...(First, please excuse the photos, they are digitals of magazine photos, so, they're a little distorted, NOT PHOTOSHOPPED!) ...a few weeks back, someone mentioned that todays, "death rods", are not accurate copies of the cars they're supposed to emulate, because, cars back then were not chopped and channeled to death, and laying on the ground,....look what I found.... Dodge coupe from 1958:
True, I noticed that as well going throught a lot of old magazines, same thing that is going on now went on then as well.
You are correct, I have allot of books and magazines that have pictures of these types and styles of cars. I even have video's from the drags at several tracks from the late '50's - early '60's, and you can see all kinds of way cool *****'n chopped up stuff. I love it, this stuff was made to modify!
Neat photo's. Death Rod is an extreme example of today's builder's. A death ride is someone who drink's/toke's/snort's/shoot's/huff's and then git's behind the wheel.
Dirty2's '32 sedan had about 6-7" taken out of its roof in the '60s. No doubt that they were cuttin and hackin em back then, thanks for sharing the pics!
Well, yeah, but, back then, ALOT of cars were dual-purpose, drive 'em to work or school during the week, and on the weekends, pull the headlights off, change the rear tires, and go racing! ...and race cars have ALWAYS influenced street fashion...
I have to disagree. Guys found out real fast that a duel purpose car did neither street or race well. The cars got more radical after they were taken off street duty. Remember there were no bracket racing cl***es back then so you had to build to the cl*** rules limit to be compe***ive. There are numbers on those cars for a reason. By the way ,the second and last picture is the same car.
Where can I find 'ol mags w/ rods chopped this radically? Are there books out there that show vintage traditional rods & kustoms...Not the modern day revivals...I wanna reference which is authentic & historic. Thanx Guys!!
Randy, I think I know what your saying, that "rat rod" styled cars have been around forever. I agree with that but the highly altered ones were usually heavily modified to be compe***ive in a racing environment, and the radical body alterations were an attempt to take advantage of every rule for a performance edge. I'm just not convinced that these cars were driven on the street to any great degree. From the mid 50's on I was really into hot rods and I lived all over the US with my dad in the Air Force and I don't recall anything as radical as the ones you've posted being driven on the street. I was never exposed to the California scene during this time on a personal level so someone from that region will have to confirm or deny the west coast reality. Frank
I've always had a su****ion the TRAD rods of late are credited to restorers in a confused state of delerium.... I remember the first HOT ROD I personally saw...it was a STOLEN car from Calif -[In Missouri] a Met Blue'31 A coupe /white insert top/ steeply chopped and channelled and extremely low-suicide frt axle[not dropped] with a 348-chromed reversed early steelys and no seats JUST THIN white PILLOWS-one for ya **** -one for ya back! That was when I was 13- so that would make the date I saw it:1964!
Cool pics! I like them. Here´s A couple of nice old race car pages: http://www.freehomepages.com/donanita1609/whitaker/whitaker.html http://www.angelfire.com/in4/michael1609/arnold2/arnold2.html
[ QUOTE ] ...chopped and channeled full fendered '32 coupe,...1954: [/ QUOTE ] Randy, I remember buying the mag with that car in it back in the day. I remember seeing another picture of it with a guy standing next to it and how low it was. It's still one of my favorites
Not chopped but heavily channeled and this car was DROVE on the street everyday when it was first built.
The trophy that there holding in the picture is from a dirt drag strip where this car ran on weekends when it wasnt in the high school parking lot.
CarartNick,check out Tex smiths "Hot rod History" part 1 and 2. great books,lots of pics of Trad rods,and good chats with some of the oldtimers. I think its pretty close to reality,from what I have seen in the old mags. Closer than some of the other books out there.
I kind of agree with you, and I kind of don't at the same time. From what I have read and seen, most cars that were chopped and channelled "to death" were either Bonneville, or drag cars, or just race cars in general. I think there are more radically low cars ON THE STREET today, than there were back then ('40s,'50s,'60s). I wasn't even alive back then, but I do read a lot of books...
I hate this current trend for building rods as low as possible. These people have lost the plot with how a the car looks its just all about who can built the lowest, most unpractical rod. The fact is rods should be built tall. Thats the way it was and the way it should be. So you found a few pictures of low cars, big deal theres always an exception to the rule.Buts lets be honest here two of the five pics are the same vehicle........ The way it should be.
Wasn't trying to start a big debate about, "THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS DONE!"...but, you know, back then, there wasn't the media that we have now, so you gotta figure, for every car that actually made it in a magazine, there were probably a hundred more just like it that the whole country didn't get to see...that doesn't mean that they were all race cars! ...check the cl***ified's in your old '50's and '60's hot rod magazines, they're were plenty of "street" cars that were radically chopped and channeled for sale. 4ever4...I didn't just "find a few pictures", I have ALOT more of this type of car from back then, I can't post 'em all... The point of the post was to just show some bad ***, knarly old hot rods...
[ QUOTE ] I hate this current trend for building rods as low as possible. These people have lost the plot with how a the car looks its just all about who can built the lowest, most unpractical rod. [/ QUOTE ] I for one will stand by you on that statemment even though I'm sure your going to get a firestorm of retorts. Low doesn't necessarily mean cool to me either. Very impractical, very hard to adapt linkages and drivetrains and very very uncomfortable. Not that I don't appreciate a lowboy. It's just that I like the highboys just as well on some cars even better. I don't especially like the look of the last car. To me it's just too low and takes away the lines of the car. Too much of this going on?
[ QUOTE ] I don't recall anything as radical as the ones you've posted being driven on the street. [/ QUOTE ] It might have been rare but it did happen. The third pic is of the Don Williams Coupe, a street driven car. It was on the cover of HRM, I believe in Nov 51. I talked to Don Williams brother in law some time ago, and his wife ( Dons sister ) drove the car to school every day...
I have some old drag race footage (from the 50's) and quite a few cars are FLAT BLACK with RED WHEELS and more often than not they are really hammered and channeled too. One or two of them might have even had a dropped axle. There were probably plenty of cars built with modest chops and all of the "right" parts that make people today say THAT'S TRADITIONAL (and anything else is not). But I'll guess you could have found just as many on the ragged edge wether it was on the street or strip. People don't changes that quickly - look at some of the stuff people have the balls to put on the road today. I'm not talking about hot rods or or rat rods or whatever, I'm talking about daily drivers. Look at some of the import kids who just hack coils and get the car back on the road with the camber all jacked up. Those same kids would have stick welded a chunk of angle iron to the front of a crossmember to make a suicide mount and driven it to high school the next day. I'll bet there was a group of jack***es like us at the local bar discussing and arguing about it all too. Haha, same as it ever was.
It's my understanding that "back in the day" West coast cars were heavily chopped and East coast cars were heavily channeled. Do those pictures say where the cars are from? It's sorta funny to the East Coasters that the "too cool" West coasters are buildin East coast style cars. Clark
I think that the most extreme usually get the most press... and after repeated showing of the extreme people start to think that that is the norm or traditional.
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