Folks Of Interest Traditional Rodders and Custom builders stand up and be counted

"Traditional movement" is a loaded statement/question, doncha think?

For newbies who are sincerely fond of our era and those star builders it may be or have been a movement. To others who have been there or have been fortunate enough to be raised with it I don't think movement applies. I can use a traditional approach to the build of a Camaro. Before that gets flamed, think about what I said. That would be little to no bling, using what works best vs the "latest" tricks, even using whatever wheel gets it done. No fashion statements. All performance. Clean, detailed, respected for sure, but no frills. I've done just that in the past due to my anti-"1 800" approach to things.

Having described it as a movement, it's probably more accurate to call it a trend these days. How much farther can the current modern rod go? How will a car like First Love be topped? For some of us old grey bastids it's like going back to the begining and taking a better look. For all of you reading here, how many things that you never considered now catch your eye? How well versed in old parts were you before? Old guys passed on it for a time and are coming back, making some of our old junk valuable again (a good thing in my book). The tried and true practice of split bones, Zephyr gears, old motors and mounts, and dozens of other things are now being passed on to the next generation of hotrodder. Deep down inside we all want to forward what we know. If it creates a movement, I guess this old traditional car guy can live with it. My passion is kustoms. In that one small segment of automotive history not much ever changes. Kripfink posted some fine examples of that. The 1st has that "you know it when you see it" vibe. Short of the newer paint look that car could be in any magazine from the 50s to today and create the same feelings.

FWIW, I didn't see too much drama in this topic. Just sayin...

 

Great post!I don't think there were that many 60 year old rodders back in the day,because used part availability was such that you could build comparitively quickly.Lets not forget that driving these babies is part of the experience.Needs must when the devil drives etc.
And Jim, good luck with the panel. Try "traditionally inspired" on for size, I always liked that one.
Paul

 

I can see where you are coming from I am one of those who was always yanking a flatty or a six out of something to put a hot motor in. It is a combination of the era I am from, my upbringing and if you asked the right people they would say to make up for my short comings.

The fact is that I am stuck in the '60s for the most part and not the show rod crowd. Making it faster or handle better or both is a family tradition. Fortunately it fits into the traditional mold for the most part.

For you if you are going to build to the era that is pre valve in head V-8 a flatty is one of your few choices. I guess you could find a blown Dusenberg or a Stutz. Folks would tell you that it is wrong but if they weren't there to witness it being wrong they wouldn't be able to enforce it, I suppose. Actually a lot of fellas from that era pulled flatties for valve in head chebby sixes. But for the most part if you wanted to soup a Ford prior to the post war valve in heads you stuffed a flathead V-8 in one.

I have actually given some deep thought to the restoration part of the equation. I have even called folks that build exact period replicas restorers at one time or another. Today I believe that I was wrong. To restore something you bring it back to its original form so in all actuality in order for you to be restoring it, it would first have to be a vehicle with history.

Here is an example of what I am thinking. I have a friend named jack who built an exact replica of the Hirohata Merc. All the way down to the Barris shield and the California tag. That car is not a restoration the real Hirohata Merc has been found and restored. The car that jack built is perfect in every aspect it fits the era and is so close to the original that parked side by side you cannot tell the difference in them.

Now a few years back friend Jack found the Westergard Fadeaway. It had been updated several times and other than the Carson top and the fender fades it was pretty much bastardized. Jack went through what it took to find historic pictures and actual history on the car and he brought it back to its original luster. That was a restoration.

By my way of thinking even if your car isn't a copy of an actual historic vehicle it is a replica, you may even want to call it a period correct traditional hot rod or custom. I know that hangs a title on it or puts it in a box but in essence that is what we do.



Does that make any sense?

Highlander for drama I guess I could call you a bad name but that would be too ingenuine and I think everyone would see through it.

I see your point I guess it is only a movement if you have never been involved, the magazines seem to like to call us throwbacks, like we have some kind of a cromagnon thing going on.

I totally understand the thing with the Camero also. I have done pretty much the same thing to several cars from the 1st gen Camero era. Mostly grocery getters not performance oriented cars, but the same principle.

I guess some of us fall into the group that got to be cool twice. I have a friend that is about 12 year older than I am. He is the age group of the fellas that I hung out with when I was young. Those are the ones that I learned from as well as the Ol' Man. I came in on the tail end of our type of hot rods and customs being cool and the beginning of them not being cool. So I was kind of cool and real cool with the right crowd for a little while.

Anyway long story short my friend says that you can be cool at least two times in life if you hold still long enough. Once when it was cool and again when it comes back around.

Every movement has its leaders, they more often than not don't see themsekves as leaders and are not neccessarily a part of the movement itself. They are the ones who pass on knowlege. They don't have to be older and it doesn't have to be knowlege that they already possesed, it can also be learned knowlege. We can't depend on all the grey beards doing the passing at least in our situation there are a lot of younger people that have a great deal of knowlege stored up and pass it along as well.

 

Well I am a Hotrodder/ streetrodder!!....I like cars with paint on them, I also like cars with interior in them......And don't even get me started on safety.....Seems as though some of you are confused on what a streetrod is, Sounds like alot of you have it in your head that a streetrod is a billet covered, hi tech car that is painted like a easter egg.....Well that is Not so, "Jim Jacobs" yellow 34 3 window is a streetrod, And so is the "california Kid" along with alot of other cool cars built in the late 60's and 70's. Also there were alot of nice streetrods built in the 50's as well. This bullshit of "The rusty'er your car is, The better" is not traditional Hot rodding!...It is a fad of the late 90's til now, and it has all ready started to get old...If I am wrong then prove it!, Show me in any of the 50's hot rod mags Where the cars are in bare metal, Or have big rust holes in them!.....

 

I do all my own work and use original shit when I can find it and is in the condition i feal is safe or good enough to use. Consumable items I buy new (electrical wiring, break parts and nuts/bolts my life depends on...). I NEVER have anyone else work or do anything on my old cars with the exception of my father, and we just help eachother. I dont live my life through the Street Rodder magazine and I dont live by the motto of "I had an outfit out of ___ build me that" or "its a kit from ____ ". I think the biggest things that Street Rodders have a problem with is not really nowing what to buy or how to recognise the part they need at a swapmeet so they just order it new. Another thing that I think separates alot of Street Rodders from traditional builders is having the tools and knowing how to use them. I know people that have Street Rods and welders, mills and lathes but never seem to really use them. My father and I cant make anything without using the lathe, mill and welder, we end up fealing like we did something wrong if we make something and didnt have to use a welder mill or lathe. I like doing my own work because i enjoy it.

 

Ditto

 

Krip..You got it brother. I'll post it when or if I get it to that point. I cant quit revising the damn thing. I had bags outside the rail, now going back inside with a sway bar..One of these months it will run.

And Jim, good luck with the panel. Try "traditionally inspired" on for size, I always liked that one.
Paul

 

I actually don't remember the term street rod until the mid to late '60s. And yes the Kid is a street rod but we are not dealing with Pete and Jake. That was the beginning of what is considered the street rod movement and they were the exception to the rule. If you recall that was the era of the resto rod and "Street Rodders thought that you had to have everything modern to be safe and reliable (sound familiar). They started building parts that resembled the old stuff that was considered to be safe. that was what their business was based on.

No one here will argue the point on rustorods with you. For the most part only the fellas that are still trying to learn are deep into building with junk and leaving it that way. Traditionalists or a term I heard from a Street rodder at a non billet show was Purest Hot Rodders and Rat Rodders are a long ways apart.

You don't see too many "Street rods" built these days that are like the Jacobs 34 or the Kid. What you do see a lot are easter egg colored billity hi tech wonders. In a sense what gave the movement to traditionaly styled cars its steam are those cars that the average joe with a mid life crisis had to rape the kids college fund and take out a second mortgage to aquire. A lot of folks got tired of the fooforah and wanted to have something a little simpler. Built correctly reliabel and safe even with drum brakes and beam axles.

To compare the kid to a modern street rod is apples to oranges.

 

I like my parts like I like my women...old and well used! and full of character...

 

P n B - I have to disagree with your last post. I think there are plenty of Street Rods being built in the California Kid vein. Somehow I think you are confusing "Billet Rods" (maybe that's what they should be called) as being the only type of street rod being built today. I say that's nonsense.
I just finished a chopped 34 coupe for a friend. It's a gennie Ford Frame, Rat's Glass Body, gennie steel fenders. Powered by a 302 Ford C/4 with a 9". It has 4 wheel disc brakes hiding behind Salt Flat wheels. You can't see the Heidt's IFS thanks to the fenders, the color is Washinton Blue and overall it looks a lot like the Kid in stance and style. No where near a traditional car, but not a single piece of billet or easter egg color anywhere. It is a plain and simple Street Rod - and proud of it.
How about my 29 RPU, again, not a single billet part on it, but with a 347 stroker and C4 it surely isn't truly a Traditional or Period car, sounds like a Street Rod to me


Cars like this are being built everyday by many guys on here, and the only true name for them is Street Rod. It is too bad that a whole bunch of folks have decided that it is a dirty word because they don't like the Boyd Type car that was also called a Street Rod. The term is broad and painted over a wide spectrum of cars. Maybe to help solve this you can call those the Billet Rods, or Smoothy Rods.
In my recollection, Street Rod came about as a way of getting Hot Rods back on the street and being driven. Tow things had happened - many Hot Rods had become thinly disguised race cars and other were just put away in garages, The Street Rod movement got them back on the street and the whole point of the first nationals was to get them back out and drive them - on the STREET!
just my opinion

 

The Kid is a Hotrod.

Right.

Right again.

Yep.

I am shocked to have just found that hotroddon and I actualy agree on something:

A car with 4 wheel discs and IFS is a Streetrod.

 

Hell I agree with don about 90% of the time. I mostly disagree with him to do one of two things get a discussion started or stir the pot. I am not ashamed of either open discussion is good and everyone here needs their cage rattled once in awhile some of them need their cage destroyed I am afraid. Complacency is a very bad thing.

Don,
I agree that the two cars mentioned are street rods but I don't agree that they need disc brakes and IFS to be safe or reliable. That said I am putting discs on my current project. They came off a '64 Avanti and are a bolt on to my old Starlight. I won't argue with anyone if they are traditional, they fit the build and the period. I am not sure that they will stop as well as the drums that remains to be seen so I am keeping my drums just in case.

Anyway back to the discussion I think a lot of us got a bad taste in our mouths when we were shunned by the street rod community. A lot of that commuity to this day trailer their cars all over the country I think that we both know that. I am ashamed to say that a lot of the traditional community do the same. I still believe that nothing but a dedicated race car or a car that is broken should ever be on a trailer. I believed that before the Kid ever existed and was driving what I owned on a dailey basis, I doubt that will change in the very near future.

You will find that there are a lot of cars on here that are street rods and are still accepted here. A lot of it has to do with how tastefully done the car is I think. No one will call it traditional but many will surley be called traditionally styled which has become acceptable, at least within our ranks. You can certainly call the Kid traditionaly styled. The car was inspired by a traditional car and built to show the community that the old stuff was safe and reliable.

 

Smart man

I didn't say they done to make them safer (although they probably do) nor that they were needed, only that the 34 has them (the 29 RPU is a dropped axle car. it is also original Henry steel - body, frame, and front axle/bones). What I was saying is this definitely takes it out of the "Trad or Period" definition and makes it a street rod. It is also a Hot Rod, judging by the big old burn out i did in it last night
Don

 

"Traditionally inspired"
I finally fit in a category!

 

I have done all the work on my present build except for some machine work a friend did for me. I think it is very traditional. I have bought very few new parts and modified almost ever part on it to fit. However, this is not my only area of interest. I will always have a soft spot for 60s muscle cars, old tractors, WW2 airplanes and various other contraptions.
But what really is traditional. Even most "traditional" rods are basically in the spirit of traditional but still have modern techniques like plasma cutters and wire feed welders used.

 

As much as I despise labels and such, that term is pretty darn close for 99% of us, isn't it?....

 

Great! Now all I have to do is trademark it and charge that 99% of the hamb for permission to use it. My plan for world domination is coming together!MMMMWWWAAAARRRR!!!!

Benno, you have managed to instigate something that is very rarely accomplished on the HAMB, a civilised, sometimes heated free exchange of differing opinions that makes for stimulating and fascinating reading, without anyone threatening to punch each other's lights out or calling each other rude names.
Paul

 

I guess I'm a whore. I'll build anything you want. I do everything except machine work and interior, (so far) Just a matter of money. All my builds are body restorations. No matter if they be traditional , custom or stock. My own stuff: my 33 ford P/U is pretty trad. My Stude is closer to a street rod. My 64 falcon is not going to fit in any category I know of. Right now I'm having a blast with the new Harley. Not traditional but who cares.

 

Actually my wise crack was meant more toward the looks of it...no doubt it is well built, and yes a lot of work already done...
Just not to my personal liking.....and this thread was about traditional, so I lipped off.....
Still would make the same comment though !!!!
Cheers,

 

Absolutely!

 

I keep coming back to this thread thinking I'll say something, every time I do, I read a few posts and think "nope, not gonna get involved..."

 

Psst...... I have a 1960 HOTROD mag where they refer to one of the "feature" cars....a nicely built Model A, as a.....gasp...........STREET ROD.....haha...

These types of discussions I feel are best discussed over beer and pizza.....
Who's in???????

 

I try real hard to do my stuff traditional,

for the most part because of money and contacts,
I do the best I can.

I have fun with my cars
and build and work on my cars MYSELF!

At my age (58) I go for late 50s early 60s stuff and style ,
Do I do it right all the time?
No!
but I try,
sometimes I get it right
sometimes I don't and I try again....

I do consider myself a Hot Rodder !

Hows that count ?

I do love this site and enjoy being part of it for whatever thats worth.

As any Hot Rodder I will help out just about anybody that needs help!

I hope I don't sound like a ASSHOLE ,I don't mean to......

 

Ed you are absolutely correct. I don't think that owning or building a trad rod is part of the criteria sometime it is just a mind set.

We both know a fella that has a very fine totally traditional rod that was a trad roder for quite awhile prior to owning the perfect one.

Matter of opinion

 

Count me in.



iPhone - TJJ App

 

traditionally minded, is sometimes unfortunately something different than traditionally built! that is my opinion as a twenty year old so feel free to give me feed back

 

I would like to think im at least trad. Influenced

 

I have said this before. Being a hot rodder is a state of mind.

 

That is the description I like.I am starting a build on a channelled 1932 roadster.It will have dropped I beam,hairpins,early drum brakes on the front and probably 9" rear also with drums.Early Chev (283/327).

However it will be a glass body and in fact is one built in the USA.Show Me Hot rods(Branson MO) do a body that has two inch longer doors and 2 extra inches in the cabin.Looking at the body you don't notice the difference but the ease of getting in and out for someone over 6 foot was the reason I went for this.

We will keep the "look" as traditional as possible using a 60's East Coast type look.The Tom Branch style roadster is what I am looking at.

 

When did Tom Branch's Southern California roadster become "East Coast type" ?!?