Is Hotrodding dead?

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MoparDemon

MoparDemon

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The question is where are all the real hotrods?
It is rare now to see real blood sweat and gears, grassroots built cars, everyone seems to be on the "bought it new, put on a cold air intake and a computer tune" but they didn't build anything on it trip! The real car guys are seeming to be disappearing form the mainstream society. ​

Why is this? We think it is a combination of things such as; ​



  • The police and the government are getting a little crazier about loud, fast and modified cars, flat black, lowered chopped cars, cars that don't have modern safety; air bags, crumple zones, ABS brakes and on-star to track/follow you! They have even tried to kick us off the road with vehicle inspections and put in clunker laws to get rid of cars that are old and not running, before you even get a chance to rescue them! (there are a few articles on this subject, like they will actually haul the car off to the crusher while you are away, from your own property!).
  • A scenario like this could happen too: drug dealer gets himself a 1000 horsepower hotrod already built, never drove one before, never put it together, does not know how to drive it! He kills someone and or himself and this just makes it worse for those of us that actually build and drive our cars. Kinda puts a bad stigma on the hobby. The cars will get a bad reputation with the cops, when in fact it is usually an inexperienced driver. That was just a fabricated scenario but plausible...Actually seen it more than once! shhh!
  • The newer generations are into the diamond earrings, Louis Vuitton man purses, Ed hardy and make payments on new Mercedes or BMWs etc, They listen to seriously flamboyant music, watch stupid shows like Jersey Shore etc. The bottom line for the first statement, the new gen is seeming to be a bunch of one-uppers! and they are not interested in hard work. Ok that was a bit of a rant! but really!
  • It seems that not many people can actually get their hands dirty anymore, They couldn't fabricate things they need if their life depended on it. Instead they are buying every piece of billet crap they can find and putting together cars that are built from mass produced pre-fabbed stuff.
  • Yes one can go in and buy a new Hemi car or a new Camaro but that is not hotrodding. This does seem to be quite the trend these days. Many hi performance parts are available from a plethora of aftermarket suppliers of the shelf, plug and play tuners, stand alone fuel management, horsepower adders and stuff. bla bla bla!
  • Too many vintage cars are way over done and a lot of them are just ridiculous, a person could build four for the price of one of these! This can be discouraging when a newbie asks "How much did that cost?" when they hear what some guys have spent, their dreams are smashed! This is in no way to disrespect Von Dutch, Ed roth, Boyd coddington, Chip Foose and many more. They all have built cool stuff but we are talking about the guys that stayed up till three in the morning bashing their knuckles and still heading to work the next morning. These guys run on a tight budget and often build all of their own stuff, rebuilding what others would turf. This is far more admirable than some rich dude with all of the trendy new billet **** and a $40,000 ridiculous paint job.
    I mean everyone is entitled to do whatever they want with thier own money but the topic here is grass roots hotrodding.
There does seem to be a big change in the hobby but do not fear! there are others out there that are totally against the grain and still build their rides and drive them hard too. They often seem like introverts and keep to themselves but they are out there in a garage somewhere! Here is a video i found on you tube that got me started about this topic..enjoy :happy1:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/HZ3RnKLIpCE"
 
I think it has a lot to do with money.
Its a lot harder now for the younger people to have greater spending capital

Also parts.. each year they become more and more scarce..

I dunno.. Guess I was lucky to have hotrodders for parents
 
Money is a main issue, how many people do you know that can just write a check for 15k or more for an old restored hot rod but they can finance a new hemi challenger. Cars are being crushed as fast as people can haul them across a scale, not everyone has a way to store and work on old cars and there are zoning issues in cities directed at old vehicles if they are unoperable for any amount of time. Me, I love the old stuff. If certain parts aren't available I fix or fabricate new ones with my dad, another old hot rodder. Nothing is impossible with a little imagination and a welder.
 
+1 on the money issue. You have to work hard to afford this hobby and it takes years to get them done. Unless you're born with a sliver spoon in your mouth but then you don't appreciate the hobby to begin with. The cops don't have a clue the muscle cars and mostly seem like haters. That's why I love the small shows throughout NC...Lots of enthusiasts and cool cars + no cops around. In case you missed it here's a link to one favor show of mine. http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=162357
 
Ok man see the thing is the new Japan cars and plug and play stuff its what my Gen is into now .... Ik now is sucks they have no clue what there missing but that's the way they want to play ... seems kind of boring to me .. I will one day when its done be able to look at my barracuda and say I did that ... U know and its has a lot to do with cash the gov has us so messed up only the rich can get there stuff done fast some of us can only buy a part at a time some of us cant buy any thing , im going to tell U now I have a family member that has 8 mopars right now that have to come out here to marrow cuz the city is on him so ya them prick don't help btw some are parts cars ... there's just so much working against my Gen we really never had a chance ... its my Gen but I don't have to fallow them there's a lot of my Gen that thinks like me hell look at kegan he's 13 and he's doing his rampage with his two hands .. now that's not my Gen he's the next Gen but its not dead yet as long as we pass it along ... if U don't teach bur kids bout it then it will die . one day it will but .. I hope not in my life time .. cuz if it do die then U mite as well shoot me .. that's not a life I want to live that why I smoke so much lol I don't want to see this hobby in 40 years .. Its not dead but it is dieing . a slow painful death
 
Hell no hot rodding's not dead. I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!

I think it has a lot to do with money, but also space... Most young adults are in cities, and a lot of them live in apartments, and most apartments dont have garages... i know this to be the case at least for me here in southern california. I'm 31 and finally at the point in my life were I've been lucky enough to find a townhome with a one car garage. Also I couldn't have a hot rod as my only car, because of all the work I need to do to it and get done to it... So just last year I paid off my daily driver, and as of last month I was finally able to purchase my 65 barracuda as a second car. It's not fast yet, but it will be one day.

You make some good points though MoparDemon... Reminds me of this motorcycle video I saw a while back.. Check it out. Many of the same sentiments.
[ame="http://vimeo.com/20789680"]Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles on Vimeo[/ame]
 
Shane65 said:
Hell no hot rodding's not dead. I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!

I think it has a lot to do with money, but also space... Most young adults are in cities, and a lot of them live in apartments, and most apartments dont have garages... i know this to be the case at least for me here in southern california. I'm 31 and finally at the point in my life were I've been lucky enough to find a townhome with a one car garage. Also I couldn't have a hot rod as my only car, because of all the work I need to do to it and get done to it... So just last year I paid off my daily driver, and as of last month I was finally able to purchase my 65 barracuda as a second car. It's not fast yet, but it will be one day.

You make some good points though MoparDemon... Reminds me of this motorcycle video I saw a while back.. Check it out. Many of the same sentiments.
Handmade Portraits: Liberty Vintage Motorcycles on Vimeo
Click to expand...


I think you hit it spot on about having a place to work on a car for us city folk... I had to sell my last car because I was renting and didn't have anywhere to put it (esp. with all the damn street sweeping here lol)

Garages are tough out here!
 
Great Video. I'm so glad my son knows how to use many tools and enjoys working with his hands.
It's born into some of us. Others just don't have it in them. We are working together on his BMW, My Dart and tons of radio projects. Plus My son loves Vintage trains and is building a complete prewar Lionel setup.
In a way I think Hot rodding was always limited to a select few. The Few, The Proud, The Hot Rodders
 
I don't think so. I think it is a matter of timing with most people. A lot of people want to do it but they just aren't in the position right now. Heck my wife told me last night that she wants me to teach her how to work on cars, she wants to be able to make her vehicle faster then everybody else's. She actually wants a Pontiac G8 GXP, I told her if we can sell my Liberty then we can get her one. Yes it is a new car but hot rodding is hot rodding no matter what the year the vehicle is. She wants to go fast and have a cool car that isn't like everybody elses so I told her I would get her an early a but she doesn't want that. At least she wants to modify a vehicle and not be cookie cutter like everybody out there.
 
I don't think it's dead. I was out of the hobby for close to 30 years before I built my Demon. It was a matter of making sure the family was taken care of first. During that 30 years I always told the wife that one of these years I was going to build a 72 Demon. The day finally arrived when I could afford to do it. Now I am building a new 340 blower engine for it and doing it the hotrodding way, on the cheap, and trying to make a mechanical fuel injector work on the street.

Jack
 
Hotrodding isn't dead, it's just suffering from a society that has very little creativity left. There is no need to be creative when we are flooded with ways to be entertained and pleasured without having to think, sweat, get dirty, or be uncomfortable.

There is no need to learn to fly a plane, play an instrument, draw a picture, race a stock car, or even to fight a battle. Just buy the software and a few gadgets, and you can become an expert without ever leaving the air conditioned, upholstered, subsidized comfort of your dwelling. Who cares if your skill can't be transferred to real hardware.

Ordering parts on your computer is far easier than roaming a wrecking yard with a crazy idea, a tape measure and a notebook. Bolting a small block Chevy into a rolling frame, covered with fiberglas panels that you bought from a catalog is far easier than figuring out how to squeeze that old 700 lb, 354 Hemi into a body built for straight six. It only takes a fat check book to resolve a quandary, not creativity and effort.

There will always be hotrodders, and dreamers, and the curious, and the creators. They will be envied by some and scorned by others, but they will continue to do what they love. There will just be fewer of them.
 
hobbys not dead - just changes. People like myself enjoy 60's-70's mopars and 80's musclecars(if you can call them that lol....) but to each his own...the younger generation enjoy fart can/ground effects imports...if you think about it it makes sense..a 12 mpg big block vs a 30 mpg civic, you can do alot of cruising for the difference in coin

I do enjoy car shows, everyone has the same common interest and if you are a little open minded its pretty neat to see that hot rodding still goes on....the next genereation just uses a different base car but the end result is a custom car that reflects what the owner likes and makes him happy - which is what hot rodding is - is doesn't have to be a 32 lowboy
 
Coyote Jack said:
I don't think it's dead. I was out of the hobby for close to 30 years before I built my Demon. It was a matter of making sure the family was taken care of first. During that 30 years I always told the wife that one of these years I was going to build a 72 Demon. The day finally arrived when I could afford to do it. Now I am building a new 340 blower engine for it and doing it the hotrodding way, on the cheap, and trying to make a mechanical fuel injector work on the street.

Jack
Click to expand...


I went through much of the same process. I stopped the hobby for a while, raised 3 kids, and put them all through college. My youngest is now 27 years old, so the past few years has been more about my wife and I.
I'm in it again, and I think I'm enjoying it even more now than I did as a kid. for one thing money isn't an issue, and I don't have the urgency I had as a kid to get and keep the car on the road.

For me the target car is a 70-72 Swinger. I like all the "A" bodies, but the the 70-72 really catches my eye for some reason. Of those there I prefer the 1971 Swinger. It has the grill I prefer over the 72 grill, it has the rear bumper/tail lights I prefer over the 70, and it has the flush side marker lights I prefer to the 72 and later surface mounted lenses. I also prefer the square nose to the "beak" noses and the vent windows to the the lack of vent windows on the 73 and later Swinger.

Back to the topic:
When I think of "Hot Rodding" I don't envision all the high tech shops and equipment available today. You mentioned working on a mechanical fuel injector system for your blower motor, THAT'S "hot rodding".

My first car was a 57 Ford Fairlane with an inline 6. It had a 1 Bbl carb. I wanted two of them, so I built an intake manifold out of old plumbing fittings (galvanized pipe, nipples, flanges, elbows, and such), bought an extra 1 Bbl carb from a junk yard (I believe I paid $1.50 for it), and made linkage out of threaded rod, and and gaskets out of oak-tag, and the darned thing worked! Not well, but it worked, and the car was pretty fast with that contraption on it. Not quick by any stretch of the imagination, though. I was 16 years old, and hooked!

"Hot Rodding" is more than just buying bolt ons. It's a state of mind, and an "I can do it differently and better" attitude.

Parts swapping isn't Hot Rodding". Innovation is Hot Rodding.

Just my 2¢.



 
We just need to pass on the passion to the new generation and teach them what is built vs.. bought. When my son was 2 weeks old I went and bought a 72 GMC shortbox fleetside ($900) and put it in the back of the garage. I know it is not Mopar but it basically bolt together with just about every piece available. Next summer he will be 6 and we will start to slowly tear it apart and bag it. We will take our time and I will show him what everything is and what it does. He is already excited about it being red and grey when it is done with "flame tattoos" as he calls it. This education will sink in and we will see where we end up from there. Maybe he will be the only kid in his high school that appreciates "hot rodding" but I will have accomplished my job. If I think back there were a half dozen or so of us in my highschool late '80's that really appreciated hot rodding.

I think one of the main reasons that there is less today is there is less raw materials available. Everything that is 20 years old to hot rod is pretty crappy. There are the Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds from that era but when I was in high school there were many options. Just about everything with 2 doors and a V8 was game and it was all cheap.
 
It's not a paranoid gubmint conspircay. People are just too frakkin broke.
 
What do you guys think of mine ? Not all of the newer generation is into all of that stuff you posted for example i'm 13.
 
PSHHH take a trip on over here to DETROIT the MOTOR CITY, HOT RODDING/MUSCLE CARS, are alive and well here
 
why go out and search, build and fabricate a "hot rod" when you can run out and finance a brand new accord or integra, and buy a ton of aftermarket parts off the shelf? the term "hot rod" is used so loosely these days and 80% of people using it dont even know where it came from or what it really means.the whole "rat rod" movement is a younger generations attempt to bring it back and while i find it interesting, i think that trying to sell a used up rusty 63 4 door falcon coined a "rat rod" and trying to triple their money on it, is simply ridiculas.i was born late as well (1967) so MY definition of a hot rod is a late 60s and 70s jacked up ,blown hemi , loud , big meats,skinnies in front, crazy paint hot rodded out A or B body chrysler products. i grew up in a time when the 70s hot rodding street machine scene were side pipes, straight axles and giant meats,fender flares, spoilers,traction bars etc etc even though they originated at a much earlier time. i never got into anglias,model As, 3 window chevy coupes because my father was building early and mid 60s dodge /plymouths .as the years progress,the definition of the hod rod changes from gen to gen ,with the auto industry dictating what most people are "hot rodding" it also becomes an issue of availability of pieces and parts, money,space and equipment and personal preference.its not dead, the definition and automobile preferences have just changed. hot rodding by defintion to most is simply modifying an existing car with modifications that it didnt leave the factory with, but i agree,it is a feeling and a state of mind, my $0.02
 
like rock and roll....it will NEVER die...

BTW..who is a Lady Ga GA??...(don't fret..she has a new song out that us "older folks" might just like...almost sounds like a country singer without the twang)
 
rat rod isnt a weak attempt...you do what you can with the money you have.... we all can't afford a 150,000 32 roadster "hotrod"...its a way to attach to the industry without being a middleaged white collar worker

forgive me but %&$*&, a hot rod is an expression of customizing a car , a 2000,nipped import, 80's wild paint blown camaro, or a 70's custom van or a 49 cleaned lowrider merc or a 34 3 window classic
 
Like some of the others said, I think money and timing play a role in the evolution of Hot Rodding. I also think "hot rodding" has evolved based on technology. Rodders have always been the leading edge, finding/making parts that perform and or look better. Personally, I really appreciate all facets of "rodding"...yes even some of the stuff "young-uns" are doing with the imports. (They proved to be quite helpful when I put the blower on my little Pontiac Vibe daily driver.) While my love will always be old school musclecars, I do give props to any cool, innovative, SELF BUILT machines, regardless of year or make. For example, I have 10 yo twin gearhead daughters, one loves the old muscle cars, the other seems to lean toward the swoopy, turbocharged, "tuner" cars. I guess to sum it up, while everyone has brand loyalties, preferences and likes/dislikes, we all are car guys/gals. That said...MOPARS rule.
:burnout:


Pat
 
lil red...dead on..

it's not what you buy...it's what you build
 
I believe it is all of the above, but the time it takes & money hits me as the big ones. Most people will go out and get a car, start a project and just give up before it's done. As far as the young go they want everything now and aren't going to stick it out no matter how long it takes. So much for the you owe me generation.
 
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