so, this has been covered more than once before - have driven old Hot Rods as DD over the years - those of you that do not have any concern about the suicide drivers in good weather, much less in fog that you can not see five feet in front of you are very manly - if you have do not care when roads are ice and you slide off the highway are tough guys - wife and I have had old rides cars totaled, one being a drunk driver speeding in the fog - now I have blanket insurance from one company for all of our stuff - has limits on where full coverage classics can drive, etc. - that is OK with me - worried about rust?, then don't go to Bonneville
You guys driving your collector cars as dailies, make sure you don't use your actual name when posting if you have collector car insurance on them like Hagerty. And watch those collector plates and YOM's too, not taxed for daily use. Just about every cruiser in the country has cameras on board to capture every license plate, you will lose the fight.
I enjoyed giving my fellow club member a good razing at the club meeting last night, with 13 members present there was only one hot rod in the parking lot, my old beater. I'm just a few months short of 70 myself and I drive my old hot rod as much as possible. HRP
I live about 60 miles north of Seattle so rain is just part of life. Right now I can choose between my '41 Chevy sedan and my recently acquired (OT) 2010 Dodge Challenger. Up until I got the Challenger I drove the '41 almost daily; but it is set up for it . 283, TH350, 10 bolt rear end, R&P steering, disc brakes, etc. Now that winter is here I'll admit I've been driving the Challenger but hey, it is fun to drive, I get a giggle every time I get a chance to lay into it. My (also OT) 4-speed '66 Mustang is stored right now due to my left knee being pure junk (I go in on the 21st for a new knee, whoopee) and the '51 Shoebox is waiting for me to finish make and weld in the rest of the floor and tunnel. The weather isn't really a factor here, either you drive in the rain in the fall, winter, and spring or you don't drive 'em. Like the OP I figure I'm going to enjoy the cars I have, the next guy can worry about the rust and wear.
Seems like all I get to drive anymore is my semi truck. My OT 99 pickup sits so long sometimes the battery goes dead. After driving the semi all week, I don't want to go anywhere I don't have to. Counting the months to retirement, maybe then I can drive some of my junk....
We get real winter here. I don't drive the coupe in the winter, though it has heat and defrost, the defroster isn't up to the task of bad weather driving. Once the outside temp makes it to 40, the coupe comes out and the miles add up. When I get my 49 Dodge pick up done, it will be a year around driver. Gene
I live in Oregon, you are going to drive your hot rod in the rain whether you like it or not. The nice part is little to no snow most winters ( unless you go up the mountains ) and little to no salt.
Yes I do. I've got 115 k miles in 22 years on a '49 Chevy 1/2 ton, 1956 235, soon to have a 261 ci. Keep driving it man, it's making you smile and that's all that matters.
I was hunting through my photos for a different photo for a different group this morning and found this one from the mid 80's. We had driven about 35 miles in the snow to get to my ex sister inlaws to visit with my nephew. My late son John with the sun shades and my sister's two kids with him. The nephew we went to visit trains cutting horses in Texas now. T
They just put a fresh layer of salt on the roads for the little snow storm. But I really can't use that as the excuse of why mine is not on the road more. Some time I question why I even have insurance on it, except four the few time I do get mine out. Maybe this year will be different. They definitely need to be driven, more than just a warm up trip down the road and back. My 26 T sedan lack side windows or a top so it is a fair weather ride. One of these days it will be complete.
Honestly it sounds like you had a good meeting and ya all razzed each other. Enjoy it and move on. More and more, every day it seems there is one less person that cares about these old iron hot rods. I personally dont give 2 hoots about any car. If it was a rpu I would dig it. I like to see old metal get saved, today there is less people willing to save it. You can buy a nice rod for $20k, yet kids want to buy a $60k truck ... times have changed. We only live once, my only goal is to preserve my truck for the next generation to restore ... me, I'm going to drive the wheels off of it in any weather. At 70 years of age, it has seen more times then I can talk about, and it has more times ahead. When I am gone, will probably go to scrap iron anyways ... who cares?
You hit on something. i/e the 60K truck...thing is, I don't have 20K to buy a hotrod (I'm 58, imagine a 20-something), but I could easily go to any dealer and buy a 60+K car/truck on payments. Hey, drive it till you're under ground, what happens next to it is someone's else concern.
OK, I'm going to use this weekend as an example. First, I'm 82, and live about 35 miles South of metro Atl. My hot rods are a 31"A" Hiboy roadster with no top, wipers, windows, or heater/defroster, and a '40 Ford coupe whose wipers don't work, but has heater and defroster. The Hiboy is more or less parked for the Winter. The coupe is fine for dry weather or anywhere not in ATL traffic if it's wet. This Sunday my club is having lunch Sunday at a restaurant in Marietta, about 10-15 miles North of ATL I had planned to drive up in the '40 coupe, but the wet roads bring out some crazy SOBs that can destroy your ride in seconds, and I'm going in an OT Fusion, which can be repaired/replaced a helluva lots easier than my '40. I love driving my hot rods, but not where they are at an increased level of damage. I have gearhead descendants to whom I want to leave these hot rods in drivable condition.
Yep...went to breakfast with my uncle and some other Thunderbolts when I was out in Cali for years - well into his seventies and they always were asking the fastest he ran at Bonneville - it was 182 mph in the lakester in 1956 - they talked him into putting his engine into that lakester body like the Glass Slipper was running. In 1955 the his modified roadster with that GMC hit 168 mph which after 2 yrs he had it pretty well sorted out. He would say later - when we didn't go meet up with them - he was just tired of the same high school shit..... Sorry you didn't enjoy the day even when you made the effort.
With Atlanta traffic, I wouldn't drive anything through there I cared about either Dave! I don't go through there as much as I did a few years ago, it was bad then, and last time I was there, it is worse now!
Hah! 580 used to be a nice freeway to cruise on. After the Camp Fire there are all these non-locals bombing up and down it like its 680 doing 80-90MPH. Buggers. At least Cal-Trans finally ground 580 flat through Oakland.
Back too many years ago I took the 48 to Bonneville and then drove to Plesanton for the Goodguys and back up the east side of the bay area to hit 97 and go through Oregon to get home. Somewhere on one of those toll roads on that side I saw the rig in about 150 ft in front of me drop about 5 ft and then I dropped about five ft on what must have been a fault line that was repaved over but still had the dip. I got up to LaPine Oregon and it was eating the front tires up so bad from having the toe in knocked way out of wack that I stopped at some perpetual yard sale and bought a huge pipe wrench with the handle cut half off to turn the tie rod and ran the front wheels up on a curb in a business parking lot so I could get under it (well blocked in front and back of the rear tires) and set the toe in as close as I could to make it home. Hopefully I'll never have to take the truck out in the conditions like I used to because it was all I had to drive to get to work again.
You sir are a brave man if you "EVER" drive a Hot Rod in Atlanta. I have driven over there, actually not to far from me, a few times and every time I swear it will be the last. Some thing about the folks on the freeways there, they all seem to be weird and pissed off...
Even in early 1960s when I drove my open wheel roadster to high school,it needed to be a clear day{like driving a MC. I had got a used cheap Henry J for rain looking weather days,but over time mod that in to a full custom too. After about 50 years,I did add a folding top to my hot rod.
I totally agree my son has a 1979 Buick park avanew gets hassled all the time about driving it .I live in vermont, i want to drive them not garage them.
Build them the way you want, and drive them when and where you want. I see no other reason to build a vehicle, I never think of "who will drive this next", I don't care.
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