posted at the Cohort by monteverde3
If it weren’t for the motorcycle, this could so be Iowa in 1963. It reminds me how exciting it was to see—and hear—a real hot rod on the road when I was a kid; there were rather few except for one quite similar to this one but in a very crude and unfinished stage, sitting in the side yard at the house across the street from us. Its youthful owners never did get it finished before it eventually got hauled away at their dad’s insistance. But I loved to sit in it, and let my imagination run wild….bbbrrrappp; bbbrrrappp, the flathead Ford V8 missing its carbs and other vital organs magically came to life for me, and soon I’d be tearing down some country road at ninety. My ten year old body fit in it just right, unlike the grownups who have to fold themselves in and hunch over the wheel.
Aren’t hot rods the ultimate kiddie toy for grown ups? So utterly useless, except as a vehicle for channeling noisy childhood fantasies. But then we could say that about a lot of things.
I like, and I’m not much a hot rodder. It is authentic, not some rich Viagra man’s creation he had built with the cliché Vette drive train, over done paint, 20” clown wheels, 1000 watt sound system, etc.
I would agree they are grown up toys, but the ultimate grown up toys are boats. Unless you fish for a living, charter, ferry or work for Sea Tow, they are useless- and have a lot more to play with such as GPS, radar, more gauges, no speed limits in open water. And get some hotties to go with you, man that’s fun. And the money men spend on their boats can be insane. Some men go as far to even wear Captains’ hats, and call themselves Admiral. The hot rod you could drive to work at least.
I respectfully disagree. The untimate grown up toys are Warbirds. A T-6 Texan is the worst money pit ever for something that can only carry two people. I was talking to an owner at an airshow and we got into how much it cost to keep one running, try 30 gallons per hour of LL100 at cruise, mandated inspections and rebuilds once certain hours are reached, insurance…
http://www.paulsquires.co.uk/T6.html
Sorry, I am woefully underexposed to the pleasures of Warbirds. Come on, Powerball!
The Hotrod gets a flat you won’t drown either.
There were a lot of fibre glass hot rod kit cars in the 70s and 80s in the UK.Not my cup of tea but I like it better than the TV hot rod builds.
I like this one because it’s also an antique car, not just a hot rod. The owner who built this one did it to the standards of 1963 (-ish), possibly even a restoration of a hot rod that was originally built back then. And its not a Beach Boys album cover car, its what some 18 year old back then would have been able to afford.
While I grit my teeth at someone (say) putting an LS1 in a ’56 Plymouth Savoy, these give me a great deal of pleasure.
Speaking of kids driving around in hot rods, I always wanted a four-seater hot rod after seeing this Donald Duck episode:
Thanks for that. I haven’t seen a DD cartoon in many decades, and that was quite good. Even better than I remembered them to be; what does that say?
That was great. I remember this one, when I was still in Southern California in the 90’s KTLA Channel 9 still used to air these old Disney cartoons. Nothing produced today can compare to these classics. That appears to be a real old school hot rod in the picture, great find.
I was only aware of Kalle Anka’s popularity in Sweden as a Christmas phenomenon. Now I know that it was much more than that!
I too remember this Donald Duck cartoon, although the only parts that I remembered were checking the gas by dropping a pebble in the tank, and Donald destroying the car at the end and watching the “balloon tires” float away. I thought that the “balloon tires” line was hilarious. I may have tried the pebble method on one of my parents’ cars, but I don’t remember being scolded, so probably not.
In Stockholm I once ended up driving behind, and then next to, a group of three or four Ford hot rods, clearly a club outing of some sort. Being just another person in a VW, I completely failed to get their attention to slow down for a photo.
I think they would call this a “rat rod” today.
Respectfully, absolutely NOT, Phil. Rat rods are generally a mismatched conglomeration of parts, the more ridiculous looking, the better, usually intentionally lacking paint and covered in rust. The style of this one is much more in keeping with what is called Old Skool.
Like Paul said, except for the motor cycle (and the type of folding chairs) this photo could have been taken in 1963. The top chop, steel wheels with baby moon caps and trim rings, a less-than-10-foot deep paint and lack of chrome make it look very much like the kind of car a guy would have built on a budget with his own two hands.
And if you ever happen to run into a guy at a car show who has a car with similar styling cues, you probably shouldn’t refer to it as a Rat Rod. Safe bet he wouldn’t appreciate it. 😉
Great description of the differences. I particularly love rat rods- they are more creative and often have unusual engine choices, such as 6 carb slant sixes, AMC 4.0’s or even 2JZ-GTE’s a la Supra.
While I like the old beat up car concept, a true rat rod takes it to far for me. They go out of their way (WAY out of their way) to make it as ugly as possible. Then cover it with skulls. I don’t get this fascination with putting skulls on everything. A true hot rod is built out of whatever you can get your hands on, and usually involves a lot of fabrication. But you still try to make it as neat and clean as possible with what you have. Also, look at all the ground clearance on that one. Rat rods are built to sit flat on the ground. I’ve seen several of them in Youtube videos getting hung up on all kinds of things.
As you most likely know already, skulls are even bigger in the custom motorcycle world. I don’t understand the obsession with skulls in that setting either. Having started motorcycling on BMWs, I am probably incapable of understanding.
Rat rods are generally ersatz when at school one of the other boarders there had what would now qualify as a rat rod it was a Model A coupe body chopped and channeled over a 46 Ford chassis and running gear with a 34 grille hung over the radiator and held in place with #8 wire no interior it had once had a bench seat from a MK1 Consul but that had been ditched for extra space, On the rare occasions the flathead V8 could be coaxed into life it was driven in this condition but in reality it would have suited wrecking for parts rather than road use. This T is mint in comparism.
This is what a rat rod looks like ..in this case it was once a 1929 Model A Pick-up truck!
Great time capsule build (or, perhaps equally likely, restoration of an actual 60’s rod). I quite like how the air cleaner housing and wheels are painted body color, and how the color itself isn’t what you’d think of when “hot rod” is first mentioned.
I recall things like this from when I was a kid.
That engine is no flathead Ford, but I can’t ID it. I’m guessing smallblock Chevy?
Bingo. I rather figured it was, and I did a close up of the original image to confirm it. But the air cleaner is unusual; I’m trying to figure out what it’s from; looks somewhat Ford-Mercurish to me.
I can’t be sure Paul because I took this shot quite a few years ago, but I think it was one of those classic twin snorkel affairs from a mid-fifties Olds or Caddy that have been VERY popular with hot rodders for many years,
For those of you interested in traditional hot rods (not RAT RODS), you’re just a click away from the HAMB forum:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/forums/the-hokey-ass-message-board.5/
I like it! Sure, as Paul said…these are fairly useless…a toy. But DAMMIT, toys are fun! This may not be a show car but rather its meant to be driven and put a shit eating grin on the drivers face. For me, if a vehicle doesn’t do that on at least SOME level, it isn’t worth driving.
Nice photo, Paul. Some beautiful driving up in the Adirondacks too. See quite a few hot rods up there during the Amercade bike rally in late spring.
It sure is a pretty nice neck of the woods. I took this shot during the Adirondack Nationals in 2010. Always a great show.
it was the whole Boyd coddington thing that ruined hot rods….where every bit of it had to be computer milled out of expensivium and detailed til you ended up with a BMW with 32 Ford styling influences…:)
Nice car, In high school in the early 60s a friend spent the summer in So Cal with relatives. Came home with one of these. It wasn’t chopped and had a mid 50s Buick engine. Vertical steering column. It wasn’t around long. These things take good mechanical skills to keep going and usually more than a highschool kid has without help. We were all jealous as all heck. Oh and I love hot rods and boats too. It’s all about having some fun.
I have always been a hot rodder/amateur drag racer, but I used mostly old beat up ’60’s cars to build them out of. The one exception being a ’93 S10. But I already owned it before I decided to hot rod it. I have always wanted a T-Bucket style hot rod, but buying or building one is above my financial means.