Am I A Hot Rodder? That's a question I am asking myself. as I grow older. I found myself hiring more work done on the cars I build. When I built my first car in 1970 (39 Ford deluxe Coupe) I hired the paint and interior done but did everything else. Same with the next several cars. That continued until the mid 80's when because of lack of funds I did most of my own paint and most of the interior work and finish work. As I progressed into the early 90's my chassis business grew more demanding and basically took over my life until recently. I found myself hiring the body work, paint and upholstery done. We still did the assembly and finish work in my shop. Then in the early 2000's I no longer had time to do anything but the chassis and had perty much hired all the work done professionally. I always provided all the parts and had complete control of the builds but I did very little of the finish work. This resulted in some very outstanding 32 Fords being built. Since my retirement from the chassis business I am tackling another deuce roadster. I am doing the chassis, have had some extensive body work done that I am not qualified to do. I will hire the paint done, do the wiring, do most of the upholstery and do the finish work as much as I can. Have I gone full circle? Again I ask myself AM I REALLY A HOT RODDER? Please refer to my comments below. The above is a general question. I am not asking about just myself but about many of us having so much done on our cars by outside shops instead of doing it our selves.
My opinion - YES. I'd like to think once you earn that "title" it doesn't change no matter how your life situation does.
Yes you are , your standards are so high you want the cars you build to be the best they can possibly be .
Sounds like you've been there, done that, with I'm sure lots of blood, sweat, and tears, over the years. You've earned the right to call yourself anything associated within the Hot Rod world. Titles are overrated.
Gary, I think you missed the most important point to me. Hot rodding is in the brain and the heart. It doesn't require you to build your stuff or even part of it. Here's a simplification: modification, performance, style and yes, the cool factor. If you have that in you as an area of importance, doesn't that qualify you as a hot rodder?
I think you deserve a "Lifetime Hot Rod Achievement Award". You must be fishing for compliments........ .......which you also deserve and will get plenty of around here.
In the words of someone somewhere there are no stupid questions. However that’s not always true. In spite of whatever category you choose to put this question into the answer is yes, you’re a hot rodder. You're not escaping the designation and or the infection that easily You know there’s no cure, accept it already and have fun.
I'm not looking for accolades. My many customers over the years have done that by trusting my work. It seems like in the world today many of us are doing less of our work ourselves. Our worlds have gotten so involved there doesn't seem to be as much me time. Maybe we need to set aside a little more me time for us to pursue the hot rod hobby? I think what I'm asking is does having more of our work done by others make us less of a rodder or is a sign of the times? Maybe I'm feeling a little guilty?
I met you in the mid eighties when I worked at Masterpiece. I was incredibly impressed then, as I am now. You sir, to me are Hot Rodder through and through..
Hell yes you’re a hot rodder. I consider myself a general contractor on my cars any more. My standards are much higher than my skills and now the money is a bit more available so my cars are a lot nicer. Sounds like you have the skills but just didn’t have the time.
I believe you should be considered a hot rodder. It's funny when you think about it how many titles there are for guys who are interested in old cars and how the term hot rodder wasn't always considered good. According to my aunt who is in her nineties I'm the one who tinkers with cars.
You my friend are a consummate hot rodder, in my humble book. Just because you are not performing all the tasks , does not take away from the fact that you can !
Hot rodding is a combined effort of all the above with the all-important camaraderie & friendships created along the way..
Yes you are. I have consider myself a hot rodder for most of my 78 years. However I never progressed beyond being a "parts changer/installer/fabricator" on the many rods that have passed thru my hands over the years. In some cases, I involved myself (got in the way) as much as possible during the builds. I learned a lot but never considered myself a builder. I always searched out people who's talent and skill I admired and paid them to make things happen correctly. This lack of skill happened due to me making a living doing other things I also enjoyed doing/learning about. I have always made it a point of telling people who asked about the cars who was responsible for the build and only described myself as the current driver.
I think Scotty T just said it the best. A lot of us are General Contractors. I think my question is being misinterpreted. I was asking if any of us are real hotrodders since we have become General Contractors?I was not asking specifically about myself.
being a "Hot Rodder" does not change if you are pulling a pile of parts out of a barn to use to build a car from front to back, or sitting on the porch thinking about cars that you have built, had built or watch them drive down the street in front of you - can not turn off thinking, dreaming and talking about 'em
Add the fact that you must drive your cars. Not just haul them around in trailers. And exceeding the speed limits. Don`t drive them like you are afraid of hurting them. Then you are a Hot Rodder.
The short answer is yes. The long answer as I see it is this, It is two sides to a very old coin. The man who can afford to have work done to his project regardless of his own personal ability struggles with the confidence of whether his project is legitimate or not because he doesn't do all the work himself. But, the man who does do all the work himself on his project, particularly if he cannot afford to pay others for that work struggles with the confidence of whether his project is legitimate or not due to the fact that he cannot afford all the bells and whistles we are told it is supposed to have. Stop beating yourself up over trivial things. That is the same advice I try to follow for myself. Be thankful for what you have regardless of how it was achieved.
...I get several magazines; it seems every car or truck featured is built by a pro builder's shop. tho a lot of cars built today are by do-it-yourselfers, they just don't get the ink.
I was hanging around an old body guy when I was 14, At 15 I painted my first car, a 55 chevy in lacquer. He came over and looked at it and said.........Yesterday you couldn't even spell bodyman.......Today you IS one.!! Well, today you is a hotrodder.
In my understanding. A hot rodder builds their car. Does the chassis fabrication. And most everything else. Rebuilds cool old parts to use, then drives the wheels off it. A street rodder goes to a shop, discuses what they want. Go's through a catalogue to choose all the new components and pays the bill at the end. Then trailers the car to shows to show off what "he" built. I would also consider the person who assembles a car himself from all catalogue kit components a street rodder. Not a hot rodder.
When I build a house or an addition I hire out the plumbing, electric, sheetrock, and insulation. I am still the builder, If there is a problem down the road I still get the call. You are in charge, you are the builder.
Decades ago, I built my own cars with parts I scrounged from salvage yards or traded for. I had a '65 Galaxie 500 with a 390 built in my garage, a complete tri-power from manifold to breather given to me as a gift from my brother-in-laws best friend, and a 2.78 low wide ratio toploader that a racing buddy sold me cheap. I rebuilt the tranny and put the speedometer gear in backwards and, as a result, never fixed because I drove by the tach anyway. I drove that car all over the country to jobsites and it doubled as a grocery getter when I was home. For a big car, it performed well and drew compliments. Was I a hot rodder then? I don't know but I liked good looking cars that ran well. The Galaxie got sold and many years went by. I read every car mag I could lay my hands on while thinking about what I would build as soon as I got the opportunity. I knew I wanted a roadster but life kept getting in the way. Was I a hot rodder during that time? About 10 years ago I was finally able to start a build that has been put on hold at times with the wife's health issues. I would probably have been better off just buying someone else's car or spending the money to have another guy build me one. I chose to do it myself because I could still fabricate, even if I moved a little slower. I will have someone do the interior because I don't think I have the time to build the car and learn a new skill. I know @Lloyd's paint & glass is going to do the paint. I think that as long as I have the interest in the cars and still get excited seeing what other builders accomplish, I must be a hotrodder.
I'd absolutely say say that you are a real hot rodder and who the hell would question the fact. You can do just about every stage of the build at a high level but Building chassis for those of us who want a first class chassis and using the profit from that chassis to pay another hot rodder to do the body work, build the engine or do the interior or ? can be far more expedient and helps others finance their hot rod in the process. I've noticed one continuing thing with this board and other hot rod groups. The most ardent of the you have to do everything youself or you aren't real hot rodder never have fully finished rod in their avatar and most often their actual ride is rather questionable. You never see a build thread from them, you never see a photo of most of their "real hot rods" at an event off any level. They just bad mouth the guy who paid you to build his chassis because he could afford your work and because he wanted a well built chassis. Maybe that guy couldn't weld, Possibly it is just far more expediant time wise to have you build the chassis and the body and paint guy do his thing and then assemble it in his home garage to save years in the build process.. Some just want a higher level of work than they can do themselves. As for me, the only reason I have always done my own work is that I have never had the money to pay anyone to do it for me. I had to do it myself or have friends help me with what I couldn't do or it didn't get done. That damned well didn't make me any better than anyone else and I sure didn't look down my nose at guys who had shops do work for them. Right now if I came up with a batch of extra money I'd be talking to a couple of Hambers to turn my vision into a reality. One to do the work that I want to do on the cab in an expediant amount of time and the other to do the chassis and coordinate the rest of the build process. at 76 I don't move fast enough anymore to get a lot done in a short period of time and he aches and pains don't help either.
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