Thread: How Do You Plan Your Rod or Kustom?

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At about 36 years of working for others, I've been in this "kustomizing biz" for a long time! I have worked for almost every type of personality....and on almost every type of personalized vehicle. I have come to see the crowd broken into several building philosophies. Here are some general groupings:

The largest group of builders are those that are only willing to do what is generally accepted by the majority. They build a generally common bodystyle for that type of build, run the most popular engine, paint it one of the currently popular colors, use the few styles of wheels that are preferred, with one of the "approved" interior colors or designs, and finish it off with the most recently popular graphics or details they have seen on these projects. In the most extreme approach, I have some customers who come to me and say, "I don't care what you do, as long as everyone else likes it". This kind of shocks me, since I always thought you customized to make a statement about your own unique interpretation of a custom! I thought that was how this all started?

The next smaller group would be those who try to figure out how to do this without sacrificing any of their investment. They will only do what they think has a good resale value, and stress over whether they are making the right financial decisions, instead of choosing what they personally like. They will choose parts, paint, wheels, and craftsmen that are less expensive, or of lesser quality, but will give the best chance of recouping their dollars, by being acceptable to potential buyers.

Still smaller (but growing) is the group of do-it-yourselfers. Most do it either, because it is a social statement against the evil "gold chainer", or more likely because they just can't afford to hire help....yet! The sad part is their condemnation of guys who have a nice machine. Those older guys have kept this hobby alive for them to inherit, and share that passion that they have for rods & customs.

Almost the smallest, but not quite, are those who intentionally want to stand away from the crowd, because that is how they see themselves. They tend to like more extreme styling and big horsepower, unique touches, somewhat unusual, but well thought out ideas, technically sound engineering, or sophisticated accents.

The smallest group by far is the true "rebel". He was the guy in the '50s, who did it his way. He invented most of the trends that have come and gone. He would have a vision of a new idea, and then use it! He was the guy at Bonneville in the mid eighties with trufire flames......the guy who would build that old truck with the roof cut off and an odd engine, 30 years ago, when it was not being done by anyone else in the world!.....the guy who today will be the first in his town to chop a Citroen...or figure out how to make his own wheels.....paint his car a metallic white....cover the seat with gator hyde....or have tattoos painted all over it! I don't get too many of this type. When I do it's a special occasion. I'll always remember the streetrod couple who I told that their paint design would not be broadly popular, because it is normally a "lowrider" style, and NEVER used on a rod! They said they didn't care what others thought, because THEY liked it. They asked me what I would do. I told them I loved it! (They surprisingly won best paint at a large show, first time out!..I surely would have bet against that!)

So my question is.......How do you decide what you are going to do? Do you think that will ever change? If you decided to "experiment", what would you do to be different?

Would you do something shocking.....

....or predictable and conservative....?

Hmmm...good question....Im not sure what catagory you posted that I fall in. With the rods Ive built over the many years, I dont think one of them ever was finished the way I first envisioned it at the start. I dont build "show" cars just safe, fast, dependable hot rods. I guess my biggest fault is that I dont seem to have the imagination gene. So my builds tend to be more of the norm and really dont stand out much when in a crowd of other rods. But most of my time spent in my rod is in public with not many (if any) other rods around so of course its gonna be a stand out then. Take my T coupe, I started out really wanting a "rat rod". But now a little over a year later, I am turned off by them. So now its looking like more of a 60's style hot rod. At first I was gonna chop the crap outta it, but now that TALL roof is starting go grow on me.....As in everything else I do, I prefer to do as much as I possibly can myself. Mostly so I can say, "yeah, I built it" but also cause Im a cheapskate!!.....I figure I can screw it up three times before getting it right and still have paid less then having it done professionally.

I also build my cars for me....while I do enjoy the compliments, I could care less if someone else dosnt like it....

Now what was the question again????.....

Well, I guess as I think back on the many projects over the years, I did them either because I had never done them or had never heard of them being done. My love is in fabrication. I never cared two hoots about nice bodywork or paint. With me, it's all about cuttin', fittin' and welding steel and aluminum to make something out of nothing that goes down the road under its own power. To my way of looking at it, rust and/or rattle-can primer are acceptable finishes. Oh, and it has to be CHEAP. I never used a chrome anything on anything. Just a couple of examples:
MGA body on shortened '65 Ford frame with 392 hemi/Torqueflite.
VW Beetle body on shortened '61 Olds frame with 413 wedge/Torqueflite. (exception here, 6 coats of yellow lacquer, hand rubbed. Pretty.)
455 Olds/TH400 into '72 Chevy Luv pickup with 10.25 Olds rear, 5.13's.
Cal Custom '27T body on 2x6 homemade frame rails, stretched to 117" wheelbase, self-designed and fabricated chromoly tube IFS and 460 Ford/C6/9 3/8" rear. Split the body down the middle and added 8" width.
This just hits the high spots, along with the scores of motorcycles and go-karts built from scrap and basket cases.

Very predictable .................. for someone like me who grew up on the dragstrips in the '60's .......... it was a gasser back then ............ and will look like a '60's gasser when it's complete

I try to do most of the work myself because I cannot afford to have somebody do it for me. But I also want to build a car myself which is the reason I sold my Javelin and bought the Nash. All of my "toy" cars have been AMC. The Javelins, the Nash, a Metropolitan, the Spirit and even my Chevy cab will be powered by AMC. I grew up with AMC and Hudson and so that is the path that I take. That alone could cause me to stand outside the box because I will not use Chevy for power. It isn't me and my friends will give me grief because I have a Chevy pickup cab, but the 401 should give them reassurance that I have not completely lost my mind. Bottom line is that I have started to do the work myself, making mistakes and figuring them out, but am building what I like for me and my wife lets me do it.

Not sure what I would be....... or do...... I have never tried to categorize. I just like them all. I especially love that chrysler/ranchero/whatever it is.... car in your original post. That thing is......uh.......different. Way cool in my book...

I'd like to see some pictures of some of these creations! Maybe they are more "rugged individuals" on here than I thought! :-)

Let me add a "disclaimer":

I have bought and sold cars, so I can see the logic in considering the resale value, if profit is the primary goal.

The mention of not having an imagination, seems like an obvious reason to repeat the trends that you see the most.

I like to use some "solid" guidelines in my own work, so even if an idea is quite different, I don't believe that means it necessarily has to end up "weird", "bizarre", or "fugly". There is almost always a way to use an odd idea, but still end up with something you will be proud of.

http://don.exphose.com/p694946011/e1bab1330

I have been building slightly outside the box for about 40 years now. Building a cookie cutter car is probably the safest in the long run as far as resale value and such but are over all pretty boring to own. Of coarse that's just my opinion.

I just build mine for me..if somebody else likes it that's fine, if nobody does, that's fine too.... For me, this came from so many years of doing customer cars. I did my sentence on the restoration cars, doing everything correct down to the hose clamps and chalk marks. Then got involved with the V-8 in a.... Vega, Pinto, Ranger, S-10, Nash, heck you name it!!!! If you want it in there bad enough it will fit!!!! Then I got stuck on the coupes and roadsters where the customer showed up with a list of store bought parts he wanted used on his car.....

Finally I sold the shop and moved into my little garage and the real fun began!!!! I like to go looking for a car that nobody else builds, take it all apart and let it sit in the garage and age appropriately while I consider what it should look like.... Once I start on a car, time or money doesn't really matter. If I don't have the money for the pieces I want, then I finish and sell something else and use the money on the next project.... I won't comprimise on parts or labor 'cuz it's too much, I'll just keep plugging along til it comes out the way I want it.... Guess I've just had my fill of having to hurry to meet somebody else's schedule, and cutting corners to save somebody else some money.... Truth be told, I wouldn't recomend this method too many people. You'll wrap up a ton of money and time in a project, sometimes 2 or 3 cars at once, and not really have a lot to show for it til someday when it's all done.... I guess patience is the big thing I had to learn, patience to take the time and make and spend the money so that I can build exactly what I want, even though it often means leaving a project set for a year or three so I can do enough other stuff to sell that I can afford to get back on it.....

I spent 40 years making customers happy, now it's my turn and I'm having a blast!!!!!!!

Dave, On my projects I found that at least half of the fun is in the "building". I enjoyed working out the details.....seeing it coming to completion.....the way it sounded....the way it performed....and the way it looked!....the satisfying feeling of seeing your creation come back to life.....and the pride of workmanship!

It finally got so bad that I lost interest in cruising, and once a project was finished, I sold it to finance the next one! Once I had done this enough, I found a way to do it full time. :-)~

Old Coyote, What a gorgeous Thames!

I am also a child of '60s drag racing, and was always excited to see "Shroyer's Shaker", and other Thames Gassers, make a pass!

everything i have ever built in the last 35 years has been about muscle .. too much cam .. too much carb .. too much gears .. way too much fun ... and i`m not quitting anytime soon

That was my motivation on my own projects. In general terms it is called a "hot rod". I just can't get excited about a flattie or 6-cyclinder. In my world, those are things you remove, and replace with horsepower! :-)

Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

Dave, On my projects I found that at least half of the fun is in the "building". I enjoyed working out the details.....seeing it coming to completion.....the way it sounded....the way it performed....and the way it looked!....the satisfying feeling of seeing your creation come back to life.....and the pride of workmanship!~

I agree with you. I built my '32 for me-- the way I always dreamed of building one--a California smoothie-style highboy. I started out by scanning a 3 window highboy from an old Street Rodder magazine and used PhotoShop to modify it to see if I really liked what I was thinking about. I worked. In order to set it apart from other yellow highboys, I went with ghost flames, and to make it unique, I fashioned a cowl induction hood, something I had never seen on any '32 before. You can compare the rendering with the finished photo. Now that it has been complete for a couple of years, I am enjoying the driving but sure wish I could start another project, but I would have to sell it to have the capital to start another project and I don't want to be without a rod for a couple of years. Instead, I am working on creating a cool looking hauler out of my old Safari van which I use as a pickup.