Thread: 17 hour build

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Originally Posted by shawnlee28

Ok,Daves analogy is much better than mine was...............
Are you dedicated or committed.. .good stuff!!!!!
My take was not soo much what they built,but the fact that they were building instead of destroying,you never know this may of been the mock up and the ride is gunna get blown apart ,painted and look perfect or they may drive it like this forever .....who knows.
But I do know they were not getting into trouble or getting anyone else in trouble which seems to be what most are doing nowadays.
Maybe 20 kids went down that sidewalk that night and saw something that got them started in the field of cars from that build...........maybe 20 people stopped and talked to them and found out not all traditional rodders are rude beligerant whisky drinkers.
Anyway heres part 2 of the saga.........
http://www.archive.org/details/CoolHotRodB
Ya need to watch the first one to better get this one.

All true, and on the road trip from Vegas to Washington perhaps a thousand or two saw it and thought what a ridiculous contraption, dang fool hot rods shouldn't be allowed on the road!!!!

All well and good, but answer me this.........Did that car have a sealed firewall and floorboards when it left after 17 hrs?......Doesnt look like it from the pictures. If it did, fine...........If not, I would consider it unsafe. Maybe Nevada safety regs are not what they are here...................

It had floorboards and a firewall at the end of 17 hours, yes. It was not sealed with silicone or anything but it was safe, very safe.

-Austin

Welcome austin, i see you found mine and dons other hiding place.

Austin great do even though im into finish not a show i too want to drive the car . In the time span and the entertainment that is a accomplishment . I hope more people where interested and got the bug. My definition of a rat rod is one that is low to the ground and chopped. All the paint dont change that . What i remember in rodding is all where high in the air with tall tires and hi boy comes to mind .

Well now that the builder is here Lets hear some more about this,what motavated you guys to do this build and do you have any more pics?
If you watched the vids I posted ,this will exsplain where alot of the rusty car attitude comes from.The vid was from 58,soo thru the 60s and 70s this stuff was drilled into the fellas about projecting a good image as a rodder,the main thing other than the ,thats not my type of car rebutals,the only thing most everyone is concerned with is saftey....why.........because all it takes are a couple bad apples for them to put all of our cars in the same baskett and ban em..........To the normal joe,your ride is no different than a boyd or fooose car......when one gets a bad rap ,we all get a bad rap.....that is why most get in a uproar about those type of cars,I personaly want to build a ride that I will not have to kill someone over door dings,unlike the one that I am workin on now.

I shouldn't like it. Everything Dave Severson says it true!!! But Damn, I do like it. Thats the kind of car, that if I met it while driving down the highway, my head would swivel right around like the girl in the Exorcist, trying to watch it go down the road!!! Granted, if I had it, the welds would all be made with my 220 Volt Lincoln, and the top would be filled, and the floor would be in, and the paint would be shiny, and---and ---and---- And I hate ratrods anyways----but----maybe (and thats a small maybe)---maybe I'm just getting to be a fussy old fart thats forgotten the roots of this hobby.

So here is how the story goes...

My father built show cars his whole life. I could post pictures but just trust me they were as nice as any here on this forum. When I was 12 I bought a Model A coupe body from a farmer for $400. My father and I worked on the car and finally got it on the road when I was 20. It was crude, rude, and very low budget. I loved it!

Now I am 30. Out of all the builds I remember, it was the best. It was built to drive. I still have the car to this day and I will give it to my son someday.

Last November, my father and I were driving down the road and talking about cars. I thought that it might be cool to build a car at a show from scratch. Of course if you are going to do this, it needs to be a bare bones hot rod. What better place to build a bare bones hot rod than Viva Las Vegas.

I contacted them about the idea and they were all for it. We talked with a few friends here and made it happen. The 58 chevy bus we drove down in was the frosting on top of the cake. The whole experience was magical. I will never forget it.

We have over 65 hours of video and 1200 pictures. I am meeting next week with a professional editor to make it into a DVD.

It was more work than you can imagine preparing for it. My father had lists on top of lists on top of lists... In the end, for me, it was all worth it.(I cant speak for anyone else but I think they would agree)

Hot Rodding is a passion and a way of life. Our hope is that some of the younger generation sees that they can build a rod too. Heck, if 4 guys that look like us can pull it off in 17 hours then anyone can learn to build a car. You dont need thousands upon thousands of dollars to have a cool hot rod. You just need some parts, some time, and a dream.

Thats the story. Take it for what its worth....

-Austin
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1-Austin-Burnoff.jpg
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1-Frame-Complete.jpg

I'm so happy to see Austin come on here and discuss not only the 17 hour build, but his lifelong involvement with rodding.

I've mentioned his forum a few times on here, and I was one of the early members. Hotroddaddy sent me a PM and told me I should check out this new forum that was just getting started. That was back in Sept I think. At that time, when you would log on you were sometimes the only person on at that time. But there was something special about it even then, much like CHR. The first thing I noticed was that Austin was a gentleman. He has his head screwed on straight, and was always extremely polite and wanting good things to happen for his forum.

Right around December, I think, things got crazy on Killbillet, and a flood of new members started coming on board. Suddenly there were 50 things going on at one time, and Austin was still doing everything alone, so all the members had to act as unofficial Moderators and keep the new guys civil and understanding that no foul language or fighting would be tolerated. To everyones credit, we had very few problems.

What I like about that forum is what I also like about this one. Everybody is respectful of one another, and there is none of the bad lanquage and talking down to others, like you see on some other forums. Austin has done a great job in setting up and maintaining that atmosphere.

Don

OK I'm know I'm supposed to be lookng at the car but..................COOL BUS!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I'm so happy to see Austin come on here and discuss not only the 17 hour build, but his lifelong involvement with rodding.

I've mentioned his forum a few times on here, and I was one of the early members. Hotroddaddy sent me a PM and told me I should check out this new forum that was just getting started. That was back in Sept I think. At that time, when you would log on you were sometimes the only person on at that time. But there was something special about it even then, much like CHR. The first thing I noticed was that Austin was a gentleman. He has his head screwed on straight, and was always extremely polite and wanting good things to happen for his forum.

Right around December, I think, things got crazy on Killbillet, and a flood of new members started coming on board. Suddenly there were 50 things going on at one time, and Austin was still doing everything alone, so all the members had to act as unofficial Moderators and keep the new guys civil and understanding that no foul language or fighting would be tolerated. To everyones credit, we had very few problems.

What I like about that forum is what I also like about this one. Everybody is respectful of one another, and there is none of the bad lanquage and talking down to others, like you see on some other forums. Austin has done a great job in setting up and maintaining that atmosphere.

Don

I looked through some of the posts. What I saw is that we are a bunch of "glitter boys" who simply write checks for everything and that most of us here don't know a thing about "real hot rods". I also noticed that at the car shows nobody looks at the "glitter boy" cars that the "rich guys" buy and "trailer" to all the events....

Sounds to me like the same old Rat Rod BS that has been going on since day one. I will say that the post are clean and not a lot of vulgarity, so congrats on maitining civility, anyway.

I'll never like Rat Rods, but I would fight to my last breath for someone's right to build them. Why do rat rodders seem to come on here one or two at a time and start bad mouthing us? There are two of my cars in my shop now, and I would venture to say there are more hand built parts (by me, not a checkbook) then there are on most rats...

I know the majority of the rat rodders are as talented as anyone here, that's never been a concern of mine. What concerns me is that I lived through the era when cops and the general public scorned ALL hot rodders, they made no distinction based on the type of rod it was. They hated us... What is scary to me is that the "fringe element" of the rat rod crowd, the unsafe cars with lousy brakes, poorly placed and mounted fuel tanks, etc. who are so dang dead set serious about being anti-safe and sane hot rodder are going to do something really stupid that will result in the deaths of a lot of innocent people. Then it isn't a rat rodder, it was a Hot Rodder and we will all suffer the consequences. I don't want to be back in the days when I had to sneak out of town on the backroad so the cops wouldn't get me. Sure, it could be a car one of us "glitter boys" build, too. I'm concerned someone is just going to be so dead set against us that they will be out to prove just how crazy they can be.... Hopefully I am way off base with these concerns. In many states, Hot Rodders are about one law away from being legislated out of existence anyway. Let's not give these do-gooders a chance to throw our beloved sport of Hot Rodding back in time 40 years to the days that we are all hoodums again.....Please.....

Great story and thumbs up on all the work and planning before hand.
I live out here in cali where everything has to be perfect and shiney/they sniff the butt of your car to make sure it smells ok and everyone lives in houses that look identical and perfect....phoooyey
I want on that can be door dinged in parkin lot and not contemplate killin people over it.Something that can be used on a daily basis and not have to be polished,unlike the engine I have now,I want to have fun in it and not be scared to do a burn out in it......I have had some old beater pick-ups and they were alot of fun to play in and abuse
I used to do some abusive driving and I would not feel good doing that in a show ride
I do like paint and matching stuff ,just not 3,000 hrs of block sanding /like my current ride is taking

Here is my favorite pic of the trip.

-Austin
DVD-Cover-Picture.jpg

Hot rod, Rat Rod, Gasser, Muscle cars, Original, Modified, mini trucking, low riders laying frame, imports, ricers , Jacked up 4 wheel drives. All kinds of cars and hobbys.

My point is I dont go to the ricer forum and tell them that in my opinion, there cars suck.

I just cant understand how some street rodder can feel like his hobby/image is some how tarnished because another man has a rusty RatRod

And what if I dont like rust on cars or cars modified in any way, do you really think others really care how I feel?

Just as a point of interest, the car is on Ebay right now and is at $ 13,500.00, with 26 bids and almost two days to go. Austin also used lots of new parts in the build, here is a list from his Ebay ad.

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Brand new white walls(including a spare for the right rear that was used up a bit on the trip back)
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Brand new juice brakes up in front
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Brand new gas tank and electric fuel pump
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Small Block 350
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Turbo 350 Tranny
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Frame is 2X4 Boxed Tubing and "z'd" front and back
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New wiring, head lights, tail lights
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Custom built zoomies
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Brand new Radiator
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Clear Title Licensed in Washington State with current tags
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New striping on the side with (17th Hour)
*
9 inch rear with new shocks and sway bar


He has built quite a few of these before, and from talking with him, safety is something he is big on. Not trying to convert anyone to loving rats, but just thought these points needed to be brought out/

Don