Controversial or no-brainer?? The Current State of Traditional Hot Rodding

The following is a verbatim Op-Ed piece penned by Brandon Flannery in Issue 11 of Traditional Rod & Kulture magazine. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s well worth taking the time to read. I think it eloquently summarizes the current state of the traditional hot rod movement in this country. Is he right on, or way off the mark? My opinion: it simply boils down to “Good-taste vs. Bad-taste”, “Common-sense vs. No-sense”. And perhaps, in some cases, “Security vs. a Desperate Craving for Attention and Acceptance”. Which direction should we embrace? Or, should we just follow Yogi Berra’s advice when he said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it”?

DRIVEN
By Brandon Flannery
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Please allow me to purge my soul a bit. We seem to have a fork in the road. A fork in which today’s hot rodder or builder can either pay righteous homage to cars that have been built long ago, or go off in the “new school” direction that uses cars of long ago as a leaping point. Looking around at shows I see all kinds of machinery. With the current spike in the popularity of traditional hot rods, many new cars and people are entering the ranks. The goal is to build your ideal car or have fun with what you can afford. Some folks do their research, or they just plain “get it”, and they build cars in a very traditional manner. They use the “right” parts and follow unspoken guidelines, and with dedication, they strive to build cars that are “period correct”. Those cars are the focus of this magazine. That’s what winds us up.
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But the line is getting blurry. I see a lot of what I call 80% cars. Either they have all the right stuff and a bitchin’ stance and they wreck it with a shoddily decked-out small block with a single carb on a tunnel ram with a giant scoop, or they disrupt the nimble lines of a classic ‘40’s or ‘50’s style open-wheeled car with fatass radial white walls and red rally wheels. Perhaps they have every vintage item under the sun on a four bar or IFS frame. Game over.
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Also, all tilt columns should be thrown out. Period. No self-respecting ’49 Merc should have an obtrusive steering column from a fluffy Cadillac disturbing the flow of an otherwise bitchin’ interior. Don’t even get me started on improper side mirrors for customs…that’s an article in itself.
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Another thorn in the side of traditional hot rodding is the wave of “ratical” rods”. Many mini-trucker crossovers believe that that all “cool cars” should “lay frame” or shock people like a freak show and then they try calling it a traditional hot rod. Poppycock…that’s a rat rod. An open-wheeled vehicle should not “lay rocker”. They look broken, and they look silly. They are impractical, and a look through any old book or magazine will show that no cars were ever that low unless they were being used as an actual chicken coop. Over-lowered cars are permeating hot rodding like a bad stench. A two-foot high suicide perch that extends to the middle of the grille shell to clear an un-dropped axle is just plain silly. Tires that can be seen through the side windows of a Tudor look like a pile of loose parts instead of a well-built machine. In the “olden days” as my grandfather called them, the cars sat higher up. Great pride went into the perfect stance. Sometimes this had to do with the local laws, but back then roads were rough and seldom paved, and the lake beds were extremely rutted. Even the dragstrips were bumpy. There was no practical need for a car to be that low. Now, I see fenderless hot rods with IFS and air bags. That is not traditional, but that IS gay. The mini-trucker soul sucker seepage should stop. Yes, you can do what you like, but that doesn’t mean that I have to pat you on the back for it.
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Another thing that is just wrong is the lack of concern for safety and quality craftsmanship. If you don’t know what you are doing, simply ask somebody that does…especially regarding welding. You should have front brakes. Running without them is not good for you or anyone else. You should have correct geometry in your suspension and driveline. You should not run open headers unless you have installed a lumpy cam. Back in the day a cam swap, at the very least, was routine. These days I see plenty of “rat rods” with mean-looking exhausts, and they can barely run. A stock, worn out 305 smog motor with straight-pipe exhausts does not a hot rod make. Hot rods are meant to be hot…as in hopped up.
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Speaking of hot, if your cooling system does not work properly and you’ve spent two weekends drilling holes into your alternator casing, front axle, or frame rails, or welding a mile of barbed wire into an iron cross grille or spiderweb roof insert, you, sir, have wasted your time. I see plenty of cars with ornate, tweeker-style detailing and tools for car parts, and lawn chairs for seats, and spikes, and teeth, and skulls, and I take four steps back and view the entire car as a whole and it’s wonky as hell. Yes, I said wonky…overall construction, proportion, and stance are way more important than a dash made from license plates or dragging a club plaque.
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Now I don’t want everyone to build a copycat car like the next guy. There is a time-honored formula for building the perfect Deuce or 29/32 highboy, and those are always bitchin’, but the real gems are the cars whose builders did the research, stuck to a build plan, and used the right combination of old parts to build something unique. It takes a Driven soul to nail a traditional hot rod and not stray from the righteous path. It takes commitment not to duff out and order a cheesy part, or add a one-wire alternator instead of a generator, or bolt on a set of muscle car valve covers. Honestly, I’d rather see a set of stock valve covers than a pair of crusty aluminum M/T’s any day. Spend the 5 bucks and buy some paint. Save those M/T’s for your retro Chevelle project. The Beach Boys had a song titled: Be True to Your School, and the hot rod world would be a much better place if more people building traditional hot rods or customs did just that and stuck to the righteous ways of the old school.

 

I think that statement has been made on this board for years-- I call it the 90&#37; rule, but its the same think-- Traditional cars that get way off. I don;t care what style or theme or era your car is, BUT STICK TO IT. (Nothings a bigger miss than a woman in perfect 40's garb, killer curls in her hair, bakelite jewlery, and you look down to find her wearing flip flops on her hairy feet-- Its just not carrying the thing through, right?) Go all the way, or don't go down the 'period correct traditional' route in the first place.

Just my 2&#162;

 

Taste is somewhat personal...since he makes the financial sacrifice to follow his love of old school, then I guess he's earned the right to his opinion. There have always been cars that were elegantly executed. Look at any of Fred Steel's, or the work Simard does. The tacky stuff doesn't last. We learn, styles do change. Even Buttera, has built a series of cars that define a trend.

 

goddamn...I agree with ALMOST all of this...it came so close...
only thing: I'll be damned if I mind new parts, especially since I don't have a complete fabrication facility/machine shop, and now that everyone and their brother ( and his GIANT wallet...) are all fighting over the same obsolete parts......I love traditional styling...
but...I don't avoid anything specifically because its a recently manufactured part....that, to me, is kinda silly.
oh, yeah...and I LOVE my alternator...

but, I am not trying to convince myself that its 1950...
after all, where does it end? no seatbelts? not "trad"? no hardened valve seats? original air in the tires...geeezzz...I'm trying to have FUN here...I don't sweat the little diversions...the LITTLE ones!

 

I just like cars.

 

I gotta go get my popcorn.

 

Johnny Deuce. And you are?

As far as the editorial well I guess I am as Louis Black would say truly fucked then. I have a tilt wheel for shame for shame.

I guess I will have to put all of my shit up for sale. I am not traditional nor I guess Kool and I never had any culture with a K or otherwise.

No wait I could just do what the hell I want, they way I want to in a safe manner and do the Johnny Cash.

 

This is where Gray Baskerville is most missed as he just wrote "bitchin" stories about "bitchin" cars and NEVER hopped on a soap box and wrote editorials.

 

One of my pet peeves is cars that do not stick to a certain style. If you want you monochrome pastel with tweed interior late 80's
ride thats ok with me. Not my taste but at least it sticks to the style. I hate to see the tradional rod or custom with the huge GM tilt column &/or tweed interior. Pick a style & stick with it!

 

Wasn't there a song called "Band Wagon jumpers" ?

 

Here we go

 

I like Hot Rods

 

my 50 is chopped by Bill Hines..thats about as traditional as you can get in my opinion...im building it to look like it was from the mid 50's on the out side. under it and on the inside is a mix of both i have modern guages and a chrome ididit it column and a/c for suspension i have mustang two with disc brakes fatman drop spindles and a nova rear end with 4 inch blocks.
the reason it has this stuff is for drive /depend -ability. so by doin this i guess my cars not tradional anymore?
someone once said........
...If you dont like how im doin it then FUCK YOU.

 

Sweet, another opinion on what's "old school"...

 

I don't read them, but maybe someone knows is the editorials in Vouge or GQ focus their editorials on why out of shape people with poor fashion sense suck.
I wrote a few editorials in the past, but NEVER knocked another persons style or building abilities. When someone puts those words to paper I always like to see what automotive masterpieces they have created, and if they match the written words or NOT.
Again Gray never talked down another's style, but led by example by showing great cars to admire and really walking the walk driving his roadster both daily and across country.

 

great some moron jumps in here to preach what he read in a magazine....

so back to what his board is really about.....Hey johnny doush what are you working on? what motor ya got?

 

That was a long, boring read...

And it doesn't say anything that hasn't been debated over and over again, on the HAMB.