Thread: Show Car or Driver?

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I like to drive the old cars not the newer ones; I let the wife drive them. Some people use trailers for different reasons. Each one does what ever is best for them.

When you see 4 or 5 street rods heading for the NSRA or Goodguys event running with traffic, people giving the thumbs up, small kids straining to get a glimpse of the old hot rods with big motors and nice paint; that’s what I like about driving. Pull into a rest stop and have a dozen old cars lined side by side. Taking pit stops getting a bite to eat and then hitting the highway to the event. I drove a Street Rod cross-country 1000 miles one way and it was a pleasure. I put new interior in the car drove it home then sold it. I didn't put a scratch on it that I was aware of. The drive is a big part of the enjoyment of owning the old cars but my old car's never cost as much or more then my house.

I can see Dave's point. If I built a car to sell I wouldn’t want to take a chance on having something happen to it.

I ask the same question some time ago show/driver on this forum:

Solution:
Show the car the first yr. or two and enjoy the experience(trophies if you get one).
Enjoy the car by driving where you please.
Out of town trips to show the car are costly,but it's your money.
Build it the way you want to $$$$ wise.
Don't add up the build invoices (ok after you are dead).
If it's a performance engine drive it to get that rush.

I am glad I chose to drive it.

I guess I've had them all- from trailered show car to the current Deuce I choose to drive.
The 40 Ford was a blown alky tube frame monster. In 5 years- I put a whopping 500 miles on it. Drive it? Where? It was 1500 hp! It won every show it was entered in. Fastest car in & out of the trailer.

The Prostreet 55. Many people know the car. It's been featured in many mags inc CHP, SC, Chevy Rumble. It won Super Chevy 4 years in a row.
Started out as a driver (that's what I promised the wife) and went insane from there. Over a 8 year period- the car was rebuilt 3 times from the frame up! All to keep the look fresh. Stooooopid!

The 32 is what? I have no clue. It's all pro built- a 1st for me! I built the other cars. It has 15,000 miles, I drive it but I can show the car w/ mirrors if I feel like detailing the bottom. Other times I enter the car & never put the judge tag on the window. Depends on the mood. Then I drive it home.
I have no idea how one would classify it- for me, I'd say it's a blast to drive!
Do they have a trophy for that class?

My car is currently over at SoCal for some insurance work. I got talking to Ryan today- the shop manager & he told me they build cars to drive.
So Ryan- looking at my car, what would you charge to build a steel Brookville or RodBods turn key car like mine?

Price? 180-200k & that's a driver!
Their show stuff is 600k to a cool mil.

I like Jay Leno's philosophy............"I build them to be a 100 point car, then drive them until they are a 70 pointer."

Don

One of these days I'm going to be sitting here with little to do and then take out my receipts and add up how much I've spent for a 'driver' but with all good/new pieces. My guess is that when done, it will be in the $60K+ range for a '31 Brookville bodied, TCI w/IFS framed, SB Ford powered Model A roadster. Nothing spectacular, but everything except the powder coating on the frame and upholstery will have been done by me. My wife gets on my case occasionally about getting it done - and it will be soon. There have been several years of enjoyment building it - deciding how I want it to look, searching out that special part, installing it the way I want it. This has been my enjoyment. And before I retired, my stress outlet to forget about that guy that was PO'd because his power plant wasn't running yet!!

I really feel for those guys with the fat checkbook who commission a car with one of the big builders. For the most part, he doesn't get his hands dirty. He is IMO, really missing out on a lot of personal pleasure in creating something - but.....different strokes..... My previous post say what I have found at various shows about those individuals and what it does for the industry/pasttime.

In the summer months, my roadster pickup becomes my daily driver. The first two years I drove it, I attended a lot of local car shows, and took a lot of trophies. This is a car that I literally built from "scratch", and I have about $30,000 invested in it. Last year, which was my third year for the car, I didn't take many trophies, and rightly so. Keep the trophies for the new cars that people are just finishing and let them win a trophy on their "first time out".---Its a tremendous ego booster!!! I still take good care of my RPU, and I still shoo kids away from the painted running boards, and I still worry a lot when I have to leave it in a hotel/motel parking lot overnight. (Yeah, thats mine, parked under the brightest parking lot light, right beside the foyer entrance!!!). I have started taking a few major trips with mine in the summer, and I enjoy that. It is the most highly recognized hotrod in my city of 125,000 because I drive it every day, all over town. Many people have mentioned to me that they know there are other hotrods around the city (a lot of them in fact), but you only see them on cruise night, never out thru the rest of the week like mine. I would not want a show car that was too nice to drive. I sure as Hell don't want a 'Rat-rod" either!! I think that a car can be show worthy and a daily driver, if you want to take the time to be constantly touching up paint and waxing and cleaning, and polishing. I find that after 3 years, I just want it to look "good enough", leave the trophies for the new guys.---Brian.

Timberline wrote: It is possible to have a driver that can win a car show.

That's very true. George Poteet has several high dollar show cars that he drives on various long distance rod runs periodically. There's a guy who lives down the road from me who has a professional built 37 Chevy with a lot custom body fabs. Several years ago the car was on the cover and written up by just about every Streetrod/hotrod and custom car mag in America. He drives it everyplace and it is as beautiful today as it was when built.

IC2 wrote: My guess is that when done, it will be in the $60K+ range for a '31 Brookville bodied...

As much as I would love to build a 31 or 32 roadster, I think I might have to follow in Don's (Itoldyouso) footsteps to get my retirement roadster.

a whole bunch of these !




get you about 20 bucks worth of plastic!


the wife hates this stuff , i got small stashes of them all over the house..