The state of Car Shows and Street Rodding in the US

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by blue62

Nice XJ-13 but somehow they just don't look right to me if they are not British Racing Green.

Well, if it were painted green- wouldn't the ubiquitous question always be:

"Is that a FIBERGLAS REPLICA?"

So tedious to be answering THAT repeated question at a meet/rallye/vintage track gathering ....

To which question the answer always leads to "Why not bare aluminium?"

Hence: The Shortcut.

[Jim Stabe]

Kerry, I've got you by a few years but I totally agree that the essence of hot rodding has changed. I've never fit the mold very well because I have always liked cars that would handle and stop well and not just blast off in a straight line. Shows have not been very fulfilling for me either. The trophy cars are always the ones with $20k of wheels and tires, a $40k paint job and more money in chrome and polished aluminum than I have in my entire car. You spend 5 hours standing around listening to ridiculous questions from people who have no clue what they are looking at. But occasionally there is someone who starts noticing things and asking questions you are actually happy and proud to answer and it makes the whole day worthwhile. If it's a truly special day, that person is young and actually want to learn something so he can build a car of his own. I used the pronoun "he" because in all cases it has been a young man but I would love to run into a girl with the same ambition someday.

[blwn31]

I too grew up attending car shows with the family. We (us kids) only got to go to Cumberland, MD and the car club they belonged to show they put on. Being from the Midwest, (Ohio) all the cars were built by their owners, I never recalled seeing a pro built car until I moved to California. I wanted a hot rod so bad when I was young. Fast forward many decades and I have a nice little Model A that is not painted or have an interior. It's not a rat by a long shot, has nice parts, a lot that are shiny and it's a driver. I could care less if anyone likes it or not. I have a fair amount of money in it, but a low buck car. It's got attitude, coolness and I drive it to one big show a year. The way I look at it, there are many a thousands of project cars that will never see the light of day let alone drive down the road under their own power, so I don't feel bad. I don't have the time to finish it at least while I'm working for the man. So, it looks the way it looks. The guys and gals I hang with do not have high buck perfect cars, just everyday guys and gals that sink a little money into a cool looking toy to drive and hang out with other like minded people. I get a real kick when people want to talk shop about the car. There are still guys out there building pre-war vehicles, just the numbers are declining. It's just dreadfully expensive.



One thing that has been bothering me for many years now, is that all the street rods are going away.What's happening to all the old hot rods, being purchased and shipped over seas, or just rotting in garages as the old timers pass on? I know you can't stop progress but it's truly sad.


Swap meets for me have never been a thing. I enjoy perusing the swap, but rarely buy anything. Of course my car was a pretty complete stocker when purchased, so I didn't need a lot of swap parts. Just saved and purchased new parts as needed.


The heyday of street street rodding was the 1990's through early 2000 in my mind, but I am a little younger than most posting here. There still seems to be a strong street rodding culture in SoCal, looking at YouTube.

[Don Papenburg]

Kent , Back in the 70's and early 80's I had built a fiberglass roadster . well I could not bend metal muchless shape it . But I was good with wood and plastic worked like wood and I could mix wonderbutter with the best of them. Anyway the roadster was hand laid extra thick fiberglass. All of the old guys at the time would beat on the fender and explain "They don't build 'em like this anymore. Or their dad had one just like it years ago. Go ahead and paint if you want it will look good no matter.

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by Don Papenburg

Kent , Back in the 70's and early 80's I had built a fiberglass roadster . well I could not bend metal muchless shape it . But I was good with wood and plastic worked like wood and I could mix wonderbutter with the best of them. Anyway the roadster was hand laid extra thick fiberglass. All of the old guys at the time would beat on the fender and explain "They don't build 'em like this anymore. Or their dad had one just like it years ago. Go ahead and paint if you want it will look good no matter.

Good story, Don.
Yes, hand-laid or via choppergun ..... get it done, and then fill and sand and repeat until straight ...
when I was working on building a polished aluminum airplane, the owner/builder/pilot would joke with me that he would buy this new "polished filler" and save us all a bunch of effort....
A local body shop "Bertolucci's" turned out an amazingly straight 58 Corvette in deep red ..... never seen 'glas so straight ... = talent supreme.
Craftsmanship is attained through patient discipline and practice, using good guidance .... no matter what the field.
Owner/builder now replaced by owner/pocketbook and hired craftsmanship.
The knowledge/know-how combo of craftsmen personally-involved has now transitioned through levels of cost and time beyond the reach of one pair of hands. Some craftsmen are cross-trained to very high talent/expertise levels, but the sheer quantity of time needed to execute an entire project is just not available, in mere decades. I know of one Swedish craftsman who spent 35 years building up a complete early SSK Mercedes - but for a cylinder head. Mercedes heard of this, sent one of their craftsmen to Sweden to inspect - astonished at the level of perfection of wood, castings, wiring, mechanicals, plating, paint ... the Mercedes man went back to Factory and made a request:
The one example in the Museum had a factory-new cylinder head- and arrangements were made to exchange that for the insufficient one in Sweden - giving that project a perfect operational model, with the tired head being made appearance-acceptable to be mounted onto the factory Museum model.

I love hearing of these rare stories, knowing how much effort it takes for that level of attainment.

Celebrate Craftsmanship.



(the wallet is less-significant.)

[123pugsy]

Originally Posted by Kerry Pinkerton

Let me preface this by admitting I'm old. 74 to be exact and I've been a car guy since I was 12. If I had a dollar for every car magazine I've read, I'd have a lot of money.

For years, there was a large car event in the US called Shades of the Past held in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I never attended because the traffic was total gridlock during the show. Last year, they lost their lease on the land and decided to move the event to the Nashville, TN SuperSpeed way and rename the event "The Triple Crown of Racing"

Yesterday, I drove up and was struck by a few things.

1- The swap meet was pitiful. Perhaps 10 folks

2- The manufacturer area was huge. Basically the entire garage area of the Nascar infield. Any expensive, shiny, component you would every want to put in your street rod was available.

3- The cars...the cars were very, very nice. The Shades of the Past show was always open to later model vehicles even when the NSRA (National Street Rod Association) changed their definition of 'Street Rod' from pre-1949 to pretty much anything. While there were many pre 49 cars, the majority seemed to be 50s and 60s.

4- Engines, I used to go to quite a few shows and quit mainly because I became bored with looking a shiny Chevy smallblocks. Seen one, seen them all. Today, that's changed, the majority seemed to be LS engines with fancy covers hiding the components. The wiring and computers well hidden. When I saw a nice car with a carb, I complimented the owner.

5- Builders have always been around and I'm glad they are. That said, to me, the vast, VAST MAJORITY of the 2000 cars appeared to be pro built. Very nice but clearly not something that some guy built in their shop. There were plenty of exceptions but my impression is that the world has changed.

At one point last week, I had thought about taking my unfinished roadster to the show. I'm glad I didn't. It would not have fit in at all.

I miss the old days.

If you had of brought your roadster, you woulda been gabbing all day long with different folks coming around to check it out.

Vendors and and cobbled rods made out of used parts may be thinning out, but appreciation for something different, I doubt that's waning.