Peeved- (sp.?)

Hey Again, all... I have to get something off my chest, partially in the hopes of finding people in my area that want to burn down Fuddruckers at least half as bad as myself, and partially to (as my shrink puts it) 'release my negative energy' so that *hopefully* it never actually resorts to arsen. However, I must digress momentarily as my formal introduction into the HAMB was not much more than a few broken sentences duct taped and bailing wired together. So let's get a little more (snore) specific, shall we?:

My name is DeSoto, I'm 28 (barely) and a freelance graphic designer, with at least half a dozen potential "business ventures" being pursued at any given time. I grew up in No. Cal. in the heat of the bay area Kustom scene. My childhood consisted of watching my pops drinking 11 oz. Lucky beers with the rest of his car club while they took screwdrivers to the body panels of (then only few year old) Monte Carlos, old Mopars, and a Stude- or two. (Emblems need to be removed SOMEHOW!!!) I spent much time in the garage of the one and only Johnny Agostine (D'Agostino) while he cut up various cars. (He shaved the handles on a couple of my dad's rides when he had a free minute or two.)

I can remember only a fraction of the cars my dad owned (the rest are preserved in photography, and were WAY before my time anyway!) to include a few '50 Mercs (back when he would pick 'em up for $150.00), '59 Chev- , '56, '58, '59, & '60 DeSoto (I have the '59 now), '60 Imperial, and a mess of 40's-60's rides that he sold for pocket change because they "were only Chevys". (who knew, right?)

So with that, I had my first ride at the ripe 'ole age of 15; a '50 chevy 5-window pickup for $300. After a little torch work, I had a 350 and new front end that shot 'magically' hard left at ALL times. (You mean I have to MEASURE before I cut and weld?!?!) I then ditched that project for a 95% complete '68 Charger. 3 months of that car had me Jonesin' for more power, even though I was in the hospital undergoing reconstructive surgery and my baby girl was pretzeled in a junkyard. (I traded what was left of the car for the tow/storage fees. UGH!)

>>>Blah blah Fastforward>>>>
After a quick stint in the 'Corps and driving/wrecking a few newer 'muscle-type' cars (a couple of Firebirds/ WS6's) I moved to So. Cal. while rekindling the passion I had for my pop's old '59 DeSoto. (which I had in storage in No. Cal. until about 3 months ago)

This brings us to today (or more specifically, last Tuesday) and the reason for my rant. I'd been popping around the HAMB board, (after a fellow hamber started chatting with me as I was jumping into the finned beast) and asking around for other 'jalopy-type' folks in the know, and in my area. One such person mentioned a 'Tuesday Night Classic Car Show' at Fuddruckers on El Toro in Mission Viejo, CA.

So, with most of the oil drips sealed, and a few quarts of tranny fluid in the trunk, I floated the tuna-sled to the 5-8pm event, in the hopes of finding others like myself. (ones with too little money, too little garage, and surrounded by too many new cars.) As I scraped by the front of the place, I saw a few mid-40's stockers. I expected as much, but old stock is better than new anything... Ooops. Spoke too soon. Two rows of brand new Camaros blocked the battleship's path to it's aged comrades. I parked outside the foray and sat for a moment. In my rear-view mirror I spotted a Ford Focus in 300 pounds of 'go fast gear' and spotted a Nissan and a few more new Camaros making their entrance. What IS this?

A few of the veterans echoed my sentiments, but remained as passive as the mob that made their way through the bevy of (mostly) Detroit iron. Apparently this is not entirely new, but the little '99+ buggers are multiplying every week. I hate to sound like a whining, um, person, but if I want to see row after row of new cars, I'll go down to Weseloh Chevrolet.

As if there weren't enough damn new car shows, they're infiltrating the oldies, as well... I guess imports are next. I remember hitting up a few import night drags in Sac. with my T/A and a few of my pony loving friends. (intentionally starting a little *ahem*) We would rarely get one or two good burn-outs (not on the track; oops) before we were "advised" to leave. (As if the turbo-bolt-on stares didn't already tell us that...)

Point? None, I guess. My personal solution is simple; I'm not returning for the burgers or the OBDII. Guess I'll have to start my own car event in O.C.

I here Billetproof is looking to expand....... ~

-DeSoto Donovan
p.s. If you made it to here; I commend you on your patience!!! Oh, yeah, and I finally learned to drive before making a significant dent in the old American steel department!!!

 

I made it to the bottom...no point is correct...other than ricers being "affordable", available and 'right now' (oh, and oh yeah, we can make payments!!!!) to a lot of "kids" that don't have the time, inclination, intelligence, money nor desire to BUILD an early car (before Y.o.M.1965 that is)...hence a "cruise" filled with late model 4-door rice-laden crap with wings, air dams, side skirts, garbage can exhaust, billet wheels and more damned decals than Edelbrock has!!!

"Cruises" are not what they used to be...
R-

 

you always got billetprewft... sept 19. im rollin up that fridee with burndupcrx...if he can go. youre welcome to hop aboard. just gotta make it up to venice

 

Welcome to Orange County California! My sister lives in Irvine and her daughter lives in RSM, I am very familiar with the climate there. If you want some real hot rod action come on down to El Cajon on Wednesday night, La Mesa on Thursdays, or Escondido on Friday night. There's quite a few HAMBers around this area, we'd be happy to meet ya....

 

Make a game of it, man.
Put yerself some flame throwers on that barge and see how much plastic you can puddle up.
I make it a point to rap the pipes at every tuner I see. $4,000.00 worth of daddy's money in stickers and fart cans, ain't no match for a $200.00 junkyard 350...
I love it when their cute little cheerleader girlfriends get the dreamy-wet look. You know...
Don't get pissed off about something that isn't going to change... Rise above it.
Stop going to Fudrucker's and they win.
I'd get there a little earlier, that's all.
Can't ya just see it? Come crawlin' in all cool and slow. Maybe "Endless Sleep" cracklin' out of a 44 year old dash speaker. Rev it up... toss some flames (nothin' big, just a little "Mmmm-bwaaaaaa...")
Then go park... don't get out of the car right away...
Let 'em wonder.
Let them make it cool in their heads...
The smart one will figure it out.
The rest will form a tangent of the human race which will eventually destroy all mankind... So fuggitaboudem.

Check out the last line on our show bill.

HOTRODS AND KUSTOMS RULE!!!!

 

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I made it to the bottom...no point is correct...other than ricers being "affordable", available and 'right now' (oh, and oh yeah, we can make payments!!!!) to a lot of "kids" that don't have the time, inclination, intelligence,........R-

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"Dude" ....in no way meaning to pick your words apart OR start any crap, not all of these "kids" are rich little pricks. We had my wife's '90 CRXsi in a local shop for repairs and I spent some time talking with one of these kids. He has an old CRX that he DRIVES to the strip, changes tires (remember those days?) runs 12.2s, changes tires back and drives home. He kept talking about "VTEC" this and "VTEC" that and I asked just what "VTEC" is? I knew that it was Honda technology but not exactly what it is. He took me out back and pulled a "VTEC" head out of a pile and explaind the whole thing and I was blown away! Not only is it an engineering marvel, this "kid" explained it so my dumb ass could grasp the concept!
I in no way suggest that anyone shitcan their early iron for Jap crap, but I have a much greater respect for this "kid" and am in awe of his dedication to "hot rodding!" He has a passion for automobiles, works on his own shit and is DAMN good at it. It's late model, but he ain't no fuckin' gold chainer poser!!

 

Skate, I think he is just restating the fact that it is not, nor will it ever be, exciting to see a late model, everyday, boring new car. The purpose of Cruise nights has always been for older and more rare cars to hang out and display their pieces of history, and now all the guys with extremely common late model cars that you see everyday in every parking lot on every street, are trying to take over the cruise nights with their boring, everyday, plastic late model cars.
I agree, but if you want a spot, first come first serve.

There is a CRX guy out here that is running comparable times. A little asian kid that didn't look a day over 16. After his first run the car drew quite a crowd.

 

I agree with Skate and J'yard Dog. You do have to get there earlier than they do but those 'punks in plastic'...some of 'em do know their shit and others know how to apply stickers and neon. If you have any ability to understand mechanical shit you'll be able to weed out a "good" kid from the poser (we have a few of them in our circle too). If I remember correctly my old man said he ran with a group that harrassed anybody that put a 265 chevy in anything that deserved a flatty. Then they popped a built 283 in a 4 gear 55 chevy and took it to the strip. His attitude about SBC's changed then!

Face it, these kids are todays mainstream hotrodders and like any one of us they are doin' what they like wether you like it or not. Sound Familiar? Once in a while I'll cruise into one of "their" spots and park the bike and like JYD said...just sit and watch. They'll come up to you and ask all sorts of shit about old Harley's and they know a dude...blah blah blah. I have never had an issue with any one of them and usually get a few thumbs up from them. They love a good hole shot with apehangers and tankshift.One of em said that I look like a Tattoo'ed gorilla trying to fuck a football and that was fuckin' cool as fuck! I guess if it was as cool as fuck that musta been a good thing? I love when they purge ther NOS system at the lights and leave like two pissed off hornets only to do it again at the next light! They have invited me to a couple of those midnight fast and furious street racing things.

These guys are actually cool in their world...their world is just not my world. Hell I came from the mullett muscle car era and have slowly matured to Flatheads, Model A' and T's. Dad's proud of me but wonders why any one would stash a '53 Flatty under the work bench for a future project when there are so many good SBC's to chose from. Just scratch's his head when I crawl through piles of junk to get a cowl for a '29 PU and wonders why in the hell I'm looking for a Poncho rearend when I've got a perfectly good 9"from an old pro-streeter still attached to the Art Morrison 4 link rear clip upstairs in the barn.

Let them little fucker's do what they want. 40 years from now when they "Score" it will be an '95 Cavalier that some old lady had in her garage. Her son died in a car accident. All it needs is the NOS bottle filled and try to find 17" low profile tires made of something called "Rub Her?'

 

Welcome Desoto ! Always happy to have a youngun join the group that's interested in the real Hotrods. I do wonder if us older guys would have been interested in all this plastic glue on..Nos horsepower added crap if it was available to the masses so readily back when we were punks.
It's about the power but more importantly to me it's about taking something that's been laying dormant for decades. And bringing it to life. My interest went alot farther than Vettes,Cobra's and Jags back in the 60's and 70's. It was all the thirty and forty cars that looked like they were just thrown together for the drags or downtown cruise that were the fun ones. These 18-26 year old ricer kids will grow up to become real hotrodders when they realize they can actually build what they want in stead of going to the plastic store or Summit and buying it. And are still able to find these old cars laying around. Heck that will only be in about 10-20 years. Even though I'd like to I don't think I'll use them all up before I go to Hot Rod Heaven.

 

get used to it.

if you dont like it, organize your own criuse and limit the years to whatever you want.

or, if you wont do that, rally all the old car fans to get all their buddies to show up. everyone who has an old car knows someone else who has an old car.

so instead of raising hell, bitchin everyone out, or not even showing up, start making friends. be a nice guy. you might be pleasantly surprised.

there is an awesome cruise in by my house... starts at 4 or so in the afternoon on saturday, thats when all the cool old cars are there, then around dinner time, there is a pretty good mix of late models, and classics. after 8pm, mostly imports. I just go early.

I deal with it, its not like its gonna go away,....

 

I agree with Curly........................... and, Desoto, I think you should certainly establish your own event down there. You will be able to include/exclude anybody you want. Promote your event long and loud and you should be able to attract the guys you wanna see..

 

There's alot of rice racers and the type at our local cruise joints, but I've found that although their typical cars are quite different than what we dig, their drive and motivation is pretty much the same in many cases.

The toal punk delinquints are beyond hope, of course...but I've talked to many of these kids who really DO dig old iron, but their perception is that cars like that have been priced into Unobtanium by the Gold Chainers, so they work with what they can easily get a hold of. I was shootin' the shit with one 19 year old gearhead last Summer who remarked, "Fuck, I'd trade my Cavalier for an old roadster in a second, but the old rich guys get all those!". When I asked how much he had into his hopped-up Cavalier, he estimated just under $12,000! I almost fainted! I told him I could help him build a simple but cool rod for half that much!

The kid was eager to learn, listened well, and knew about cars, so I have no doubts that with the right set of circumstances he could become one of "us" easily! From what I've observed, many of these kids come from single parent homes, and their only automotive influences, sadly enough...are movies like Fast & Furious. Without hot rod role models, the young enthusiast seems to turn to what he sees his peers doing, just as it's always been!

The other problem stems from the fact that many older guys who own and drive hot rods tend to shun these perceived "ricers" without ever getting to know where they're coming from! So, even if a youngster had some cash in his pocket, and was willing to persue a vintage automotive project, he would find many of the older members of the hobby less than receptive to him and his questions and inquiries. Sad.

I was just talking to a kid two weeks ago with a cool home-built Honda 750 bike. He wants a rod in the worst way, but feels that they are out of his reach. When I asked him to be more specific about what he wants, he outlined a cool sounding idea based on a 1950 Chevy with a 350 four speed. I told him to take a look around, and suggested that he check out the HAMB classifieds. He also told me that he had a 302 Ford and a 340 Chrysler V8 that someone had given him. I told him that he could sell the 340 Mopar for enough cash to easily score a running 350 Chevy...with change left over! Finding a clean 50 Chev in Michigan would be a difficult and expensive task, but if he were willing to travel, and take along a tow vehicle, I'm sure he could afford one from out West or down South. Given the kid's knack for mechanical ability (he works in a cycle shop and built his bike himself out of spare parts), I think he'd be a dynamite asset to our hobby and I hope he does build his Chevy someday soon! He is only 17, but he acted more mature than many 50 year olds I've encountered...I think he'll be all right!

So, yes...there are alot of kids running around in their ricers and front-drivers...and many are just there to crash "the scene"...but within their ranks, I'm sure you'll find many who are eager to get into old rods and customs...but they need a little direction and friendly encouragement to get past the intimidating stares and turned backs that often greet them from over on our side of the hobby!


Just a thought!

 

Don't burn down Buttfucker's, just don't go to their cruise night if it offends you. You can easily tell the poseurs from the racers among the ricers. Just find more likeminded folks and make the cruise your own. I guess I am getting old as I shake my head and laugh at the poseurs instead of wanting to kill them. I have been laying off the coffee lately. Maybe that is it.

 

Skate Fink...DON'T READ BETWEEN MY LINES!!! I NEVER said all of them were "rich" little pricks...I said "they can make payments" on a newer car....that's a hell of a lot easier than spending money to collect parts and have to wait a couple years to put it together...IF they've got the "time, inclination, intelligence..." AND patience" which most of these "kids" of the "right now" generation don't have!!!

AND I DID NOT get down on any of them for their "engines"...nor their racing habits...I KNOW what some of those engines can do. CKustoms here in ColoRODo has a "Skyline", twin turbo, inline six with all wheel drive that'll flat run 9's in a quarter while smoking all four tires trying to find that elusive traction!!!

DO NOT TRY TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES...you'll be wrong every time!
R-

 

I remember the later fifties and most of the 60s, (later 60s and all of the 70s are a blurr)
What I remember guys "cruising" in were new to fifteen year old cars, predominantly about eight to fifteen year old cars.
Older than that got few and far between.
In the sixties, seeing a Pre-WW II car was something out of the ordinary.
Maybe even more so (unusual) than now since there are more people "in to" old cars than there were then.
The cars that "car people" drove and crused in ranged anywhere from newer stockers that the owner was very prou of to radical customs, but most might be around ten years old and maybe be nosed and decked, lowered a couple inches at most,
Not below or even close to the rims because cops were MUCH less lenient than they are now.
Maybe they had some TJ tuck & roll, but more likely just some cheap seat covers from JC Whitney or from the Rayco seat cover store next to Sears on American Avenue. (now Long Beach Blvd), and maybe some chrome wheels or real Appleton spotlights and Lakes pipes.
That stuff WAS the Bling-Bling and air dams of the sixties!

MOST of the cars that we were cruising in were about the same age old as the cars the "rice" crowd are cruising in today!
They are the normal ones!
Just be happy they aren't part of that bunch of tree huggers who want to ban all the cars....

If they like their cars enough to bring them out and proudly show them off, at least they are conscious of thier car meaning something more than just an appliance on wheels.
They are on OUR SIDE.
Join them!
and try to find the car loving similarities rather than the differences.
You'll be amazed at how mudh better you will feel.

Camrys look like melted Gummy Bears....
Melted Gummy Bears look like shoeboxes with rounded off corners.....