Have we gone soft?

after I finished make believing that I was a 1950 hotrodder.

[/QUOTE]

God love ya, Tommy... You hit the nail on the head. Esp. as it applies to this site. "In the day" (where did that stupid phrase come from anyway?) these cars were EVERYWHERE, and could be had for pennies. Perfect rodder-fodder... Now, there are few available, and everyone knows what they are worth. If you don't want a repop (or they don't make one), you've gotta start with something...so the choices are: Rusty wreck, "barn find" survivor, or museum piece. It's that simple...

Ever notice how most (not all) of the guys with the restored originals are getting WAY up there in years? What happens in the next 10-15 years when a good number more of these nice stockers may become available will be the true answer to Mitchell's question...

 

I think that is a different story. It's one thing to cut up a stocker but another to alter someone elses artwork. People put a lot of time and love into their hot rods and customs I think it is wrong to fuck up someone elses creation.

 

I don't think you can have it both ways. They're both just metal, right?
Time to go cut and weld on an old car.
Larry T

 

At the rate our tin is leaving the country why worry about cutting one up.I was at a shipping place in L.A. earlier this year and at least 350 cars of every description imaginable were gettin shipped to Australia.That was only one shipper.So our tin should be getting more valuable as it gets scarce.Yes,i know some one will ask what i was doing at an over seas yard.Sent a 41 convertible to Australia not realising how many cars were there,and that it was only one company that only ships to Australia.It seems foreners are the ones stepping up and spending money on cars.So America does export goods,our cars!

 

Your talking about our forefathers cutting up original,unmolested cars in the past. That isn't the same as cutting up original cars that made it to present time. I think it takes more talent to take a rusty car and make something custom. I mean if you found a nice unmolested rust free car,and want to cut it up I sure hope you do it right,and finish it!!!!

 

Looks to me like Barris didn't cross the point of no return on that coupe. Looks to me like it can be saved someday.

My opinion on all this? I see both sides here, and both sides happen to be correct. Rule is, if it's mine it's MINE and I'll decide what happens to it.
My '29 sedan will remain UNchopped for two reasons. I'm tall (6'2") and have size 15 boots, and having an unchopped one makes ya stand out in the crowd anymore.

I have no issues modifying or cutting rare stuff. I do have issues being told what to do with my stuff.

 

I'm a "gold chainer" I guess, because I'm over 50, I've got a bunch of cars, and they're (mostly) finished, and I happen to have a trailer (used to store the roadster in 'cause I'm out of garage space). That term chaps my ass, just like hearing guys bitch about Chevy engines. It's used by guys who think it's popular and cool to disrespect others who (they think) are different.

People who use "gold chainer" as a term of derision are closed minded, self aggrandizing and insecure. They're trying to justify their own misguided beliefs, and to be "tough", and somehow more legitimate on the internet. My own feeling is that if you have to call people names or disrespect somebody in this way that it does the opposite.

Normally I'd insert a term of derision of my own at this point, but I'm rising above the norm...

Brian

 

Theres a smart answer and theres a stupid answer. Can you guess which is which?

 

Well said Brian
VVV

 

amen

 

flynbrian= You even talk like a Gold chainer. And I do mean to disrespect you. I'm not suprised you have chevy engines thy fit you. And what does being over 50 have to do with it.

 

Although I am no fan of Furberger, he is about as far removed from "Gold Chainer" (a stupid term conjured up by jealous folks who have no clue about half the people they apply it to) as you could ever see.
I also think that Editorial is typical of David as he has lost any touch with reality and what HOT ROD magazine was and should be about. He is so beyond the junk yard dog mentality it has just become annoying. Too much crap in the book that is just pure garbage - witness "Vette Hack" (a rehash of the Cadillac cut up from years ago) , The "Epic Buick Trip" where he wastes 6 pages of the magazine on getting some forgotten Buick that no one cares about to barley run enough to drive from AZ to LA - No One Cares! 4 pages wasted on some stupid gargantuan truck with a 24 cylinder joke of a motor that looks like it belongs at the tractor pulls. That's 10 pages in the latest issue that could have been used for something constructive - like a decent build or Real Tech. And if I read one more "Tech Article" about a junk yard motor with EBAY turbos that are never packaged in away you could run the set up in a real car or how none of his own junk ever gets finished (or if it does it gets thrown together at the last minute and has problems) I think I'm gonna puke.
I just think that he has taken HOT ROD down a dangerous path and it has become irrelevant

 

Bully for you bro. I like your mindset there. To add to that, the disrespect intended is also one of contemp and jealousy of those who "can" by any means. Hey, I don't like the newer crop of hotrods, those with mainly 1-800 parts, but as we speak I'm serving one up for a guy who wants just that. Would that make me "soft" or one who recognizes good buisness? I shoulda took the badass approach and told him to get lost, right? News flash...all of my clients are "chainers" of one kind or another. All of my clients excell in ways I can't or don't have any interest in trying. This same projection of those few who use that term in negative ways re the same ones who dis the fine car and proclaim how "I built my car to drive..." Well then, you drive shit.

Now if I decide that I like a lesser car and appreciate what the guy's doing, does that make me a hypocrite? I don't think so because in those cases it's as much the owner we see in the car as the car itself. I hope it makes sense being put that way. I hope I don't seem, uh, soft?

 

I dumped Hot Rod in the 60's when thy started talking about new cars.
I have disliked Gold Chainers since the 50's. We would have a car show and all but one of the cars were home built. One was pro built for the owner of a parts store and given to his kid, who didn't even know what the engine was. I have the Chainers talking now

 

What makes you better than a goldchainer? Just curious? Some people are goldchainers,and don't have a choice (doctors,ceo's,etc.) some of these guys work around the clock saving lives or making our world a better place. Does that mean if they work hard for their car and not on it they are any less? There is a percentage of goldchainers that are lazy with a big pocket,but you have to remember there are some that love cars as passionatly as you state you do,but don't have the time to do so!!!