Anybody build a Traditional hot rod??

Hey Rat Rod guys and gals...

I got to thinking I know several of you folks are over on the traditional hot rod site (I am as well)....so have any one on here built a period correct hot rod and how did it compare to any of the Rat Rods you have built??


This is the only one I have attempted...more race car than hot rod but I was saving a piece of New Jersey oval track history...

I love the looks of all the TROG cars...that period correct stuff really appeals to me...

Thanks for any replies...

I've been skirting the rules over there for more then 20 years. I was building rat rods before they were identified as rat rods. I like the traditional look, but would really rather have a more modern drive train (I drive my stuff around 10K mile a year), and I have always built my stuff a week at a time. Up until about 6 years ago, the paint on my stuff was the $20 a gallon implement paint at the local farm store. I'm a welder, I have this thing about new and old rusty metal together on my car (just doesn't look right in my eyes), I don't mind the old faded paint, or natural rust. That cheap implement paint was fading in 4-5 years.

This is my 48 Plymouth coupe just before the last repaint in 2018. At that point the car had logged around 70,000 miles, and had been in 27 different states. This pic is the side view of the car, this is its 2nd paint job and was about 5 years old, this round of implement paint was sprayed on, the first paint job was the same paint (same gallon!) brushed on.

This pic of the back window is the reason the car got redone this last time, the metal around that window was rusted through and was leaking rain water into the car. The paint job after this repair had the blue exchanged for red, and the white exchanged for a light cream color. That was real car paint, professionally done. The car now has around 90,000 miles on it.
I'm considering doing it again, taking it back towards its original design, now that it isn't the primary road car anymore.





This is how the car currently looks. the truck in the background is my current ride. Its also the same truck behind the coupe in the 1st pic.

Gene, your story is inspiring.

Gene, your story is inspiring.

I have a problem with the term traditional hot rod. Traditionally hot rods were built using new and better parts than available when a vehicle was new. I feel they were always a progression. Period correct makes more sense. If you are limiting parts and style to before than a certain date that is ok. I feel that some updates are ok such as overdrive transmissions and better brakes. I personally find trying to be a purist is nearly impossible without going broke and being able to enjoy a car safely with the way people drive today. this is all coming from someone that has finished one yet.

These old roadsters...so simple but oh so cool too...

There are so many ways to classify cars lol, In my mind there's 5, survivors, OG Resto, restomods, hot rod, and rat rod. Don't think Survivors need explanation, OGResto is restored to how it roled of the assembly line, restomods are restored modernized cars, clean or fresh paint, modern updates like brakes, suspension, rims, etc. Hot Rods are the cars with stunning paint jobs, crome galore, everything's updated, an engine compartment you can eat off and of course horsepower covers in crome!!!
Then there's the Rat Rod, rust, patinas, painted, built with and out of anything and everything, 4 cylinders, inline 6s, big block monstrosities, to smoken diesels. og designs to modern suspensions. Not 2 the same, each an expression of the owner/builder. In the case of your vintage race car I'd say you want to OG Resto it even though it didn't role off the line that way

My coupe started as a Dodge Dakota pickup. The Plymouth body came from a guy's fence line and was hung on the modified Dakota chassis, rust and all. The only thing there that is 48 Plymouth is a good share of the rusty, upper, outer, body shell, and the rear 2 quarter windows. The coupe's floor pan is from the Dakota standard cab, and the bed floor from the 8' bed. There is a build thread on it on this website. But you can feel free to call it what ever you want.

I would call it yours. The only person it had to make happy is you. That is what matters.

kenny c said:

I would call it yours. The only person it had to make happy is you. That is what matters.

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I agree with you.
I believe everyone has the right to build their ride however they choose to make themselves happy. I've been doing that for nearly 50 years.
To me, the definitional of a Rat Rod is: A ride someone built to please himself, with no concern about what others thought.

I built this one to look like a couple high school kids in the 1960's with no money and limited tools built it.

My semi-traditional build or partially period correct hot rods.

bob w said:

I built this one to look like a couple high school kids in the 1960's with no money and limited tools built it.
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Now that is one cool old hot rod right there...do you still have it??
What was the original sheet metal on it??...

Thanks for the kind remarks.
Yes, I have it. !930 Hupmobile cowl and radiator shell, 1930 Chevy coupe quarter panels. I made the doors, deck lid and other panels.

Does it count if I hid almost all of the newer stuff and made the hotrod look old?

What is the breaking point now in traditional meaning? I don't consider mine traditional but the parts are all in the 50 year old range. Not that it really matters, I built with what I had and what I could find to make what I wanted figuring that was what building was and what it is supposed to be.

The terminology has sparked many a debate.
My thought is, if you have a bare bones antique that mostly the engine trans and rear end (or any of the fore mentioned) have been modified for performance and is street/strip driven, is a hotrod.
I consider my 37 GMC and anything like it is a street rod. The reasoning is it has AC, cruise, tilt column, overdrive trans and electric windows.

Back to my argument. It is almost impossible to define traditional. Easier with period correct.

Originally, a "traditional" hot rod was a vehicle where the owner modified the drive train, brakes, and / or steering to improve the vehicle's performance in those areas.

There was no "period correct" time frame the hot rods had to conform to. The first period correct time frame was the "Before 1949 automobiles" because the "new" cars were just not cool enough and someone thought they needed to install time frame, so "their opinion" of what a hot rod should be, could control the narrative. Then that wasn't even good enough, they wanted to control how modern the parts that were used to improve the car, needed to be limited. Now everything has to "fit" into someone's style of build as well.

Its all a bunch of BS to be honest. I build my stuff to the real, original, traditional meaning of it being a hot rod: Any vehicle that has been modified to improve the drive train, steering, brakes, or suspension, from its original condition, is a hot rod. No distinction concerning the original build date of the vehicle, and no limitation of the age or where the parts came from.