Period correctness: When does it become self indulgent/destructive...

restoration is "HOW THEY DID IT EXACTLY"
period correct hot rodding is "HOW THEY COULD HAVE DONE IT"

thats why i like these hot rods...you dont need to be exacting by the book how that car was in the show room. you just need to emulate how they would have or could have done it
thats what makes it still interesting...its still a restoration mindset but it has alot more open doors and different oppertunities
Zach

 

That's great, but when someone starts telling me that something is not period correct, and how I should be doing something........it just about amounts to a restoration. Not that there is anything wrong with a restoration. I have great respect for those people too......

Rodders have one thing and they have theirs.........and I have mine.

 

I agree with brianangus---like old guys said to me "pick a day"--meaning things used to--and still does--change almost daily in this car thing. To say that a car is "period correct" is like saying a car is "finished"---no such thing. I may THINK a car is correct--or done--but my eyes and somebody else's eyes are real different.I say--if YOU like your car---it's right. When I built my cars ,I had a "plan" --but not so strict as to make myself crazy---I guess I just wanted "the look"--my idea is to hit the mark at 90%--the other 10% is some wiggle room--like an alternator, or radials instead of bias-ply.Maybe sounds voodoo to some--but i also live in the real world--and like to drive my cars--a lot.

 

I Have A 32 Pick Up Frame Now Has Sbc 55-7 3 Spd 32 Front 55-7 Chev Rear 40 Ford Spring Will Sell Frame That Is In Very Good Shape Not Cut With Crossmembers Partly Boxed 2500 Have Been Offered 2000 Tim

 

Amen.

 

As much as I hate to do it, this applies AGAIN:

Keep in mind there is always someone with something more "period correct" than you, and this applies to EVERYBODY.

Some people come to terms with it easier than others.

How hard will it be to come to terms with the fact that your period correct car is on repo rails? if it's correct enough for you, then your question is answered.

 

Edit: Nevermind.............

 

Damn, do I ever hate the word "correct" !!! For years I distained the Antiquers because everything had to be "correct" for the car. Now it is the "politically correct" group that pisses me off. I think that any rodder that criticizes anothers guys car because there is something about the car that isn't done to the "correct" standard, should leave the rodding camp and go join the AACA. I thought that the whole rodding premise was build your car your way. I have radial tires and disc brakes on my coupe, I also have a/c, if some one doesn't like it, tough ****. I built my car to my standards and my desires and for MY pleasure, not to please some self appointed judge of what is the "correct way to do it !!!

 

I think you guys are going too far off base with this "Somebody else" idea about the level of period corectness you shoot for in your personal build...

This post is not about doing something on your car to impress someone else. It's about the personal decisions you make to get to the personal 'goal' you've set for yourself.

I don't give 2 flying ****s for what someone else want's me to do on my car. In fact I'd be more inclined to go the other way with it...

I do have some very specific ideas about my car...

And if I WANT to be **** retentive about it, don't try to tell me not to...

 

At least everyone generally knows what the term "Period Correct" means... Or if not the exact definition, they know what the ***le implies...

Tell me what "Traditional" means again?...

I didn't start this thread to tell anybody to build a Period Correct car, or if they didn't they were doing it wrong...

Build it the way you want...

 

Man, there have always been 'gold-chainers'. As far back as the thirties, movie stars were having custom **** done to their cars.

Take the Hirohata Merc, for example. Guy took his late (at the time) model to the customizer shop... wrote the check... and got an abo****ely *****in' looking car. Why don't we all bag him just like one of Boyd's customers? How was Hirohata any different?

Remember, without 'gold chainers', a lot of guys like Barris would have been working at a Maaco or something.

But I'll get off that soapbox - although it's one of my favorites - just to climb on another.

Authenticity.

I suppose my personal yardstick for what's cool would be what would I pick up as being 'incongruous' or 'wrong' when I walk around a car.

So, something with a closing hood could get away w/ much more modernization (alternator, disks, r&p, etc), and I'd still think it was 'cool'.


To pick on one guy's car, I'd probably catch the master cyl, but to be honest - it wouldn't really offend my sensibilities too much. Things like that, or seat belts, or roll cage upgrades for race cars; they're just really upgrades (IMAO) as opposed to '*******izations'.

As far as the gas tank or rear end - not period correct. So BFD. If a guy got a real burr in his ***, he could change those things (would you bother if you were lucky enough to own this car?)

For myself, I wouldn't run bias ply tires on anything I was gonna' drive. 'Cause, if you want to really get ********, they can be changed easy enough.

I just ain't a purist like that.

As far as worrying about cutting up vintage stuff to hot rod; I guess it matters how much of a particular part is available. I hate to see really cherry old parts cut up to make a 'boyd' style car that's been pinched/stretched/tweaked/smoothed everywhere. Coulda' started with a piece of gl*** forchrissakes.

But on the other hand, my dad's 1922 Seagrave just arrived this morning. And we're going to cut it up to make a speedster. And I won't miss a minute's sleep over it, either.

-bill

 

Like I said above, just listen to the voice in your head.

Lets just say for example I found a jumbo deal on a gennie deuce frame. If I had a m***ive woody for a "perfect" period piece I'd guess I need it depending on how modified I was going. If it needed to be cut up to a point where very little is going to remain OEM then I'd sell it for the profit and go with new. Especially if it can't be determined visually. That would be "self distructive" to ignore the $$ available to get to my goal. But it might be "self indulgent" to lay my head on the pillow at night knowing the rails are "real". As far as "saving" gennie parts...**** em. They're mine until I decide what to do...more self indulgence

Let's change hats a minute. So I want a (yawn) pro street 69 Camaro. I find a clean original big block car for cheap. It would be self distructive to cut it up knowing what the Barrett Jackson crowd will pay me for it. I guess there is a line in certain facets of hot rodding but as long as you keep it real for yourself and family you're doing it right.

 

Which one??? I hear so many!

 

you hit the nail on the head a real period correct car is a restoration 2 of my cars are era cars one was frist done in 59 but its close but not perfect because I DRIVE IT! AND UPDATED WHAT I NEEDED TO BE SAFE AND DRIVEABLE all that i,m saying is do the car in the era that you like and enjoy it

 

Technically, you can only call it a 'restoration' if you are returning a car that was a hot rod to it's former glory...

If you are turning a stock car into a period hot rod, it's not a restoration.
Same thing if you're building a period hot rod out of parts...

You're 'just' building a cool hot rod at that point.

 

Period correctness? It's all an illusion, so just have fun with what you build and drive.

 

Period correctness? When I was building my first hot rod back in the early 50's , we all built them to be different, so how can it be period correct when we all had different ideas as to the way they should be. To me my 37 Terraplane is built the traditional way by going to the junk yard, finding a part and making it work, but one thing I didn't do was to use a burning torch and coat hangers to put things together.

 

Because period correct means using as many parts (any parts available in 1950 apply) as possible that were manufactured in 1950 or before and using them in the same or similar way that a hot rodder of that time period would use them. This means that period correct builds can still be creative and innovative when you consider all of the thousands (millions?) of choices and combinations of those choices available in 1950.

Built in a traditional manner (using junkyard parts and innovation) but not using traditional parts (using more modern parts than a "period correct" hot rod).

 

I always thought that this was hot rodding was all about to begin with. Build "your" own interperation of a hot rod. This Period Correctness argument is beginning to remind me of Political Correctness, things of which I'm neither. As mentioned, I'm building a very loose tribute to the car that I drove in high school. But everything that I'm doing to her isn't necessarily going to be pre-'68. I'm installing T-Bird disc brakes and a dual pot M/C for safety's sake. I'm leaving the original 223 Ford under the hood because I want to see if I can up the horsepower a bit. In HS, I'd have gone directly for a V8. If the old 6 blows, anything from a 300 inliner to a late '80s EFI 5.0 HO to a 460 will replace it. I have plenty of Ford mills and access to more. I'm dropping the front more than the rear because I like cars with a rake. There will be other mods that could run up into the '80s or newer. If I see a part in the boneyard that suits my purposes, I don't give a damn about the year. Bodywise, I'm going backward in time.....homemade drawer pull grille, partial dechrome, removed door handles, rounded hood corners, Caddy taillights installed in the center of my '64's, possibly a different headlight treatment, spinner hubcaps and more. My body work skills ****, but I'll learn to improve them. In other words my '64 will represent no particular era, everybody may hate it, but in my mind's eye things blend together well and I'll be happy. Isn't that what rodding and customizing is REALLY about...making yourself grin everytime you see your car?

Note: I'm not bashing what anyone else wants to build. In fact, it's quite to the contrary. if building a rod with no part newer than a '55 gives you self satisfaction, great! If you wat to build a red fibergl*** '34 roadster with a 350/350 and A/C, have fun! I'm still trying to get past guys tossing their migs, brazing everything instead and converting their car back to 6 volts. Now THAT'S weird....

Jan

 

Finally someone could express the idea....

 

I still don't get this one...

How is period correctness an illusion?

Because you have to use new tires? Tires were new in the 40s too...
New brakelines? They used new brake hoses too
New Battery? They had those new in the 40's too...

Point is, all the safety/reliability stuff has been provided new consistantly since it was first provided...

You could concieveably use all parts available in the 40's (or whatever era you're shooting for), with all the correct badging etc.. Look in Hemmings, it's all still available...

I'm not going that far, but you could.

 

What happened the first time a Hot Rodder stuffed a small block in a Deuce?

Did all the Rodders with Flatties make fun of his ride? No, of course not. He took what was obviously a better engine and crammed it in the lightest car he could find.

The "period correct" post got me thinking...

"Period Correct" becomes a dirty word with me so very often. Rodders of the "period" were all trying to make their cars cooler, faster, lighter, and more reliable than they were before. They used available parts and technology to make a better car. That's why "period correctness" means parts and techniques must be older or current to the "period" of the car being built.

Here's the bad news:

To be a true Hot Rodder... in the spirit of the Original Hot Rodders of the "period"... We would use the best parts and techniques available in OUR "period", not THEIR "period".

That means EFI, Independent suspensions, disc brakes, carbon fiber, billet, radials, seat belts, halogens, LED's, digital, etc...

"Sounds like 'chainer ******** to me."

But that's what Hot Rodding was... improving your car with the technology of the time...

My, how times have changed.

The Trad cars are really "second restorations" of the past and the Hot Rods built from today's technology are a rolling joke. Easter egg paint and billet monstrosities that the owner never touched other than dusting off the wheels after it rolled from the trailer.

Show me a modern Hot Rod. Skip all the 1950's restoration parts. I want to see one built in a garage in the suburbs. I want to see a modern functional fast ride that looks *****in' and is still owned by the guy that built it. One that's driven hard and often. Give it modern technology, but make it have the soul of a Hot Rod.

 

I didn't know hot rods were "correct".

 

Again, it's about Context...

The Hot Rodders of the past would probably identify more with the "Tuners" of today, hopping up Hondas and Mustangs etc...

But that's out of the context we have placed ourselves in. We aren't trying to be like they would be today. We're trying to pay homage to the History of Hot Rodding by building cars like they did back then.

If you want a SBC in your hot rod, that's fine. Just don't call it a "40's Style Hot Rod"... It would be perfect for the late 50s or 60s.

I don't care what a guy does to a car as long as it doesn't end up with an iden***y crisis...

 

Maybe we should change the symantics of the discussion? Instead of the term "period correct"...we could build a "period era" car. The people that don't understand our p***ion love to pull the word "correct" out of context and get all huffy thinking that we think their car is "incorrect" and therefore inferior. That's really a stretch. I'm not trying to change your standards. I'm just trying to share my personal self imposed limitations.

If we all strove for mediocrity, what a bland place this would be. Many like to poo poo period correctness until a new car shows up that hits all our ****ons and we go ga ga over it. So most people here love the style. How far they personally want to go in that quest is the question. I personally love the challenge and enjoy the quest to be as accurate as I can afford to be. If it were easy to achieve, I probably would lose interest.

So my new car will be a 1959 "era" piece. It will be correct for me but maybe not for you. THOUGH ****!

 

Ah, but this is the time to remember that we are into traditional hot rods (or custom cars) and therefore uphold the custom of building our cars to honor the cars of a specific era. Note that this is not so much a rule as it is a goal. Each and every one of us has different goals when we set out to build our cars.

Refer to the definition of "custom" as a noun.

 

Taking the PERIOD CORRECT thing too far....

Might as well restore tractors or get into model railroading. The essence of being era specific is one thing, even commendable. Being worried about every last nut, bolt and piece of fabric "fitting" has little to do with the SPIRIT of HOT RODDING.

 

Sweats just dropped by and we were discussing this post.

I told him I'm a perfectionist and a chronic procrastinator... If I were to impose a period correct edict on myself, the car would never get done. I can't let myself do that. That would be an easy out for me, "I can't afford ** piece, so the car will sit until I can afford ** piece."

Period correct + chronic procrasting self indulgence = No damn car!

I guess I didn't explain that right before. I hadto come to terms that I cannot afford to do it with my psyche or wallet

 

NOT being personal, but I think it's getting out of hand here. Who would
EVER consider using a 75 year old carmodel to go down the street and
seriously challenge anyone in 2007. I thought the idea with the interest on
this board was to spread the gospel about "traditional hot rods and kustoms"?
From that point of view, there will always be more or less fanatic people who's
into it. To each his own, but if it is totally non-traditional, why bother being
here? Period EXACTLY correct is almost impossible, but period style is not.

Period correct "hot rod" 2007?

 

i'm gettin a headache.
dan