Current Hot Rod / Street Rod trends

[CabDriver]

So, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have my finger on the pulse too much when it comes to whatever the very latest and greatest trend is in, well, anything really...but I was thinking today that there hasn’t been a particular trend in hot rodding that has really taken off and captured people’s imagination (that I’ve noticed) for a few years now.  

The whole rat rod thing was obviously HUGE for a number of years, and probably still is, then The Race of Gentlemen thing seemed like it blew up and there were a lot of ‘TRoG’ builds popping up everywhere, in real AND scale.

Street Rod wise, I’ve always been more of a traditional hot rod kinda guy but once Boyd passed away I can only think of Foose as someone who’s super well-known and and seemingly doing cool stuff, but his stuff isn’t super different (in my opinion) to what people have been doing for a number of years design wise.

So, my own ignorance revealed, what big stuff am I missing out on that’s happening right now? I wanna catch up on the cutting edge here ?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Look over the past few year's entries in the Grand National Roadster Show for a good idea of what's hot in rods, especially the contenders for America's Most Beautiful Roadster.

Straight 'traditional' cars were on top for a while, but more modern flavoring has been creeping in.

Here are the 2019 cars to get you started...

https://www.classicarnews.com/2019/01/26/americas-most-beautiful-roadster-2/   ...

 

[Snake45]

Sounds like you're pretty much on top of things. At least the billet and pastel trends of the '80s/'90s seem to be dead. 

Personally, I find the hot rods of the mid to late '60s to be timeless in style and appeal. They still look good to me. 

[CabDriver]

13 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Look over the past few year's entries in the Grand National Roadster Show for a good idea of what's hot in rods, especially the contenders for America's Most Beautiful Roadster.

Straight 'traditional' cars were on top for a while, but more modern flavoring has been creeping in.

Here are the 2019 cars to get you started...

https://www.classicarnews.com/2019/01/26/americas-most-beautiful-roadster-2/   ...

 

I love following the GNRS coverage every year - so much beautiful craftsmanship!  I guess you’re right - if you’re competing for arguably the biggest prize in hot rodding then you’re at the cutting edge!  Lots of muted colors the last couple of years, I’ve noticed - and the traditional builds are just as perfectly-period-correct as you’d expect.  
 

15 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Sounds like you're pretty much on top of things. At least the billet and pastel trends of the '80s/'90s seem to be dead. 

Personally, I find the hot rods of the mid to late '60s to be timeless in style and appeal. They still look good to me. 

I’m sure the pastel and billet will come around again soon enough - I listen to the radio and hear a bunch of stuff that sounds like the 80s and 80s ‘cool’ seems to be back in right now...so I guess in a few years we’ll be in the nineties again!  ?. I should build a pastel green street rod and be EARLY with a trend for a change ??

Funny thing that prompted this query - I’ve got some photoetched flamed dash parts and flamed valve covers and flamed air intakes here, plus a bunch of 3 spoke wheels and other out-of-fashion stuff that I’ve been saving for YEARS (possibly decades) to use on a ‘modern’ build...and now I’m finally thinking of using them on the project I had in mind I think it’ll end up being retro ?.

[CabDriver]

 

Man, I’m gonna have the coolest streetrod from 2004 with this babies ???

[Dave Van]

I kinda feel the current trend is 'do what you like'..........

That may be wishful thinking on my part as my 46 Ford coupe is very mild 350/350 engine trans, Mustang II front and rear suspension and will soon wear a semi gloss black paint with red smooth steel wheels w/baby moons. NOTHING ground breaking or new.....but solid as a rock and more fun that one should have!  Weather you go high dollar or low I think folks are accepting as long as it's done well. 

When I visit  So Cal and attend 3-4 car shows a week....it's the vibe I get....

Can do your own thing be a trend???

[CabDriver]

18 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

Can do your own thing be a trend???

Not following trends is the new trend! ?. 
 

I read something once that said something like “the internet lets anyone with an interest in the most obscure, weird, narrow subdivision of any possible subject or hobby find millions of other people just like them”

I think that luxury that we have now makes it possible to build what you like without thinking “I don’t really have anyone to show this to who will GET it”.  Not that I worried too much about that anyway, but it’s cool that even if I build the most hideously dated and unfashionable thing I can imagine someone will say “I LOVE it!  I’m gonna build one just like it!”

All that said, I wonder what the next big trend in hot rodding will be?  Something will happen in 1:1 sometime and then, like rat rods and TRoGsters and street rods and custom vans and whatever else before them will make the modelling community BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH up it’s ears and start to build stuff to replicate the cool full-sized stuff that has gripped their imagination.

[CabDriver]

Haha, the word that rhymes with ‘stick’ that begins with a ‘p’ is censored huh?

Ok, “perk up it’s ears” then ?‍♂️?

[JollySipper]

I really like the "neo-traditional" trend that seems to be popular...... Old school theories and aesthetics coupled with modern advancement.

For a while there were a lot of projects being shown in bare steel, with the chrome only copper plated........ good way to show what excellent metal workers the guys who built them were.

[Jon Haigwood]

On my FB Model Page I have been featuring the AMBR Winners. I have been watching as the winning trends seems to change. In 1950 was William Niekamps's 29 Roadster. 

 

In 1958 with the Ala Kart things started to change

 

They started to be way out there and in 65 with Caspers Ghost the imaginations were working hard

 

My page is now at 77 with the Candy Man

 

but it looks like things are changing with tomorrows 1978 winner Phil Cool's 32 Roadster

 

It will be interesting in seeing the trend changes in the upcoming winners

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Jon Haigwood

[Richard Bartrop]

On 5/25/2020 at 7:16 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Look over the past few year's entries in the Grand National Roadster Show for a good idea of what's hot in rods, especially the contenders for America's Most Beautiful Roadster.

Straight 'traditional' cars were on top for a while, but more modern flavoring has been creeping in.

Here are the 2019 cars to get you started...

https://www.classicarnews.com/2019/01/26/americas-most-beautiful-roadster-2/   ...

 

It's hard to go wrong with a '36 Ford, and it looks like an amazing piece of craftsmanship, but I will not mourn when the trend to drab non-colours  goes away.

I'm a big fan of subtle and subdued. but this shows that it is possible to be too subdued.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Jon Haigwood said:

but it looks like things are changing with tomorrows 1978 winner Phil Cool's 32 Roadster

 

Now see, this is what I would call "timeless classic" rod style. It would have looked good on the street anytime from the mid-'60s right through to Next Year (at least), regardless of what anyone else in the street rod movement was doing. What's not to like here? 

[styromaniac]

My tastes run pretty traditional these days ( guess you could call me a H.A.M.B.er ) but in their day I could appreciate the alien artistry of Roth and the smoothness of Coddington. About the only thing I absolutely can't stand is the giant wagon-wheeled cars with a skinny strip of rubber for a tire ( what did they call those things? Donks ? ) Every time I see one of those  I wanna retch...just don't look right to me...cartoon cars. 

[CabDriver]

8 hours ago, styromaniac said:

My tastes run pretty traditional these days ( guess you could call me a H.A.M.B.er ) but in their day I could appreciate the alien artistry of Roth and the smoothness of Coddington. About the only thing I absolutely can't stand is the giant wagon-wheeled cars with a skinny strip of rubber for a tire ( what did they call those things? Donks ? ) Every time I see one of those  I wanna retch...just don't look right to me...cartoon cars. 

Yep, donks.  There’s a couple that I see on the road occasionally near me.  Impalas on 30 inch wheels with stock brakes peeking through - seems safe ??

I think @JollySipper is right with his ‘neo traditional’ observation - there seems to be a lot of builds in that style right now...hot rods that use the right parts and general look where they COULD have been built back in the day on paper...but probably wouldn’t have been.

I’m noticing a similar trend in custom motorcycle builds a lot lately - tonnes of retro-influenced but definitely-modern bikes with some really cool ideas:

I’m finding a lot of inspiration from bikes lately, thinking how I could use some of the ‘flavor’ of what they’re doing, but for automotive subjects instead.  I’d definitely like to see some hot rodders takes on the bikes above, would definitely be fresh and interesting I think!

Edited May 28, 2020 by CabDriver

[Greg Myers]

[Greg Myers]

I read in Hot Rod Magazine a long while ago that "Hot Rodding" was pretty much a "Monkey see, monkey do " kind of thing, with everyone just jumping on the latest trend. Having been in this hobby for many years i find this true.

[Greg Myers]

I have observed trends following race cars, customs and things that the "Trendsetters" do just to be different.

The race car thing was interesting, seeing it peak at the " Street Freak, Prostreet" style. There have been many lately that just seem to follow the Monkey example.

[Greg Myers]

Many trends take up ideas that were just NOT popular back in the day. Maybe the "Dare to be different" thing came from this?

I do see cars being hot rodded today that just wouldn't be looked at twice "Back in the Day". i.e. fourdoors.

Off year ( from a traditional Model A, Deuce, "40 Ford perspective) body styles, many of which have shown up in plastic. When i was in high school, no one would have looked at a '37 as rodding material. Much different today as the availability of the "Traditional" rods has diminished.

[Mr. Metallic]

On 5/25/2020 at 8:00 PM, CabDriver said:

Street Rod wise, I’ve always been more of a traditional hot rod kinda guy but once Boyd passed away I can only think of Foose as someone who’s super well-known and and seemingly doing cool stuff, but his stuff isn’t super different (in my opinion) to what people have been doing for a number of years design wise.

It may feel like Foose doesn't do anything "different" because FOOSE was the one who did most of the cutting edge designs for Boyd in the late 80's and 90's. So when he moved on from the Boyd shop it may have felt like he wasn't doing anything different from what Boyd had been doing, but that's because Boyd was getting the credit for cars that Foose had designed (and helped build). 

I'm not saying Boyd wasn't a great builder and designer, just that the contributions Foose had to Boyds success, especially in the 90's, is sometimes forgotten because Boyd is such a legendary name. Much like Barris name overshadows many of the design and build contributions of many talented guys who worked for him

[stitchdup]

I think the trend now isn't so much based on the style of the build, but more focused on the quality of every part of the build. We have hollywood hotrods coachbuilt packard on one hand which really wouldn't have been thought of as a hot rod even as near as 20 years ago and it sure is an inspirational piece of engineering and craftsmanship, but is it a hot rod? To me its more of a coachbuilt car ala bugatti atlantique than hot a real hot rod. But then would the same tricks done on the body work on a smaller car like an A or a 32?

I admire what foose has done but I think Dave Kindig and his team are top of the heap just now. To me the E type jag Foose had at gnrs looked like a poor quality kit car based of a palmer model kit, and really looked like a copy of the eagle speedster kit. I dont doubt it was exquisitelly built and engineered because thats what foose does and does it very well. I loved the 53or54 chevy he did with the lowered roof (not chopped, the centre of the roof was chopped above the gutter by an inch but the pillars were stock height) and that took a real eye for detail to even see that and think of it. Style of the build means a lot less that the quality of the work now and thats down to people wanting the same build quality as a new car in their vintage hot rods or customs. The same thing is happening in the vw tuner scene, some of the top show cars really dont have that much done externally but the engine bays will be a work of art and the engineering will be top shelf. When you see one of the old style wheels upsized and fitted to bbs barrels you dont see the many hours of work behind that or even notice the wheel arches rebuilt to look stockbut hold 9 inch wide wheels, and that is directly inspired by seeing high quality work on tv shows. Sure you could build a gasser with all the most expensive parts but if its held together with bird mess welding and duct tape, the junkyard part build with good engineering will beat you every time. People still want the same stuff but now they want quality too. Barris or roth wouldn't be able to build the same things they did in the 60s now, some of their engineering was more hit and hope than measure twice, cut once and customers now just wont stand for it

[89AKurt]

On 5/25/2020 at 6:16 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Look over the past few year's entries in the Grand National Roadster Show for a good idea of what's hot in rods, especially the contenders for America's Most Beautiful Roadster.

Straight 'traditional' cars were on top for a while, but more modern flavoring has been creeping in.

Here are the 2019 cars to get you started...

https://www.classicarnews.com/2019/01/26/americas-most-beautiful-roadster-2/   ...

[...]

That still the standard for traditional Hot Rods?  When I look at SEMA shows, that covers more variety.

I haven't been checking out the latest either.  I used to go to shows, and had magazine subscriptions, but got burned out.  Now when I see a new car, it's sort of exciting to see for the first time, vs. having read all the lead-up reviews.  When it comes to tastes, variety is the spice of life.  There is a Porsche Outlaws topic, I see cross-over themes from the Hot Rod community infiltrating them foreign things, but not the other way around.  The common thing is craftsmanship, and how much money the owner has to burn, which almost disgusts me.  Far as building models, I have retreated so much from current trends, that I invent what I like and run with it.  I also avoid doing Street Rod, Hot Rod, Street Machine, etc. because so many others are into it, let them do what they like is my attitude, I'll appreciate their work when I see it.  /end rant/

[CabDriver]

2 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

It may feel like Foose doesn't do anything "different" because FOOSE was the one who did most of the cutting edge designs for Boyd in the late 80's and 90's. So when he moved on from the Boyd shop it may have felt like he wasn't doing anything different from what Boyd had been doing, but that's because Boyd was getting the credit for cars that Foose had designed (and helped build). 

I'm not saying Boyd wasn't a great builder and designer, just that the contributions Foose had to Boyds success, especially in the 90's, is sometimes forgotten because Boyd is such a legendary name. Much like Barris name overshadows many of the design and build contributions of many talented guys who worked for him

Absolutely - I didn't intend to belittle Chip's contribution to Boyd's success, and how much they advanced the look of hot rods and custom cars for a number of years.  And it's great to see Chip still building amazing cars now - I'm just saying that his style is pretty much what he does (and does better than most)...I'm curious as to who the NEXT Chip Foose will be I guess

[El Roberto]

On 5/27/2020 at 11:53 AM, styromaniac said:

My tastes run pretty traditional these days ( guess you could call me a H.A.M.B.er ) but in their day I could appreciate the alien artistry of Roth and the smoothness of Coddington. About the only thing I absolutely can't stand is the giant wagon-wheeled cars with a skinny strip of rubber for a tire ( what did they call those things? Donks ? ) Every time I see one of those  I wanna retch...just don't look right to me...cartoon cars. 

I saw a moron the other day driving a Ram 3/4 ton 4X4 with those wheels and tires.  I wanted to pull him over and b***h slap him.  

[Snake45]

11 minutes ago, El Roberto said:

I saw a moron the other day driving a Ram 3/4 ton 4X4 with those wheels and tires.  I wanted to pull him over and b***h slap him.  

No jury would have convicted you! 

[CabDriver]

But remember when those “donks” were so popular that Revell did a whole series of them?! I never figured out why they didn’t call them Highriders...like lowriders, but high!