It would seem like a logical thing to do, in the spirit of hot rodding. But I can't think of any vintage rods with independent fronts. Plus, they usually look like hell. Was anyone putting IFS on their cars "back in the day?"
To answer the question: yes. It was generally the same guys who had the money to buy a relatively new small block Chevy in '55-'57. I've seen picts. of '32-'34 fendered coupes w/ late 40's early 50's Chevy IFS under them. But, remeber that the Chevy that these IFS units were coming from were still a realitvely new car in the early to mid-50's so guys that had money were the ones who were doing these swaps. I'm no old timer, but I know plenty of them & even they say that a 265 or 283 is as traditional a mill as a 303 Olds or flathead Ford. Just like today, it was the guys with money that were able to afford the "exotic" stuff that us "new old school guys" drool over (Ardun heads, early Hemi's, etc.) I hope this helps.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What the hell does this mean? I hear this "back in the day" phrase and wonder just what the user is trying to convey. Put it bluntly, nothing is new under the sun as far as hot rodding goes. IFS is ugly? Matter of opinion, check out the vintage race cars from manufacurers like Alfa, Mercedes, Auto Union (AUDI) those things were rolling works of art. Domestic stuff showed up too, usually derived from current late model stuff. Would you see a Mustang II in the 50's bro? Of course not. But you would see a Corvair stuffed under an A in the 60's,,,
It would be pretty unusual. I think I may have seen one in that reproduced version of HOP-UP ( the first 12 issures) or somethig like that. Maybe it was in an old copy of Car Craft?
Nice ride! Full sunroof no less. What's under the hood? ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" America - made in China!
Fenderless cars look dumb with an IFS as a rule. Unless of course you do an INDY style IFS. That's pretty high zoot. There are a lot of things that we don't consider traditional, doesn't mean that someone didn't do it. Nuff said I guess, been hashed and rehashed.
I've seen early fifties pics in magazines of Chevy and Studebaker planar (cross spring suspends and serves as one set of A-arms). The Chevy stuff is a m***ive, ponderous thing, and early fifties Chevys handle very badly compared to early Fords, so I have no idea why that was done. The Studebaker stuff was much neater looking--no idea whether it was a functional improvement. And don't forget the Allard IFS, which ***ured the future scarcity of Allards... There was also a period of mild popularity of swing-axle Ford conversions for the rear of Bonneville and drag cars--I've got a tech article on that. Far too difficult for most.
Well you tell me, friend. You're on a "traditional hot rodding message forum" so what does that mean to you? Probably that you like cars that are similar to those built "back in the day." I didn't say it IS ugly, I said they USUALLY look like hell. Full fendered cars can get away with it since you really don't see much of it anyway. There, you just answered my question.
Cool. I have a 340 Cyote Duster engine from a '71 Roadrunner that I was saving for a mopar rod. Never found a body that I wanted (except for a 3-window '32 Chrysler that the guy wouldn't price so he let it sit in the weeds & rust) so I guess it's going in the V8 Z car. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" If you can't take the heat, get out of the nuclear reactor.
I hear this "back in the day" phrase and wonder just what the user is trying to convey. Actually not to change the subject but "back in the day" is as wide open as "Traditional" I'm guessing that for the most part folks mean post war to early '50s. But it could be pre-war, or even the early '60s on this board. I can remember the Ol' Man talking about Connely (Connely cams) haveing a 21" Harley hill climb bike back in the day. That would have been the mid to late '30s. Means something different to everyone is my point. Never the less I think we can all ***ume on this board the back in the day pertains to about anything traditional. Right? Then of course we ...
I happen to have a frame waiting to be used that has a Mavrick rear on coils and a Corvair front with shortened steering arms and a Plymouth Cricket rack and pinion. Very 70's as it was built as a copy of one a guy did that was in R&C by the guy himself. Gonna have fenders, though. And his driver is a chopped, full-fendered '34 pickup with Dart parallel leafs and a Corvair front.
Well no disrespect to Roth ( or Ryan) but Ed's cars just got goofier and goofier over the years and the last 15 years or so all of his stuff was weird trikes and such. He did however seem to have ridden the **** out of several of them.
When I'm using the term "back in the day" I'm loosely referring to hot rods and customs previous to the poney car/muscle car era. When they hit the scene, A large number of gearheads (not all) bought the factory hot rods and they also were so cool they didn't need customizing. Does that make sense to anyone?? I use that phrase occasionally, certainly with no intent to offend anyone but to roughly define a point in time.
Surely you jest. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth built a lot of very cool customs & rods (& even custom rods Do a search at Google or Yahoo for Ed Roth... ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Easy on the Giggle Cream!
i dunno,but if ya wanna get picky about it,the issue of hot rod where they review stuff from back in the day,there was a spring/track car with 4 wheel discs on it. creepy
A lot of companies had IFS in the 30's... ****, CORD had FWD in the 30's... I'm sure guys adapted whatever they had lying around to their cars... 20-year old parts were probably pretty cheap in the 50's.... Then again, so was the CLAP......