Tastes change ...... ?

[Jantrix]

I've always loved hot rods. When I was younger I loved the modern rods, the billet rods as they are called these days. Old cars with modern power plants, suspension, wheels/tires and every modern convenience. Traditional rods were just ...................... old fashioned.

Yet for some reason over the last five years or so my tastes have changed. So far in fact as to do a complete 180 degree turn. I get kind of disgusted when I see a billet rod now and I'm spending time taking models kitted in such ways and striving to return them to a more traditional style.

Rat rods and weathered rods particularly were distasteful. I thought rather vehemently back then that building something purposely to look bad was just stupid. Especially in model form. I had a rather excellent discussion about this idea back on the old SA forum. Now I find them very artistic and aesthetically pleasing. I've built several.

I'm not a band wagon jumper, far from it. I know that rad rods are very popular lately and traditional rods are making a big comeback. I truly cannot account for my tastes in hot rodding in general to do such a drastic swing.

Could it be that because I'm getting older (44 this past June) I'm seeing more value in things that are old? Or that I'm appreciating the talent and craftsmanship in keeping the old things running more than just replacing them with something off the shelf? Probably both.

Has anyone else had such a swing in tastes? Maybe in the opposite way? Lets face it modern suspensions, power brakes and steering are a lot easier on old bones. :lol:

[CadillacPat]

It could just be old age.

Some people are old at 40 and some people are young at 90.

CadillacPat

Edited July 5, 2012 by CadillacPat

[vintagestang]

Two years ago if something that was an antique broke I would just put it up and buy something new but now I see the value in antiques. In face me and my dad are restoring a 1966 Mustang.

[Tony N]

I agree it could be old age, I now love the old school Hot Rods, Rat Rods and find over priced Billet Rod have lost there appeal to me also. But when I look at the old school Hot Rods now, I see more thought put into them to get a feeling of personality that you can build into them. Like listening to an analog record with its warm feeling sound over Digital recordings, it feels more alive.

A Billet Rod is more cookie cutter, like the problem with most modern cars. They all look alike, a 32 roadster smoothed out, made of fiberglass with over size wheels and rubber band tires built by someone else not the owner. The last car show I went to had a group of Billet Rods all parked in a row and they all look alike, following the same rules.

What's funny is that it was the younger kids building Rat Rod, Old school Hot Rods and Customs to help show the way back.

So I am now following the latest trend or I am being an old fart and saying things were better when I was a kid. What's wrong with Kids today?

[Dr. Cranky]

Great topic. My tastes are always swinging between the rusty and the shiney.

[Draggon]

I'm with ya on this. I stopped building in the late 80's, and had more than a few rods in pink, turquoise, pale yellow, and pastel blue. Simulated billet, monochrome and shaved everything. Fortunately most of them never got finished so I can do them over easily. When I resumed building in 2007, that was still my style. I spent a lot of time gathering stupid-large wheels and tires, and buying stuff like the Vette Agin, Wagonrod, and Phantom Sickie ( oops, I mean Phantom Vickie ) . Now Im back to the old school traditional rods and customs, their style lasts over time, and I find them much more pleasing. I like ratrods too, the ingenuity shown sometimes is quite inspiring. What I DONT like is that some guys mistake the term "ratrod" for lousy build quality.

[Nate]

I've had the exact same evolution. I still like Foose's Grand Master and some of the other "billet rods" but I largely like the traditional and patina looks. For me it makes me think of the 50's when kids were doing this stuff themselves, not having them built by pro-builders that do all of the work. Also an old rusty or suede painted hot rod tells more of a story than a super shiny trailer queen.

I always thought it was funny that the Riddler and similar awards go to the owners of the cars, not the builders, since more often than not the owner never even turned a wrench on the project.

By the way, if you still have a bunch of Wagonrods and Phantom Vickies, I'll gladly take them off of your hands. I do still like Mustang II IFS's and high tech chassis, mainly for pickups, though, as I like my rods fenderless.

[crazyjim]

Goin' on 65 and still likin' SHINY :)

[foxbat426]

Same here, before i even got into this hobby i started buying late 60's early 70's muscle cars - i always loved model cars and knew i would get into building one day. after I started building and saw some of the 40's and 50's works of art on here i was like WOW those are beautiful. now i'm buying 65 park lanes, 59 impalas and 63 starliners etc etc. I have my eyes on hudson hornets now and model T's and older Mercury's. I remember these cars parked in the city street when I was a kid. Back in the day when you could tell a chevy from a ford from a chrysler etc., I could name them all, including the model, my old man was so impressed - I think it has something to do childhood and nostalgia as you get older. you want to bring back the "good ole days"

john

[cruz]

I like everything, as long as is not donks or anything with huge rims. I like being versatile but if I had to chose, I would be more traditional. I am 50 but have always had the same tastes when it comes to cars!

[Lunajammer]

Maybe not so much age, just evolving experience. For me that includes music, faith based subjects, even women. Along with age comes scope and we see beyond our market and fad fed tastes of our youth. Sometimes we've worn out our interests in things we followed for 20-years and start discovering the "new" things that have been been in front of our eyes for decades.

[Jantrix]

Thanks for the input guys. It's nice to see I'm not alone.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I just kinda like everything that's really well done. I've seen billet cars and rat rods that made me gag, and I have no love for hoppers or some of the other fad styles, but when a bliiet car or a rat, or any of the others is really right, displaying talented design, skilled craftsmanship and good, effective engineering, I just have to stop and say "wow" no matter what genre it is.

Tastes change, but talent, skill and good engineering are forever.

[MAGNUM4342]

I'm kind of the same. I mean I don't look down on things I used to be into, but my tastes have changed over the years where some subjects are concerned, like salt flats cars and open wheel, while remaining constant where mopars and nascars are concerned.

[jbwelda]

I started out building mostly imports and classic brit cars but now am more or less into hot rods or at least derivatives of them.

thing is, i like to vary my interests even if they center around one style mostly.

[moparmagiclives]

I can apriciate the hard work and talent it takes some of those guys to do the full show " billit" thing. But it's just not my style. Same goes to the cats who strive for #s matching cars or "antique" cars with restored wooden wheels, some day I may find that stuff fascinating, but right now my attention span isn't long enough to stay between the lines. Trends change and so do tastes, it's what keeps the auto world revolving. Just go with it man !!!

[slusher]

We all change, l like weathered cars and plan to build a few. l didn't like them at first but started to over time. l for some reason can not get into giant wheel. l think donks are just strange....Slusher

[Junkman]

My taste never changed. Only the most beautiful and best will do for me.

[1930fordpickup]

Rob being a fan of Big Bang your profile picture is great for this topic.

My two cents- sooner or late we figure what the old guy was yelling at us about ! That and we change more than we know.

[Mercman]

I've always been a traditionalist.

Edited July 7, 2012 by Mercman

[Tye Brown]

Yeah Im the same man I use to be into Nascar & dirt cars big time. But now after figuring out that they are all the same with just different decals man lol. Dont get me wrong I still have heaps & will probably come back to them one day man. But now I love Show Rods I think they are a piece of art man & I think they captuer that old 60-70 feeling

[Art Anderson]

Wasn't it Jim Jacobs (the "Jake" of Pete & Jake's) who pretty much started the thing about doing a hot rod that was not all chromey, with a miles-deep paint job ('29 Model A Phaeton that was well-built, but painted red with a brush and then had Rod & Custom covers and magazine pages varnished down over that?

Anyway, 60 some years ago, to see a rod or a custom on the streets more often than not meant seeing a work in progress: Bodies in primer (but NEVER rusted out!!), hot rods that gained a chromed part here and there as money allowed. I vividly remember a 19yr old here in Lafayette, the son of a preacher (literally!) who spent most of the 1950's customizing a 1949 Chevy convertible. When the chrome came off, he filled the trim mounting holes, and simlly spotted those with red oxide primer (the car was originally black). For almost a year, he ran it around town with a stock taillight on the left, and a newly welded in and leaded '49 Cadillac tailfin and taillight--now that looked pretty odd for a while.

But above all, those cars from the past that pretty much inspired the rat rod thing today, were far better built, almost NEVER showing any rust damage, and by and large, the various pieces, parts and sheet metal all seemed to have been selected for how well they "fit" together in the builders' eyes. I would submit that nearly all those early rodders and customizers were striving tor good looking cars (at least in their own eyes), not just slamming bits and pieces of junk, rotted out sheetmetal, through some rattle can primer on the whole mess, take it down to DMV for license plates.

Just my $.02 worth.

Art

[Tom Setzer]

I started building Hot Rods in 1959 when I was 12 years old, with help from my Uncle who owned a large speed shop. That first Hot Rod was a 30 A Model Roadster that I bought from a local man that was unable to drive it due to his age. I paid $20 dolars for it and it still ran [ Smoked a lot but it ran}. I imediatly started taking it a part, I found that the body had no serious rust, but rust had gotten to the frame to the point it was a total lose. So I started diging throuh the Salvage yards for a usable frame and all the other parts I could find. It took me three years and over $400 to get that first Hot Rod on the street, It ended up with a 51 caddy engine with three Dueces an a chevy truck Trans. That First Hot Rod never got past Primer and the seat was covered Surplus Army Blankets. In 1976 I finished a 46 Ford Opera Coupe With A Chevy 350 Lt1 / 400 Turbo, Nova Front Clip, and Jaguar Independant Rear Power Stearingand Power 4 wheel disc brakes custom iterior with heat and air, Custom body work and Paint.

Today I like to build Traditional Hot Rod Models, but I also build the occational Modern Street Rod.

[Tony T]

My tastes can vary widely and basically if I like it, I build it.

[59 Impala]

I'm stuck in the 50's and early 60's as far as what the cars look like. I tried to get the look of a 50's custom on a 53 Ford and I was trying to get the look of a well rusted but fairly good car with a 49 Ford and a 57 Chevy. I also was going for a couple of hot rods with the 49 Merc and 49 Ford. Here are some pics of them.

My tastes lye somewhere in between all of these. I'm so confused. Dan