public.....not pointing to anyone in particular......

 

I build them the way I like them. I like big headlights! I like disc brakes because I like to stop! I don’t try to fit in and I don’t SLAM guys that are doing what they like EVEN if I don’t like it! Different ideas and looks is what makes the hotrod world go around. I grew up with old cars and hotrods and I know what I like but I’m not going to tell you yours looks like shit because I don’t like your taste! Just my two cents.

 

Thanks man, that is a nice compliment!

No one cool ever owned a VW powered ride... Air cooled is for girls with short skirts and tank tops.

 

I am only 62. So I know nothing about pre '68 or so hot rods. When I was about 8 to my teens my father had a small speed shop. I remember the cars that came in to buy stuff from him. They were mostly muscle cars with a few tri-5 Chevys in the mix. I don't think there was prewar hot rod on the road here then. There was talk of them. They were the "legends" of the young guys that had the muscle cars.
In the last 10 years or so I have seen most of those "Legend" cars. Most were still in the possession of the original owners. Some were poorly stored, some well stored. I saw some well crafted cars. 40 Fords with flatheads, some with OHV conversions. Model A and early v-8 cars. Some not so nice. It seemed that the more "legend" the car was the worse it was built. The most legendary was a '32 roadster. I was also probably the first hot rod in the territory. I started as a channeled car with a flathead. When it got the Olds mill it had a beaded chain to work the throttle. The chain went from the carb under the windshield to the drivers hand. Lots of other scary stuff on the car. When I asked the old guy why he did things that way, his answer was "I had never seen a hot rod before in person. I did not know how is was supposed to be done" He made it work.

 

So when I build my primered rod with a little rust here and there I’m telling folks I was inspired by that 50s teenager hoping to afford paint one day.
That way I’m 100% traditional

I feel much better now

 

On a side note: we only know or remember our own experiences.
20 years from now, when I’m commenting on how it was in my day, I can only speak on what I saw or experienced in my area.
Someone living somewhere else can have a different memory and we both be correct.

 

I plan to sacrifice a 20inch billet wheel as an offering to the traditional Hot Rod Gods tonight, in hopes of restoring balance in our world..

 

I saw goofy stuff on builds of all eras.

Maybe I was just lucky enough to live close enough to Northern California to see a lot of nice rides in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Traditional rodding seems more about what you must do. Hot rodding is about what you can do.

 

I wonder if this thread will go 15 rounds. Ring the bell....

 

I've stayed out of this so far, but this post struck a memory. I've posted this here before, but it's worth repeating in this thread.

I had my Model A pickup parked in the lot at the AAA office when I first got it and was getting insurance on it, and came out to find an older guy looking it over. At that point it was a mixture of about 8 - 10 different colors including flat black, primer gray, and sanded down metallic blue. We made some small talk, but one of the things he said to me was "we was always going to paint 'em". I gave him a quizzical look and said "huh?". He repeated himself "we was always going to paint them. The plan was to paint 'em, but each Friday came around, and you wanted to take your girlfriend out, or do something, and the money got spent, and so we drove 'em around in primer. "

I think that is more true than some guys want to admit.

 

Anything that cast doubts on anyones memory of the truth is fake.

 

Appreciate the thread, Dana, always enjoy your posts.

 

All fords? Nah. First "hot rod" I ever saw was a 1937 Chevy coupe, stripped down to bare bones. In 1952. In MO. In my neck of the woods, anything cheap was used.

Ben

 

Driving an “unfinished” car is honoring the past as much as “finishing” it.
Even the so called posers with rolled up jeans
and modern rock-a-billy music playing while driving what they think the past looked like.
Complaining that someone is trying to honor that history seems odd.
“why don’t young people work on old cars” then complain “we didn’t do it that way” when they do.

I sit back and enjoy the crap out of this.

 

I LIKE IT, I LIKE IT A LOT!

 

Ever heard of Kent Fuller or Andy Brizio?.......just say'n!

We ran quite a few VW powered roundy-round cars Down Under. They were typically from the caged speedcar era (late 60's, early 70's) though, so don't make the HAMB cutoff. Quite a few of the HAMB era ones were (gasp!) Peugeot powered. Poor mans Offy.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Being 77 I have only 1 foot in the 40’s-50’s real hot rods and some of the ones I remember were painted nice and a few HAD flatheads but most of the fast ones had overheads and not SBC’s.
I thought I’d share what I saw on a TV car show where 3 prominent builders were being interviewed. It was in the late 90’s or early 20’s some of you may have watched the show also. The question was “how much should a hot rod cost the buyer or guy wanting it built”.
I don’t remember if all of them answered but Art Chrisman stated and I quote “If you didn’t spend $100,000 then you didn’t have a real hot rod”. I couldn’t believe my ears…
Thanks Dana for your “truths” about the true era of hot rodding.

 

My late Brother, who would be 82 now, remarked while watching some young guys with all the hair styles and garb, "They are re-living an era that never was" !

 

Yep.
But it’s honoring something the only way they know how.
When I see students at school dressed for 70s or 80s days, I always enjoy their take on it.
just like for 60s days, most often it’s a hippie look. My dad told me not everyone in the 60s dressed like hippies.
What does he know. He only lived it.

 

Good post Dana, Most rodders would give their right nut for a nice paint job. This whole Gasser crap has got way out of hand. Most of the straight axle cars that I saw could not get down the strip without the help of both ditchs.

 

This shit is all subjective, and viewed with an arbitrary, distorted and wishful interpretation.

 

I was in high school in Los Angeles in the '50's. Yes, most hot rods were Fords, but there were some others as well. There were NOT any Ramblers, Nashes, Internationals, or any other offbreed stuff. The farthest thing from the norm would be a '53 Stude with a Cadillac engine. Most of the Fords had flatties, but the higher tech cars had an Olds or Cad. SBC's were new and not many in the junk yards yet. Most of the hot Chevys had 270 or 302 Jimmys in them. A '50 Olds was to be highly envied but in those days was not called a hot rod. A hot rod was pre '49. Anything newer was late model. In '59 when Chevy came out with the 335 h.p. 348 and 4 speed the car world changed forever. The build quality of the average early hot rod was pretty pathetic by today's standards and there were many death traps running the streets of L.A. Take a look at the construction of early top of the line cars like Norm's T bucket.

 

We need to bring back traditional crappy welding.
I might start a thread.

 

Say no to bubblegum and birdshit welds!