So...why is it Rod AND Custom?

This may be at first perceived as a dumb question, and may be the most pointless thread Ive ever started, but think about it. I find myself just today making quarter window shapes on the 51 Merc Im FINALLY finishing the chop on, and I thought man this was a pain/struggle/learning experience. But hopefully Ill be doing it again soon, going through the whole procedure again. Then got to thinking about Mercs and what am I REALLY into? Cars? Eh I guess. Mercs? Yeah pretty much just that. But everyone I know with a shop is Rod AND Custom, and just hobbyists, thier interests align as such as well. Has a rod, wants a custom someday or vice versa. I could probably never see myself building an A or B or T or anything, I have literally no interest in them but can appreciate a nicely done example...etc.

So think about it...Two completely different animals...but they are always grouped together. The magazines, the car events, hell, even the HAMB. Gospel of trad rods and customs.

So is it a mindset? Is it a general affinity of the era in which both were rooted? What makes these seemingly polar opposite creations share the bill in almost any arena?

 

Yin and Yang brutha,

Sometimes you wanna cruise and take it easy, and other times you wanna pedal to the metal burn rubber.

Combining the two creats a perfect utopia.

 

Bingo!
It is amazing how many people answer their own questions.

 

Man, You guys are just getting way too philosophical for me!

 

Cuz' it jus' sounded better than Rod & Heavily Leaded Over Pig Like Car

j.k.

James Dean had a Merc and a 550 Porsche Spyder... I'd prefer to have the Spyder frankly... but I'd gladly take the Merc.

 

"Kustoms are for getting girls..Hot Rods are for getting rid of them!" -Robert Williams

 

i can remember when the 2 were not compatable at all.Hot rods were Hot Rods and customs were customs.They seamed to merge in the 70s when the big shows started.then it turned into the east vs west thing.now it is billit vs traditional.what a bunch of crap.I have the passion for wheels and like to admire all the cool stuff out there.just MHO

 

When I started collecting parts for my A last December, my girlfriend said to me - 'Now, you're never gonna work on my car' regarding her '58 Olds that we've been building. I had to explain to her that most dudes have to decide on one project, I'm lucky enough to have a woman who allows me a hot rod AND a custom as well as bikes, sports cars, and all my other shit. I LOOOVE hot rods, don't get me wrong, and my A's gonna be a smoking hot rod, but I can't exactly pack 3 or 4 of our friends in it and go out for the evening, now can I?

 

If you think rods and customs are two different animals.....you need to do more reading of the old books, they have coexisted in harmony, even within the same clubs.....

Customs are just an evolutionary step above hotrods......

 

I think it started back in the 40's & 50's when guys were swapping Big engines
in their cars and to set them off by doing a Mild Custom
Just my 3 cents!

 

customs are for getting girls....hot rods are for getting away from them

gotta have both!

Zach
SUHR Speed and(soon)Custom

 

cause Field AND Stream was already taken..............



Actually, for me, rods and customs go well together. Like titties and beer.

 

'Cause that's where the root's of this hobbie began....

 

why did I read past this point

 

Dude, you really shouldn't be smokin when you are using sharp instruments..

 

I think of it as this...

Hot Rod came out and was a MONSTER!! But it was mostly about achieving speed! With that came the chopping and channeling of the automobile. Looking through "The Hot Rod Handbook" that Hot Rod put out showed much of the radical and extreme cases of aerodynamics! I think that these guys wanted to incorporate the same concept into their dialy-drivers! Thing is, it turns into a completely different animal...not better, but equally desirable. Along with that, came the "drive" to have something different than what was available. I think that the idea to have both came from "the people". They just happened to incorporate the two because it is was WE ALL really want...BOTH!!! I doubt anything will ever hit that strong. No one is going to want to see "Import and Muscle" on newstands, or at a show, for that matter. Or at least thats me.



Brian

 

I have more room in my gauge with a custom and a hot rod two customs just wont fit.

 

Couldn't have said it any better!!!We all know how well titties and beer go together,actually titties and almost anything for me.

 

They have always had a lot in common. Both are a person's own personally customized vision. Both appeal to the same age group. One is more performance oriented, and the other is more about restyling...

...but do not think that every Merc had a flathead, and every deuce had a Hemi. Until this "vintage" movement came along, no self respecting Merc had a stock flathead!...and not every deuce was unchopped or had stock tail lights. Custom and performance have overlapped to every possible degree, for at least the 50 years I have been involved.

 

This is ricockulous.

 

I just wondered....How do you define hot rod, or custom? Is it by year? In the past, it was a building style.

You could have a '30s car that was a "custom", by virtue of the body modifications, paint, upholstery and accessories...

... or you could have a '50s car, with big inches, cam, multi carbs slicks and so on. It would have not qualified as a custom, but more of a "hot rod".

 

You Guy's have it all wrong!
Remember Bonnie & Clide
The Guys name was Rod & the Girls name was Custom thus
Rod & Custom
just my 3 cents

 

Here is a Picture of Custom!

 

There is no set answer in my book. It is just each person's personal feeling on either or both. Each serves it's purpose, like the right tool for the job.

Hot rods for me are just a lot of fun, like a big super go cart I always wanted to build as a kid. Really fun to bang around in it, for a while.

Customs are more like real cars, something to drive as your daily driver, big trunk, surf racks, keep your wetsuit in the trunk with all of your gear, pile your friends into it, pick up the groceries in it, more safe to drive the kids around in.

I might not be cool, but I am having a lot of fun.
wil
www.sakowskimotors.com

 

Both cars are modified to suite the owner's preferences. Each are "mostly" very different from each other. Different purposes, different endgames. Not all of us like, or want both.
I prefer customs, no desire to build a "hot rod". That doesn't mean I won't work on them for a customer...you saw the 34 Terra in the shop the other night, Chris. But I wouldn't want one. If I wanted to go faster in a car, I'd prefer a hopped up 57 Chevy, or a wild earlier 50's Chevy (like my sedan delivery).
That's why Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors!

 

Customs are very beautiful cars...that just usually run like shit.
I'm a hot rod guy...I'd rather it run right ( read: fast/reliable ) above anything else...I find it silly to have years of labor, and tons of money into the appearance of an otherwise weezing, smoking, missing, tapping...well, you get the picture, gorgeous car.
If it don't run right first, you just look real good broke down on the roadside...and chicks really dig that.
Custom: Show.
Hot Rod: Go.
They are oppositional, it just that both have an appeal...but most of us lean more to one side than the other.
At this point in time the two have coexisted together for long enough that the really just represent the two original camps/mindsets of they car world...Vanity and Competition.

My custom-owning/loving friends don't like when i talk like this...

 

Well so far some guys are picking on my and my thread like I was the kid in gym with the tighty whities! Oh well. And for some its turned into a "Define hot rod and custom in your opinion". I was just wondering why they are always grouped together, and from most of your opinions the two couldnt be further apart by definition. So that in mind why are they always viewed in the same light?

 

I like the Jacked up in the rear look on this one. I could park My Rod
behind That

 

The actual answer, of course, as always IMO, probably lies in a one time need for bolstering the numbers...
If too few of one thing exist to fill out a show lot, or a magazine, just expand your target group to include more diverse interests.
It makes capitalistic sense.