Future of Hot rodding: What were you doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I owned a 74 Mk 1 ****** and a 73 Mazda RX2 (Capella). The ****** was a wicked car to drive with twin side draught webers and a 1600.The Mazda was an imaculate car with one lady owner that I brought cause id always liked them but it was to good to modify so I sold it.
Im now waiting for my 50 Ford Coupe to arrive from the States! Man ive wanted one for so long its hard to believe ill have it in a matter of weeks.
As far as the future of hotrodding goes I reckon its looking pretty good. I think the rods of the 80s and 90s didnt appeal to young guys but the traditional or dare I say it... rat rods, have got the young fellas keen. Ill be 30 in a couple of weeks so im making the most of still being one of those young fellas

 

10 years ago i was moshing to h/c & punk rawk.now i work on cars and drink to it.8 years ago i bought my first old car.a 56 merc.what a rusty heap.but i was on the right track.guess either way i still **** **** up.

 

my first car was my 1930 model a with flathead v8 that i owned now for over 15 years... so guess i was born into it, been in the family since 1969-1970,

 

Finishing a Pro Street Muscle car and drag racing late model Mustangs. What the hell did I know, I was just a kid.

 

Well, let's see-if memory serves, I think I was right in the middle of thinking about selling my '33 Buick 90 Series Victoria. It was one honking big mother that I had rescued from a restorer. He had had the Buick for a number of years and finally admitted that it was too rough for him to restore. Soooo, I found out about the car and went to look at it. It was BAD, but as I always wanted a Cl***ic and this was a CCCA certified cl***ic, I bought it for $2600. We got to work on the project doing things that any decent street rodder would do, such as a new custom 2X4 frame, MII front, 8" rear, 455" Buck Stage II motor, TH400, chopped top, handmade grille, leather upholstery, etc., etc.. It was a very nice car, but, it was time to move on. So, we sold it and bought a 1948 Caddy convert which needed a lot of work. We thrashed on that for a bout three years and, although there were times I wanted to burn it to the ground, we kept at it and now have a really slick custom. In the interim, I have been working on a 1963 Dodge (actually two!) and pecking away at my '40 Ford which I have owned for nearly 45 years!!! I also just got a '63 Pontiac Bonneville that is getting a new set of heads and otherwise getting leaned on to make it fit into my kind of car. There you have it.

 

I has a 400 hp small block S-10 Blazer. Kick *** Hugger orange 2 door. 5-7 drop, louder and faster than hell. Haven't had anything that fast since. I kinda miss it sometimes.

 

My selection wasn't on the list, so I'll just tell ya. I was working on a 57' VW bus, that got dropped and driven. All original(except for the mandatory So-Cal slam job) Bought it from the widow of the original owner out in ValleyCenter for 2g's thought I got ripped. Sold it for 2500 and thought I was rippin that guy off. With the prices they are bringing now, I want to punch myself in the **** when I think about it. That was my first car, bought it when I was 14 and started fixing it up.


Drew

 

10 years ago I started building my 32 roadster and I have only just finished it this week. Can't believe how fast the years have gone by.

Alot of other projects have been and gone in that time aswell

 

I was going through a divorce, cat ranching, marathon bike riding...
(unlike DrJ I was only 20 pounds lighter..)

oh, you mean car stuff?

I was making test runs in my 394 powered, chopped, channeled, sectioned, '60s style '36 Plymouth coupe

and stuffing a built 454 in my '67 short wide PU

 

10 years ago I was driving a primer black 39 ford convert with a sbc and turbo 350,,,,4" dropped axle with split bones,,,,damn,,,I miss that car.

Traded it for a nice 32 ford tudor sedan,,,not running,,,and a gl*** 32 3-window body,,,,,,,HRP

 

Actually pretty much the same thing since 1978.

 

10 years ago I was probably working at Subway, trying to save money (which was all blown the first month of college) for college. Driving my 1986 Ford ****** wagon.

I didn't know jack about cars. I changed the oil, put on a red cherry bomb (cheap) and that's about it at that point. I just drove the car, never doing any work on it, until 1999. When I traded it in on a Volvo 244, it had steel belts sticking out of the front two tires (overdue alignment)

Total cost of that car, including 5 years of oil changes and gas had to be under 4k dollars.. Totally insane.

After that I ran into a buddy for the first time that worked on cars and he learned me in the arts, or sparked enough interest for me to start fixing what I owned. This led to my **** maintainance and OCD about replacing things before they break.

This is all a precursor to last year's 'old car' purchase. I'd wanted to have 50's car since I was a kid, but never had any one that knew anything about them around me. With my newfound car knowledge and the internet, owning a cl***ic car is cake. I have no idea what the future holds, but I learn more about cars (new and old) as time goes on. I appreciate simplicity and history though, so chances are that I'm going older moreso than newer.

I just had my 10 year cl*** reunion this past weekend. I was the weird kid that dressed in black and everyone expected to be in prison for killing someone, or blowing something up. Now I'm a ****oned up white collar cubicle warmer. All of the kids from my hometown that stayed there are exactly the same (looks, acting) except they now all have kids with girls from my cl***. I changed a great deal, heading out to the city and thanks to living in the city and having the internet around at pretty much all times since '95 I have been able to hone my likes/dislikes and get the information I needed to make things I'm interested become a reality.

What's interesting is that I have more in common with my blue collar highschool peers now than I did 10 years ago. Back then I couldn't wait to get out and see the world. Now I spend my free time in the garage, or fishing, or fixing **** around the house, so I'm more like them presently.

Speaking of flashback, when I was 17, I was a total toolbox.. My ****** had purple neon license plate rings, and I listened to Firehouse and Metallica and ACDC while bombing around my hometown with my buddies. 27 year old me would love to go back in time and try to give 17 year old me a kick in the *** in the right direction. It wasn't that I was ****in up my life back then, just that I was SUCH a ****.

 

10 years ago, I was mercilessly h***ling the last owner of my fastback to sell it to me. A few months later he finally gave in. lol, it's only taken a decade to finish this car, and I'm already looking at 50's kustom projects to start. My poor wife.

 

10 years ago I was drinking a lot, sitting around and ************, and sleeping. It was called college.

I bought a new Harley in '97, a Heritage Softail no less. I had never even ridden a street bike (except for the Honda 250 that I took my motorcycle test on) before I took off on it. I still don't know how I paid for it. I was only making $24,000 a year and the bike was $17,000.

I bought a model A and drove the **** out of it for a few years. Then I built the spacetruck, now the lander. If I can do it ANYONE can. You can see I have a history of jumping into **** I know nothing about.

Luketrash, there ain't nothing wrong with Firehouse. A little cheezy, yes and Steelheart was the "Harder" version. Ha Ha Ha

 

10 years ago I was building the same kind'a junk as I'm building now, come to think of it 20 years ago.......same 25 years...... same, **** I have not grown much as a person, only diff is now the stuff is in style, and the cops wave and smile instead of giving Me the h***le, that parts nice. Von Doc

 

i was crawling outa the gutter after a 4 yr run

 

I think I was in the 4th grade. Kris Kross was very popular that year, and Michael Jackson was still cool.

 

10 years ago, I had just got back from my first Paso Robles in my 49 Lincoln...
Rolled up from Orange County w/ the Lucky Devils. By the time I saw all the amazing customs there, I was all fired up and ready to chop my car, and finish the body work. I also started thinking seriously about having a roadster for the first time, after seeing the Shifters show up in force.

Of course, 10 years ago I was flat broke too, so the chop didn't happen till 98 and roadster project didn't happen till 2000!

 

I didn't vote, cause I wasn't really trying to make anything traditional. I was just happy to be getting my 52 on the street for the first time! I bought the car the day after New Years 1995, and had it running/driving/stopping by about this time that year. I busted loose the frozen motor, put a dual master cylinder on it, and some swap meet 14" ET mag wannabe's (looked like cast American 5-Spokes). There was a small tree that had grown between the end of the rear bumper and the rear quarter. I had to cut it off just below the bumper to pull the car out of the seller's back yard. The rest of the tree was still there... till my mom made me cut it off just above the bumper. (Tree was about 8 feet tall!) I drove the old 235 till it wouldn't go anymore. Dad had a spare 283/TH350 on the garage floor, so we put that in about a year later. Now I'm wearing out a 350, saving up for the next motor, driving the car daily.

 

ME TOO!!! I was out of college by then but old habits are hard to break ..... Until the girlfriend moved in and now we are married.

And I was building a Harley in the living room (had to rip out the carpet when brake fluid drained out) and a 46 Willys Jeep 2A flat fender with a 1965 225 Dauntless V6 - bad *** buggy in the garage. The only thing that saved me from a life of irresponsible antics and court ordered meetings was I got my dog Dixie in '95.

 

So what are you saying here? Muscle cars keep you from getting laid, Ghias are for the stay at home moms, and everyone with a hotrod is missing some important nuts?

 

had just quit ridin my 52 Pan around the country and got back into the car thing to recover from a stabbing + built this as therapy- '26T cpe w 53 merc flatty + one thing led to another - its not a hobby its an addiction

 

I still cant believe '95 was 10 years ago.

 

10 years ago i was chopping the top on my Model A... and dreaming of the day I would get to drive it...

The car isn't really a "traditional" hot rod... but it is a full fledged HOT ROD...

Traditional rat rodding at the time was virtually non-existant compared to how it is now... so I kinda wonder about the results of the poll...

Sam.

 

i know,,thats what i was thinking,,,funny,....everone who voted that they were building traditional hotrods or customs should post a pic of their "traditional"

 

This is more than a little scary to read after I wrote it....

2005: I am putting my 10 sec. '69 Torino street racer back together again
And I'm trying to finish up my "budget" '46 Ford coupe

1995: I am putting my 11 sec. '69 Torino street racer back together again
And I'm trying to get started on my "budget" '46 Ford coupe

1985: I am putting my 12 sec. '69 Torino street racer back together again
And a buddy at work says his brother will give me his '46 Ford coupe

1975 I am putting my 13 sec. '68 Torino street racer together
And I just parted out my '47 Ford coupe project

1965 I am 7, watching the Munsters on TV and catching a buzz from
model car cement.

..and my wife thinks I never get anything finished. Hah! Just try to find that tube of model car cement!

 

******* Barry... you're a funny som'*****!

Hahahahahaha!!! ROTFLMAO

Yea Sam... "traditional rodding" wasn't traditional rodding back then... there were traditional hot rods... but we called them NOSTALGIC hot rods... and the rat rods were "beaters"... the Shifters were just showing up in the magazines... anyone remember their first ink when the author of the story proclaimed "hide your daughters and lock up your wives!"??

I think it would be neat to do a ten year retro thread... and not have everyone stray to the time that they began "traditional hot rodding"...

"Uh, four years and seven months ago I was beating my meat to Hot Rod Deluxe... two years ago I was beating it to the images in CK Deluxe... and now, I finally saved up enough welfare money to buy a four door '64 Mercury Comet (traditional Kustom)"

The guy didn't ask about what you were doing when you got your first nut six years ago... he asked what you were doing 10 years ago! (and he forgot to include STREET RODS AND HOT RODS on the POLE)

Yuk, yuk, yuk!!!

Sam.

 

I was 14. Just reading magazines. Always wanted an old car to tool on but the rent's didn't get it. They are starting to realize im serious now that i've owned a few and pursued a degree in art. They still don't understand it beyond whats on TV but now they are supportive.
-b

 

I was racing my mini-truck like a tuner car and getting into that scene. Did NOT like the way that scene was going, so stepped aside. Always wanted a bare bones "traditional style hot rod", or whatever they're called this month. I never saw the cheap way in anything back then, so I always thought I had to buy a car from Boyd.

I saw the light and here I am. Not new to custom cars by any means, still fairly new to trad rods, but that dont meen I'm taking it gentle. Plans call for a truck, roadster and a bellytank in the next two years, If I can wait that long.

 

I got pitchures...from the '93 Columbus Nats coverage in Rodder's Digest. That Deuce in the background belonged to a very good friend named Jack Muckenfuhs. Jack was bubbly about getting his car in a magazine by going to the nationals, and I kiddingly told him to park next to my POS and it would happen. (My car was in the '92 Nats coverage also)

I had less money in my whole car than Jack had in his motor, and he, as well as others in our group, with expensive cars, ragged me about it being a magazine car. The resulting picture was a topic of great laughter over a lot of beers...Unfortunately, Jack discovered he had a brain tumor, and died December of '93. I lost a great cruisin' buddy, but have fond memories of a fine human being. Someday I'll tell the story of the day he got his doors blown off by our friend Lonnie.


Mutt