I LOVE crossbreeding, I think it's what hot roddings all about. If ford makes a better rear end then put it in your Chevy, if Chevy builds a better engine choice, then put it in your Ford. I think all this Ford in a Ford, Chevy in a Chevy, Dodge in a Dodge talk comes awfully close to restoration, and that's really boring. I guess I just don't like rules much. But to each his own. Oh, and I think that car is perfect just the way it is.
To each his own I guess. I just don't see how anyone could think a SBC in that is as cool as a built flat motor. All the dorks that hang out in the auto-zone parking lot by my house would love that set-up. Those are the same guys that think my flathead is a tractor engine.
To me, my mcCullough blown '57 Vette 283 was every bit as cool as, say, the Blown French Flathead my buddy has in his model A. ( not bagging on the Flatty, I think they are both cool) But it was the worst choice when it came to the experts that feel the need to tell you exactly where you went wrong while building your car. Despite the fact that it was all built up out of rare vintage parts it was still "only a SBC" to some, and a "expensive small cubes version of a 350" to the rest. Very few people got it. ( and that's allright...) These Bitch sessions about other peoples rides are completely meaningless, unless you show what you built, and are driving. Here are mine...
You run what you want. That is the best part about this hobby of ours. You do what you want. If your worried about what other poeple think or say, then your building your car for the wrong person, and that person is not you.
Best little engine ever made. A victim of it's own success. Use what YOU like, and the heck with everybody else. But don't bash the little orange engine just cuz it works so good in so many applications.
i have been collecting parts to build a 33 ford woody wagon over the last few years, its a stock 34 frame and cowl, fiberglass fenders and running boards, and i had a tpi 305 with a 5 speed and a disk brake dif from a 89 trans am, after reading this thread and walking around the sat nite hotrod get togather last nite i have to think of another power plant for the project,in my own mind it just wouldn`t be right, maybe a 429 super cobra jet.
Damn. Too many era-correct b.s. comments. Is he going to get blasted for using unleaded gas? Driving on an interstate? Paint might be too new? All that shit is modern for "the look" this car has. Also Check out the Hot Rod cover that squirrel posted. It has been done since 55 is that too new for ya? It is not billet, high tech so what is the problem? I'm sure as hell all the people complaining about this car that go cruising in their own rides you have their handy cell phone ( I can rag on cell phones--I don't have one) ready in case of a breakdown that you can't fix roadside....are you being era correct? Stop the bull shit. The car is bitchin and thats that.
Damn ! Somewhere along the line, in the last 50 years or so I've been screwing with cars, the rules musta changed. When I was a kid, a guy ran whatever engine he could get hold of that didn't need a lot of work and would fit in the car reasonably easy. Sometime since then, did the 'rules' change so everyone should be putting a Chevy in a Chevy and a Ford in a Ford, etc ??? WTF, is the AACA running hot rodding now ?
I built my first engine almost 30 years ago, a 283, when I was 15 years old. If an engine thats been around over 50 years cant be considered appropriate for a hotrod, man I sure picked the wrong hobby. LS1s, and the GEN whatevers excluded of course, I love early hemis, flatheads, nailheads and what have you, but I think the sbc equally belongs.
If every ford had to have a ford in it, there sure wouldn't be as many A's, T's, Dueces, 33-51's on the road today as there are. Our hobby/spot/passion/livlihood owes a lot to the small block Chevy.
I think it looks great. I really like the natural ram's horn manifolds, too. I wouldn't like it as much if it had headers. But I'd still like it. Beautiful car.
There were guys ordering up Chevy V8s to put in hot rods, from the parts counter at the dealer, in mid-late 1954, before you could even buy a '55 Chevy with one in it. While I think that a rod with just another SBC is kinda boring, I've driven one now for 30,000 miles and all I've done is change the oil.. I think it has the original spark plugs in it yet.. and I've hauled some pretty heavy crap with the truck it's in... it's been a damn good motor. I can't argue with a guy who wants reliability, and should something go wrong, easy parts availability. So I really don't understand what this thread is supposed to be about, exactly.
Interesting thread... I think Hot Rodding has always been a quest for better and faster technology... Funny how so many today are on this period correct bandwagon. Things should be put in the proper context. I've seen just about everything put into you name it, and guess what? They were all having fun at it, and it was all period correct at the time, or innovative(remember that?) I'm 100% anti-billet, but can still respect the skill & work it took to ruin a perfectly good piece of aluminum. Anyone can sand and paint every piece of chrome on their car, use LED tail lights, and buy a MustangII IFS, and Four Link setup, I don't give a rip. If you want to spend $25,000 to have a kick a$$ Flathead, great! or spend $2,500 for a SBC crate 350, that's cool too! As always, the clowns with the money that are in the magazines will invariably tell us what is the latest trend, and yes that includes the vintage/period mags too! Another thing, I've also read more than once in this thread about how unreliable the Flathead is. No more, or no less reliable than any other well maintained engine. I can say mine will run 180F on a 95F day and start without fail on a 25F morning, and I'd take it tomorrow anywhere. The '39 was once state of the art, but was soon surpassed by the next generation. It may, or may not be period correct now according to some, but I'll keep it just as it is...
This thread eludes to the same old problem. Hottrodders in the early days were only concerned with performance and modern technology as well as the up to date trends of car building. Not weather or not their car was period correct.If we built cars with that attitude now we would all drive tuners. I think most of us here build cars with a reverence to the style of the fifties but when it comes to some modern improvements, that original hot rodder attitude can't be kept at bay. (mig welds or tig welds aren't period correct ).So in the end each one of us has to figure out where our line is; what concessions we'll make in the name of reliability, performance, budget ect.. I have an alternator on my car and it ain't there for looks. For the guys that hate this kind of thread, don't take this shit too serious, we're just being guys. I argue with my closest friends about stupid shit like this all the time, when the time comes for us to band together for a common cause, we do and we will.
The Jalopy Journal
