Out here in boise you either have a muscle car a street rod or a bobber pickup I really haven't seen any prewar stuff which blows my mind cause they are out there in the fields just waiting. Damn I need to get a real job so I can go hunting.
If you don’t drive it, it’s not a car, it’s a paperweight. I know of at least three early 30s Fords that are running hot rods, which do nothing but sit in garages. The gentlemen that own them say they have just grown too old to enjoy the cars. Yet they will not let go of them, so the cars just sit and wait. I think this is happening a lot, as the generation that own the majority of pre war cars ages. If you are too scared to drive a car, or it’s uncomfortable for you to drive.(no slam intended, I have the cars I have because I haven’t found a Model A Coupe I can fit in yet.) Then sell it to someone who will, and put the money into a different ride. I get tired of the excuse that the car is just worth too much to drive, if you fixed it once you can fix it again.
I love the pre-war stuff the most too. It's more expensive so you have to really WANT to tackle them. And if you're not familiar with the ins and outs of a pre-war car, it's pretty intimidating. The younger generation that gets into them are only able to afford so much money and time/money ratio for a finished product can be pretty high. Not impossible though. For example, I've got probably $11k total in my cabriolet project and it is a long way from driving! If I put it back stock, it could go together pretty quickly. As a hot rod/custom, it will take considerably more money. Once I hit my 30s, I got into the older stuff much more heavily and I could afford it. I'm guilty of the pre-war stuff being squirrel away lately. Although my Chevelle convertible that has been in the family for 32 years (holy ****!) sits in my garage 355-360 days out of the year. I'm sure it hates me. Because of lack of space, my '36 coupe had to go into storage when I bought the '55 wagon for the family. I like the wagon, and my wife loves it. But there isn't a day that I open the garage door and long for more space to have my coupe readily accessible and terrorizing streets. Stupid economy... I need a bigger house and garage! I agree, WTF is up with all this gray now in my beard! Hahaha!
Ditto, and I grabbed it, hope ya don't mind. Cruise nights would be cool in a pre-war. Post war would make great daily drivers.
Pre war cars have had to survive rust, crushers, war time s**** drives and just being generally obsolete for over half a century. Its suprising any are around. This is what I love about them. Nothing better than going out with the boys on any given night with Model A's and T's and tearing up the town. Gotta say were lucky around here. Rhode Island isn't a super well known hot rod region but our small group drives the **** outta early cars.
I've seen that roadster pretty far from home, and I've seen pictures of it in California. I also know that it has a few rock nicks and chips on it. It must be driven a LOT!
People continue to attempt to re-write history. We are innundated with those at***udes where some people try to re-define what a traditional hot rod is. I'll narrow it down to simply one example, but the same logic applies across the board. Last week on another thread some nimrod proported that Bias Ply tires are unsafe and that's the reason radial tires were invented. That type of drivel is more of a threat to the hobby than any imagined depletion of old iron. To counter that claim, I would point out that there has been an increase in production of those tires and there are more available today then were available in 1970. Why? Because of the demand, initiated by those of us that want them. My 'old car of choice' will always be my '29 Chivvy. It's 81 years old now and somebody will be drivin' it 81 years from now.
I got bored with cruise night and have quit going. I got bored with car shows and have quit going. I have spent the year going to swap meets mostly. I will have all my old cars in a parade next week but that's about it. It kinda goes in cycles for me.
I'm just happy that dudes are still playing with cars. Even the modern stuff and imports... it's better than being a WoW addict or spending all day playing games on Facebook (you know who you are ) Most of the latest generation has "gone green" and they only see a car as point-a-to-point-b transportation. It's a shame to see cars become appliances.
I hear ya....I choose what events I go to,based on what kind of cars attend and if my HAMB buddies are going. I never cared for Cruise Nights....The ones here in SoCal,the guys get there 4 hours before to get front row parking. JOKE!!!
i feel the same about drvin my new car (2010 mercedes benz)as well as my of my older cars..it can be scary in close qrtrs with all the knobs ..parking lot dings . not watching at intersections etc..... 99% of people just don't love cars like we do they are disposable transportation ... thats why insurance companies ""total out " wrecks that were repairable 25 years ago.. like most here i have seen plenty of cars at the bone yards and wonder why its there as they are in great shape.. minor dents , no rust needieng engine work heck even just new tiires i know ya can't save em all but i will do my part to save what i can "car hoarder til i die "
There used to be a saying. "Live and let live" We can only hope to figure out ways to slow down the junk collectors or rust. But; We can do something about the artificial threats, the thumb-****ing groups if people that put artificial requirements on us to get rid of what they consider to be distasteful to them. They are products of the nanny society. They imagine that they are superior to us. They have torn down that old saw.... "Live and let live", implying that most people are stupid and can't think for themselves. Then they appoint themselves as saviors to those of us that aren't as smart as they are. They walk up and down the street and want my yard to be trimmed, all of my lawn mowers and such hidden in a ****in' plastic shed to 'clean up their view'. As the leaves of fall create a carpet on the gr***, a way of nature, these perverts want them cleaned up! Every day! But, wait! I can't burn the leaves because that's against some ******** law, p***ed by some nanny-society legislation. In the 60s every new house built had a trash burner in the back yard. In the 70s they were outlawed. Now all of that has to be hauled away by gas guzzling trash trucks and burned in some secret way, hidden from view. The ****in' pollution is the same, PLUS the additional expense and fuel burned to haul it away to that secret place! We are surrounded by these *****s! Somebody is going to ask, what's this got to do with hot rods? I say, it's got EVERYTHING to do about hot rods. These people view and proport ways to 'clean up the neighborhood'. Their busybody at***ude prompts them to define any car that isn't currently operable or registered as 'junk' and the byproducts of that. When a citizen is cited for having a 'junk car' in the back yard, most of them roll over to that dillema. They think, or don't care, so they take the easy way out and call the salvage yard and have it hauled off. The same people that claim to be saviors of the earth, want things to be 'natural', don't want leaves, old cars, or dog****, in the yard... that's NOT natural!
The Jalopy Journal
