'64, Before or After, what is the question

So like many of you I got a thing for old cars. In fact I can't seem to get enough, whether I'm driving them, building them, talking shit about them or just cozying up to some good 'ol car porn. I've owned a few over the years stuff from the 30's to the 70's and they come and go. As I get older I find myself more and more interested in older stuff like cars of the 20's through 40's. However I've owned cars from the 60's and 70's that definitely earned their stripes, were cool as shit and fast as hell.

My question is where is the line drawn in the sand, when does a car earn the right to be called "traditional" or a true "hot rod," and not just another face in the crowd. Why has 1964 been distinguished as the magical number of "earlier you're in and later you're out?" As I shell out $15 just about every weekend to go indulge myself with other guys rides, I think about this. Don't get me wrong, I'd go to a show of 100 cars that were built by the guys drivin' em before a goodguys mega show any day of the week but maybe one of you can shed some light on this question.

 

The 1964 cut-off is mostly to keep out muscle cars.

 

Nope, can't do. Things just are. If you don't know it can't be explained.

 

Actually the early '60s cars for trad is a kind of a turn of the century thing. Not that its a bad thing. I like mid '50s to mid '60s cars for myself.

But getting back to it, when I was a kid it had to have a split windshield to be the real deal. Times change.

In another 10 to 20 years muscle cars will be considered trad. Not by us I hope.

 

Aside from the accuracy of Pook's explanation, no matter what year was selected, this question would come up. It's not really arbitrary. Traditional street/hot rods (the kind to be found in HS parking lots up to the mid-60s) are our venue. Muscle cars are great - I've had a ton of them. But as will be reiterated in subsequent commentary - we know what it's about in here, and it's best to keep it relegated to that genre. I'm pretty ancient....but appreciate the revival of interest in the simpler things in life. When you run into a REAL car guy...he can explain how he designed and made his own motor/tranny/alternator/whatever mounts. Maybe he (or she) is talented enough to use a milling machine....or, like myself...barely adequate with a stick welder. Nonetheless, it's the idea of having a garage floor with an oil stain or two, some tools that look really used, a bent breaker bar from using a length of pipe with it to bust loose some crusty nut on a 60-year old suspension setup. It's about having a car that you enjoy driving and the only folks you want to "show" it to are other people that drove to the donut shop/parts house/casino roof. A Hamb'r can explain how everything on his/her car works, what modifications were made and why. As Wvenfield stated....it really can't be explained. Don't know why I tried. I tend to get prolifically verbose at times, and I believe this must be one of those times.

"wake me up early, be good to mah dawgs, and teach my children to pray"

dj

 

For us baby boomers, the mid sixties and earlier cars are what knocked our elementary school socks off, doodled in notebooks and dreamed of owning. For me, it's pre '68 stuff that I want.

I think, and this is totally personal, any sociolgists are free to correct me, that '68, the year Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assasinated, was a pivotal time. Something was "lost", innocence or whatever, and that cars built after that, just don't "fit" for me. Not that I don't like the later models, I do, the earlier stuff strikes a personal chord for me.

For younger guys, later cars, muscle cars and (gasp! ) tuner cars are cool. I don't relate to stuff built before the early thirties, never had nor wanted a Model A, but that doesn't mean I think someone is wrong if they do!

Brian

 

Because fins were gone and it's the year the Beatles came over and ruined Rock and Roll.

 

This is the only question that makes me want to say "do a search". It's been discussed lots of times and usually ends up getting closed. I bet 75 % of us have and love cars newer than 64 but that is the rule here. I don't talk about my Chevrolet's on the flathead board out of respect for their site. All we ask is that you respect the rules that the moderator set up for this board.

You can always start your own board with rules that you like.

 

Its these holyer than thou attitudes that kinda suck on this site. I like it for the technical but the "If ya don't know can't explain it" guys are worse than billet or ricer dudes. My opinion don't like it, tuff shit.

 

I think it has to do with all of the pony cars and muscle cars. After 1965 you could walk into any showroom and buy a reasonably priced "hotrod". After 65, store bought Mustangs, Camaros, and all kinds of critters out numbered the home built hotrods 10 to 1. Kind of the end of the era.
Larry T

 

Because Ryan said so, and that's good enough?


But also I think the reason I've actually seen stated is the mucle car era really began about '65.

 

In '64 I was still a few years from driving but then, as now, I was a total car freak. I loved the factory hot rods of the 60s and still do. But they never took the place of real hot rods to me. Then, too many hot rods became "street" rods and have been going downhill since, IMO. I'd walk by a thousand street rods to look at one primered, half finished hot rod any day.
Also I'd have to say that from the mid 60s on, new car styling became less and less interesting. It was truly the end of an era in styling that will never be back. Obviously, judging from the size of this board, there are many who share my sentiments. There are no shortage of places to discuss other aspects of the car hobby, and that's fine too. But here, that's just what it is. As an owner of a C4 Corvette and past owner of some muscle cars, I visit places for those too. But for the most part, I wouldn't expect most folks on those sites to understand my hardcore love for real, old-time hot rodding. Nor would I expect them to expand their board's focus to discuss traditional rods and customs.

 

Do we really have to keep revisiting this same tired shit every few weeks or so? The horse is dead, beaten and buried..let it lie.

 

It's not "Holier than Thou". I completely agree with the "dont like it, O.K.".

Many will drool over the 66 Mustang with a late model 302 and completely pass by the 54 Olds Custom.

The point being, if you like the 66 Mustang, that's cool but it's not for here and if one needs that explained, there is no explaining it.

There is no way to explain what ones tastes are. They just are. That doesn't make others wrong in their tastes.

 

The '64 rule kinda gets chucked when drag cars come into play (no one frowns when 70's floppers get posted, so it's not set in stone).

-Lee
Atomic Radio
www.atomicpinup.com

 

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