Yeah, cuz lord knows Chrysler didn't do it two years previously with the Max Wedge cars: Not to discount them in anyways because they are neat cars for sure. Those were special construction factory racecars. Spartan, and void of everything that didn't help it go faster.
I beg to differ. When the "muscle car era" hit there was a difference between them and say a 409 4 speed bisquit. Rare occaision you could walk into the show room and buy a 409 bisquit or a 2x4 hemi powered chrysler 300 and there certainly wasn't 2 or three at any dealership at any given time. On the other hand once the "muscle car era" hit you could walk into any dealership at any time and buy one. Rare occaision that they were out of stock. That is the difference. Does that make a 409 speed bisquit or a 2x4 hemi 300 any less a factory high performance vehicle, absolutely not. But is an insult to to compair a muscle car to them or them to a muscle car. They were intended to be raced and a muscle car was intended to boost sales by scooping the then comming of age boomers. Take note, the boomers are now retireing and some of them have some cash. The muscle cars are making a come back, Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers. All created to sell to the boomers. Now the '64 cut off is flawed a little, no rules are perfect rules. You can for instance find a '64.5 stang. For all intents and purposes it can be considered a '64. I'll bet dollars to donuts that every true traditionalist up to and including Ryan would thumb their nose at one.
Watson sure did a few, I love looking through the pics of him doing a brand new car in the day. And so did a few of the others big names. I think they fit just fine.
I agree with Spoggie, in regards Bellflower is a kustom car look. Larry Watson, his early cars and his square bird, pretty much epitomized that look.
No they did not. The major difference between the 64.5 and the 65 Mustang was one has a round hole in the core support behind the battery and one has a square hole. Told to me by a fella that collects 64.5 and 65 mustangs. Wouldn't matter to me. The majority of cars that I have owned and driven in my lifetime were built between '55 and '64. The next number down from that goes out to '53 and '68. Sounds odd doesn't it. I have owned and driven a couple of pre war cars and had a '46 for quite awhile. But the majority of my cars have been '55-'64. If someone changed the rules to be pre-60 for whatever reason I would still buy and build cars in that year range, they appeal to me the most. I wouls still build them the way that I have always built them, no reason to rock the boat now and wouldn't care what anyone thought of them. They have been out of style before and will be out of style again.
Should have painted it ocean blue to go with the waves. All DA and no long board, bet its smooth as can be but not flat. Lots of lowriders and bellflowers are like that, but with crazy panel paint, lace and other stuff to hide it.
I think it is worthy of mention that not all pre '64 vehicles are necessarily HAMB friendly. For instance, I own a '61 Willys pickup, 4WD. It is built as it would have been done in the '60s all the way to the crager adapter on the small block. But it is not what we as a whole would consider hot rod fodder and at least ibn my opinion not a HAMB friendly car. I have used it as an example of one thing or another in the past but it is not a traditional hot rod or custom. sometimes you just have to try and use your better judgment.
I just wanted to mention the Factory 1964 AC Corbra 289/270 hp that Ruled the Drag Strips back in the Day just my 3.5 cents
I once read that the '64 thing was because most cars had curved side glass by 65, making them harder to chop... I also read it was more modern coke bottle designs of the GM products in '65...
The guys got it right on the Bellflowers. Those tips were advertised in the magazines at the time for those of us who didn't live in SoCal. As usual guys have given 99 reasons about the 1964 Cut off year but for most of us it marks the time when you could walk into the dealership and buy a new car off the lot that was quicker and faster than the old hot rod you had busted your butt and wallet building. Before 1964 outside of buying a pretty well special order race car with a 409, 406, 426 or 427 in a full size car the option was heading to the wrecking yard to buy a big engine out of a late model car and put it in your older lighter car. I knew of a number of 55 Chevy sedans that ran 389 Pontiacs in the early 60's as it was a common swap. One local guy had a 401 Buick in his 55 Chevy gasser. Then came 1964 and 1965 and you could get a kick ass GTO or 442 right off the dealer's lot complete with four speed. Locally the early Mustangs were considered Girls cars because Sue Hokeman got the first one in town while she was in high school and none of the guys in school could afford one anyhow. The only guy who could afford a new car ended up with a 65 Chevelle SS 327 four speed car.
The whole year cut off, and bell flower topics are not all that black and white always. In respect to the cut off I think there are rare exceptions that seem to be accepted if in the spirit of what this whole thing is about. I have seen each of the following cars on here with its own coresponding reaction...... 1965 falcon -generally accepted 1965 falcon turned into an altered or gasser -encouraged greatly 1965 mustang concours restoration -not accepted (they have their own sites) 1965 mustang with a straight axle upfront -barely accepted because of that loop hole This last car shouldn't be allowed technically, but because it is in the spirit of the general interest found on this board, not everyone is as quick to jump on the OT as the cat with the bone stock mustang. As to the Bellflower thing, yes there are Bell flower pipes , and yes there was a Bell flower craze. The pipes are self-explanitory, but the Bell flower craze is indicative of a time and place that was parent to a style of custom car. If you use the word "Bell flower" to an old timer who was there, chances are that guy is going to see past pipes because it was a special time and place that was lived. I hate early mustang debates on message boards about traditional rods and kustoms, so two facts to try and end it. 1. Ford motor company does not officially acknowledge a 1964 1/2 model 2. You can not perform a succesfull concours restoration on a 1964 1/2 mustang with only 1965 parts. Sorry to make you suffer through my poor spelling, hope this helps.
No restoration, concours or not is really meant to be here regardless of what car it is. Hot Rods and Customs... No Mustang should be here, straight axle or not.
Personally I agree, but I have seen posts containing such cars (mostly historic shots of drag cars) and not everyone jumped on the OT wagon, and the thread wasn't closed. That is what has been on here, and all I am saying is that the response is mixed rather than overwhelmingly negative off the bat.
I dont understand all this mustang talk ... it wasnt introduced as a muscle car, it was a damn econmy car on a falcon platform .... just because Ioccoca started peddleing it at a time when fast "Nascar-type" cars like the full sized chevs, fords and mopars it (the mustang) was a animal of a completly differerent nature.
"If you have a customized 1964 car.... people usually didn't customize BRAND NEW cars, right?" Actually they did. Most of the "name" customs from the forties and fifties were either new cars, or late model used cars. The first chopped 49 Merc was Sam Barris' car which he bought new. The Hirohata Merc was a late model, Hirohata wanted to buy a new 51 but was too late, the 52s were already out so he bought one off a used car lot but it was only a couple months old. The 40 41 and 42 Fords and Mercuries they were customizing in the 1945 - 50 period were the latest model cars available between the time new car production stopped in 42 and the new car shortage eased in 1949. 1945 to early fifties cars were pretty boring, made for practical transportation but not much fun. As one hot rodder put it at the time "I will buy one of your dowdy apple crates but I will make a real automobile out of it". Tom McCahill speaking of the MI Ford, a brand new 1950 Ford he had souped up by the Granatelli brothers in Chicago. By 1957 customizing or hot rodding a new car was getting kind of pointless. Styles and performance had advanced to an unbelievable degree in just 10 years. This was the period when Larry Watson was doing scallops and custom paint on 3 or 4 brand new cars a day. You didn't have to do anything to the new cars by then. Maybe some custom paint and different hub caps just to set it off. In the early sixties custom cars and hot rods were really petering out. Ed Roth put a date on it, the day the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. After that interest in his shirts and custom cars just died. If you have to pick a date, that one is as good as any.
OK, I just read through every post, trying to figure out the cutoff of 1964 thing for myself. What I've seen most is that after 1964 anyone could walk into a dealership and buy a car with some decent kick and not have to build one in their garage, therefore it was the end of the era of hot rods. Gentlemen, we are currently living in 2012. Pretty much any rusted hulk of a car we go out and buy today, be it made in 1957 or 1967, is going to need the engine rebuilt, bodywork, etc., and many will be customized in the process. Is that any different than growing up in the 60s and buying a 1930-something whatever and doing the same thing? I would LOVE to share with y'all what I'm doing to a '66 Galaxie 500 that I'm building for my little boy, but I know if I mention it I'll get ridiculed off the thread for having an OT car! I'm customizing the SHIT out of it, and no it was not a muscle car straight out the box... it had a 352. It traveled at the speed of smell when I bought it. Now... But I digress. Had I not joined the Alliance, my name would probably still have FNG beneath it, so I won't beat the hornets nest, rock the boat, or tinkle on anyone's puppy. I just want you to realize that by closing your eyes to some of the other TRUE hot rod projects out there because of an imaginary line drawn in the sand, such as my OT (which I am VERY proud of), you might just be missing out on some very fuckin' cool shit. I love the H.A.M.B., and I have a great respect for the knowledge and opinions on here. But the old iron is getting newer, simply because it is what we have to work with anymore. If we ignore the individual vehicle because we're too busy shunning an entire year, make, or model, we may all just miss out on some incredible stuff. Not looking for a fight. Peace.
No one said that there was nothing cool after '64. Most any teenager in America wanted to own a new "muscle car". I wanted a '68 Roadrunner so bad I could taste it. The cool factor does not make it traditional any more than steel wheels on a street rod makes it traditional. Prior to the muscle car era most of the older fellas on the board were building older cars, some of them continued to build older cars. It took (or takes) more than credit to be a hot rodder. I have to chuckle about it, the wife and I bought a used '68 Mustang in '72. It was a pretty hot car, one of the local fellas had bought it new in '68 and as soon as he could get his hands on one he stuffed a boss 302 in it. To us other that being fast it was the newest car we had ever owned. We kept telling everyone that we finally had a late model car. Prior to that the newest car we had ever owened was a '64 Impala, we owned it for a week then peddled it, we never changed the title into our names. That was how we managed to buy diapers and formula back then. Before the mustang we thought that the impala was a late model car. The focus on the site is pre muscle car. The reason being is that before the muscle car you couldn't just walk into the show room and drive away with a hot car. Like I said there are some cool cars built after our cut off date, but that doesn't make them traditional cars. By the way, your title on the HAMB is not what gives you credibility, you are the only one that can do that. Even if your title is FNG, if what you put out there is good stuff you have credability. I think you have probably already earned that, even if you are an alliance member.
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