Dumb question,with no meaning whatsoever

We were talking last night and I made the statement that I thought there were more Hot Rods both being built and being driven in the world now than at any other time. I was quickly told that the mid to late 60's was a tremendous time for Hot Rods. The availability was greater and the following was stronger.
What do you think??

 

I think you talk too much!!...LOL..............OLDBEET

 

I can only speak for my area of the world.
In the 60's, I only seen musclecars on the streets.
An occasional mild custom may have been around and anything that was 1940 and older was stock looking.
No chops...no channels and maybe a slightly altered stance that was high in the rear.
I can only remember one or two pre 40 cars on the street that LOOKed like a hotrod.
And yes..you do talk too much..

 

i was born in the 80s so i guess ive got a sense less answer to your sensless question

 

If you can remember the 60s, you wern't there!! Ask Chili Phil.....OLDBEET

 

??? Wow, I think the late 60's was the LOWEST period of hot rods. The only time I remember seeing any was gassers on the strip, maybe one or two diehards still with hot rods that rarely brought them out. The cars were abundunt, yes, but no one other then restorers were interested. It was all musclecars and the tri five Chevys. Hot rods didn't come back till the death of the musclecars in the early 70's, and even then they came back mostly as "street rods" with the "resto" look being the most popular.

 

I have to agree with that....

Muscle cars, Vettes and dune buggies were "the thing" in the '60s. Not that there weren't some rods being built, but not in the numbers that came later.
Most of what we love today was being trashed on the dirt ovals in the '60s...

Right now, might just be the "big time"....


JOE

 

The 60s, muscle cars, muscle cars and muscle cars. Don't think rodding was dead, it wasn't, just dormant until the shine of the factory hotrods wore off. Then came a spark in the night, Rod & Custom magazine, with Tex Smith leading the charge, proposed a National Rod Run. The idea took fire and the event came off in a Peoria corn field, over 600 rods from across the country appeared in one place. Although the Petersen organization opted to back off from further sponsorship, a group of entrepreneurs saw a future there and so was born the National Street Rod Association. This group gave the "movement" the push it needed to come back to hotrods and old cars in general and by 1973 the NSRA Nationals was hosting several thousand cars, by 1990, over 13,000 cars. And along came Goodguys and the resurgence of club-sponsored rod runs which grew to thousands as well.
Not the 60s but the 70s was the big growth and expansion time for this hobby.

 

1. What's your definition of hot rods; Cars made before 1948? Or do you include everything ('50's, 60's, '70's, 80's, '90's and '00's)? What about imports?

2. Once you've defined a hot rod, what's your metric? How would you quantify the number of hot rods in order to justify your opinion?

 

I believe a smaller percentage of people today are rodders.

But because of population growth, smaller percentage still means there's a greater number of rodders than ever. Especially with boomers entering their leisure years. In 15-25 years when the boomers drop back out due to age, there may be a period of decline.

Greater availability back then? Of bare starter cars, yes. But parts options and suppliers, today wins hands down.

 

Just don't say that they're more popular than Jesus!

 

Yeah ,I'd think there are more now,,but then how do you count then and now?

 

There are far more hotrods being built right now than at any other time ever.---Why???----Because all of us old farts that wanted to be hotrodders in the sixties and seventies, and couldn't afford to be, now have our houses paid for, our kids moved out, and our pension plans paid up, and have disposable income to indulge our hotrod fantasies.---And all the television shows about hotrodding have captured an entire cross section of the "flavour of the month" younger guys, who see that an entire hotrod can be built in six half hour TV segments without getting your hands dirty, so are now trying to build a hotrod. (next year they will all be racing snakes, or whatever the current TV fad will be.)

 

street/hotrods were at their lowest point in the sixty,s for all the above mentioned reasons.

 

Brianangus is right. It's mindblowing the number of hot rods there are out there today. In my hometown, population about 6,000, I can think of at least 5 being driven now and a couple more being built. I was in high school graduated '66 I was the only person I knew building old stuff.

 

in the 1950's it took a lot longer to build a rod back then...only so much money each week, and you had to make everything you needed..not many "ready to buy brackets, etc"..many cars never left the garage. if you were in the hot rod "in crowd". you saw many cars...but with getting married, kids, moving, etc..many were sold unfinished. in the 60's when you could buy a ready to roll muscle car, the farm area i am from had many hi-po factory cars. the farmers kids would buy one , wreck it, and buy another...dam the junk hi-po parts business was good back then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cadillac dave

 

I was born in the early 70's and feel like I'm in the wrong era for sure.