-I know there is not a committee or a jury or a judge to tell on the 'era correct' deal. But what is the way to say a car is the correct definition of participate to the 'era correct' now 2023 as we think. In my case I build a 32 5W coupe in a style I thought look old or traditional and that look appeal me. As a dragracer the early years before NHRA talk to me, so it feels more street race and less dirt or salt to me. When I say ’old’ I’mean late 40’s or early 50’s ( or at least what I think, as I'm new into this ) I guess style has come and gone, but one feels old ideas/style survived even today in cars that never was build to be era correct. So what was the typical trends we accept today if we call them ’era correct’ say one years before and after 1950, and what is the rule of Yes or No on parts as both other Henry parts mixed in and 'maybe' speed parts. In a recent thread several said to me that in that era absolutely no one used the speed parts to their ’street’ car driven hot rod. Another question is, are there several category, as street or race, but in this case I ask more for street/race even my guess several had them mixed from street to race on weekends. Then, what new parts is acceptable to be used and are new pistons or other repro part and still be at the 'era correct'. I always thought finned heads or more carbs or Stewart Warner gauges or a Bell steering wheel was used. -So what is a correct 5W to be look at and parts and trix allowed. See this as a history question.
Others are much more knowledgeable than me on this subject, but my sense of era correct is what was extant in the USA prior to 1965. For example, elsewhere in the world " foreign" engines and 4-door cars were prevalent. A '62 4-door BMW or Volvo with a Mercedes engine will probably not be deemed era correct, at least for this site.
Frenchtown, I might add in USA and westcoast and old Fords from the 30’s builded in the ca 1950 as we can call ’era correct’ now. alchemy, The pictures I seen is most track pictures on hiboy roadsters but few go into details on trix/works and parts used. I saw a movie on MacGee roadster and it was huge issue in Ca or LA on street race sceene causing it to be NHRA. Pictures cant talk on it all aswell.
Show us the picture you are talking about, and I bet we could describe every part shown in less than half an hour. If you can’t prove a hidden part was used, it safer to assume it wasn’t.
I has not a single picture specific in mind and thread was not into that, as more detail idea of a build up in work, trix, style, body, engine/trans/rearend/frontend frame cross and interiour what is now seen as a correct era set-up under ca 1950.
It all depends on the month, day, year, and possibly the hour how correct it would be…. Then you need to consider which side of the town and state….The most important thing are it will have no “stance or patina” ……. That’s all new BS….
Here's one example/interpretation of a late 40's early 50's era build.....Bobby Green's TROG racer. TROG's requirements are pre '35 bodies and pre '53 parts only. Bobby Green 1932 FORD 5-WINDOW COUPE Paint: Black Rustoleum brushed on DONK Type: 239ci Flathead Ford Inlet: Edelbrock Slingshot Carb: Twin Stromberg 97 Heads: Edelbrock ‘block letter’ Valves: In the block Cam: Clay Smith 2842 SHIFT Box: ’39 Ford, Zephyr gears Diff: Halibrand quickchange BENEATH Front end: Stock, reversed eyes Shocks: Stock (f), tube (r) Brakes: ’39 Lincoln (f), ’40 Ford (r) ROLLING STOCK Rims: ’40 Ford 16×4 (f), Milk truck 18×4 r) Rubber: Firestone (f&r)
This stuff will drive you insane if you get too anal about exact era correct builds. And no matter what you do, someone may still point out one little thing they think is not era correct.
...This Hotrod was a 2010 build. The Period I mention when I explain it to people who care to know is 1963ish...Why...the 327,...This is actually the only item visible that brings it to 63 as 327 came out in 62...the rest could easily fit the coupe period below... WWW's have been said to be skinnier by 63 but I believe the ones on my ride could have been carryover from the 50s... The longer story of the Coupe is an Aviation Mechanic came back after WWll and bought an old Car and made a Hotrod...it would have likely been Flathead V8 powered in 46/7/8...It could have been a Highboy as well or fendered at that time. the aluminum work, dash, seat, suspension, could be also 46/7/8... In 63 the addition of a 57 chev rear end, the 327, the X1 with 94's are all early 60 kind of things... ...This Coupe is a Hambers Dads...Pic is around 1959/60
OK I have seen many of your threads and none of them are a build thread. Are you ever going to build a car or just wring your hands over being 'era correct' forever and ever? My advice is just build what appeals to your eyes (which is likely how this hobby actually came about), stop getting hung up on all of this nitpicky stuff, this place is not a Renaissance Faire. Sorry if this came off as rude, but just build it dude.
That is not what was stated, as plenty of street cars used aftermarket speed parts of the day. Multi-carb intakes, high compression heads, dual coil ignitions, exhaust headers, SW gauges, dropped axles, and unlimited chrome dress up parts were commonly used on street driven "hot rods" of the lates 40's and early 50's. What was being said, is that high end race car parts such as Ardun heads, Scott superchargers, and 18" Halibrand magnesium wheels were not typically found on a street driven car in that time period. Those were found on a few dedicated race cars. That is not to say you can't build a traditionally inspired car using components of the era. There are plenty of current builds that use period parts, but may not necessarily be "period perfect". The current trend of 18" wheels is an example. They were used on salt flat and dry lakes race cars, but not street cars in the 50's. Just like using the afore mentioned speed parts such as Ardun heads and superchargers on a street car. Not "period perfect" for a street car, but for sure period parts if you are building a race inspired street car. I think we are getting hung up on semantics. Here is a prime example of an "Era Correct" 1950 street car From: https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Joe_Nitti's_1932_Ford "1932 Ford Roadster owned by Gophers and East Los Angeles Vultures member Joe Nitti. The car featured a chromed dropped front axle up front and in the rear the spring had reversed eyes. Rear shocks, hydraulic brakes and spindles are from a 1941 Ford. The car was powered by a 1946 Mercury engine connected to a 1941 Lincoln Zephyr transmission. The engine was over-bored 3/8 inch giving a displacement of 299 cubic inches and hopped up with heads, dual manifold and ignition from Evans, headers from Sonny's Muffler Shop, J. E. Pistons and a Weber camshaft. For lake meets, Joe used an Evans three-carburetor manifold on the roadster. Bodywork on the car included filled door hinges from a 1940 Dodge, a peaked and filled grille shell with a custom front spreader bar built by Hank Negley, a shaved deck lid, 1939 Ford teardrop taillights and a custom license plate light made from a cut-down 1940's era stock Ford unit. The frame was boxed and filled and featured rounded front frame horns. The exterior of the car was finished in lush deep organic purple. The roadster was painted by Gil Ayala of Gil's Auto Body Works. Gil did also mix the lacquer.[3] Nitti won a number of awards with the car. The most important was California's Most Beautiful Roadster at the 1950 Motorama." And what I would call a period or era styled current build. While most or all parts are from the early 1950's era, they are assembled in a "modern" interpretation of 50's hot rods that started in the late 1960's and 70's. 1932 Ford Roadster built by Custom Auto of Loveland, California for Jorge Zaragoza. The car, known as "Big SCOT", features an original frame and body with an Ardun overhead flathead and a 5000cc "Big" Scot supercharger. 16" magnesium Halibrands wheels and an early Halibrand Quick Change rearend. Both are beautiful cars, but different interpretations of period builds. If you want to build something along the lines of the second example, I know I'd love to see a build thread here on the HAMB. Just accept that is is "period inspired" and not "period perfect". The bottom line is that distinction should be made between purely "era correct" parts and a total "era correct" build. And then there is the grey area that most of us fall into with our builds. Neal
These have a bunch of actuals (and a few moderns). https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1940s-period-correct-hot-rods.422177/ https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1950s-period-correct-hot-rods.430894/
Tradition is peer pressure from dead people. I allow tradition to influence what I build but I am not controlled by it. I create my own cars not copies of other peoples stuff. I think that is why I like building them more than driving them often. Building them in your own fashion is empowering. And traditional.
Therefore Hokey Ass is the Forum...Mine has details that are not era correct so I don't pass it off as Traditional even though it is visually passable. If I do any Thread on My current ride it will also be in the Hokey Ass... True Traditional Vehicles are pretty difficult to pull off and can be more costly than the alternative...I sure do like them though...
Bracket the "era" you want to fit into, say, '45-'58 for this example. If any part you are considering using did not exist until after 1958, don't use it. That will limit your choices of what you can use and still be "era correct", based upon whichever year range/"era" you chose to fit into. Reproduction parts are a grey area IMHO, but, again, you decide what's right for you. I doubt anyone but the hardest of the hardcore would knock someone for not using pre-'58 rubber tires on a street driven '32, as safety and common sense should always be factors in one's decision making, but for a non-street driven or display vehicle, you could truly keep almost everything era-correct and truly vintage, consumables like oil and fuel excepted. In the end, you, and only you, decide what limits you put on your build. Nobody else could nor should, IMHO, define what you yourself chose to do, and if the end result happens to fall within or outside of someone's definition, so be it.
Thanks for all inputs so far. All information is good. Don’t judge me to hard please, I’m 18 month into hot rods.
The point was that some questions do not have a single (or correct) answer, and everyone you ask will tell you something different. It seems like you have gathered a pretty solid parts pile, and it's time to start building. The actual build will bring a whole new set of questions.
I appreciate tradition (or I wouldn't be here), and I like to think I let it inspire my builds, but I don't let tradition dictate exactly what I do. I take cues from the cars that I liked as a kid looking at magazines, and I use what I like. I don't worry too much about what someone else says a car should, or shouldn't be.
I'm 12 months into this. Should have started younger. So far, I have a bunch of parts. $ and what info I can find on the internet are what will determine the result. I'm most interested in putting a car together with old parts. My newest components are the brake parts, '39. It's fun to pick a date, and limit yourself to that. Although there are cool examples in period mags, most cars would have been built with a little less eye and a lot more luck. I think you can build something that would fit "traditional" without so much worry. I'm going to assemble my car, drive it, and make improvements as $ and need allow. That's pretty "traditional" in itself.
In this day and age we live in, I find some of this criticism on what is not EXACTLY period correct on a hot rod build to be ridiculous. Do your best on your traditional hot rod build, drive it and enjoy. If you like it , that is a win!
Too much copycat trendy things now days,being done,as if they were done back in the day= But were not done then.= miss taken ideas,an miss read old photo. Much of the time,the engine year* is a key factor. Like a factory built OHV V8 out of a car 1948 an up{ what ever year the engine=the max oldest the rod can be like. Same for V8 Flathead designs built after WW2. Often engines were not used in rods,tell a few years after the V8 design, do to when we could get them{ Most hot rodders didn't have big $ to buy new. Had to find crashed cars or junkers. Same goes for most other parts that show* need to be, all most as old as engine,with in your target,look a like year, Exceptions maybe out of site stuff; Better battery then made then,better rad,things for safety/seat belts. Rear tires should be ,what ever had the most rear bite an commonly available at target time* to match engine,;;not a much earlier small tread tire< Hot rodders were not stupid enough too use a much older style skinny tread tire with no bite. Big prewar headlights ,we put in the trash can,from WW2 well into the early 70s,,as they didn't work even 1/2 as good as 7inch sealbeans=Don't use those big old lights. Take some time to learn why all the rods had 7inch sealbeams. Just as a extra note,flat was not a finish,it was a prep for shiny,nearly all rods had pic taken in work,before the shiny too,then shiny pic. If your not building a dragstrip car,don't add a Moon tank=To those that know;>It looks like a fool on the street,who has liitle to no idea what the real use of the tank is for. Idea being,if you don't know,take the time to learn. Do not copycat something you saw{ with out knowing why n when} fall in love with/so added it. Try to stay off the gold chain train gang.
NealCA, others, Thanks. Its seams worry several here ask certain questions, so I take your adwice and get back, maybe. Sorry take up your guys time.
This could be hashed around until the end of time and you still would be confused. First, if you haven't already done so, stock up on rod magazines from the exact time frame you are looking at doing. Then you are only interested in the feature cars and the cars referred to as fresh builds at that time. You are also interested in what you see in the advertisements in those magazines as that is the best way to tell what were period correct aftermarket parts. Rods that didn't use aftermarket parts ??? Those guys may be thinking more on the line of circle track cars as hot rods from that time frame. Most classes didn't allow aftermarket intakes or heads in the classes a lot of the jalopies ran in. A lot of that was to keep the cost down and the competition more even and dependent on driving and tuning skills more than dollars spent. As for speed parts then, a lot of areas didn't have local speed parts sources that had a lot of parts on hand. Most of the time you sent in your order in the mail from an add in the back of a magazine along with a post office money order and waited for the parts to show up. Or you drove to the big city in the area to go to the shop that had speed parts in stock. That was usually a parts house that had a speed section off to one side. It's probably harder to get the trinkets on the outside right incuding headlights, tail lights and other pieces. The hot lick at certain times may not be what a lot of guys see as the hot lick traditonal lights or mirrors or other items now. I don't remember many real hot rods having the big stock headlights back when I was young. Most had 7 inch seal beams in aftermarket buckets often as not the King Bee buckets. Taillights are another issue, You can't put 50 Pontiac Tailights on a build that is supposed to represent 1946 when a GI who just got home from the war built a hot rod like what he saw in Southern California. Patina was only used when talking about your granddad's old saddle that he had saddle soaped and spent hours rubbing a special leather care compound into it on a regular basis and it had that soft worn shine that showed use but also showed the care he put into it. You didn't even show up at the jalopy races at the local dirt track with what guys call patina today, you sanded it down and painted it with a brush if you didn't have someone who could shoot a coat of paint on it and a buddy who could do a reasonable lettering job. Even old dead paint was polished until you got a shine out of it and then waxed so it looked half way presentable for a week. The only cars you see in the old magazines that didn't have presentable paint were dry lakes racers as they had all their money tied up in the engine most of the time and going fast was way more important than looks unless it was their street car.
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