Age of your tires

Feels like this thread’s heating up in a way that doesn’t make much sense to me.

If you’re a “law and order” type—rigid rules, sharp edges—you probably wouldn’t be all that fond of me. And if that’s the case, you’re probably not gonna like the way I run this joint either.

We’re not big on radial tires around here. And we’re even less into folks trying to tell other folks how to live, build, or drive.

Hot rods are punk rock. Build your thing, run your thing, and let others do the same.

Also, slinging insults and bickering online is a damn waste of time—and brain cells.

 

yeah....

 

If that makes me the odd man out, so be it—I’ll die on this hill with a wrench in one hand and a dog-eared copy of "The History of Hot Rodding" in the other.

To me—and to a hell of a lot of folks I’ve known—hot rodding was never about polish or permission. It was rebellion in its purest form. Young punks taking factory steel and bending it to their will with nothing but know-how, nerve, and an eye for speed.

And if that’s not what this whole thing has been about, then I’ve spent the last three decades getting it all wrong—while building this joint, swapping stories with many of the greats, and learning from the very people who lit the fuse to begin with.

I dunno man... I don't think I'm wrong. From my perspective, you either don't understand punk rock or have really misunderstood hot rodding and its routes.

 

You’re using ChatGPT to define punk rock—which is already a bit hilarious—and conveniently skipping over the fact that “punk rock” often gets tossed around as shorthand for rebellion in general.

But look, if you want to talk history, hot rodders have always been tangled up in social issues, whether they meant to be or not. I’ve spent the last five years working with a researcher writing a book that traces exactly that—how hot rodding was born from defiance, met head-on by cops, lawmakers, and a public that saw it as nothing more than hooliganism on wheels.

Hell, in 1955, Reverend Billy Graham said American boys should be forced into the military at 17—because otherwise, they’d fall victim to “hot rod gangs and the like.”

Guys like Wally Parks—who, by the way, mentored me—understood this and worked to preserve the culture while giving it some legitimacy. But don’t kid yourself into thinking he was a “law and order” guy in a pressed shirt. Wally came from the same ragged edge we all did. He just knew how to play the long game.

I’ve lived and breathed this stuff for over 30 years. Broken through the 10,000-hour ceiling. Interviewed legends. Dug through the Library of Congress. Read thousands of articles. Taken tens of thousands of notes. If you don’t want to take my word for it, cool. But if you want to throw punches, at least do the homework first. Asking questions of ChatGPT isn't gonna magically give you your bones man.

And yeah, we don't allow politics on the HAMB. Never have. I can thank, in large part, Wally Parks for being able to keep it that way.

 

"Mechanized Suicide"

God damn... We like to think of the golden era and all that... and how it's all gone to shit since. But man, people were both cruel and stupid back then as well.

Gives me a great idea for a t-shirt though!

 

@Ryan the trouble with some of the members here understanding what hot rodding is and was all about is the fact that there are a bunch of street rodders here. and yes there is a huge difference between street rodders and hot rodders.....

 

Yeah, I don’t see it the same way. I think you’re missing some key context—about punk rock, about how I write, and about hot rodding in general. But hey, no hard feelings. I’m ready to move on.

In other news, I think this needs a lot of work:



Could be super cool though...

 

man, leave it alone.... Hot Rodding and Customizing is about rebellion against mass produced cookie cutter transportation....

 

This whole thing’s getting weird, man. I was about to head out for lunch and suddenly thought, “Yeah, I’ve got something to say.”

So I sat down, hammered out four paragraphs on history, context, the flaws of humans, all that noise… and then just stared at it for a second.

Decided I didn’t feel like lighting a match today. I’ve got stuff to do.

 

including the flaws of humans and it was only 4 paragraphs... hahahaha