Hot Rods Early Hot Rod ,Period Correct ?

Stealing a word from the food industry- period correct style- it pays homage, attempts to replicate a certain time period. I really enjoy seeing someone’s interpretation of a previous time frame. It is not lost on me that they built some pretty ugly rods/customs in the past. If you nail the stance, wheels, colour, you have my interest. Updated glass, brakes, fuel tank- I can understand all of that and more. Keep on building and sharing…

 

Be sure to wear your highest waders while searching , it get pretty deep in here....

 

Thanks, @themoose
Hello,

There is too much emphasis for the term “period correct.” The years of old hot rods started someplace in our vast history across the USA. But, at the time someone bought an old junky car, “get your motor running…” (had to put that in place) and wandered to open freedom on the roads nearby was hot rodding in the early days. There was no period correct. It was the period. So, who cares?

As far as the HAMB has a good cut off time era for cars at 65 or earlier. It was a good place to stop as the years rolled on, the little hot rod/drag race folks were starting to get pushed out of the local dragstrips all across the USA. Most folks that read and search for some real history and not just some “out of the air” photos are what seem to be in the right attitude.

The history is laden with so many different photos found that it would be hard to classify any period correct time and dates as a hot rod group. So, in the term, period correct is someone’s idea of classifying old hot rods to the latest “Halibrand wheeled 32 Roadster on display at a car show,” it is the period and it is correct. New or old, it is the time and build period, individual tastes come into play.

When my brother brought this yellow 51 Oldsmobile sedan home, we made it into a hot rod sedan frok the stock yellow model from the factory. A little lower in front, different mufflers, tried lakes side pipes under the doors and finally original screw in Moon Discs. Now, to us it was our version of a daily driver, custom car for a teenager, using normal teenager, part time job, money saved. Period correct? Why, yes, from 1955 to 1957.

Then it got a custom paint job and got sold to another teenage friend for his first car. So, on it went for eternity. That teen is now close to 83 and remembers selling it to another teen and so on...

Jnaki

Now, here is is many old/new cars later and folks are still doing “period correct,” as a way to identify what is being built or is built. They are/were not all of the same style of hot rod, but they were daily drivers.

1934 Ford 5 window 34 Oldsmobile powered coupe… period correct in 1958-60

low cost upgrades on a 1940 Ford Flathead sedan delivery… period correct 1960-65
1953 Chevy bel air custom… period correct in 1960
1957 Chevy bel air hardtop custom hot rod… period correct 1960-64

Thanks to @themoose for the last custom version of a fast hot rod sedan modified to see a new history after 1965. But, in what period correct era of time? YRMV

 

Period correctness has become the thing that hot rodders abhorred about the restoration guys.

"That bolt was a flange bolt with a K marked on it, not a J."
" Those never came with a ....blah blah blah......"

Just build hot rods that make you happy.

 

I'm building a model A with a 54 Merc OHV, I'm using a T5 gearbox because I want the OD gear for the interstate. Hopefully the period correct crowd don't run me off the road.

 

Good point, the restoration guys love to buy shit hot rodders take off.

 

I heard a term here years ago I liked.
"Period possible" To mean perhaps said modification or part may not have been common, but certainly possible.
Period correct can be a fun exercise in building a car a certain way if you treat it that way.
Or it can be a mind numbing experience in obsessing over small details & searching out rare parts.
Then, very few folks will recognize the difference between your period "correct" hot rod vs Joe Blows Speedway Rod In a box parked next to it.
Whatever gets your rocks off is fine by me. As long as all the externals have "the look" I'm good with it.

Edit: I realize I didn't add much to the conversation. Give me a break, sitting here bout bored to death in the Doctors office.

 

I know it as the other way around. Period correct guys buy the stuff the street rodders take off.

 

I've actually commented this basic sentiment. As I want to eventually run a Rochester mechanical fuel injection setup on a custom someday I joined a bunch of c1 Corvette pages on FB. Surprisingly most aren't against selling the factory injection parts to a rodder though I still can't currently afford them lol. Anyway I've noticed some of the off on a tangent traditional purists here are actually more OCD than c1 restoration guys. I mean....I've been bashed for not having the correct date coded block here more than once

 

You all just need to lighten up , they're CARS for goodness sake , they're a pile of parts !

 

I think what many people seem to be missing is that for many of us this isn’t just a hobby, a passing fad or trend to be replaced with the next new thing, or some ball and stick activity like Pickle ball or golf it's who and what we are it’s our life!

@2OLD2FAST said “They’re a pile of parts” to me it’s more than that.

Every car takes on the personality of the person who built it, I can tell you where every part on my car came from, the friendship I have friend I collecting these parts, the roadtrips the adventures, and the friends who are no longer with us.

I see the hours my father and I have spent building, and as much as I hate to say it know he won’t always be there, to lend a hand, give advice, or go on parts runs.

However I will always have the car and the memories of my father, my friends, and the adventures!

 

Amen, Robert!

If somebody wants to throw together some junk, go ahead and let them. But those of us who take this stuff seriously have more enjoyment in finding the right parts and building with the right style. The journey is sometimes more important than the destination.

 

Two years ago finished my '28 AV8 roadster. I obsessed over the littlest details in order to get it to a circa '42 time frame. My dream was to have a pre-war California lakes car. I obsessed over hose clamps, gauges, the year of the damn oil can I used to patch the hacked out hole for the heater in the firewall. You get the picture.

I poured over pre-war books, looking at cars with a magnifying glass to see details on the engine, etc.

By limiting myself to that time period, I also limited my choice of heads, intakes, etc.

It took way longer than I'd ever expected it to. I learned a ton, don't regret it and love the end result. That said, I caution those building a "period" correct car to not to become a slave to having anything "totally" correct. Being that obsessed can stall a project in it's tracks.

In live in North Jersey. The average Joe at most cruise-ins around me don't even look at my car. Every once in a while, an old timer will stop by and talk to me about the good old days of flatheads. I love those moments when that happens.

The moral of my story is, get your car up and running any way you can afford to do so. The joy of an old hot rod is that they are never "truly" finished and you can always change stuff as you find it or as money allows.

I'm like most and enjoy the hunt or the thrill of the chase to a point. To me, having a large pile of parts that isn't even close to a running car because you are too concerned about being 100% accurate is no fun. The joy to me is in blasting down the beach at TROG or taking your family out for ice cream on nice summers night or getting together with like minded hot rodders.

Just my two cents.

 

This is the main reason I build hot rods instead of muscle cars. I like using what I have. If something is better and makes more sense, use it. Regardless of the brand or manufacturer.

I like going fast. Fast is relevant. Ever been to a flathead drags? My wife even commented on it being a snoozefest. I'm sure it is way more fun to drive than to spectate. I tried to build the Fly to make it period correct except for safety items required. I used all 1959-1964 engine parts. The rear end is bolted solid like the old drag cars. I wanted to experience the way a period car would drive and handle from 1960. The end result was I was coolest looking, slow car out there. Your competitors won't adhere to the period correct Police rules.

I guess I'm a poser. I've only been building hot rods since 1976.

 

I got a little choked up writing that part about my dad.

The thing is I like a little bit of everything, vintage oval track/drag & road racing, modern racing, hot rods, customs, muscle cars, bombs, 60s/70s style lowriders and vans, original and restored cars.

There are parts of the automobile lifestyle style I am not a fan of but if it is someone’s passion and they build and do their own work I can respect it.

I think a big issue is people aren’t well rounded anymore they are just focused on a very small part of it, and don’t know or want to learn about other parts.

As far as the traditional/period correct deal goes I am reminded of a something I heard from Troy Ladd.

I am going to paraphrase because I am not sure this is the exact quote “Respect tradition, we respect tradition, but we are not bound by it.”

Meaning he builds cars in the traditional style but with new technology, it is nothing I would choose to do but I also have no issue with it because he isn’t trying to pass it off as something it isn’t.

The issue is there are people using brand new Art Morrison chassis with the latest Corvette suspensions, LS engine, A/C, digital gauges, modern high back buckets but because it is painted flat black with steel wheels and whitewalls, they deem it traditional.

On the other hand, many of the purist (I think of myself in this category) are so locked in on the tradition they overlook, forget or don't know that just because a car isn't traditional doesn't mean it not period correct or that what is traditional in one part of the country isn't traditional in another.

Now we have confusion and people arguing over what is and isn't traditional, period correct, historically correct or if a car has Historical significance.

 

Thank Ryan for the newish, “Off Topic Hot Rods & Customs” section…here on the H.A.M.B.!
Hopefully you will still try to build a traditionalish styled car, and post stuff there.

 

I won't knock someone for disc brakes or modern lighting. Being able to stop, see and be seen is great. Don't come for me though, I'm planning juice drum brakes on all 4.

One thing that irks me however is an open wheel trad rod with coilovers... even if it's hidden in the back only.

 

Guilty as charged, your Honor.

 

I'm so traditional, I log onto the hamb using an original AOL disc!!

 

This issue can be attacked from many angles. The HAMB has specific requirements that limit how a car should be built, if it doesn't comply, it's not a fit. I think it's good that there is an area that allows for some variation to an otherwise acceptable car or truck. Probably more common in the rest of the car building world are the cars that were put together using parts from a greatly expanded shopping place, either by time period or source (1-800). When I go to a cruise, there might be older cars that have some new stuff and for me that's often a deal breaker. On the other hand, just because a car has all the old parts doesn't mean it's a cool car, it could still be a sh*tbox, just one with some neat parts. I try to have a garage door factor on my stuff, when I open the garage door and look, do I like what I see? If not, I need to keep trying.