Hot Rods Can fiberglass be traditional? At least in appearance.

I'm with Millers Garage on this one, other than the engine, this car just doesn't have the look. The homemade frame, electric fan, front axle/brakes/wheels and tires, 4 bars, boxy windshield posts, ect. just don't do it for me. Even the tail light positioning over the body lines. This car wouldn't be traditional even with an original steel body on it.

It's not terrible considering the price I guess, with some smart changes and work it could be a decent car, just not my style.

https://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/5090807195.html

 

A while back, there was someone on here worried about running fiberglass fenders on a willys "gasser", wanted steel ones so it would be "traditional". Seriously, I am not making this shit up. Some of these guys just f*cking kill me...

 

I take it you are not well versed in the fine art of the rhetorical question.

 

I am very sorry. I have to admit I am quick to take questions at face value and not analyze them to see if they have a double meaning.

 

When ever someone refers to my T as a "kit car" , I smile & say , Yep , 99.95 from sears , you outta get one ...... simple minded assholes
dave

 

Fiberglass was invented by the Egyptians. It's the modern (20th century) resin made from petroleum products that gave us the ability to use the glass in a different way.

 

Nope, I would have to change to much to ever be satisfied. Thanks for your help.

 

A lot of times it's just a matter of personal choice and what you can afford at the time I've had more than my fair share of both glass and steels cars.

As far as building a glass car to look traditional,there are many being built on the hamb as we speak. HRP

 

I say do it. A guy on here built a glass duece but used original door hinges and then cut in a functional cowl vent, it looked very cool and original. I think it was the 3W that was stolen, can't recall how the story turned out.

 

WOW!! That precedes the 1940's by alot!! Learn something new everyday on the HAMB!! Thanks Pete

 

those guys had help from Aliens

 

That's good to know. I was going to build a war chariot out of fiberglass but I was afraid it wouldn't be traditional.

 

So, that pyramid find highboy roadster was legit? Damn, I knew I should have gone to that estate sale.

 

Glad you are not thinking of buying the "REAL STEEL" pick up that is on the same Nashville craigslist page.

REAL STEEL..... only $13,500

 

Quite a while ago I thought I needed to build a Downs 32 Ford Vicky (what was I thinking?). It was the only car I've ever owned that I truly hated. It really wasn't that bad looking and it was featured in StreetRodder magazine. The happiest day in my life was when someone thought they needed it more then I did and bought it. Haven't been in the fiberglass business since. Steel or not at all.

Like someone previously posted Tupperware makes you itch, that Downs car also smelled real bad out in the sun.

 

As for the smell,I washed it with soap and water,then wiped with wax and grease cleaner(eastwood) then painted it inside and out,no smell,all sealed up!! Pete

 

Did you build the Vicky?.....any other mods to the Chevy, other than the wheels?

 

Sooooo.........no hotrods had 4 bars pre 1965?

 

so outside of a few t bucket body manufacturers or innovative people pulling a mold from a car to cast his own body, 99 plus percent of the hotrods back then were steel. a handful of cars doesn't make tradition.
now someone is going to post a photo of a car with 4 bars from 1962 and voila, 4 bars are traditional.

who was the first company to go into production making model A roadsters and what year did they do it?

 

IIRC Dee Wescott was doing Model A's in the mid to late 60's.

 

Pete,
Did you see Magnesium mentioned in that definition?
Thank you for posting that, you've solved the decades old debate, Since fiberglass has magnesium in it, then there's no denying its place in traditional Hot Rod history as Mag is about as traditional as it gets . Kudos !!!! Also notice in the definition under history, glass in this form was developed in 1932, Henry Fords guys built a plastic car in 1941. And there's a picture of him taking a sledge to a glass deck lid of a a 1941 Sedan, Traditional enough for Henry then traditional enough for me !
CK

 

How about 1955? Norm Grabowski and Tommy Ivo's Metal T's both used 4 bar front ends. Sprint cars used them before that and much of the rod industry adopted race technology along the way, = Traditional. .

 

Everyone who knows me know I can not read this whole thread and not comment, so here goes:

Yes it can be traditional, it's a matter of what you put on/under/over/inside it that makes it traditional. Nothing worth then a body that screams FG!
Nothing better then a car that yells hot rod and is build out of FG!!

I have enormous respect for people who can resurrect a POS from a rusted out hulk of a steel 32, but guys who can make FG feel/look like steel deserves every bit of respect they can get.

And the combo of 4 link, tube axle, fiberglass and disk brakes, doesn't make it a un-traditional.
It's a matter of how the parts match up that makes it traditional!

A early 60s T Bucket with FG body, track styled 4 link on a chromed out V8-60 front axle, with state of the art airhead disc brakes , is toe hardcore era perfect car, and there buy traditional.

A 34 ford coupe, running a dropped speedway styled tube axle, with late GM discs and original Pete and Jake 4 bars on modern wheel will hurt your eyes just by looking at it.

Everything can be made to look and feel traditional, but the car in question needs some work but ain't bad.



I wouldn't give a damn if this car was made with a FG body, because it is flat out bitching!

And yes Fiberglass make me itch too, itch to build m, drive and have fun

 

Are Corvettes traditional?

 

there are literally dozens of cars that were built in the fifties with 4 bars, some of them Hot Rod cover cars...

 

So...a traditional car must be gas or stick welded because Mig and Tig weren't available to a home builder in the 40's- 50's....

 

And here in lies the problem with trying to build a car to meet some standards or style or life style. Is it or isn't it? Just be a hot rodder. Build what you want. Build what you can afford. But build it yourself. Thats the important part.Have fun and pass on the hobby to the next generation.

 

I've got mine on the classifieds here right now and am getting pretty good response. It's glass Is it traditional, not in a million years, is it traditional looking............. maybe , but it sure is fun..

 

It's fiberglass, has 4 bars and discs and a heater. No radio, no A/C and I drive the snot out of it. Maybe the louvers are traditional.

 

Sure why couldn't you? I was totally fooled by a glass deuce roadster a few years back until I closed the door. A full interior helps a tone, then where ever you have the backside of the glass exposed (think under hood here) you take a mix of fiberglass resin and bondo to smooth it and paint it.

I still want to me a metal man with the skills and a big heart and build myself a steel corvette. Or find myself a race weight glass body and a good chassis and build myself a real hot rod.