When I started rodding unless you had a pre 49 it was not a traditional car with time that changed we allowed kustoms then vans ect. Most hotrod parts where bolt on from other cars or sand cast heads manifolds ect a few parts where turned in a lathe but the use of mills almost never happened . Hotrodders where inovative and where always looking for ways to go better, faster, or look better. What is the New Tradition. Is it the use of new technology would that include CNC technology for making patterns and milling out of billet. Is it the use of thousand of off the shelf 'Hotrod' parts that are avaliable now. Is it the buying of factory built cars with new bodies and off the shelf parts many of which may resemble but are not the same as pre 49 parts. New electronic ignitions ABS brakes, independent suspension, low profile or radial tyres even mag wheels as in m*** produced aluminium wheels. Please share your thoughts on this where are we going or should we stand still? Or is there a New Tradition
The HAMB pretty much stands still, "traditional" here is as it was 65ish and earlier. Now there is some room to deviate, but that's the gist of it.
I think its a little of both. While the traditional concept is what this site is based on, and I appreciate, the lines are getting blurred. There is still room for old style creative genius, (just ask those of us on a budget). I've always liked the "old" cars with their style and grace. Many facets of those cars are better than the econojunk being pushed out today. At the same time, if some of the newer stuff like disc brakes can be added without being obvious I don't see why not. If my grandkids are going to be riding in my F1 I want them as safe as possible. Back in the day I believe that what people did was a matter of necessity as there just wasn't an aftermarket like we have today. Do I use the aftermarket? Bet your *** I do. I've done stuff the old way, learned from some great oldtimers and appreciated what I was taught. At the same time, ordering things like a wiring harness recently from Rebel Wire just made my life easier when wiring up my F1. I wired my '56 F100 (see avatar) using multiple spools of colored wire, circuit by circuit, and it was a pain in the ***. I also scrambled, bartered, traded etc to put the 429 & 4 speed in it but did order a couple parts over the phone. ( no internet then). Its just what was available at the time. CNC machines etc are the old Worthington vertical mills of today. I'd bet some of the pioneers of our p***ion would have jumped at the chance of using one. In the end, its up to places like the HAMB to keep the spirit of the "traditional" way alive. With these young guns coming in and learning about "how it was" I think it will be sustained. I hope it stays that way. Eli
The "car person" has one thing in mind which is taking something that rolled off the production line and making it better, faster, and personalized to fit them. Some just change wheels while others go all out but we make it our own. The beauty of the hobby is there are many different molds we all fit in. Those of us on here choose to be into the older style using vintage parts for the most part. Most of us cross the lines from time to time and will mix and match the different cultures of cars. Thats what makes us human and for the most part is accepted on the Hamb. I'm mixed right now because the Hamb styled car culture is growing with the older and younger crowds. If you don't believe this then look on the newsstand and look whats in the magazines that are selling. That helps because it makes more aftermarket parts availble to those of us that can't afford the original parts and it keeps the tradition alive. It ****s because everyone wants certain cars and there are only a few to go around...which takes me back to money. Old iron is getting expensive to buy and to build up. There will remain purist to the traditional cars and parts and there will be some which take it to a new form and technologies. I will find the happy medium in the middle staying as close to traditional as possible but might use new parts which look similar to the original. Traditional rods and customs are getting stronger everyday and the line between them will be accepted as traditonal as long as they stay in at least the sixties and older style.
I think traditional rodding is useing whatever you can to achieve a look performance and safety this is the tradition not some limitation of date or technology. I may add that my cars are of the older variety one my roadster is late twenties early thirties with a overhead converted tee motor and heaps of bolt on tee accessories, the other my tee RP on an A ch***is with b motor is really a 1940s style. hotrod you decide. So what is tradition?
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object p***ed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. "Thank you Wikipedia" lol
Pre-49? When I started it was pre-35. I remember turning down a guy for membership in a club because he had a 36 coupe.
The first step in feeling superior is finding someone to look down on. Hahaha I think it GREAT we can go buy what we want from multiple vendors. ANY part, many in various forms and styles...most of high quality. The more parts for Hot Rodders the better it is for all. It PROVES that our heros got it right! I CHOOSE to use old **** that I haul outta the woods or source from other people, garage sales etc....or hand build the one off parts that I want for my projects. We're extremely lucky that the path I CHOOSE isn't the only path. The thing we seem to forget is we're TRYING to relive an era thru rose colored gl***es...whereas the guys we try to emulate were living it as they themselves formed it around them. THEY were using every bit of technology they could gather to IMPROVE and MODERNIZE their cars...while WE are going out of our way to use old technology and parts to give us some sort of retro feeling for how we THINK it was..."back in the day"! Obviously they RULED...and we're idiots in denial. But...some fun, ain't it????
"Obviously they RULED...and we're idiots in denial." That quote is just fantastic, but this thread probably needs that "Aw,jeez, not this **** again!" Picture. Paul
RockaBilly, good point there. Being born in 1950, I grew up surrounded by '40s and '50s cars as everybody's "dailies"! A "hotrod" was almost always a roadster or a coupe, usually PRE-war. And hotrods were what the kids who couldn't afford a flashy new, hi-compression V-8 two-tone Detroiter built. They sourced the junkyards and put together something fast, noisy -- their own, personal head-turner. Trad, then, was synonymous with "low budget." Even in the early '70s, it was still a SPECIAL point of pride if a guy managed to put a rod on the street for a grand or less (!). When "American Graffiti" came out, I was stopped in my tracks by a line uttered by Ron Howard: "Toad! Where's my rod???" He was referring to a '58 Chevy as a hotrod! No, Milner had a 'rod. The '58 was a family car, hopped up with six Strombergs. What the hell? ROD??? Yeah, the definition of WHAT IS A HOTROD has gradually eased, decade by decade. And I LOVE THEM ALL! But, technically, my own definition of a 'rod will always be a coupe or roadster, budget built out of as many vintage parts as possible. As for the details, if guys today want AC, surround sound, Xenon, GPS, discs, radial tires inflated with nitrogen, tinted windows, 5-speeds or automatics ... well, okay -- especially where SAFETY is an issue. (BTW, it strikes me a little funny that some things that were commonly done on cars early on are now frowned on. Metal flake, e.g., twin spots, fuzzy dice, etc., aren't so common anymore. Baby moons used to be everywhere but seem largely displaced by expensive cast wheels designed and cast way after '65.) But the engine has to have been designed in Detroit, South Bend, Toledo, etc., even if built in Canada or Australia. No Jaguar, no Ferrari, no Lamborghini in trad rods. JMO there, folks. Fire away!
HackerBilt & KripFink have the essence of it, SO we don't NEED to have this discussion anymore! LOL. It's sort of like a religion. Keeping the "trad" faith is about making a concerted, steady EFFORT to adhere to an old ideology. To that extent, YES, we're keeping the faith alive, and we ARE "recreating" ("Spreading the gospel of traditional hotrods & customs to hoodlums [AND greasers] worldwide").
I'll say it again.....for some traditional is a build style, for others traditional is a life style. Where you you stand is up to you. My favorite tradition is piss on what anyone else thinks, drive your damn car!
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