Yesterdays hot rodders: Heros, upstanding citizens, or full-on scumbags?

Hmmmm, reference the favorite junkyard story post

 

Wo--Freud and Jung on the HAMB.
Lots of data suggests most perpetrators started out as victims themselves--think about it, you can come up with your own examples--that doesn't make it right, and it doesn't mean we have to put up with it. It may be an oversimplification but I tend to blame 'most everything on bad parenting. You need a license to own and operate a motor vehicle, but not to raise children--what's up with that?

 

On the other hand I just remembered a story my Grandpa likes to tell from back in the day. His first car was a '36 Pheaton custom with a hopped up flatty, one of the faster cars in town at the time. He ended up racing a guy with another '36, and beating him. As the story goes the other guy was picked up later that night for trying to steal a hopped up flathead for his car.

 

This image is part of the basis for the term "street rodder". When some of us got back from overseas, or out of school, we wanted to still work with old cars, but there was a lot of public baggage with the term "hot rod". We were hot rodders, but we didn't want to be tagged with the name that the public, and the law, regarded as completely negative. We weren't thieves or jerks. The cars were still 60's hot rods, but we needed a more respectable title for it. That's part of what NSRA did. Along with lots of other people, they moved the image for the same activity. As everyone got older, and had kids and jobs, the cars changed to reflect long-distance use instead of local street races. That changed the view the public and law enforcement had of old cars with late running gear. By changing the image and the name, it became legitimate to have a hot rod. By the time the 90's rolled around, the posers came in, the money came in, the billet and leather overpowered the regular cars and ruined the fun. The negative image that was associated with hot rodding isn't around any more, and because of that we can now build and drive what we want without much hassle from anyone. This is way better than watching over your shoulder every time you pass a police car, or trying to explain to the officer you just talked to an hour ago why you are driving in town for the 3rd time tonight.

 

I would say the hot rodders I aspire to emulate are upstanding citizens. Wally Parks comes to mind as well as many others. They worked tirelessly to clean up the image of the hot rod and the people that built and drove them. I would agree that youth can cause some questionable actions, but I think it is pathetic for men in there 30's and 40's to try to be full-on scumbags.

 

I steal aluminium construction road signs for the interiors of my roadsters, somehow I feel more traditional when I pull stunts like that and I'm almost 40

 

Ok- so I'm a new guy to the board, but not to the lifestyle. My name is C.B.Niederhauser from Layton, Ut. I,ve been around the sun 58 times, and have been having fun with hot rods and fast cars since I got my 1st go cart from Sears- Roebuck in 1959 at the age of 11. I used to reach back and hold the throttle open with one hand and steer with the other, wide open. I've been doing it ever since. I"ve built my share of "cut downs" (engine,frame,firewall,seat,beer keg gas tank's & sometime seat belts) Yes, you could liscense them in Utah in the 60's. I've owned an extremely quick '65 -442 that held C/S record in Div#7 in '65.Traded it in on a '67 435hp Corvette convertable in '68. That was the year that I met my wife and I,m grateful that I still have both of them today. I was run over out at the old "Bonneville Raceway" where the current RMR is now, by a Lola T-140 in Aug of '69 as I was working corners with SCCA. I,ve built Woodies, Corvette's & you name it. In other words ,I've been there, got that T-shirt. I've now got Loud Pedal building me a ride and I couldn't be happier! It's at the paint shop now. Enough about that, now lets get to why I responded to this thread.---This article was taken out of the Salt Lake Paper right after Speed Week: SALT FLATS SIGN STOLEN DURING SPEED WEEK "The road sign that marks the Bonneville Salt Flats Recreation Area was stolen during Speedweek, a week of automotive speed trials. The BLM said Friday the sign was taken between Aug.12-16. This sign was new and had been installed recently by BLM staff,according to a news release. A replacement costs $1,000.00, the BLM said. The BLM's Salt Lake field office and Speedweek organizers-SCTA-each are offering a reward of $250 for information leading to an arrest in the theft." I don't know about you guy's ,but to me thats kinda like stealing the collection plate at your local church or swiping the Holy Grail !! Hope it's not one of my Bro's. Enough said. Back to you.

 

First of all stealing is wrong but stealing from a car guys you are risking permanent bodily damage and that is from the first car guy.

 

I think there are a few reasons why we hear about more trouble then we used to.
The news media has better equipment and really go for the "bad" story lines.

There are simply more people now then there were in the early 60s. The bad guy/good guy ratio is probably close to the same as it has always been, there is just more people that can be bad, and the news loves to tell us about it.

Some of our problem we create ourselves. How many times are you going to pass up a "good deal" on those parts you have been looking for? Some guy you don't know happens to hear you are looking for a part he has that he needs to "get rid" of or that he urgently "needs cash" and is willing to give up that part your looking for at a good price. Often these deals are completely above board, but do we ever really ask? We get our wanted part, he gets his needed cash, all is cool, right? Do we really want to know how or where he got it from?

I think we all are probably a little guilty of some theft at some level. Ever took some office supplies from work, you know, post it pads, ink pens, that sort of stuff? Or that extra hand cleaner, or shop rag, tube of RTV? Big companies won't miss those little things, right? We make a lot of excuses as to why it is OK. We often see others taking stuff and think "I don't take as much as so and so." Or we see people take things and think "man that took guts, I couldn't ever do that" but don't ever report it? Are we not all part of the problem? I consider myself an upstanding citizen, but I am guilty of telling my wife to bring home another marker or another roll of tape from work, when she gets a chance. I believe we all have been programed to think there is a dollar amount that is the line between being acceptable and not being acceptable and that dollar line is different for everyone. Don't know at what time peroid that programing began, maybe it has always been there?
Gene

 

Ive had the feeling of walking out in the morning, on my way to work and seeing the doors to my car open and instantly having that sinking feeling that things were wrong. My impala got worked over in the middle of the night, seats, stereo, hub caps ect. It sucks, I was so angry about it, and that was like 8 years ago and it still sucks. I busted my ass to have a nice ride, I could never make anyone else feel that way. How can people go through life like that, you cant say you built it or designed it, if its stolen. Thats not right, Id rather take another year in primer or with a rusty rocker panel than to take the "easy" way.

 

Ive heard alot of stories of one well known local stealing cars from the dodge dealer in grandview wa in the 60's. Story goes he would test drive them and get a key made out of county. Then he would go back at night and drive them off the lot. The motors were then pulled and the cars dumped in the yakima river. Ive heard enough of the stories to belive them, but the fact none of the cars have been found surprises me. The yakima isnt a deep river, and I would think in a low year the bodies would start showing but I guess you never know.

The guy is a local rod/fast car builder and always has a cool ride and Ive never known him to work. Makes me wonder what other shady things he is/has been involved in.

Karma is a bitch thou, and one night way before the fast and furious came out I watched a stripped down eagle talon out run his blown cheater-slicked mid 60's vette. Talk about a big blow to his ego...

 

Mid 60's on the way home from a local Dance busted a drive shaft in a 50 Ford - started walking home until several blocks later there was a 50 Ford parked at the curb. never recieved a more well timed "Donation"
There were a few folks that hung on the fringes that alway had the right part availalable.

 

Sorry Ryan but our local drag racin hero just pees me off, thanks for keepin me on the the right track all all else you guys do

 

I want to believe that the ratio of good guys to thieves is about the same today as it was back then but I'm not so sure. I do think that our personal ethics has slipped quite a bit from the 40s, 50s and 60s

I still feel guilty about the pair of Corvette side pipe covers that I bought from a known thief. He never had any cars for parts but he seemed to always have hot rod parts for sale. I justified it by saying that they were already stolen and I did nothing wrong.

Midnite auto supply was alive and thriving back in the day.

Some one who knew me stole the Muncy 4 spd out of my 38 Chevy coupe in the club garage. I used socket head bolts because no one carried allen wrench sockets in those days. Especially on a parts stealing foray. They came prepared. That gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

At first Corvettes were stolen for their engines and drive trains and then dumped. It didn't take long in 65 for the 396 to show up in earlier cars. Most were from midnite auto and everyone knew it. Guys would buy hot parts all day long and then pitch a fit if they were victimized.

 

hehe...4 year old thread

 

'just needed a little nap

I like some of these old threads, familiar names, familiar topics..

I do know there are a hell of a lot more people now,
and bad news travels even faster than before

the ratio of honest man to thief may or may not be the same
but it's easy to see that there are more hot rodders now
and therefor must be more of both good and bad.

I'm rooting for the good guys

 

I'm thinking less actual rodders stealing now than back in the 60's.

Back then we did didn't have swaps and ebay, etc. No online speed shops.

Just junk yards and one speed/pawn shop with mostly used stuff. And the rumor of his inventory was that the same stuff was always for sale, If you get the drift. Buy it, put it on, have it taken away and it's back in the store again.

Nobody I hung with had enough money to buy anything new. Everything, even tires came from the junk yard.

Guys that ran hub caps stole them. Guys that did engine swaps had connections. A lot of newer cars dissapeared. And became the parts source for the serious racers.

 

I don't mean to defend a thief and I have a steel pipe waiting for any I catch. Oh, I won't beat him with it. I'll wrap his dead hands around it to justify why I put all the lead slugs in his chest!

But I think back in the day there was more of a them against us attitude. Hot Rodders and straight citizens were farther apart back then.

Then there were the Hot Rodders from one area hangout to the next who had the attitude that the other guys would do it to them. There was also rivalries that made stealing a game.

I was too busy working to be involved in the shenanigans but it was rampant back in the day.

Now-a-days it seems that crackheads are our biggest concern.

 

Back in the summer of'58,I was a junior in high school, I bought a '39 IH 1 ton flat bed truck to haul fire wood as a summer job. I managed to make a fair profit,selling fire wood that summer. Early that fall I was still cutting at it and got the truck stuck in the woods, I mean it was buryed to the hubs in mud and I couldn't get it out, so I figured I'd come back in the spring to retrive it. I checked on it from time to time ,all was well until it came up missing the following March.
Fast forward to August of '59, I'm working at a local gas station , and I happened to over here a conversation with customer and my boss about this neat little tractor this guy had built out of a 39 IH 1ton truck he had found in the woods. At that point I stepped up and asked if he wanted the title that belonged to that truck. I never did get the rig back, but he paid me twice my investment in that truck.
I'm thinking my good karma had paid off on that one.

Jack

 

True story... my brother n law lost a 33 Willys project that was in a rod shop. The guy just up and disappeared one day... with no notice or advace warning advising his customers to retreive their stuff. He just up and split and took everything in the place with him except the paint on the walls. Gary

 

When hotrodding started , they had a pretty bad reputation, illegal street racing, good luck for mom and pop keeping their hubcaps, cars getting stollen for their engines, the true heros were the National Hotrod association,who organized legal racing, worked with the car clubs to clean up the image of the hotrodder, remember the bussiness cards that clubs handed out to motorists when they were helped by someone in a car club. Thanks to them, we all enjoy a good reputation, and it is up to us , to maintain it.

 

Creeps have always been creeps, hotrodders or not. A lot of this thread sounds like old guys trying to macho up their self images. Read most of it it though.

 

Stealing is just wrong, and Karma is a Bitch. A LONG (30 yrs, +) time ago I took a cool as shit front fender light off of a old Firetruck. Many years later, I completely rebuilt my beloved Panhead. Two days after it was completed, some dipshit on a KAWASUCKI pulled out in front of me, and totaled my shit out. I could find almost everything, except that light!

 

i'm rooting for the good guys too, but lets face it, it's a different world we live in now. this shit probably started with the invention of the wheel! i can bet we have all at one time or another come across a deal that was to good to pass up, don't know where it came from and don't really care. and i'm also certain, that reading alot of posts on the hamb, 90% of the people here are just genuinely good hot rodders who would scrimp and save rather than turn to the alternative, stealing. now adays people stealing other peoples cars really aren't car guys, needing the parts for their own cars, like back in the day, just scumbags looking to make a quick buck just to get another hit! my worthless 0.02

 

Being a "Car Guy" has had a stigma attached to it all along from the beginning.
I guess I can be brutally honest now, more than most, as far as taking things I've been on both sides of that fence at some point in my life.
I think when we're younger we do things that we wouldn't do when we're older. We don't have a working knowledge of the big picture.
When I was younger I've taken small sh!t and later had things taken from me. Thank goodness all small stuff. I just laugh now when some goodygoody acts as though he and his upright bretheren are victims.
One Hamber just said "Guys would buy hot parts all day long and then pitch a fit if they were victimized".
How true.
You can bet yer ass 99% of the average everday Hot Rodder has grabbed some sh!t somewhere sometime either when he was younger, unemployed or homeless or just plain knew he wouldn't get caught.

I wouldn't do any of that now unless someone had wronged me or had it coming. I think that we all mature and realize that to have good trustworthy friends around us we first have to be one.

I have an ex bro n law. He would troll the NLR area grabbing all the broken-down cars he could to feed his dirt tracking habits. I mean this guy took several hundred cars with his home made wrecker. He'd gut 'em out and crush the rest and never did get caught. He went on to do much worse things and has not been caught for that either.
I had a distant relative in NLR out McArthur way, that owned a large salvage yard. He had a ring going where guys would bring him hot cars. He had thousands. He never did get caught.
My Dad opened an Exxon in '58 and had a State Trooper offer him all the Tows, Impounds and Wrecks he could handle from LR to Ward. All he had to do was kick in 30% of the total. My Dad refused so the next guy did (Ivy). He got rich.
Wide nose Butch took one of my Novas and a year later on the way to Super Chevy in Memphis broke down. He had on his trailer a sweet early Nova. When he returned with the part the Nova was GONE!! lol.
Karma,,
Corruption is everywhere and makes a complete circle,,where are you on that circle?