I have read all these posts and being orginal is great but if you enjoy building then driving them all that matters is if it is safe and relibable. Build what you want and **** everybody else.
Dave, Be careful, because when you point a finger you have three more pointing back at you. How come you're building a '32 3 window and a '32 roadster? Why are you using American's and Halibrands? Why did you jump on the Stewart Warner bandwagon? Why are you doing the same thing as everyone else? Don't you have any imagination? I think everybody adds a bit of personality to their cars, without even trying. alchemy
The problem is, there's nothing new under the sun. The "hot rod" thing we do now, had a beginning, just as everything else does.....those that were in on the beginning came up with a lot of neat & weird combinations because they "had to" with what was available, meaning junkyards & salvaged parts, all those parts & every combination thereof has been done, even way back then. For 60 years now people have been trying to do different things with the same few basic systems, drivetrain, body, axles, paint & tires/wheels. It's very hard & bankruptingly expensive produce anything that hasn't been done before. And usually the things that have't been done, look like **** and that's why they haven't. The only thing you can really keep pushing the envelope with is bleeding egde technology, as in electronic vintage fuel injection, cnc cut billet frame ***emblies/sections, etc. It was much less expensive to fail and build a nasty out of proportion fonky weirdo-rod back in the day, build one now and most people just shot their one and only wad. So they stick to what's always been cool & accepted, with a couple of little barely noticeable twists of their own. Now that there's basically no vintage junkyards that you can go buy a truckload of scavenged experimental/workable parts from for $60.00, and build 80% of a car from it, everyone has to order everything. Compounded by the fact that people are just downright lazy nowadays. .
Dave Good thought I am not big on the whole car clone thing myself. But unless you are going to build a riddler contender there realy isn't much that hasn't already been done. Let me choose a different line of thought to get back to what it is that I am trying to say. When we speak we use the same basic phrases over and over in different combinations. When we do thi we express ourselves. It is the same when one builds a hot rod or a custom we use the same basic phrases in different combinations or the same basic groupes of parts in different combinations to express ourselves. There really are not many different wheels to choose from and they are all round, there are so many different engines to use and they all operate in the same fasion, so many different ways to latch a hood or a door. And so on and so forth. There really is not way to invent something new that is old and even at that most inventions in the world of hot rodding is actually just a different take on something that has already been done.
So I thought this site was all about traditional cars?? How do you build a new traditional car?? Traditional is traditional.
You can steal some ideas. Look at difference a little curve in a pipe bumper makes. And without louvers the trunk looks flat compared to later models. I'd like to see someone add some curve to it.
...Or louvers but no bumper. ...Or maybe neither. The point is to be creative while building a traditional car. It takes more thought, but it's worth it.
For me it is simply trying to be creative using ideas I may see or perhaps like to see. You could think about it as our own vision of an "Art Form". For years I guess my builds leaned toward more of a "one of" design but I never thought of it that way until it was pointed out to me by my friends. I just felt my builds were done the way I liked them and with some thought that when the time came to sell them, others might like them too. Some have maintained a Factory look while making people question what they see different. As a Family some design ideas accommodated our needs for something we could enjoy and use. In the 70's my first 37 Chevy Coupe I converted to a rumble seat. Lots of fun until the Family started to grow. I then moved on to 37 Chevy Sedans, some Panel trucks with interior design for Family trips and camping, a Sedan Delivery designed with side windows like a Station Wagon, A 37 Chevy Kingcab Pickup with rear jump seats, some 50's cruisers. I still currently enjoy our old Chopped suicide door 37 Chevy Sedan, my 56 Chevy ElCamino conversion and my current vision converting a 60's Malibu Wagon into a 2 door Nomad. My rides are just different enough that I can easily spot them in a crowded parking lot.
Use YOUR imagination. Stop building 32's ! There's prolly more of them out there now than there was in 32. We're oversaturated!
It is all about setting your mind to it and taking the best of the best and combining that into what is yours. Engines, rake, louvers, tires and wheels interior all that makes it your ride and indisputably your ride.
This thread rings true on so many counts. At least in the States there is a bit of imagination when it comes to rod building. Over here the trend is always towards gl*** repro 32-34 Coupes and Tudors with 3 inch chops and repro 28 to 34 Roadsters. Of course there are awesome rides being built but more often then not they are drowned out by the billet and bling. So more often then not its cliche city when it comes to rod building. Chopped gl*** body check, Aftermarket Independent front end check, Nine Inch rear end check, crate 350 S.B.C check, automatic transmission check, exposed high rise manifold check, billet wheels with undersized rear tyres check, hidden hinges with antique stock door handles check, of course anything but Ford is either ignored or frowned upon. The worst thing is that these glorified kit cars clean up at the local shows and feature the most in the local mags while the really creative rides often never get a look in. When the owners of these show ponies decide to sell them its not uncommon to see them listed for 100 grand plus, over priced over rated ! When it comes to original early iron, things are not much better, ugly 35 to 48 four door sedans are coveted like gold and Four door 55 to 57 Chevies are hot property too. Far easier to chop the top in a four door sedan than cut and shut it into a stock looking tudor. Chop tops are another bone of contention for me, not everything needs to be chopped. Back in the fifties and sixties it was a statement to lower the top on your ride, now its just so hum drum. The bigger dollar the ride, the bigger the deficit in imagination it seems in most cases. Its no wonder there has been a trend towards, traditional home built rides, g***ers, and left of centre commercials over the last decade or so around the globe. These are what really stand out from a sea of red 32s and 57s.
If your tired of seeing the same ol' stuff. Keep it on the streets. Stay away from clubs, car shows, and cruise nights. I'll bet I can drive my car around all month and not see another even remotely like it. If you ask me, our old cars are rare. Be they black, with red steelies, or Red with billet wheels. And I can't remember the last time I saw a clone of anything. BTW. I like my chrome spreader bar, and my belly ****on SBC.
My car was my dad's car. Between it his 65 chevy pickup and his 58 impala he drove them everywhere depending on his fancy that day. I am building my car for me. If you like it fine, if not fine. That being said, there will be a lot of custom touches that I have seen on other cars. The things I didn't like will not be on it. My wheel selection, dashboard, chop, interior are all being done in styles that have been done. They will be the things that have really gotten my attention. Some of the things I am doing are things my dad started. Other things, aint gonna happen, because they either were not the safest way of doing them, or not the way I have envisioned this car since I was 5 years old.
I copied Tom Branch and bobbleed's Roadsters... I'm not original but I know what I like! Now I'm copying that very Roadster...!
I've always had an overactive imagination, and the ability to make it happen. For me, it's a lot of fun to take something and rework it into whatever I need to suit my intended purpose. I always strive to make it look as if it came that way, rather than an afterthought. I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want to accomplish, a general idea of how to go about it, and then just make it up as I go along. That way, if the part doesn't fit the plan, I can make the plan fit the part .
ummm....isn't this site all about traditional rodding.....that in itself says that all rods should be the same as the old ones ....so how can you be different ?????
Looks like 12 years has p***ed, and... I love it when a plan comes together! -Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith Sam
I mounted my headlights to my exaust..don't see these everyday...works for me..lucky for me I like every car out here it's all steel in my eyes..
The Jalopy Journal
