Customizations you don't understand

[IronRat]

Early morning Coffee & Philosophy ~

I think one of the greatest things about being an American is our inalienable right to do stupid things as long as it doesn't infringe on our fellow Americans rights to do equally stupid things.

No matter who you are, your normal, is someone else's stupid crazy.

 

[kenny c]

I don't blame a guy for trying, I blame him for not knowing when to say "maybe this is a bad idea" http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/cto/4280976713.html

All I can say is that has nothing but potential.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

I can understand a guy making a clone because he always wanted that cool GTO or SS to cruise around in, but why make a clone show piece? Everybody at the car shows know it's a clone so it's not that special.

I don't get it either. An SS is an SS... nothing else can ever be. [S




Back on track... bad chops give me a rash.

.

 

[hotrod preacher]

Oh no not my dice! You killing me preacher.

sorry pops, i meant the dice valve caps...
or any "custom" valve stem cap (from walmart automotive dept)

 

[hotrod preacher]

I'm with ya on "clone cars" what's the point of a trailer queen clone?[S

 

[maverickmk]

sorry pops, i meant the dice valve caps...
or any "custom" valve stem cap (from walmart automotive dept)

I've always wanted to get a set of those plastic hub-cap spinners
Unfortunately I don't think they make them anymore

 

[mojodaddy]

All about moderation and taste

Being an old fart I have had the priveledge of being aware of the trends of the fifties hot rods and lived the Muscle Car Era as a young driver. Really as far as some of these customizing things go it is all about taste. But tastes change! When I was twenty, I loved anything high in the rear and down low in the front! Which if you think about it was a look that remnded one of the Funny Car look. Also not many guys back then could afford to tub a street car so the leaf spring "shackles" got longer to give the "new" fat Mickey Thompson street tires clearance on the fender openings which immediately dumped the nose down low. Those things handled like a beast too! As for things like Lead Sled Mercurys with the flipper hubcaps and chopped tops and whitewalls, at twenty I considered them to be "Butt Ugly" and since most were all about the "look" and less about the "go", I could have cared less. Muscle Cars ruled. Then in my thirties I started to trend towards the 30's and 40's cars for the Street Rod thing. All followed by the "billet" craze to make everything so fancy and clean. And the price of buying an old Muscle Car drove guys like me away from buying them as they priced through the roof and every Dodge Coronet was turned into a Super Bee and every Chevelle 300 plain jane was morphed into a big block SS car. At Charlotte Car shows there were lines of first generation "Z 28's" all touting to be real deal cars. But they weren't. As I rolled into my late forties a sudden appreciation for "customs" blossomed. You know the dreaded whitewalls and the Candy Color Paint and the Lake Pipes (mostly fake) did not look so bad. A change in taste brought on by a little wisdom that not everything suits everbody and not everbody has the ability to see when a little is just enough and a little more is just too much. I agree the 22 inch wheel/tire thing makes the car look like a life size Mattel Hot Wheels, but that's just me! But 16's on the front and 18's on the back with the car dropped several inches and leveled out, I think thats cool. But it still has to go fast to suit me. Now in my fifties I look at the Ratrod and remember how much of those things were rooted in my past as a flat broke kid trying to "hotrod" a piece of crap car that wasn't a first line choice amongst the car crowd. You know, a 1964 Pontiac Tempest instead of a 1967 Chevelle SS 396. A 1964 big back glass Barracuda instead of a 1970 Fastback Mach 1. Using old stop signs for sheet metal repair with screws instead of welding. Trying to turn a small kid's toy wheelbarrow into a hood scoop (honest to God it turned out pretty good) because we could not afford the fiberglass stuff. And yes even jacking the rear high with "shackles" and air shocks to clear the MT's and Maxima Tires. As I get older the Ratrod reminds me of my youth. In the end, it's all good as long as you teach a kid about a car to continue the line of gearheads.

 

[Sam_Fear]

[cl[cl[cl[cl[cl
Well said MojoD! All of it.

I agree the 22 inch wheel/tire thing makes the car look like a life size Mattel Hot Wheels

I've always thought that too. But it doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Camo King]

MojoD !!! Love your post.

 

[RPM]

WHITEWALLS!!

0n most vehicles they look stupid, very few look good with them kinda tires,

sorry guys, just my $.O2, but he asked so l answered.

putting wheels and tires on is almost always the first custom thing we all do.

Later

I agree. I don't like white walls either, especially the wide ones

 

[IronRat]

MojoDaddy - Spot on! The only thing I bought new in 1974 was Air Shocks, everything else on my '64 chevelle was junk yard or dumpster dive are parts.

Let us not forget how many ways one could use an olds PBR can & electrical tape (before duct tape be came man's best friend). Who had music without a matchbook to hold the 8 track in place? Even though gas was 62cents a ga. it was hard sometimes to scrape up $12.40 to fill up with.

 

[Willowbilly3]

MojoD !!! Love your post.

Me too, only my tastes never changed. I still like anything timeless and strongly dislike fads. Never much cared for tail draggers and still don't, and a 4 door has about a 99.5% chance of never being cool, no matter what you do to it. And, I never liked the hiked up rear ends, they handled bad and launched even worse. Now they are just funny when I see one. (Same reference to the trunk full of rabbits,lol)

 

[offroadrolls]

this is a great thread!

Like so many have said, customization is in the eye of the beholder but the one thing that drives me nutz is any customization done to a car that don't run good. When I was in High School a set of Cragers wrapped with Mickey Thompson M 50's out back all jacked up with skinny tires up front was all the rage. Had a friend who washed dishes all summer to do that to his 66 POS 327 Impala. Darn car was running on about 6 and half cylinders, loose timming chain slapping around leaking oil spewing black smoke. I don't think he even knew how to open the hood. We got in a big argument because I questioned his ability to prioritize and basically called him a dumb a$$. Next thing ya know I was smoking him in a race with my moms 64 slant six 3 on the tree Valiant. For Gods sake, he could have gone through his motor for all he spent on wheels and tires.

 

[billy]

I'm with ya on "clone cars" what's the point of a trailer queen clone?[S

i took my bride-to-be to a show last summer
there was the usual line of more or less pastel painted identical customs
and she pulled me aside and whispered
all these cars look alike
and they all suck!
i guess she dont like em either.
she calls em GIRL CARS
any one of them woulda been a fat down payment on a house.
the owners looked down on my lil rig
the love weasel
but there is always a buncha folks standing around it.[S

 

[billy]

that brings a question to mind.
is it still a custom if there are a dozen more just like it in a row?

 

[Sam_Fear]

Well, how many bolt on parts does it take to make it custom?

 

[billy]

Well, how many bolt on parts does it take to make it custom?

we are gonna have to ask the lawyer/doctor harley guys that one.

 

[Flipper_1938]

That was the whole original pro street movement in a nutshell. Many of the most radical couldn't even make a pass through the fairgrounds without over heating. I still don't like them, even though they will now mostly drive if called on to.

I was looking at a feature car build in a magazine yesterday, pretty typical of that rag where the owner just had enough money to hire the most notable builders. It was a 55 Chevy, Art Morrison or some similar name C4 based chassis, built big block with total custom underhood, leather lexus seats and the best leather interior. So basically you have a high end modern luxury/performance car made to look like a 55 Chevy. Same with a lot of the 30s Ford builds, every conceivable option on a modern chassis. I walk by those cars with a yawn at the car shows just to get to the roughrods and old thrashed out drag cars.

I had a prostreet Camaro in the late 80's-early 90's. I loved it. ...but mine ran high 9's on a cool night, mid 10's anytime. I couldn't drive it cross country, but I could drive it around Memphis on a Saturday night.

I usually walk past painted "streetrods" on the first walk through a car show, but on the second pass, I check out the nicely built cars. That being said, my Dodge/Fargo is gonna be a cross country driver (dakota chassis and chevy LS motor) and probably painted nice. Its kind strange saying I want to build what I don't like looking at. ...kinda like hating purple cars but being drawn to purple color chips when looking for paint colors.

 

[Flipper_1938]

The use of whitewalls in my opinion was a way to mimick what was being used on the production luxury vehicles of the day.
Torchie.

White walls were the way to pull off the big wheel look, before the technology existed to build low profile tires. Wide whites on a 15 wheel have a similar visual effect as a 22" wheel.

 

[Undercover Customs]

Many years ago there were 2 guys in the coffee shop complaining about Hondas and saying how we should buy American, not Japanese. So I ask them what was more American, A Dodge that was made in Japan, a Chevy that was made in Mexico, a Ford that was made in Canada or a Honda that was made in Lexington Kentucky. Then it was "well, it's more about the country of the makers ownership". Really?

This is annoying. I hear them say "buy American" and they are driving a ten year old or newer "big 3". Whatever!

Some of the things mentioned I used to not get but now understand. Like lifted beyond sense 4x's or low riders, but I can sure appreciate the effort, creativeness and work that goes into them.

the one thing I really don't get is check book cars. Maybe this doesn't fit in this thread, but it seems to have become a fad. I would love to see that category at a car show: And 1st place for the check book car category is....