This is OUR version of history.

Well, it AMAZED ME just how much my old man learned between the time I was 14 and the time I was 25.

 

I'm 25 and love when older guys take the time to talk to me about cars. It's become one of me and my wife's favorite parts of driving the galaxie somewhere.

 

I like this. A lot.

 

i'd agree with ya if i wasn't so damn young..

 

Well I am going to be 76 next month, was delivering news papers when I was 12 and stopped every day to see the progress on the chopped and channeled 32 5 window coupe that the old guy was building. Always stood back in aw of him thinking that I could never approach him because I was a 12 year old kid on a bicycle. He was all of 17 years old and a senior in high school while I was in the 6th grade. Many years latter I pitted for him on the 32 at the drags then latter the 35 Austin Bantam on the tube chassis, both flat head powered. In 1960 we got into endurance Go Karting and traveled the 4 state area going to races. He later got into restoring MoPar muscle cars in his retirement. He died back in February at 80 years of age and I still miss him. So you never know where friendship will happen and take you. I drive a married mans car from the fiftys. A I/6 flat head 48 Plymouth 4 door with a much modified engine, could have done two SBCs for what it cost. I knew several mechanics who returned from WWII or Korea who wanted a hot car but could only afford one car and they modified the family car to fill their need for a hot rod. If you look at any of the old adds they made dual intake manifolds and aluminum heads for Willys and Nash as well as Studebaker. My old Plymouth is reliable and a daily driver, I have driven it to Reno for hot August Nights and on to Grass Valley,Pacerville, Folsom Calif then to Bonneville for speed week and back to Texas without any trouble. There many sides to every story and friends are where you find them, be they old or young. So always try to look at the scene in a positive light.

 

That is an EXCELLENT POINT..... Although I am not the "old guy" YET I am getting there.

I DO KNOW there a lot of car guys who do respect the opinion and the work of all. Young or old.

Having "respect" for the elders..... the one's who show us the way is a good trait to have.

But also "respect" for the work & its result.

 

we could go back and forth all day. respect is a large part of it. if the "young" guys are acting like jerks, being rude thats not good. however if "old" guys are being jerks (this doens apply to everyone, but there are a lot) that is not good either. old guys that know everything now and shove it in your face are now the kids that knew everything when they are young. i have respect for old hot rodders. i have ideas about how to do things and i can get the job done. however when i am working with someone who has the experience i defer to the expert. despite the fact that that i think i grew up in the wrong decade(s) change is going to happen. we sort of need to accept it...somewhat.

what i am really curious about is the OP. i would be more intersted in the details of the show that made him post this. if your still out there please explain more.

what i

 

I mean the kind of guys who are in their 40's with their bluetooth headset, and got a shop to build it for them with huge wheels and painted-on looking tires. The guys who when asked about their ride tell you how much it cost, and have no idea what is under the hood aside from that its a V8.

I don't dismiss anything without talking to the owner first, you go to a car show to talk to the people at the show, not just to look at cars.

 

I think the choice is educate or eliminate. Could be the Coors talking but, age is not the determining factor. Attitude is. Not all young minds are immune to growth. If the newbies give you attitude and piss in the face of tradition then shove them aside. If they ask for direction, steer them.

 

Cool story and words to live by, thanks from a kid of 65 years of age.

 

True words. I appreciate you sharing them.

 

No kidding, you can insult me all you want for that kind of coin.

 

Man I am glad that in the 24 years I have been alive that I never cared about being cool.

I can't speak for clothes as I just wear leather hush puppies black jeans, whatever t-shirt I feel like on the day and a black wool jersey.

I think flannel is the new traditional lets face it alot of people wear flannel. Al Borland would be proud.

 

Way to go Moose, I'd be mortified if I woke up one day to find that my clothing choices for the day were determined by how i wanted to be percieved. Cool is not something you put on when you get up in the morning.....and I have to admit....if it is.....I ain't got it.. but I appreciate it in others....everyone knows someone who can't put a foot wrong...everything they touch turns to gold....whether it's your poker buddy or... Guys that are truly cool in all their doings are a rare thing.

I do know one truly cool dude ...but if you told him that, he would tell you to f**k right off. He's a farmer with a toe in the city, but is the calmest, most balanced guy I know. I'm continually inspired by his take on life.
I'm 56 and he's 50....I'm still learning.

 

I get upset when someone of ANY age tries to rewrite our history. I want the history to be accurate. I spend time on Facebook...friends of the Queenstown Mighty Mo where I spent most of my time in the 60s. Some asshole got on there and through a few posts he was representing himself as a big time street racer in 1960. (before even my time) He claimed a lot of nonsense. He claimed he ran a 59 Fury in 1960 with 2 4s... Possible but not probable. When he said it ran in the 10s in 1960 on the street...I couldn't take it any more.

BULLSHIT! Pure unadulterated bullshit. Some woman got on there and said my Frank says that it was possible. Assholes can convince stupid people anything. Protect our history. Don't let a bunch of liars muck it up.

I'll be 68 in Oct. so I'm an old fart. I enjoy our history and I try to make sure that the history that is repeated is accurate. It was too cool to mess it up with lies.

 

I'm 23, and according to most people I have come to understand two things.
1) I have no need for a car like my Cadillac, I should just get an 49'-54' Chevy.
2) I'm too young to be messing with this "Classic Stuff" in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, i'm the first person to sit and intently listen to information and opinions i don't know, but give me a chance to prove i'm not a punk first i say.

 

I generally leave people alone. If they want to dress like a cartoon Fonzie and hang with tatted women who look like 10 lbs of potatoes in a 5 pound sack, that's fine. They look ridiculous (and from what my dad tells me...neither he, nor anyone he knew, looked that way in the 50's), but whatever....do what you want.

What gets my goat is when they act all too-cool-for-school like they just came back from some special forces op in Nam or something.

Sheesh.

 

I don't consider myself young anymore (36), but I never pass an opportunity to hear how it really was. I could sit all day and listen. I love all kinds of history (I say that with respect, not as a smart allec comment), especially history of our hobby.

 

Probably afraid they might hear that a round pick up cab set on a T-Bucket frame with zero stance, a modern small block sporting M/T valve covers and a single 4bbl with a velcity stack, front disk brakes with blue braided steel brake hoses, red Chevy rally wheels with radial wide white walls and all the rust and "patina" they could conjour up are not traditional hot rods.

 

(Hesiod, 8th century BC)​

 

I can remember years ago as a young man, shooting the bull at a swapmeet, and telling some buddies about driving Dad's old 1940 Chevy sedan to high school. This nearby old timer looked at me and said that I was full of shit and that I had never driven a 1940 Chevy. Guy never gave me the chance for rebuttal and strolled off, to try and quell another young car guy's day, I guess. That really pissed me off, but I realized that some folks are just asshats and their life is their own punishment.

Some people, young, middle-aged and old want to listen and learn and others do not. If I hadn't listened to my grandpa and a lot of the other "old timers" that took the time to educate me, I would be a lesser person.

 

I could listen to stuff like this ALL DAY! I love to hear different people share their passion and their stories. When I sit and listen to stories like this, I can imagine being there, seeing the cars, smelling the oil and gas.
James, I am sorry to hear that you lost your life long friend.

 

People, especially the younger crowd, have their own fucked up way of seeing things in their own little world. When someone, who actually knows what's going on, tries to enlighten and/or correct their mindset, they turn a deaf ear.

You just can't fix stupid!

 

Here we are six pages later. What was the knowledge you were going to share with them anyway?

Our car club is about half guys in their early thirties and half guys in their mid 50's to 60's. Knowledge is spread back and forth, parts are traded back and forth. Real hot rodding. Lots of cars getting built and driven. These guys are like brothers to me.

Im not trying to recreate an old guys past or rewrite it. I appreciate the knowledge of others and respect the guys that have been doing this shit since well before I was born and while it wasn't cool.

If someone is cool I'll hang out and listen but Im not going to gather around and sit around in a cirlce to hear a bedtime story because quite honestly if I didn't ask you I don't give a shit. This is hot rodding not the boy scouts. Toughen up cry babys.

 

Here's your answer Rock!

 

I guess I'm a "youngin'" by the fact that I'm not quite yet a curmudgeon (I'm 35) ... the first mechanic I hired at my shop was a greasy +50yr old Manson lookin muther f'er. He knew his shit and he knew it well but nobody listened to what he was sayin because he was always bitter about the way things were and are. We became close friends a decade ago and still are to this day because neither one of us bs' about crap that doesn't matter anymore. ...like trends.

A-fcukin-men.

 

I'm 70 and built,drove and showed rods in the 50's on! I like that young are into rods!
***There is a odd to me world that "now rodders" have formed with too many Tats and skills,cross's or tikkies in over the top use,but there having fun,so fine even if it is not even close to what there trying to kind of copy.
I did not and do not think some of the stuff *there doing now looks cool,cus to me it still looks as stuipd as it would of looked in 1955 to 1965 and rodders then would of said something like WTF about over choped tops an laying frame and any idea that primer or looks like primer is a finel finish of any kind= was always on the way to the shiny and got there mostly.
But I do enjoy when asked, telling how it really was,some beleve,others walk away becuese the don't wish there bubble broke
Us old duffers need to remember that fun is the main thing for us all ,Yu'all be

 

At Back to the 50's a couple weeks ago, I commented to a friend that you sure can tell the "rodders" that have drifted over from the mini truck "scene". There are some who seem to "get it", but most don't. I sure hope those that don't, drift on to something else soon, before they wreck much more vintage tin!!

 

At this show I stopped, and was checking out some early style Harleys. Got to talking with one of the owners,(probably 23 years old) told him that i liked that they were kick-start, and had side-shifters. I started to tell him about my early memories of seeing these bikes, and how it was all part of the "Look"... Jumping up, and putting muscle into into the kick to get started, and then how cool it was to see em' reaching down to the side of the bike to shift the gears. He stopped me and asked me how old I am, I told him. And that was the end of the conversation. He turned his back to me and started talking to one of his buddys.
I was just going to compliment him for building in the traditional style.

 

It is just you. Everyone always hangs on my every word when I speak.

I think that the young people are making their own history. They are taking what we have done and those before us and tweaked it to suite themselves.

In 50 or 60 years no one will remember the 'beaner and they may not even remember Rocky but they will be writing or chatting about some of these young kids and the tradition that they have made. There will be some younger kids that never knew them but will know something about them and they will be writting their own version of history.

I guess it is sad to think that we don't really matter any more but in the eyes of the world we never really mattered anyway. What is important to you and I will always be important to us and we will no doubt continue to try and make it important to other people but the truth is that we are like Puff, quilted wings and giant things make way for other toys.

Well thanks a lot Rocky, I am starting to feel old.