Thread: Who took the "hot" out of hot rod?

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Originally Posted by flh4speed

i quess im one of the lucky ones , i still love all things hot rod and im sure it helps that im not in the hot rod bussiness and dont have to look and work on them everyday ..... at least for now i dont see them as boring and i hope i never do..

I still like them all----just takes a bit more to get my "excitement level" up these days....

Originally Posted by halftanked

I like all cars. Right now I'm trying to squeeze pennies out of my retirement checks to build my first streetrod. I couldn't care less about having the biggest big block,my concern right now is having a block period. Yes, I plan to use a ho hum,everybody has one, w hy did you ruin it with that sbc. It's what I can afford. I intend to repair all the dents and rust, prime and paint. No ,I don't need lessons on how to age,patina or other wise totally screw up my own hard work. I don't care to impress anyone or win trophy after trophy,I've never figured out how to cook them anyway. I figure 300 horses in a 2000 lb car to be enough snot to be called hot. Maybe not everybodies cup of tea, but it's my cup,and that's all I want. Hank

There ya go!!!!! It's still all about horsepower to weight!!!! Still amazes me how some people put a 400 horse engine in a 4000 pound car, then add 6 amps, 15 speakers, 250 pounds of junk in the trunk then wonder why their 400 hp engine won't pull the hat off your head!!!! Many seem to think performance is all about horsepower when it actually is about the entire car.....

i can really understand the way some are thinking and im sure after many years cars just seem to blend in together , its the same with bikes the more folks try to be different the more they all end up the same ..
would i personally want a duece or other car with a flattie?? sure i would love one , but i dont think i will ever actually try and put one together when there is a host of other engines that would just be more practical for my own needs .. as far as the rat bike post jay has written about i have owned several in my time but the actual meaning of rat bike has gotten watered down or just plain left the field , to me a rat bike is an older bike made from variuos parts just for pure function and mostly just spare parts that work well together , not much chrome not much paint and riddin hard everyday rain or shine , now i have seen people actually build them and do some strange stuff to them to make them appear old and well used for whatever their reasons are most bikers can spot them a mile away , maybe these bikes are some kind of ego boost who knows ...

Im only in my early 20's and have wondered the same thing. It makes me wonder some times when I see a cookie cutter that the owner paid to have built if they have to lie to themselves and say that they are having a good time especially if the car is slow and there are 10 others at the same show. I thought it was about putting in as much horsepower as you could afford in to the smallest car AND doing it yourself?? I can tell I piss off alot of people when I pull into a show....all I can say is that they just thought they were annoyed at the measly 10.5:1 solid cam 331 ....this year the 13:1 full roller race ready 489 that will be in the neighborhood of 875-900hp.

Yeah, that is one aspect of the sport........driving a tire churner. But for those of us who have been to that rodeo a few times sometimes just cruising is fun. One part of owning a car is traveling long distances to events or just on a trip. It isn't a whole lot of fun doing it in a car that is on the ragged edge of drivability and gets 4 mpg.

At this stage of my life I want to take in some shows and cruises more than 50 miles from home, in relative comfort, so a little less radical car suits my needs better. Every car is a compromise, and a lot depends on how you want to use the car. Even my T isn't the most pleasant highway car I have ever driven, and it is extremely mild.

Don

I absolutely understand. I will never forget some of the times of just simply cruising down a 2 lane hiway in the contraption built by my own two hands and taking in the scenery and wind in the hair. Its like the car is an extension of you and who you are....pretty neat and hard to describe feeling to say the least.

Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

I'd like to see that. I think of rods and customs as rolling art. Metal sculpture is a part of that thinking.

You never saw pics of the spider car? Denny did a nice photoshop of it with a huge spider on it, luckily i printed it before it got lost in a crash.

Cool hood! The painter in me wants to suggest a lighter color on the web, so it shows up better.

I happened across this on another forum, but it illustrates that "the unexpected" can be really cool. This was inspired by a '91 magazine idea. That is the owner/builder in the back.

well my cars ride as good or better then they were new and safer as for driving miles i have done that with the 50 chevy and both GTOs a blown 548 and is not that bad on MPG my big engine run alot better the most would think better then some small hi RPM engine . BUT why if i am going in the battle with all the jack asses out there with cell phone s or just runing red lights or hot headed women in SUV that do not care how hard it is to get parts for your car or time and money if its in there way god help you. if i am going some were i drive my 90 chevy pick up and if they want to get dirty i can deal with a bent bumper or fender. i like the drive it can be a 1/4 mile or 10 miles down the road i built my cars this way for over 25 years like this

Dave, when I started collecting parts, one of the first things I bought was a good used stereo sound system. I don't think that it will put too much strain on the electrical system, as they bolt to the exhaust ports,and run down either side into about 30 in long muffled speakers lets say. Hank

Originally Posted by flh4speed

i quess im one of the lucky ones , i still love all things hot rod and im sure it helps that im not in the hot rod bussiness and dont have to look and work on them everyday ..... at least for now i dont see them as boring and i hope i never do..

Yea, me too. My father was an auto mech. for about 30yrs. and he saw my love for the same shit when I was about 9. He let me go and hang out in a buddy's garage at nights in the summer (no school) when they did side jobs. I would get greasier than them just runnin around handing them tools. As I got older and my ideas were turnin to building my own shit, he told me this "Son, if you love this shit as much as I think you do, and if I had anything to do with this love of car shit, then don't become what I am" Workin on cars for a livin will eventually strip your love of them. I did follow that, and he was right. I still love this shit and look to other cars and the ideas behind what they have created. This is a great hobby. I just hope the EPA leaves us the hell alone.

I have hesitated adding to this Thread for I don't want to take it off Topic. I have had a lot of Muscle Cars through the Years, and this is my first Street Rod build (or, is it Hot Rod)?

With the previous Cars I've built ('69 Z/28, '55-'57 Chevy, 66 BBF GT Fairlane, '70 BBC Nova, etc.), it wasn't hard to decide what parts to use and how it would look. I was always after performance, so, you buy performance.

In the '35 Ford Coupe build I'm doing now, I have hesitated in buying some of the parts that will determine what "class" it will be in, but I am after performance (is there anything else?). I keep working on stuff (and slowly progressing), but I know I have to make these decisions soon.

For instance, Gauges-I do like the look of in-Dash, center mounted Gauges, but it makes the Car definitely a "Street Rod"-I have decided on black Moon Guages for more of a "Hot Rod" look (mounted in the stock location).

Steering Wheel-dilemma here, do you go Billet or Sprint Car style? I want a Tilt Wheel, Stainless type Column, but like the Sprint type Wheel too, however they don't seem to look right together. Hood-I have an original '35 Hood, but the Rootlieb's with Louvers scream Hot Rod to me.

I know you need to keep a "scheme", and I have decided to go Hot Rod, but it is so much more difficult deciding these types of things than building a Muscle Car-
when you pick the parts for your Rod, how do you keep it on track and "in class"?

Money is not the problem here, it's indecision-there's just too many choices-any insight Guys?

Originally Posted by 35WINDOW

..........-any insight Guys?

You're a good example of why folks go to shows and look at cars. Inspiration! Magazines are another source. There's a lot to learn about making it "your way". Your example of the later model stuff implies that following a restoration, or restification, certain decisions are already made for you. In a rod, more of the responsibility falls on you. Some decisions work, some don't work as well or at all. It comes down to how much you allow yourself to learn. Then there's leaving yourself open to asking for feedback from sites such as this. Just a couple examples that we've seen on this site over the years (persons involved left anonymous by intent).

Learning from those who've gone down the road ahead of you would teach that all assembly, design, modification, fabrication, etc. should be done entirely BEFORE painting. Though it's exciting to see that nice finish, and might seem motivational, the risks of damaging that finish trying to fabricate around it are way too high.

A few years back a member was nearing the end of his build on a red car. He was asking opinions about interior color, with most suggestions hovering around some form of grey. Then one member asked what color his gauge faces were. On the surface that might seem a strange question, but one of the mistakes the less experienced make is having too many different colors, or conflicting colors, in an enclosed area. Turns out his gauge faces were a light tan............tah dah!! the direction of color choice was narrowed right there. He went with a complimentary color and ended up very happy. Had he been aware of the concept ahead of time he might have chosen a different face color to go with fabric preference, but once committed to the set of gauges purchased it went the other way. It's all about the details (at least once you're aware of them ).

I would say that the difference between the Muscle car and any kind of rod, is that the rod is more of an object of personal expression...or "art". The era, paint color and/or graphics, body restyling, parts additions or deletions, nterior style, etc., is wide open, and you decide the limitations.