Thread: too many/all the same

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I've been building Streetrods for over 30 yrs. Most have been the cars popular at the time.Mostly 1929 to 1934 Fords.

I've done so many of them I am realy appreciating the uncommon cars that streetrodders very seldom pick.

Why are we stuck on the low cost light wt cars that the common people drove. Why not atart w/the cars the movie stars had -ie: packards,Lincolns,Cords,Rolls Royces,Studebaker president & many more that dazzle your eye. They generaly are bigger, heavier, riide better & are generally cheaper to build because after market parts are not available. You have to make your own or use junk yard parts.

I'd like to hear about your car that is different(pictures too)

You show me yours - I'll show you mine

Interesting question Don... some of the “luxury” cars of the ‘30s were absolute knock-outs, and would make beautiful cars today. I’m going to guess that the reason you mainly see the low cost, light weight cars being built as street rods today is the same reason they were originally used as hot rods. In a word – speed. The weight to horsepower ratio gives most folks what they’re looking for, an edge in speed / acceleration. I also think that most guys would prefer to identify with the nostalgia of a “hot rodder” than the aristocrats that originally owned the Packards, Cords, Rolls Royces, etc.

Maybe some of the guys have done a build-up on one of these “heavy” cars and can “show and tell” about it.

Dan J

I always liked the old Dusenburgs, not for rodding but i just liked how big they were and how advanced they were for their day, also so well built. They got a raw deal coming out when they did. Under different circumstances the duzzies might have been around longer. I still have a hankering for a Auburn Boattailed Speedster, i think i have a picture of one a guy rodded, different. Always liked the old "Lead Sleds", just mean looking cruisers

Found it

Another reason might be availability. There were a lot more '32 Fords built than '32 Cadillacs. Plus they probably ended up in places they were more likely to be hot rodded. Many of the high end cars end up restored vs hot rodded. The old Fords ended up being sold for $25 or left to rust in some farmers field or barn. The old Caddys, Cords and Dusenbergs ended up in museums or well maintained in some aristocrats garage.

Pat

Pat I think your right about a small percentage of the lux-O-barges, but I suspect a large number of them just ended up cut up for scrap/chrushed when they fell out of style.

I remember several years ago helping a friend of mine getting ready to do his annual crushing. We sent out 3 complete, straight, rust free early 60's Buick 2dr Hardtops. It seemed a total shame and I mentioned this to him. His reply was that it was a shame, but they had sat there for years, and in that time he had not sold a single part off them (let alone anyone having come in interested in the whole car). It was time for them to go as he needed space for the "new" cars he was hauling in.

With the fewer numbers of luxury car produced and an extremely small demand for their parts finding one to even start building will be a challenge.

Interesting post, Don. Must admit I have never even seen a Cord in person, just pics. I would love to someday do an old Packard, but where would one even began to look?? If you bought a resto, would allready have way big bucks in it making hot rodding it out of my price range. In all my travels and "grove grazing" don't ever remember even seeing one. I do know a guy who has a 30 something Buick, but he won't part with it. It would certainly be fun to find one to play with, though.

I like the concept, Don. I am trying to rod an orphan now. Not that easy to find the parts, but ebay has been a life saver. Mine is a 1939 Nash. Just got the last door handle and the last headlight lens I needed to complete 2 1939 Nashes in those areas off ebay. Still need other parts, and know they are out there, but they are just hard to find. The parts to rod a 39 Nash actully seem to be cheaper than those for a 39 Ford, or a 32 for that matter. But along with being cheaper, they are less plentiful. In all my searching, I have found 10 four door fastback Nashes. I own two of them. Five of them I only know of from the registry of the Nash Car Club. There are probably more, but the point is that they are not easy to come by. That is the main problem with the idea of rodding an orphan or similar rare car. Most can't be had for love or money, and when you do get one, the parts are hard to find. And if there are only 10 of these cars around, what are you supposed to do for parts when your's gets bent too badly to repair, and the other 9 are restorations. Yes, it can be done, and has. I am working on finishing mine. It will get done eventually. I have been blessed to have found two solid steel bodies with minimal rust. Nash made good cars, made them to last. You can see pics of mine in my gallery. It still looks much the same. I'd like to see pics of your rolls, and any other odd cars you have done. I have the poor man's luxury car area taken care of.

Im in the market for a 59 Caddy Convertable, ive always liked them, im not quite sure what im going to do with it yet, keep it stock or rod it. Either way i know i will enjoy it. I guess it boils down to what i can find for my price, and when im ready. When your talking about these old sleds with hard to find parts, isnt the idea to not nessesarly find the right part but find something that would work, or manufacture what you need. Thats what makes them a rod

Here's a photochop/hacked together prototype of what I'm trying to do to be different but retain the essence of the hotrod.

It's the back half of a '91-'96 Saturn coupe with a little bit added to the firewall section, the section ofter the doors shortened, and the rear bumper reworked.

I think this might be one way for hotrodding to jump into the next generation. I've digitally messed with a couple of modern cars and in my opinion they look good done in the streetrod/hotrod style.

Abe

1932 Cord L-29 Speedster.
I wonder how many early rodders it inspired?
BTW how do you post an image.

Brett,
At the bottom of the last post is a radio button that says "New Reply". Click that button rather than using the reply block at the very bottom. When you get to the New Reply screen there'll be another box to enter your text, then below that are some options, one of which is "attach", hit the browse button and find the file in your computer you want to attach.

Thanx Bob.
I've tried the attach file dialogue box, browse to the jpg and from there the only options are "cancel" or "open". I clicked "open" and the file path appears in the dialogue box. So far so good.
But then if I preview my post the image does not appear and when I go back to "post reply" the file path in the dialogue box has disappeared.
At no stage do I see an attach file option.
I also noticed that in the Forum rules the IMG option is "OFF".
Does this have any bearing on it?

I have some great photoshop pics of luxury cars that others have done on an aussie site. Maybe I should just do a link to that thread instead.

Go to your profile, then edit options, scroll down to "attach images....." section and check the yes circle. That should give you img on.

No still NFG.
All options except invisability are checked yes.
IMG code is still "off" and if I try to use the IMG icon on the vB code it only displays a link to the image not the image itself

In the attach file box I can browse to the file on my HD but I can only open it. I cannot attach.
Is there something that I am missing here?
All explorer security and cookie options are at default settings and I have had no trouble attaching files or images to similar boards like RRT and HAMB.
Sorry to be such a pest fellas but it is gettin a bit frustrating

Err..now what was I said earlier about "perseverance"