The "your favorite fenderless rod" post prompted me to ask this question. Looking thru the photos, I've seen radically chopped or channeled cars, big engines, unique induction, some built on a shoe string (or with shoe sting), some with super fit and finish, and it makes me wonder, what is it about a car that really turns your crank? Obviously, it's different for each of us. They say that you can't explain cool. Either you know it or you don't. So, what makes a hot rod cool to you? Maybe this will help out some newcomers. And lets not include customs, that's a whole other topic.
Engineering and style are what I like. There are good looking cars that aren't very well engineered and there are well engineered cars that don't look right, but a car that has both "the look" and is well built is what "turns my crank". It has to have an overall theme going for it, something that flows, ie. no billet wheels on primered car with tuck and roll. Most of all, it has to sit right, oh and not have a small block.
I like something that is stealthy? looking.You know,sinister,sneaky.Badass,etc. More go than show.Rough around the edges.Somewhat uncomfortable and a little hard to drive but yet something I can drive for a few hours. I don't need heat,air,tunes,smooth ride,quiet. Jimmy White's video says it all !!!!! When I want comfort I drive my family car.
Regardless of whether it was custom, hot rod, rat rod, street rod or race car. It's always been the new creative ideas combined with an artistic approach. And that always changes for me, as I am always looking for something different to admire. Today, the tequilla monster.. tommorrow, whatever MichaelAngelo can dream up. Very few of us are leaders. It's the (Pack) mental attitude carried over from our history. If we aren't looking for some ideas.. we are complaining about the lack of leadership. We ALL do it. Few break the mold. I admire the work and creativity, not so much the vehicle.
100% agree with Wayfarer. An interesting thing about this is that a car nothing at all like my general tastes can grab me if it's a successful job. I did not post on the fenderless net thread because I can't scan/post pics, but if I could I would have posted a channeled fenderless Model A pickup that was a Rod&Custom cover car in 1953. A description of this car wouldn't even catch my interest--it is nothing at all like my idea of how a Model A should look--but the car became one of my all time favorites as soon as I saw the picture. It was a channeled '29 roadster PU with full hood and complete Naugahyde interior that could easily have been a show car--everything about it flowed together perfectly. It was a real driver, and it looked like two people somehow comfortably fit into it--AND it was driven to Bonneville and went 136 before driving home. A love-at-first-sight car done in a way I would never have considered if I were building an A.
Taking Wayfarer's explaination one step farther: Singular purpose. Distill the essence of the car until there's nothing that doesn't belong; there's nothing on the car that doesn't contribute to that singular purpose. I define a hot rod by what ISN'T there; no A/C, no "artistic" graphics, no killer stereo, etc...
I grew up hating East Coast Hot Rods. For many years I didn't touch the little books in my possession because I thought that channeled cars looked like shitbox deathtraps. I still think that way about the so-called "billetproof rods" though I would go to see them just because it's interesting to see something built with old parts in a sea of old cars painted bright colors with soulless small blocks and automatic transmissions in them. Then I saw the Fred Steele roadster. It's perfect. It doesn't sit ridiculously low and it's not channeled stupidly. The color is very unique (I get so tired of black, red and orange.) and it's running full wheelcovers when all of the other "old school" rides are running postwar Ford hubcaps with trim rings. Are there things I'd change? Sure, no car is perfectly as I'd want it- even my own. But it's my favorite of the bunch. It looks its era and its location. Oh, I dug out the old little books a few years ago and found out I liked those cars after all. I'd love to build a channeled, unchopped Deuce five-window. Long live the East Coast!
id have to agree , its like art. too an extent its the parts that make it up, but when you realy think about it dont alot of ppl go with a nail head or hemi just cause it looks cool? weather a rod or custom its art, andjust like art some love and other hate the same painting. its just something about it that catches you and makes you like it, something that just makes it look "right" in your eyes thats probably why alot of ppl will note over all flow, or stance as a point of the reason. some times this certain "something" is described as charecture , even though i cant spell it an huge example is the "rocky 33" all together not realy anything amazing if you read the discription. evenif it noted the bed haveing gaps to the rails, or the fender well line not matching the back tires. just all put together and staring at it, thres just something great about it that you cant realy put your finger on. now another side of the equation is quality, you are all obvosly builders or you wouldnt be here so you want something you can admire in the build, you want to know its safe, that it was well done. that you can use and drive what you just put all this spirit into. it takes alot of things you cantrealy put your finger on to makeit your "favorite" character tim
It's a complete package.... There's no single detail, it the inclusion of many well thought out and exicuted details. It's purity of form and function. And the older I get, it's completeness... Right now this is my favorite car. Although I'd like to build one similar but with more of the nice little details of Mike's Bluey. This one looks nice but the build up was kinda cookie-cutter... I like subtlety and attention to detail.
I included two different fenderless rods in my replies to that thread, and I could have added a few dozen more off the top of my head, easily! I narrowed it down to the Eastwood & Barakat 32 sedan from back in the early 80s, and Nads' "Pack-Ford" coupe from right here and now. Similar things draw me to each of them. First off, the Eastwood & Barakat car was THE rod that turned me on to rough and raw rods. It's no piece of junk, but it's not a high dollar effort, either. Built on a very traditional style 32 chassis and powered by a low-buck freshened-up 35o Chevy, the car was assembled mostly out of parts that the guys had laying around for the purpose of creating a no frills monster that could haul ass. There's no glitz or glam, it's all business! The Pack-Ford represents the same sort of rough and raw attitude, with the added punch of an unconventional motor to move it down the road. The car almost looks like a big middle finger in the sea of cookie-cutter rods, so it gathers Full Cool Guy Bonus Points for that! It just says "Fuck you, I'm a hot rod and you're NOT!". I can't sum it up any better than that! I like to see cars that are well-engineered, or that break the rules and venture into new territory, too. I like to see someone build a car that PISSES PEOPLE OFF because it DOESN'T fit neatly into their pre-conceived notions of what it should or shouldn't be. I like old school, high tech, and middle ground cars...so long as they are built true to themselves with no apologies or compromises made to please the masses. In short, other things matter...but in the end..it's all about ATTITUDE. (And that's something you can't buy with a gold card...you either have it or you don't. Mega-dollar or death-rod penny pincher...if it doesn't have bite, it's bark aint worth a shit!)
a similar reason to manyolcars' 'cause I built the ugly little bastard from the dirt up, with my own two hands. that and it's NOT a Ford
To tell ya the truth, I have no idea. If it tickles my fancy I like it. Maybe thats why I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with my own project. Strange but true, god I really need help . later plmczy
i will have to say that cars that have a timeless look appeal to me..of coarse it has to be functional...things that will be cool 100 years from now,ya know...even in the billet years some stuff still shined through as cool to me,might not of been the most popular item at the time,but still cool...just a simple thing like a duece grill shell would be cool for a 50's,60's,70's etc. rod...certain items will always look good and i think rods that are built right will never go out of style...look at the fred steel roadster..still bitchin after all these years
Other than pictures, Donzies was the first "hot rod" I have ever been around. Sure, there was Tom and Mary's 37's that I spent hours sanding fenders on, but those were more "street rod". There was the yellow Model A, BBC, tubs, etc. But that was too modern. I drove Donzies from his garage to his house, about 200 feet. But it was an inspiration. A car that had buggy springs that squeaked, a 3 deuce SBC, and it was open. I can't say it's my favorite, cause it's the only 1 I ever rode, or drove, in, but... Thanks D. You definately helped keep the genre going, at least in my book. Jay
I don't have a particular favorite.I just like cars that have "the look".Raw hot rod you know?Something that you know when you got nothing else to do so you go to a rodrun(rodpark)and you see a car pull in and the guy parks it,gets out and walks away.No fucking feather duster is gonna touch it,ever.Thats the kinda car I like.A driver,period.Lukester truk,Jimmy whites hemicoupe,Chips coupe,drivers that get driven hard.When I was at Jimmys house in January I was checking out his car again.Hes an awesome fabricater but you look at his coupe and its so "fucked up"its damn kewl.The "shit" if you will. Donzie,yer car rocks! FatHack,the p-wood and bearcat car is "the shit"one of my all time faves.Thats one of the reasons my roadsters brown primer,besides the fact that flat black is way overdone!Oh yeah,it had a 400 sbc in it not a 350........Shiny
Who knows why these cars are so popular?.....Why does a little boy in a stroller STARE at my car?....why does a little ol lady get a big shit eatin grin when I cruise by?....I don't know why I love hotrods so much...no explanation is needed..I just do.....and that's good enough for me. I hope it never stops
the book hot rod by felson gave me a mental picture of what a cool car looked like, and bud cramer built it. this is my idea of a cool assed car, a little over washed for my taste, but very cool. i dont even remember witch one of ya'll ownes it.
Lets face it "ALL" hot rods started life as just cars. Cars produced on production lines, meaning there were hundreds, even thousands which were identical. Now, no one ever mistook a stock production car for a "HOT ROD", unless you accept the factory "hot rods" of the 50's, 60's, 70's. That comparison took place in the minds of ad people and car companies eager to "cash in" on a truly american idea, taking castoff junk and building something that was useful and fun. In my opinion it was the start of the "GOLD CHAINER" thing, buying your way in not building your way in. Just sign on the dotted line and make your banker happy by submiting your monthly payment. Then came the RESTOROD era and nothing could be further from the truth. They wern't restorations or "RODS" IMO just cars made to look stock with modern drivetrains and the bragging rights of getting the most MPG. Then something magic happened, we started to take things off the restorods, fenders, hoods, chrome dodads, Pinto motors, etc. In their place appeared Big Blocks (both old and new), big back tires and little fronts, loud exhaust, 4spds. chopped tops and a "DAMN THE GAS MILAGE, LETS MAKE SOME NOISE AND GO FAST" attitude. While no one (or the select few, however you want to look at it) was looking we were right back building REAL HOT RODS again. Go to any big meet and follow the old timers around and note at which cars they stop, give a good look, smile, and walk away grinning. They aren't giving their attention to the Boyd creations except to guess how much was spent to build them. You have to TAKE THINGS OFF a car to make a HOT ROD, and if you put anything back on it better make it go faster, handle better, or look better. These things appeal to us in a PRIMAL sort of way and I think it just makes people smile. Frank
Hey guys, a little new but I thought I'd put in my .02 cents. I think a major determining factor in the coolness or lack there of, of a particular fenderless hotrod has a lot to do with authenticity. I like imagination & innovation as much as the next guy, but for some reason the "look" of a particular era's hotrod has always struck me. The parts, technology & trends that contribute to a rod ca. 1946 are vastly different then those that influenced one ca. 1961. When I say authenticity I mean almost from a time warp stand point. Like Kelsey-Hayes wheels on a 60's SBC powered rod... just don't seem right. Or '59 Cad taillights on a flat head powered coupe sporting wire wheels. I think that's why people love the "barn find" hotrods that surface from time to time. If the car was modified in 1955 & rolled into a shed in 1957, it's a real time capsule of technology & trend (& probably rat shit & spiderwebs too).
Definitely something that to marches to the beat of its own stylistic drum (even if some usual elements are obvious). Something that doesn't need a sticker proclaiming it a "Wild Thing", that it can speak fine for its own self. Something that is obviously driven and enjoyed on the road often, not kept only for show 'n shine. But hey-hey-hey: That's what I say.
There's no such thing as a perfect Rod but they all have some special little thing about them. They are an expression of one or a more individuals. They are rebellious, out of the norm (for the majority of people) and sometimes outrages. For me its fit not finish, good welds, well engineered. A reengineering for form and function.
It hasta be more than the sum of all it's parts. Meaning, it has to be assembled in such a way as to grab me by the bag and slam me up against the wall. Subtlety does that to me.....a really well assembled car with gray paint attracts me faster than a bright red car with non functioning parts attached for the sake of drawing attention. I'm really turned off by non functional parts. If it doesn't add to the performance of the car.fahgeteaboudit! Prolly why I don't really like 50-60's custom cars. No fake blowers, blocked off carbs, trunk spoilers and the like
It's the "look". I rarely find a car with the look that grabs me, that is sloppy or poorly engineered. The attention to detail that it takes to get the look just right won't let the builder skimp on the rest of the details. The style may vary but the look is what grabs me. We've all seen "50 footers". When we get close we walk on by. It may have the shape but it doesn't have the "look".
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