Ratrods.....I just don't get it (a tragic before/after)

[jkeesey]

When I'm out in my jalopy I always get the responses of "why did you do that to such a nice car?" I didn't do anything to a nice car I built my car from the bits and pieces scraps others threw away. I would love to have a showroom quality coupe but that's not in budget. I recently found a post on craigslist of a great looking 29 ccpu with the caption of parting it out email me for parts. I emailed the guy to see if he would sell the whole truck and surprise surprise he didn't respond.

[dumb person]

There is a right way & a wrong way to do it. i have owned some real bone shaker cars over the years, trust me, most rodent cars are doing it all wrong. Do they trailer them to the car shows? How does anyone humanly fit inside some of them? And most of them only have a lawnmower fuel tank to feed a large engine.

Cheese grater metal dug from an abandoned rubbish dump turned into a drivable car that looks like it cannot go but defies you because it drives & drives well = right way.
Welded axles to frame/coils springs welded to axle with no room for an actual driver inside, no way to see past the engine, the fuel line connected directly to the gas cap, & only 1 inch high windows = wrong way.

When you are over 21 years old your bones stop healing overnight & the bare seat frame chafes through your skin & leaves blood everywhere every time you drive. That was why i had to give up my "cool car".

[gwhite]

This has been an entertaining thread...I'd like to think I'm decently connected with the traditional hot rodding crowd and I'd dare say many of their cars are as well researched, documented, and period correct as a high-point resto.

I'm currently building a traditional hot rod. It's a '27 Roadster pickup on a '28 Chassis powered by a '30 A-banger with original Winfield head, carb/intake, Model B distributor, Winfield/Brierley SU-1R cam. Front suspension is from a '32 - rear end is stock A with 3.54 gears & a T spring - mechanical brakes all around with '35 wire wheels. I'll probably get banned for admitting it, but the body, bed, and chassis are in fantastic condition - I wouldn't have it any other way.

As I see it, I'm 'saving' history just as much as the most avid restorer...it's just a different aspect of history - one that speaks the most to me. I feel as passionate about keeping this car as true to the immediate post-WWII era as possible - nothing on the car made after 1945. I could care less what the blinged out street rodders or the high & mighty restorers think - I'm not building it for them.

[CRguy]

Originally Posted by gwhite

This has been an entertaining thread...I'd like to think I'm decently connected with the traditional hot rodding crowd and I'd dare say many of their cars are as well researched, documented, and period correct as a high-point resto.

I'm currently building a traditional hot rod. It's a '27 Roadster pickup on a '28 Chassis powered by a '30 A-banger with original Winfield head, carb/intake, Model B distributor, Winfield/Brierley SU-1R cam. Front suspension is from a '32 - rear end is stock A with 3.54 gears & a T spring - mechanical brakes all around with '35 wire wheels. I'll probably get banned for admitting it, but the body, bed, and chassis are in fantastic condition - I wouldn't have it any other way.

As I see it, I'm 'saving' history just as much as the most avid restorer...it's just a different aspect of history - one that speaks the most to me. I feel as passionate about keeping this car as true to the immediate post-WWII era as possible - nothing on the car made after 1945. I could care less what the blinged out street rodders or the high & mighty restorers think - I'm not building it for them.

That's a great car! Thanks for posting.

Mel

[jkeesey]

I dig it gwhite! That's what my jalopy roadster pickup wishes it looked like.

[gwhite]

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Originally Posted by jkeesey

I dig it gwhite! That's what my jalopy roadster pickup wishes it looked like.

I pray mine looks half that decent. The fascinating thing is talking with some of the old-timers who were 'there'...they'll tell you that the majority of the cars were not nearly as 'finished' as the ones that were photographed and plastered in Hop-Up, Hot Rod, and the 'Little Books' - most were driven in various stages of completion.

Looking at some of the old images from the dry lakes, I was surprised to see cars with faded/worn paint and/or primer, rust along the bottom of the cowl & lower quarters, and a mix-match of tires. Most people today would turn up their nose and call them 'rat rods'...me, I just call 'em traditional gow-jobs, hop-ups, and hot rods.

[Ryan]

The Ford Barn is about early Ford restoration.