I noticed that too. I get most of my go fast questions answered by the old threads. There are a few racing/hop up posts but no where near the amount as a few years ago. I'm also a little bewildered by the drag racing combined car show coverage. I love the pictures so please keep them coming but include a few burn outs and wheels up launches. To me Hot Rods were about going fast and we have a bunch of guys on here that lived it professionally. I enjoy all their stories and tips, so keep them coming. We all may be old but we ain't dead yet, get out there and terrorize a little bit and take some pictures.
Ah.......the four T's..........tits, tats, tattoos and traditional............with some genuine patina thrown in for good measure..............the joy of reliving something that never existed in the first place..............andyd
Here is an example of how it was done in the early 60's by a couple teenagers, no one can argue that point, because it was never changed since it was built & verified by the original owner & builder - aside from hubcaps & interior by the owners girlfriend- almost everything else sourced from the scrap yards & people's back yards.. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/snoopy-model-a-hot-rod-survivor.942245/
Right you are!..........I mean your "basic" Roadrunner came standard with a 335HP engine with....(wait for it) drum brakes, low back bench seats. prolly lap belts that nobody ever used, and on and on. Most were well able to exceed the legal speed limit by 2nd or 3rd gear. 'Woooo-Hooo- let all hang out brother'!! 6sally6
Here are some caveats.... Don't loose the period in your search for the period. Example.... In 18th Century reenacting a standard practice is documentation x3. Every item is scrutinized for it's Period Correctness, from the very large to the most mundane. I am convinced you could go on a flintlock hunt with guys in blue jeans and have a real period experience vs being in a totally "correct" camp with a bunch of guys scrutinizing every item. Do you see how the true spirit can be lost? On the other hand there is the...... If they would have had they would have used it crowd. Yeah.....Ole Davy and Jim Bowie really would have loved a Browning Belt Fed at the Alamo. They did not have one. This is kind of a slippery slope. In the end it leads to fuel injection and Crown Vic frame swaps. Misinterpretation of data..... Along those lines of misinterpretation.....fitting the period you want to emulate to your present condition..... The poor kid in"57 could only afford a battered old Mack Model B for a hot rod build. Another......Since my parts car came with super cool 70s mags...They would have used it in 1950 if they had it. If your goal is to truly imulate the period. Build your car to the period do not twist the period to fit your car. This comes with a measure of common sense and consensus. There will always be those who push the envelope. There will always be those who are inflexible..... On the other hand.....
It was always the hot rods taking on the muscle cars. Nothing like blowing the doors off of a 67 Camaro in your 57Chevy, down in Hampton Beach NH.
During a period, oh wait wrong topic... Sometimes beating one's head on the wall for accuracy is rewarding, sometimes it's just plain expensive and time consuming. Over rated? Can be. I'm in the business of making things 100% "correct". Makes building an old hot rod a bit of a dichotomy because there really isn't a correct way. That is, unless you're restoring an old one, right? This topic has been dissected, reflected, detected, wood shedded and combined into a hash that can be inedible. All you can do is use old motors, old bodies and frames, vintage clamps and sundry items, belted tires, then when it's all mixed up you hope it's the "period correct" you targeted for. There's times when some old dilapidated rod gets dragged from a chicken coop. Once the bird shit and cobwebs are removed you find crooked light mounts, shocks supported with some chunk of angle iron that was welded so bad it looks like a trail of rat shit. Axle wasn't dropped right so 1 side is tweeked and the other is only near straight. Invariably many will pile on and figuratively drop to their knees and wanna blow the one who found it and the one who built in thinking that it's the vintage rod version of King Tut's tomb. Yet it really shows us that hack-rat-shit builds have also been around since the 1st 2 guys wanted a hopped up horse wagon. Do I know what was done? Was I around? No. Yes. Wait, no. But wait a minute, yes. Dear ol Dad built this when I was just a little kid. Had to be about 61 or 62 which would make me about 5 or 6 yrs old. All I really recall about it other than how fast it was is a time when he was doing a brake line. I got in and played pedal car and shot brake fluid in his face. The verbage and tone had me running back to the house as fast as I could. More than a decade later he was laughing at how he scared me into paying attention, and how he had me pump the brakes for him to bleed it later. I remember that too and the fear I had doing it. That's an Eldorado engine under the hood of a 36 Dodge pickup. He ran the snow tires for extra traction. In 1965 I steered this one to the gas station on the corner so he could fill it for that weekend's race. I was terrified. It shook and rattled and was so damned loud I had a death grip on the wheel while he worked the clutch. I could barely push it. Once filled he ran it down Van Born Rd (in Dbn Hgts, MI) to Pelham and then down another 1/2 mile to the side street and 3 blocks in to our street, a short right and back into the driveway. Wide open on Pelham, no lights, no mufflers, a 12:1 427 Hi Riser. Sharing that only shows where I came from and how I might determine "correct" during a build, some of which I've done in my past, some I'm applying to my current project as well as mixing current stuff for comfort and security. As I add the new I'm always sure to show respect to how things were approached by us types long ago. We didn't have 1-800-STREETROD to call on. With my restoration resources I get to see a lot of finishes and details and hardware that help maintain the vintage vibe. Yeah, I'm 12V, running a Powergen, have modern electrics hidden as best as reasonably possible, and I'll even have modern tunes with an amp and sub in the game, but it'll be as out of sight as the fore mentioned respect demands. Period correct is just that, a respect and appreciation guiding one's direction. Not shitty for the sake of shitty, not rusty junk and primer, and certainly not all the cliche' parts that a rising "vintage rod industry" is throwing out there in the marketplace. It was advised to get the magazines from the time you want, and that's a good idea. But what you really want to see is the advertising and perhaps the race coverage. Feature cars were the cream of the crop. They help, no doubt, but not everybody had one. And too, remember not everybody with a top shelf car got ink as well. Maybe this helps, maybe it's just another example of me being long-winded on a topic. "Only my hairdresser knows for sure."
This will be my last thought on this.... You'll know it when you see it! On Tuesday Sept 11 2001 a flight of I believe Mississippi based fighter jets were given a mission. They were to rendezvous with another flight. The flight leader asked, "What are we rendezvousing with?" The command stated, " You'll know it when you see it." At the predetermined time and location somewhere over the Southeastern United States, there she was. They saw it and immediately knew what their mission was. It was a big blue and white 747 with United States of America written on the side and with full combat escort over her home country. You'll know it when you see it. Some things are like that. A truly period build has no excuses, makes no excuses. It also makes no boasts. Why? It does'nt have to. It is what it is. You'll know it when you see it.
This place is changing and I'm not sure I like the direction. Too much 700r4 talk and things. Please don't flame me just saying. Just getting old I guess. Lippy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I think the Hatfields & McCoys "beef" took place in WEST(by god) Virginia...........not Virginia. I don't hold that "again-ye" rudestude......Lotsa folks (out there) don't know there is a North AND South Carolina either. jus say'in 6sally6 PS....I can't figger-out how this thread took such a hard left turn away from the original subject, but it did!
Well said, poetic truth with that undeniable honesty of one who's observed and lived in the experience of a space and time. Thank you.
Hello, MR48CHEV, YESTERDAY AT 11:34 PM had some great points. Having lived through the 50s -60s in the midst of the So Cal hot rodding/drag racing scene, it was very pleasurable. It is a time period that was creative with what little money was available. Most teens did not have high paying jobs, but steady jobs helped in the long run. Time was important to teens, so a car could not be out of commission for long and therefore, full custom jobs were there, but not for being daily drivers to school and work. In So Cal, there was always a person that wanted to sell a mild custom car, a modified hot rod or even a sedan or two. Into the 70s if one wanted a totally built hot rod, the local newspapers had a lot of listings, as did the Hot Rod/Rod/Custom Magazines.(most of those were sold as the ads were 3 months old when published and on the magazine racks.) Sometimes, even the factory Big 3 dealers had hot rods/custom cars sitting in the used car rows as they accepted them as trade-in cars. There were even places like “Stick City” that had hot rods, cruisers, modified race/street cars of just about any style or make. It was a situation that if you couldn’t build one, you could certainly buy one already made and join in the fun. Remember, time, school, family, and jobs…all played a huge part of growing up for most of us. As time moves on, the different generations have a warped sense of what was happening or a new name for something old was created because it sounded cool. The styles were mixed and labeled as 50s-60s style, despite the fact that items were out of place and not around. The general impression was a cool 50s-60s look was in place. Mostly mild modifications for a somewhat custom approach, including Earl Scheib Paint and TJ Tuck and Roll. But, in the mid to late 60s, there were changes made to a lot of hot rod styles. From the mild customs of the early 60s to the late 60s was different for most as life intervened. Now, we all had jobs with daily reliability in the forefront. Jnaki If anyone looks at it, they were all period correct from 1957 to 1965. The latest add-ons, accessories, small custom items and drag racing parts. Our timeline goes from this: To this: To this: B/G & C/G class, even primer paint, not patina To this: Flathead powered To this: To this: 327 powered And on and on to daily reliability cars that satisfies the job requirement of a family requirements and income. Despite what the local small group of “so called” hot rod guys think as transportation. There aren’t too many hot rods going to daily work, 30 minutes to an hour’s drive away for the whole work week, in rain and foul weather. So, keep the hot rod idea going, try to get things period correct as much as possible with what budget you have. Don’t get locked into a battle of words, however they may be incorrect. But, what you see as “truth” may not be accurate as far as actual happenings 40-60 years ago in the real time period. Get it right… In a ten year time span, many changes had been made for the whole hot rod scene. You have to pick and choose your look for “period correctness.” Remember, the location(USA areas differ), the time period even though it was 1968, the 1960 style was different, and the actual hot rod involved. Not one style was better than the others. Basically, it came down to time and money. We did not have the time or the money, but we made do with what we had to showcase our talents. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-you-use-to-have.1147463/page-6#post-13105468 different choices from different eras of the 50s-60s… Just like stepping out in 1960-63. This is period correct… https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/members/firemangordy.29447/
None of the Cool Guys would be caught dead in a four door in the 50’s and 60’s. My first was 59 Ford four door wagon in 69. At 16 I was just happy to have a car, girlfriend and money for gas.
Yabut Dad's were safety conscious but we weren't. I wasn't anyway. Brings to mind something my brother wrote about me a few year's back "It all started when my maternal grandparents bought Krash a '59 Ford Three Hundred Custom, four door sedan for high school graduation. The Ford was powered by a 223 cu. in. six cylinder and a three speed transmission. As was typical of a 200 dollar car, much work was needed. Krash responded to this challenge by spending his meager funds on wide oval tires, a piston head shift lever, and a foot shaped gas pedal. Krash's careful accessory selections seemed to anger Dad who, for some inexplicable reason, felt that repair of things like bad brakes was more important. Dad just didn't understand the importance of looking cool. Why wide oval tires on a wore out, ten year old, four door sedan was cool is beyond the scope of this essay."
People cobbled up junk just like today. And was just as proud. I love this! Now that is how it has been for all of us when we were young, learning, and making our own way. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Those claiming that there was no “1-800-hot-rodd” must have never read HOT ROD or the little books filled with ads from Honest Charlie’s, Speedway, Midwest, SoCal, Bell Auto and Moon Equipment during the fifties and sixties. Mail order speed equipment was (and still is) big business. If you ordered a flathead manifold from Offy or Edlebrock, you sent a check and the order wouldn’t ship until your check cleared, usually a week or 10 days. And freight charges were generally cash on delivery (COD). Get a reprint of the first issue of HRM from 1948 and count the mail order speed equipment ads. There has always been a speed equipment business and the only difference is you use your cell phone and a credit card today instead of sending a check or postal mail order to buy parts,
Well of course there were merchants in the game, but not like today. Want power windows? You made something from another car work, not dial 1-800-import window kit. Linkage, motor mounts, axles, brakes. Today you can "1-800" a whole damn car, and its disingenuous to say you can't tell those from the "good ones" when you're at a meet or cruise in.
I don't know about pre 50s first hand,I was very into cars in 1950s an 60s first hands on.. I even had my car in Car Craft mag in Jan 63. So were your from both time an place make up what we know first hand vs some other time an place. I enjoyed finding out how things worked early. Joined a car club,was in 3 after a time. Around here in Miami Fla. we had a good number of hot rod an custom clubs and cars in 50s an 60s. All of the clubs and members pushed each other to make our cars cool,shiny,fast and safe*. Traded ideas an skills. Primer was a pre shiny under coat,an never thought of as a finish=yup there are a lot of photos of primered cars,an others in work also,not shiny yet. Often now days seen by those that were not there,as a finish{No,it was on the way to shiny} ,but not all made it. Some had no clubs near by,or a mentor for help an still got it done. Others didn't,but tried. An some too lazy an gave up< emulating that guy is not cool. If now days you pick a old hot rod or custom too make your new build kind of look like it did,fine. But take the time too know if that one had mistakes<Don't copy that part=no matter how many times a screw up is repeated,it's still a screw up, an not cool part of the car. Most of all have fun finding out about stuff ,an doing your thing !
^^Right on, Mr Barlow. The goal was always to have a nice, shiny car. For we who were there, we know the truth. I'm happy to see that it's not just my West Coast bias.
Real period correctness means you pick and era or specific year to model your car after, then basically anything available that year or before goes. That’s what happened. Sure, there were parts and trends more used and done than others, but any parts available at that time would be period correct. Nowadays, there’s a “new” “traditional “ set, that has dictated what is period correct and it’s spawned a slightly boring, all cars basically looking the same, trend. In the end, those that really know, and actually look at the old mags and talk the the old guys, instead of the internet, know the difference.
Few people want to take the time to do the research. So many people want instant answers. A local car, I won't say what it is, has so much going on. Skirts, panel paint, wide white. Inside, on the dash, is a monster tach with a shift light. There is a huge scoop on the hood. It's one or the other, not both.
Man this discussion has happened a million times on this forum. And ya know what? That's a good thing. It means people still care and arent complacent. Period correct matters if you care about the history. I'm no expert, I wasnt there. I'm a guy that's interested in the truth. Old pictures, old magazines and stories from the guys that were there. Thays what we have to go on. My car is built from all early parts but isn't a traditional car really. Its definately a neo traditional antique car type hot rod. There it is. Real confessions haha but I still feel like I have an appreciation for real period correctness and value its importance.
One last comment..............don't forget about painting your rims RED!!! No matter what color the car was the hub caps(unless they were the Olds flipper caps)were ripped and dumped and the RED paint went on. We didn't have chrome reverse rims were I lived (SC/Ga. cotton mill towns) Everybody dreamed of the cooool halibrand rims like in Hot Rod. (WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO MY FONT THANG??! 6sally6 Nothing I guess....it just got better by itself!
Hmmmmm Some will say trucks were never hot rods so it doesn’t matter It looks like a resto rod from the 70s
If my old memory is correct, in the 50's or 60's, if you had a cool rod or custom you definitely did not have blue dot tail lights. They were for the mud flap cars (yuk). How is my memory? Greg
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