$5,000 TRADITIONAL Rod, can it be done?

Money is no object when it comes to yer women and hotrods.

 

I think we need a new name for traditionally styled cars... hey! How about "hot rod"!!

Or Nostalgic hot rod??

Sam.

 

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I think we need a new name for traditionally styled cars... hey! How about "hot rod"!!

Or Nostalgic hot rod??

Sam.

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THAT is a novel idear samIyam, green eggs and ham

in regards to continental johns post - i think most of the primo pickins in california have been picked over long ago. sure, you might get that screamin deal once in a blue moon, but finding a rolling 32 5 window for under $4k? dont think so, pure speculation and my mindset is probably beneficial to a person more resourceful than i, (not for long)..

prove me wrong on this... or agree, makes no difference.

 

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Haha. Yup, after reading these last two pages I remember why I never gave a **** how much it was going to cost.

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I do care what the individual pieces cost, because I will have to come up with the money for those somehow.
After they are bought, I stop caring and I forget the price.
So I never know what the total build costs.
If stuff gets more expensive I have to spread the build out over a longer time, thats all...
People have proven they can build a cool, safe, Traditional car for $5000 or less and I respect the hell out of that.
I know I could not do it, but then again, I have never tried to complete a total build under a certain price either...

 

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I know you weren't trying to start a **** thread but just so I understand you, you're saying that to be traditional NOW you have to to what is represented to be done by the majority THEN?...And everything else is not traditional. This really doesn't compute with me.

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I don't think Jim is the type of person to speak or write in absolutes... of course there are always going to be exceptions. But the exceptions may be in the brand or type of era correct part... not in the era of the part.

What I am saying is that a true traditional hot rod is going to have parts that are pre"certain era". The are from an era that the builder is trying to achieve. Sure there may be a part here or a part there that is not "correct". But the majority of the parts are corerct...

I never considered the Roach Rod a Traditional Hot Rod.

It was patterned after CRA roadsters of the 50's... but by the time the SBC came out... the bodies of the CRA roadsters were morphing into a sprint car cloathed in Model T sheet metal. Add to that, it wasn't even a REAL roadster... and it had a 9" rear end and a home made intake... four speed trans... etc.

A traditionally styled car, sure. A Traditional Hot Rod... no.

Then you have the current rat rods... cars that have motors that were cast in the 60's... SBF's, 455 Buicks, Caddy 472 motors... TH350 trannies... Gennie shifters... radials, Ford 9" rear ends... metalflake steering wheels, Speedway tube axles and hair pins... and the list goes on and on.

I think Mike Bishop's book has had a tremendous influence on Traditional Hot Rodding. But more important than the list of Ford parts he listed (if you've been paying attention, you'll know that non-ford hot rods can be traditional too) is the fact that he states things such as disc brakes, while good for a hot rod, don't belong on a traditional hot rod.

I don't mean to sound elitist, in fact... I have not achieved traditional hot rodding-dom... but I'm here to say that I feel it is a bar that has been set, and it is something that people may want to try to achieve. Take a look at the cars in the Choppers club... and then tell me that a rat rod that sits 2" off the ground, has a SBC with TH350 ******, and a headlight bucket turned into a scoop on a single four barrel is on par with Keith Weesner's roadster...


Keeping Traditional Pure,
Sam.

 

Choprods...keeping the day job is not an option. They killed my back and I have to get out while I can. I would prefer to keep it a hobby. I'm terrible at pricing. Right now I'm the guy that does a chop or paint for next to nothing and sometimes nothing. That's why I would prefer to build and sell. I get to do what I want, when I want and how I want.
Clark

 

SO-WHAT-
I Understand......I can see it in those cir***stances.
And Yes we are all victim to overHumbling ourselves in reguard to our fees.
I started out doing chops for next to nothing and years later Im still low priced.
And...YES...thats why I still run my little bussiness- I love the work and the peoples Ideas being realized- so at Tax Time I just try to be happy in my own little world.......
GOOD LUCK!

 

im with you~!!!!!! and ill take this opp to ***** about one other thing with the new traditionalists.. whats up with the dirty whitewalls even in a magazine spread,or for that matter the whole car being left rusty and dirty seemingly on purpose..hey im only 33 and wasnt thought of yet in the 50s but my ole man and his friends were there and tell me they wouldnt be caught dead with dirty whites or car, and no matter what didnt drive them around lookin like a total piece of **** ,,they always did the best they possibly could with primer spots here and there, or blowin some laquer on it with a vac*** cleaner..but iether way they strived for the car to look nice like the ones in the little magazines.no matter how poor they were..but im no ******** rockabilly tattoo canvas so i prob. dont know what the **** im talkin about..

 

Choprods...even if it is for minimum wage you can't beat doing what you love.
Clark

 

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Take a look at the cars in the Choppers club... and then tell me that a rat rod that sits 2" off the ground, has a SBC with TH350 ******, and a headlight bucket turned into a scoop on a single four barrel is on par with Keith Weesner's roadster...

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YES, exactly Sam. And a little known piece of trivia- that roadster first came together in my garage and was fine tuned by one of my best friends that I introduced all the Choppers to. Lynn has since helped make a few of the Choppers cars road worthy and taught them how to do it better themselves.

And I am not close-minded enough to think you absolutely need to stick to the exact blueprint to build a "tradtional" car. But if you are going to build say a 1952-era car an Early Dodge or Franklin axle could DEFINITELY work and be even cooler than a Ford dropped beam- BUT don't try and p*** off a sixties Econoline van axle or Speedway flat tube and say it's "period correct". And traditional is WAYYY broader than most people paint it- it's just that not a lot of people shoot for a 1963 "period correct" show rod, but it sure would be interesting if they did. Maybe it's not as tired to some of you that haven't done this daily for a living, but when you've seen hundreds of cars with disc brakes, radials, 350 automatics, tilt columns and heard the owners repeatedly claim "It's TOTALLY traditional-just like the fifties" you appreciate all the more the cars with a genuine LaSalle ******, original speed equipment, original Stewart Warners, F-100 steering, bias ply tires, REAL Ford steelies or spokes (not kinda close copies). And all this DOES NOT mean it has to be a gold chain pimp mobile because to me the holiest of grails is the car that was put together a million years ago with these parts and the scratches, dings and leaking gas stains prove that. My PERFECT hot rod would be a '28/'29 Model a with ORIGINAL worn out paint and a few speed goodies on the banger. 20 years ago I could have had an endless supply of those cars for less than 5 grand, but try that today- let's see $500 for a set of Kelseys, $500 for a set of Firestones, $400 for a dropped axle, springs, spindles and king pins, $500 for a juice brake set up with decent drums, pedals and a new master, lines, hoses and wheel cylinders, $300 for an aluminum head, $150 for an intake, $250 for a pair of rebuilt 97s. WOW! I've already spent over half my budget and I don't even have a car yet! I've pieced them together for years with $20 here and $50 there and that's not the ultimate answer either because my "cheap" $900 tudor body is now closer to $3000 after having a little repair work done, gathering better pieces to replace the really rusty ones and little stuff like ganish moldings- and it STILL needs over $800 worth of new wood- but then I guess "real rodders" harvest their own trees and cut it down to fit in their full wood shop, right?
I conceeded that a few of you can do it cheap, but for us less patient and less talented it's gonna cost a little bit more to get one together.

 

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But some of those cars are cool as hell.

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Yes they are- so what are we arguing about?

 

Yeah, Grimlok, we are thinking along the same lines...

Building a car the the way I want it is difficult enough with out setting myself up for an other goal that I can't meet anyway.
Like setting a deadline for when it will be finished...

 

Finnished cost "Goals" like "I'm gonna build this thing for $3k" as well as timeline/deadlines are all mind-****s we ********** to. It's all bull-****.

If you have to do that to yourself, you have too much time on your hands.

Just develop a plan and stick to it. We all know by now how much this **** costs or at least know where to find out.

If you want a 32 roadster, then build a 32 roadster. You know you ain't going to do it for $3K unless you got GOD in your pocket. Just cop to it and build what you're hot-rod heart tells you, you have to. It's all time vs money vs desire and what the words "Hot Rod" mean to you. The only "Rules" are generated by you.

 

Excellent jobs guys. I'll bet it was fun just trying to get all the parts for your cars. wow You give the rest of us inspiration.

 

Sam, Dude, you paid $24 for a dipstick and $100 for the motor? Don't you think you could have saved some money there???

To clear some things up, but not to be a smart ***.

1. tradition -- (an inherited pattern of thought or action)
2. custom, tradition -- (a specific practice of long standing)

If someone did it before you did and it was common place to do the things to Hot Rods that that person did, it is traditional.

 

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urkillinmesmalls - You know no one regularly flipped their rear crossmember sideways to build the back of their frame. Congradulations, Sam built you a Street Rod frame...or something.

Jim & Sam - Seriously. Are either one of you going to honestly look at what I'm building, see what I post about, what I'm interested in, ask questions about, and generally reply to and still say I'm trying to compare something like Weesner's roadster or something built by Tardell to something with a headlight bucket for a four barrel scoop or a spiderweb windshield frame? That's the vibe I'm getting. It's amazing...and a little spooky. Maybe it's just California. Hahaha

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No.

Your car looks traditional because of the black and white photos you take of it sitting in the garage.

Seriously though... Grimlock, dude... you seem to take everything as gospel... just because I write it, doesn't mean it's right... nor does it mean that the majority of the people think the way I do.

I just think that the term TRADITIONAL HOT ROD has been *******ized by people wanting to jump on the bandwagon... look in the history books... look at old photos... does your car look like it would fit in with those cars? I say yes. Does something like this fit in??
Sam.

 

I wouldn't question you EVER Kevin- you know your **** I think better than me because you are studying those old magazines NOW when I haven't looked at them in some cases for 15 years. I'm not the "tradtional" police so don't worry about me writing any tickets. I just feel we are all close enough to give our own opinions of what we feel about cars. I'd never mind being told I'm wrong- and my opinion is just an opinion.

 

I think I've got a total of about $6,000 into mine, but I need to add up reciepts to be sure. I bought a complete Model A roadster for $2000- Minus the motor, trans, and anything other than metal, which had rotted away.
Sold all the stock A stuff I didn't need- Fenders, rear axle, etc., and made about $700 back!
Ebay and swap meets were very helpful in keeping thing on the cheap. I sold every single thing I didn't use- which kept money coming back in the pot.

Things that cost the most?

1. I paid a buddy to do the patch panels on the body- and there were a ton. Money well spent!

2. 55 Cadillac motor and trans- $500 from the cl***ifieds

3. Cadillac 3X2 intake- I really wanted that thing- $320!

4. Gordini went through the car and corrected much of my shotty work. (Sort of a safety check). More money well spent.

5. Lots of parts, pieces, misc... It all adds up.

More than anything, it was a learning experience for me. The hunt was half the fun. Lots of HAMB and club friends helped me out over and over- It would have taken much longer to build without them- and a killer wife who understood my obsession.

jay

 

When I bought it:

 

hey jive bomber.... where is that place?

 

Just to quote Jerry Reed "East bound and down, loaded up and truckin', we're gonna do what they say can't be done"

That's right, my roadster body is on the way east, finally.
I'm going to keep track of everything I put into it. It will be safe and a good driver. I will not spend over $5k not counting the cost of my tools. I already have $1k in the body, rails w/ parellel leaf front suspension, bellhousing, flywheel and clutch. So I got $4k to spend. It will have shiney paint and an interior (I have a seat out of a minivan that I got for free)... I'm going to do it and keep everyone posted...

 

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(Quote JimA):
I totally understand it CAN be done, but my vision of what the finished car is would be something you would see in a magazine 50 years ago, or today.

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Ok,so THATS tradition for you.. It all make sense now!
You have a vision of a car thats seen in some fifties magasine....
Most of the hot-rods never ended in the mags,you know?
But that explains the "dropped axles,and only ford body" philosophy.
Earlier,traditional street driven rods,(who were built for speed,also on the lakes),rarely had dropped axles,often the cheapest body they found,maybe even a non ford frame and engine.
But if you are expecting to see a car that was highdollar already then,Im willing to agree with you. It can hardly be done.
But,in all,if the little amount of cars shown in the mags back then is the "blueprint" on traditional,Im probably never gonna build something "traditional".
Z


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You're smoking CRACK.

I would venture to say that 75% of the hot rods back in the day were Fords... sure they had different brand motors... but the majority were FORDS.

And you are also mistaken about the "high dollar" comment... Model A and Model T bodies were EVERYWHERE... they were CHEAP... and with a part time job you could pick on up and start building... it's only been in the past 20 years that people have had to resort to building MORE non-Ford bodied hot rods than they have in the past... because that is all that is left for pennies on the dollar.

Sam.


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Haha,yup crack man....
Dumb***,try to read it again. slowly this time!
Ofcourse the majority were FORDS.

75% is your OWN guess,so,
of FOUR hotrods ONE of them was another brand????

And for the "highdollar".. I know fords didnt cost ****,but do you seriously think they built the cars for FREE? and got them in the mags? You dont think the compe***ion was kinda hard?

 

Hey!!! Just noticed that Joaquin Arnett's car is pulling the hot water from the back of the block. I suppose they are '49-'53 heads mounted on the opposite sides from normal. Just when you start to think that it's a modern day thing to try and equalize the temp in the block and heads up comes a picture of someone experimenting with it back in the day. Kinda makes reverse water flow and pulling water out of the back of the block to get the rear cylinders warm a thing of the past. It sure would be great to pick the brains of the oldtimers to see what else they had up their sleeve to make a car run faster. I like it when a mag article REVEALS some new speed sectret only to find out it's been tried years ago.

Frank

 

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Jim - You're a ****. I must have missed the argument part somewhere along the lines - I'm giving opinion and you're the one who is up in arms...I'm laughing. Stay cool, bro. Hope we have some cl***es together next year and don't get in too much trouble this summer!

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MAN!- somewhere there must be a JimA to Grimlock internet communication scrambler because I have NEVER been so humble to you as I have been on this post. I said that YOU proved me wrong with your very cool car that I have previously admired many times and that your knowledge of history is better than mine because I've read the posts where you have tried to figure some very interesting details about historic cars I have never even thought of. Do you take everyone so LITERALLY WORD FOR WORD- or just me? When I said "arguing" I meant it in an amusing way- we are saying the EXACT same thing but you think I am being confrontational(NOT true). I have an opinion (you think it's WRONG and let me know it) - you have an opinion and I respect and learn from it. Don't write in my yearbook if I didn't ask you to

 

You guys are still a bunch of ***s.