Etiquette of the Survivor

Get off my dick. Who made you judge and jury of what's worthy enough to be canonized to icon status where it's exempt from being fucked with and other less worthy candidates? The irony of this entire thread must be lost on you, or maybe this guy in his thirties is just a bit sharper than the old guy who might be going a bit senile. You do realize that we're on a forum for hot rods and custom cars, debating what hot rods and custom cars shouldn't be hot rodded or customized, right? Say that last sentence out loud to yourself a couple times and let it sink in.

Again, I said some historically significant cars should be preserved, or even restored back to their original glory if at all possible. Plenty of Barris cars have been painstakingly brought back to their original show glory, which is great. But let's not get carried away and say that every "old custom" or "barn find hot rod" needs to be preserved. This is getting like the AACA for shitty unfinished projects that have laid around for decades.

As far as respecting history, I'll be just as happy making my own thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I see another thing that's found in these pages often raising it's head from the slough. An unspoken contest of sorts, or in gararge speak, the 'big dick' syndrome. At the end of the day nobody can put a rational reason to what we're doing with old stuff within these pages. We do it for the pure conspicuous pleasure of it. I like the folks and the cars that go to traditional shows, the ones that limit entrants to a select era. I don't have a need to change their views either. My cars would all be accepted to enter and I get a good time out of the deal. I don't care who stands on their car, pounds his chest like the Mighty Kong and declares how superior he is because he "was there" or his dad/uncle/buddy's 2nd cousin handed down the 2 singular kool old parts under his hood. Good for you. I don't want to be judged for 100% correct either. I spend every week of my life in that world, and if I did I wouldn't build what I'm building now. Save it. Happy that you're correct? Awesome! Share with that guy/girl over the top of your bathroom sink.
Saving an iconic hot rod or custom artifact is a fairly difficult and expensive task for most. Maybe it means something to you or the community you also favor to spend time with. Maybe the old guy was a dear friend or relative of a friend you knew in your youth and you wish to use what he taught you and finish what he started. Excellent, I tip my hat to your discipline and relate to it every day as I restore the next Packard or Jag or Duesenberg. And to a degree, yeah some elements of my own too. I love it here as much as I enjoy those shows I mentioned. We get history, get to know the men who were there, see the rarest parts and superior talents, even new builds that show respect to this choice all of us make. Oh yeah, we even get to watch the occasional big dick contest too

I hope it doesn't shut the topic down, sometimes it's just plain fun to watch. Mine? Nothing to see here, move along now...

 

I hope this isn't pointed at me. I was here for three pages before I mentioned mine, and I didn't really want to, but I kinda felt like I was maybe being discreetly called out a bit. That's the only reason I mentioned it.
Taking an existing survivor and cutting it up into your own vision is the ULTIMATE in dick swinging and chest thumping. Its all about the great "I", just read the post I quoted/bolded above.

 

Lol are you secretly calling me out?

 

I am part of the management team who operates an historical area.
One thing I can tell you, the younger generation has no interest in any type of history. Be it, museums, architecture, politics, past wars, cars you name it.
The interest is just not there. It's easy to understand with that thinking that one would easily change an historical car to their liking to please this years styles.

 

Funny you are so upset about someone cutting and pasting your post. Your words buddy boy. Guess they speak for themselves.

 

And yet another thread, where the thread ruiner appears, and never goes away. Since surely, you aren't calling anyone out, as you did previously above, by bolding our Mopar man's comments, and restating his post. Hmmm' thread ruiner? Just keep going with it. Jesus Chr#st.

 

HAHA!!... us guys in our 30's...

 

My observations are usually never personal. If I had an issue with someone I'd man up and send a PM. I try hard not to allude to anyone in particular. I try to stay on topic too, I figure that's proper etiquette for forum participation.

 

Ive been around old hot rods and survivors my whole life. I love them. They are my passion.

I kind of look at them as antiques or vintage guitars, original and unrestored is always cooler to me. I love old paint and knowing that the last guy to touch it was the guy who put it together is so cool.

I think common sense should be used and everything is a case by case situation.

If it is a historically significant with a pedigree like old magazines or holds records etc. It should probably be restored, although a lot of the restorations get so over done the car ends up looking like a clone of itself. So maybe in certain situations if the car is relatively untouched maybe instead of being restored it could just be recreated, that way it can be shared as it was, and as it is. With the cost of some of the restorations, a recreation wouldn't cost much more, and might even be cheaper. and think about how cool it would be to see!

sometimes a car is historical or important in some way and has been changed or altered or screwed up somehow, It diddnt survive, those cars need to be restored.

Is a restored car a survivor? I dont know? I think its probably not.


Other old barn finds or old hot rods its different. I think making them function without disturbing them too much makes sense, kind of a bare minimum restoration. again if its something you want to completely change you are probably better off just starting with a different car. Its way easier to start fresh and preserve the other car for someone else.

The cars that are nut and bolt survivors, most everything untouched or changed since built are my favorite in any condition. To me they are sacred. please leave them alone. even if you think they are ugly, or unsafe, of whatever, just leave them alone.

On the other hand if it was never finished, or changed around over and over, well build it in the spirit of what it might have been..... or build your version of the past. Its not really a survivor then, its an old Hot rod.

Respect the past. I guess thats the way I see it.

You just have to take yourself out of it. There Is no "I" in survivor ha! well there is but you get it.... maybe?

To me taking a legit old hot rod or custom and changing it to your taste, or the current trends, or even over restoring it, is no different than "street rodded in the 80's" Just because it seems like the cool thing right now, doesnt mean it wont look kinda dumb in the future.

 

Bingo. DEAD on the money. Too bad we constitute a very small minority, even on a so-called "traditional hot rod" forum.

 

Well said Bob!

 

I won't argue opinions with any of the fine population here.........
but I know myself and my confidence that I am the world's best designer. (HA!)
I would be too tempted to "fix" all the "mistakes" of all who added their touch before me. And I would lavish the love and honor of fresh paint because "she deserves it". As a rule, museums don't display a lot of patina, so who am I to argue?

I have a happy in my pants for the Elizabeth Taylor of the Cleopatra movie era, but I'm not ready to be the guy pushing her wheelchair there at the end.

 

I posted this yesterday and pretty quickly deleted it. Some new posts have been added to this thread since. I also started this 100 year old car today, first time in nearly 50 years. It ran smoother than I suspected it would. It is not a hot rod so maybe it doesn't fit here ?

 

Well said.
Geez, sorry if I let my passions get the better of me when people start spewing sewage like "cut 'em all up" on a "traditional hot rod" forum...

 

Mike not sure but it sure has the look of a mid teens Locomobile Model 48. Nice car for sure and I see these cars in my sleep as you may know. You said it has 100 year old paint. That car surely has patina but 100 years ago it was truly a magnificent car. Especially since we were still at war 100 years ago. Cool you got it started although not really surprising to me. You could drive that car with your top hat, which is what a proper owner of that car may have done.

 

She probably wore her riding clothes. The monogram on the door is MRB Lee, Mary Ridgely Brown Lee. The b pillars fold down to make a hardtop look , the top folds down to make a roadster and the windshield comes off to make a speedster.

 

The guy with 18000 plus posts since 2010 is the one concerned about "spewing sewage". The jokes write themselves. Did you buy stock in HAMB?

 

Mike cool she was the wife of Governor Brown of Maryland. I looked her up and her will is online. She died in 1922 and gave her carpenter $10,000, her janitor $5000 and the elevator man $1000. A lot of money back then. Cool car with history. Is it a Locomobile?

 

1916 Locomobile 6 cylinder T head twin ignition, she was Gov. Brown's daughter and her second husband's father founded Union Carbide. I suspect she got this in the divorce.

 

Cool Mike. I drove my grandfather's Locomobile Sportiff with a brushed aluminum body-only the hood and fenders had paint. great cars. Also drove a mid teens Locomobile with a winter top (the sidecurtains had cut glass instead of isinglass) and it had Westinghouse shocks. Your example is really a cool car. Who built the body? The cars of the wealthy always interested me the most. If that car could only tell stories.

 

This whole topic is like walking in a cow pasture. It seems there is going to be argument for the sake of argument with no real consensus as to how high is up. What is a legit hotrod? It is not definable to a certainty in my opinion. I think the majority agree that an iconic hotrod (????) should be left as is. A historic hotrod should be left as is for sure. If we don’t agree on that then I believe the disbelievers need some serious couch time.

Add into the mix the stock Nazis believe that the HAMB is a group of hooligans out to destroy (or desecrate at the very least) their automobiles as they rolled off the assembly line.

There are only a finite number of cars that car guys can personalize-there are not enough pasture cars that we can personalize or even afford if you could find one. If we cannot personalize our cars then what the hell are we wasting our time for. I am into early Corvette drag cars. The drag cars have been destroyed by the resto weenies for eons. I wish they wouldn’t but that is reality. If I had to drive only a stock 62 Corvette I would take up another marque altogether-the stock ones bore me ( expect for maybe a big brake fuelie). I am not into the customs although I appreciate the labor. If there was the proverbial iconic custom I would pass on it and find another-but if it was a mild custom done by some guy long ago-who knows.

I restored a 56 TBird back in the 80s that was a former Autorama class winner. I did it according to the families wishes although thank God I did not have to restore it as to its former glory. The body was customized using chicken wire held on with screws and washers and then filled with bondo. One area had 3” of bondo. It was a legit custom for sure. Candy orange with large metal flake but the workmanship was worse than my standard poodles could accomplish. Glad the family thought otherwise.

What do 32 guys do? They are excoriated if they drive a fiberglass example by many on this forum and condemned to the depths of hell if they personalize a stock example and now if they “customize or personalize” a prior hotrod (pick the term that can only be defined by each individual-except for a truly historic example) they should be burned at the stake I suppose.

I believe certain cars should be left alone, but that too is personal with some examples. I believe the HAMB can be a learning tool but no matter what guys will cut up and change stuff as long as there are cars on the planet. Education may help but arguing can get to be counterproductive and in the end is simply a waste of time, bandwidth etc etc.

 

Ok screw all this talk I want to see survivor pictures!!! Here is two that I would never paint these are both local!

 

Here is a westergaurd what to do what to do lol

 

Sorry to read that, Petejoe, but it doesn't surprise me. I keep hoping my kids, both 30 somethings,

will appreciate history as they get older.

 

I agree with a few of the ablove comments.

Preserving a 50's rat rod that was never finished or never seen the road does not constitute survivor status. Technically all old cars are survivors?? I guess .... but some of these barn finds or survivors are old shit boxes that were parked.

just my opinion...a car worthy of being called a survivor has to have pedigree, been in magazines...or at least be a known car that was on the scene.

 

I dunno what you guys would consider my dad's 34 to be, as it has no real historical significance, other than in my memories. It was a '60's build, parked in the mid 70's, brought back out for a year or so around '84, then sat in his garage gathering dust and mud dauber nests. In 2009, we talked Dad into getting the car back out, but he wanted to give it some updates.

The front suspension was out of a 46-48 Ford and the axle was too wide, the spring was out in front of the axle, and the rear end sat way up. For about 5 months of weekends, we worked on the car, moved the front crossmember back to the stock location, put a new posies spring in front and back, a Super Bell dropped I-beam under the front with some painted hairpins, disc brakes, and replaced the rusty M/T Raders with some orange powder coated Wheel Vintiques Gennie wheels. Left the 327 and M318 transmission in it, and gave it back to dad. A few years later, he said that his knees hurt too bad trying to drive it with the 3 speed, and he wanted to put an automatic in it. We did.

Our efforts were to give the car the stance dad always wished it had, yet leave the rest of the car as unchanged as possible.



Memphis, 1971 with Mom and my little sister


New Melle, MO, 2011

 

guffey, thanks for sharing the Locomobile. Awesome car, and perhaps one may have considered it had a performance pedigree back then so it's fair game. More than anything it inspires. I'd call it a survivor. bird dog gave us 2 out of 3 that may deserve to be restored, 1 for sure. Since it's debut in TRJ I felt the same way about that 36, it deserves to be restored and has enough foundation to bring it back. That channeled roadster, well, flip a coin cuz it's right in the middle. Bleed, no surprise, props dude.
Here's one to consider, all of us really, and it's the Pierson Bros 36 coupe. It's back to it's 1st days and survived by being modernized over the years. Bill Ganhal did a masterful restoration and treated it right. A truly unique survivor history, yes? No? Can anyone tell I'm diggin this topic?