I've noticed that some question the cars some are throwing together in the name of hot rods. Using your slang, "back in the day" we didn't call those rigs hot rods. And there weren't many to be seen. No one drove around in rust buckets, as we called them then. A hot rod was just that. A hopped up A, '32 or what ever. But not a junker. We wanted fast but safe rods. They probably had primer paint jobs as no one was very flush then. They were however, clean. After all, we had chicks with skirts & sweaters who rode with us. Even if the upholstery was a blanket, we'd wash it now and then.
so , are you saying that there are some people with a distorted view of how things really were back in the day? i never would of thought that..........
I have always wondered why people think a "back in the day" cars had "patinas" I mean those cars werent as old back then as they are now. It'd be like taking a late model stripping it down and driving it... To be a rat rod is building a car the cheapest you can and drive it no matter what era the parts are from as long as you did it on the cheap and got what you wanted. Now a traditional rod is a whole 'nother thing.
Thats about like what George Celios, owner of Fine Scale Minatures, does with the Model Railroad he built. He IS a MASTER builder & his layout is breathtaking . The Problem is he models the depression era of the 30's & EVERYTHING he builds is run down ,dilapadated, falling down & weathered beyond belief. In the 30's a lot of things were in good repair because they were not that old yet & did not get into the shape he models them in till 40 years later. The depression was the beginning of the slide into run down because the money for upkeep was not there but it took time to deteriorate. Same with cars , in the 40s & 50s a duece was only 10 - 20 years old --- how many 80's car do you see today that are total rust buckets?--- or if they are the owner is PROUD if it? ( Exception of some states with heavy salt on roads ---they rot quick!!!
I'm proud of my 1989 rust bucket. And it's bad, the rear wheel arches are no more, just rust arches. You don't see a lot of 80's cars in this state anymore. Even my dad's Caprice, that was his dad's before him, and only has like 128 K on it, is a rust bucket. I think the guy's name is Selios, but I could be wrong. But it seems like he sticks to where the trains run, so you would see junk on the wrong side of the tracks. Then again it's wildly O/T. If you want to know what rods were like back in the day just buy a pile of old magazines. They couldn't always feature the high end rides, and you got a lot of shots of reader's rides too - some of them are pretty scary. I know one '58 Pontiac with the hood front made into a huge ugly-ass scoop is scary enough.
No floorboards @70mph......+stray tire iron.....=new groin piercing..... Neutered, just like "Back in the day"
According to my dad..... there WERE shitty cars built back then too. Kids in Mississippi would try to duplicate the cars in Hot Rod by starting with a $20 car
So why do we want to be like the poor guys back in the day? why not the regular guys or even step up to the cool guys. even there shit was mediocre by todays standards. its just what you like to do is the bottom line, the young guys here mostly like the in your face scary stuff cause they can and it can be done by most of them with ease. a bit harder to do a trad car the way it really was....that comew when you get a bit older, a few more kids etc.......justa big old cirlcle we all are in ......... have a great sunday morning ya'all
i just remember my dad's story of riding in an old 55 with a hippy with NO FLOOR and having to put his feet on the seat to keep them from hitting the pavement lol creepy
the way i see it, "back in the day" there was a much more ample supply of straight useable sheetmetal, that supply has all but dried up in the decades since. all that's left is the junk passed over by hot rodders in the 50s and 60s, and the street rodders in the 70s and 80s. most of the desireable body styles and years are out of the price range of many young rodders no matter the condition found in. 50 years ago little body work was required to build a hot rod, now it takes many hours of rust and damage repair, not to mention hunting down the missing parts that were stripped off the parts cars that many are now forced to start with. many simply don't have the body skills to restore a trashed body, and it doesn't help that the Ts and As that they build even restored will never be worth the hundreds of hours it may take to bring them back up to snuff. so as long as some thought is given to safety and reliability in the chassis/drivetrain build, i don't much care what the body is like...to a point. now an unsafe shitbox "rat rod" is a different story.
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