Hot Rods What does traditional hot rodding mean to you?

I saw a commenter yesterday berate someone elses idea to remove some parts for a more streamlined look as not being "traditional." I was a little floored to be completely honest. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand that some things like everything between the covers of Vern Tardels "How to Build a Traditional Ford Hot Rod" are kind of a given. In my personal, young and perhaps naive opinion though, traditional hot rodding is to gather up whatever pre 1961 parts are available, you can find, or you can fabricate and figure out a way to bolt, weld or bubblegum together (hopefully safer than they actually did back in the day) to make a cool looking fast, better handling or personalized rod. That's it! Beyond that you have veins of customs and lines that blur between the two. When I see someone say something along the lines of "Oh no, thats not proper." It leaves me thinking...well duh! Thats what this is about! If you want ultra strict guidelines, join a restoration group! Stock is a fairly easy definition. I feel like some folks get too wrapped up in trying to be like someone else, build their car like someone else that they forget the true spirit of this hobby and lifestyle as well as the fact that while guys copied each other back in the day, SOMEONE was the originator of every little detail that became a trend. So I pose to you; what does traditional hot rodding mean to you? Is it only what specifically was done that we have surviving proof of today? Is it building within SOME guidelines to replicate a look and feel of an era? I certainly am not ignorant enough to ASSume that my opinion is or could only be the correct one.

 

Stick around for a while longer, you'll get used to the strange things that people say.....and to not get too upset about it.

 

I'm not upset, it just raised a question I had to think about and answer for myself. I seriously doubt anyone could say anything online that would upset me!

 

Fuzzy Dice, a mirror muff and remove the wheel covers. About as traditional as you can get in the late 50’s-early 60’s when you had no money. When you saw it you knew a teenage owned it..

 

A car with mostly fabbed parts In the 50s and 60s you fabbed parts not ordered them.

 

You think too much.

 

Never been saddled with that one before! Thanks!

 

OK I'll bite. I have not got under anyone's skin yet today. LOL

You cannot limit hot rodding to one man's opinion or experience. Hot rodding is regional and sometimes differs from one neighborhood to the next. The Tardels (both father and son) build beautiful cars. They have my respect, but I do not build like them, I also do not build like Brizio or the Rolling Bones. I build like me.

There is a reason why I say that a man (or woman) should build their own cars (vehicles). The build is a direct reflection of the builder. I can build you a car or a bike (or about anything with wheels) and maybe you will be happy as a duck when you are motoring. You will own it and it will not be your vehicle it will be mine.

Hot rodding traditionally is taking a car and making it better. in my world form follows function so better is going to be handling and or performance. Looks come into play later only because making it better usually changes the look of the original vehicle. There is a look that appeals to me. It may not appeal to you. I don't care.

Now taking this a step farther. Using Vern Tardel as an example. Mr Tardel was a flathead racer. he said in an interview that he was a flathead racer for a reason. "You could blow one up on Sunday and find one cheap and be back on the track on Saturday" OK the reason I bring this up is that he was running flatties when my Ol' Man was running nailheads. Dad was in the San Francisco and Mr Tardel was in Santa Rosa about 55 miles away. Dad liked them close to the ground, scraping low, Mr Tardel does not build them that way I do not think that he did. Two men building in the same era (actually Dad was building in the '30s I don't know that Mr Tardel is that old) not 100 miles away from each other building different cars.

In Calif in the '50s high boys were cool. meanwhile in New York heavy channel was the name of the game.

We do things here that we can nail down as being common in an era. That is fact and one cannot change history. But hot rodding is personal and a build is going to differ from one man to the next.

NOTE: I am using Mr Tardel and my Ol' Man as an example only and this is not an affront to either.

 

A perfectly fine post from a young man of 33 seeking to find what can be quite elusive at times.

Someone once said, "It's hard to define pornography, but you'll know it when you see it." Traditional hot rodding is much the same. When you see it, you'll know it.

 

i didn't know there was such a thing as traditional hot rodding.

you can build a traditional car. you can build a model A in an 80's tradition. or you can build one 50's style. 40's pre-war.... you can build it to fit any decade, tastes and styles change.

 

I would agree

 

'Eh....
I little bullshit from time to time is OK, the spice of life, I guess.
What I can't stand is Horseshit!

 

Well my grandpa always said that you should not eat them even if they are called road apples.

 

I guess I don't know, I had a thread deleted because it was about LED taillights in a 40 Ford coupe with an 8BA flathead because LED taillights are off topic. Very traditional car, black coupe, red wheels with wide whites, dropped axle, flathead 39 top shifter transmission and 40 rearend. He put the LED lights in the stock housings for safety since they are a lot brighter and the stock taillights lay at an angle and are hard to see.
My version of a traditional car is a 30 Sport Coupe with early Ford closed drive train and an 8BA flathead, makes me wonder if it meets the traditional criteria. My avatar is a 28 Ford Special Coupe with a V8 60 that I built in the early 90's, didn't taillight bulbs needed to be traditional.

 

What does traditional hot rodding mean to me? That is the question. If I’m honest it’s all in the eyes of the builder, that is when building you do it your way, yourself. If the public doesn’t get it that’s on them.

 

Official disclaimer: I am going to say something that some may find offensive. If you are offended by my use of course language or are a child stop reading now. (Mr Gomez read it anyway to help you understand the "why" of it).

Some threads get deleted not only because they are not trad. Sometimes a thread gets deleted because it has caused a shit storm or may cause one.

Don't take it personal.

 

It's not a Hobby but a way of life.

 

I feel like if guys can put a tremec in their rod for driveability leds INSIDE original housings shouldnt be burned too bad. Is it traditional? No... cant be seen though and getting rear ended is expensive!

 

I don't take it personal but don't understand why a safety item like a brighter taillight bulb is nontraditional but disc brakes are. The site is limited to 1963 and I don't remember disc brakes in 1963. Oh well I just wanted to rant a little about a petty item.

 

Thats why i said hobby AND i also said lifestyle! im with ya

 

Yes, and the question has almost become a tradition in itself.
To me traditional has a strict definition, as in historically pure.
Whereas traditional style has a much looser definition.
The majority of cars here on the HAMB fall in the second category.
But they all must be close enough to tradition to belong.
Where that line is is a relatively vague and evolving line.
To paraphrase Iothiandon1940, you will know when you cross it.

 

Amen

 

I like how you put that

 

Where did you get 1961 from?

Where did you get 1963 from?

 

Idk...its just the cutoff in my opinion. Doesnt mean hot rods built after arent cool too! Judt opinions

 

Actually disc brakes were being used on American Hot Rods in the early '60s. It was not common.

There are or where things that were common and things that were uncommon. Many of us do not remember things from the '50s and '60s. Some of us were lucky enough to be around hot rodders and builders. What we lean toward are what we can find in a book or on the web. What you are going to find in print is more common, that is what can be proven and the world that we live in.

Can I prove that discs were being used? No way to prove it. Well maybe I could prove that it was possible. LOL

As for LEDs. All I can say is you do what you are comfortable with. Hell I still play a game called "little yellow pool" that I learned from a biker dude from Oakland when I was about 4 or 5. Probably way more dangerous today than when I learned it.

You do you my friend.

 

These threads always work out so well!

 

Really wasn't trying to start a shitstorm but didn't see the harm in asking a question about a problem I couldn't figure out. I think my cars are traditional, I'm even running a generator on my 30 since I don't like the looks of an alternator, mocked it up with the alternator but didn't use it. By the way I don't have a Led bulb in either of my old cars!

 

LOL I know right?