I've seen a lot of talk about how building cheaply, out of found stuff is true hot rodding. I disagree. Hot rods have always been an expensive hobby. Cheap is just that, cheap. Nothing cheap about the Spenser roadster. Nor the Frank Mack '27. The Hirohata Merc was a nearly new car when the Barris brothers built it. The three cars I mention above are the epitome of traditional rods and customs. Built for and by guys with the money to do it. So, maybe the Goldchainers are the real traditional guys? I guess I need to say that Tom Joad and his family didn't drive to California in a hot rod. And rat rods weren't invented yet. So, the traditional hot rod was a finished car or one in the process of getting there.
I have to agree! From what I've read and heard, every guy wanted a finished car way back when. Not a half assed pile. My '27 will have paint after it's on the road and I get the bugs worked out. Norton
you site some great examples of some famous rods. Do they truly represent the masses? I doubt it. Maybe this is a time for determination and definition of a jalopy versus a hotrod versus a custom. Were the jalopies of old the rat rods of today? As my youthful memories recall, the best rods were the ones built by the man that drove it. Many of them weren't finished and were continuous works in progress. I can't ever remember a rod or custom that was built by a shop. Of course, the circles I travelled in were not in a position to do so. We were and are rusty chainers.
my car is gonna end up costing me some money to finish it to the level it deserves,,theres no two ways about it,,,in doing most of the work myself, i will save a ton of money,,,things like chrome, interior, etc, i will basically have no choice than to spend the $$,,,im definitely not made of money, so i will do it as i am able to afford it,,many times i sell parts along the way to finance my projects,,,if you want something bad enough,,,you will make it happen,,,you just have to be passionate about it,,,,there is no excuse for something to be done half-assed in the name of saving money...take your time and do it in stages if necessary,,,my opinion...
I disagree that Rat rods were not invented yet. I would guess that at least half of the "hot rods" that were running around in the late 50's and early 60's were what we today would call a "rat rod".
Kustom7777, you are a craftsman. So, your time is worth money. Cars have to have bucks invested to get to the level of the traditional little pages featured cars. You get it. Some day your name will be mentioned with Winfield and Titus. I guess I should mentioned sweat equity in my first screed...
Yes customs may have been a rich mans game. There's lots of hot rods that may have been built on the cheap back in the day. I don't know....I wasn't there. What about the The T roadster just recently found. The Multi (?) car. Never was flashy. Did the spencer car have the fancy German wool carpet it has now? I doubt it was built to the level that it was "restored" to. Or was the car built by a guy with a lot of talent and a good eye. Is Frank Mack still around? Can we ask him if his car was expensive to build back in the day? I do beleive a lot of hot rodding was done on the cheap back then. Sure some of the speed equipment may have been pricey but the cars and parts were readily available. Only the guys that were truely there know for sure. Clark
my dads first car would have been a rat rod now it was a T,,that him and his buddy bought,,and took to the blacksmith and had the rotten roof cut off
James427, rat rods didn't exist in the '50s & '60s. The cops would shut that sort of stuff down then. I didn't drive a crap pile and I still had a glove box full of tickets. I do believe that folks would have had ratz, but certianly not in So cal in that era.
Lets hear what price you would put on this... 31 Ford Coupe,no fenders all windows Duece grill Flatty with three dueces 3 speed tranny banjo rear shiney paint modest chrome decent interior 40 Ford brakes WWW's Steelies Now,what price would you say it would cost to build this? 20k? 30k? 40k? or more....
You know, it's funny.... My Grandmother informs me that back in the early 50's, a "jalopy" was a 20-30 year old car with the fenders hacked off, rust spots, hood held down with bailing wire, interior shot, and being driven by a young "hoodlum"..... Sort of what we call a rat-rod today... And yet here we are on the jalopy journal trying to talk smack about the rat-rodders for not keeping it "traditional"
Probably 12 to 15K, Bob. If you are a smart shopper and did the home garage stuff your self. If you could do the chassis fab stuff, less on the labor part. But a Deuce with the same specs would easily go to 45K. A-Bones have always been the entry level hot rod.
Hirohata Merc....Shop car! Alacart....Shop car! Sam Barris Merc....Shop car!(even though he worked at the shop) But there were many cars running around that were built by their owners!
here's what i've found: cars are always expensive for everyone. it's all in your own personal definition of expensive though. what's expensive for me, may not be for you-- or vice versa. either way we spend it. people spend what they can. obviously results vary.... -scott noteboom
15-20 k 5-10 years to build. I do all the work 20-30 k 3-5 years to build. I do all the work. key parts bought at fair market value. 30-40 k less then 1 year. buy a finished car. .
Average wage in 1952: $2,973.32... Cost of a nice '32 Roadster body: $200 verage wage in 2006: 38,651.41... Cost of a 32 Roadster body: not $2599 which would be the equivalent
Man this shit gets hashed a lot. I agree with Chili in the first post. i don't agree with those that say there were rats all along because to me a rat isn't something built cheaply, It's something built out of crap, with crappy parts, and crappy fab and welds done mainly for shock value - that was NOT a jalopy or a Hot Rod built by a guy who didn't have a bunch of bucks, he was just doing the best he could with what he had, but always tried for something better.
#1 You can't build that car for 15k! Just adding up all the parts and NOT counting the labor cost. I don't think so. #2 If that same car was a Duece,even a 5w,it would be WAY more than 45K....easy!
I don't know anything about the owners of the cars you mentioned, maybe they had bucks, maybe they just worked hard and did what they had to to finance the builds. They were the cars that got magazine features, and inspired kids to build Rods & Customs. Thousands tried, but didn't come close to the same finished product. Most of the good quality builds survived to this day, lesser cars got stored out back, but are being saved today. It is good to see both ends of Hot Rod construction. back yard and pro built.
HA HA! Funny how that fits right in with this! Times change,prices go up,parts get harder to find,it makes sense. 25k sounds about right by todays standards.
Cruising our high school were some great finished cars and some good daily drivers. There was nothing like the so called primered rat rods of today anywhere to be seen. The only place you might see something like a rat rod was at a jalopy derby race. Now this isn't a put down of such cars just an old observation. Most cars had primer spots to show work in progress and that was it. Even at this early time it still took good money to build a car, times have changed but money hasn't. CRUISER
I still disagree. I was young at the time, but I still remember a LOT of rough cars driving around that were basically death traps but they were still cool because they were old cars and hot rods. Here are just a few pics from surfing the internet and a 32 5W I myself bought a few years ago. The 32 was in the garage for 30 years untouched. Built in the early 60's it still wore its grey primer, mexican blanket seat cover over the worn original mohair, cheap pressed "rolled and pleated" fabric tacked over the wood with brass upholstery tacks, cobbled together steering, brakes and suspension, small block chevy with very questionable welded on motor moutns and trans mounts, red painted wheels with cheater slicks and a sun tach bolted to the column. If I drove up anywhere with this car "as-is" everyone would call it a rat rod.
I spent my teens in east Pasadena between Arcadia and San Marino. so we had a good cross section from Poor (me) to very rich. some of the nicest Rods and customs. lot of great back yard engineers that built some of the fastest and best looking cars of the era. and some were very expensive (4-5000 bucks) but hottest (quickest) were seldom nice to look at and usually built in the back yard or alley. things were changing in the 60's and by the 70's every town had pro builders. not that anythings wrong with that.
I don't think it was about as cheap as you could get, but what fit into your budget. I think we all have paid more than we should have for a part at some time or another, or bought a car when it wasn't finacially the best time to do it. I'm in my early 40's and we had rat rods when I was in my teens, but they were things we built that were not allowed to leave the field. Kinda my families version of trial and error where we couldn't go fast enuf to get hurt. We tore up 2 NICE Hudson Hornets in that field, what a shame.
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