Here's is another question:

Why does everyone feel the need to classify their custom cars? Isn't that a little ironic? To customize something means to change it to your own personal taste, yet you want to be classified in the same category as Joe or Jim or Bob?

And why the need to specify years and dates?
I mean, I agree that there is a difference between muscle cars and hotrods and ratrods. But to me, and I am younger than most on this board (I assume) this is how I see things:

StreetRods - are cars that are fully customized body/chassis/drivetrain with attention being paid to every detail. Kind of trailer queens which I still think people should drive on the road and show some dirt sometimes, but that desn't happen very often. The key point is in something that happens before the work has even started on the car. Are they building a show car? if yes, then it is a StreetRod because you will only ever see it parked on the streets in shows. Main components such as body, chassis and drive train usually consist of parts from no more than 2-3 Makes of cars combined. Steering, suspension and interirors have no limits to their design.

HotRods - cars people build themselves and drive on a fairly regular basis. Cars that the owner drives to find the next problem to solve. Built to get driven in comfort but also to perform. Then over time the car is improved on one piece at a time as the owner/builder/driver drives it and changes it. Slowly these cars get more and more detailed and can be confused with StreetRods, but the difference is in the intial purpose. Did this car get built to drive and play with? If yes then it is a HotRod because when you see it it will most likely have a hot motor from being driven and used. Main components such as body, chassis and drive train usually consist of parts from no more than 2-3 Makes of cars combined. Steering, suspension and interirors have no limits to their design.

RatRods - Cars that have characteristics that are shared with StreetRods OR HotRods but are mixmatched from too many different makes to be classified completely as a either a StreetRod or a HotRod. These are cars that are pieced together from mixmatching makes and models. Some make them into very unsafe but 'attached' and function cars that will rip down the street(albeit in an unsafe manor) whereas others will build them with saftey in mind as well as performance. Parts from any car and any make can be found on RatRods. Some people choose to build them to look ugly and unsafe but some also choose to put full attention into their details. I've seen RatRods with beautiful paint jobs and could also be classified as StreetRods because they are trailer show cars only but don't fit into the StreetRod category because of their mixmatched parts.


Please note that this is how I personally categorize these kinds of cars. By no means is this "how it is', it is just my personal opinion and I think it makes pretty good sense. But also note that I don't pay much attention to them as all I really care about is the fact that the person built the car the way they wanted to and that they are happy with their work and their ride.
I also don't see why people think that that the name of a category should describe the years of cars allowed into the category. If you chop it up, modify the body (not including bolt on, lego, import body kits) and soup up the drive train, then it's been done all in the name of hot rodding. No, a chopped up civic is not a HotRod, but yes a chopped up 1977 MonteCarlo should be classified as a HotRod. And why shouldn't it be? I mean, the hobby has to evolve with the times a little. What happens when we run out of 20s30s,40s,50s cars? There is a finite number of them made and the numbers are shrinking every day. So is the whole hobby going to be over then? I don't like the idea of that.

Kevin

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Beertime is important. It's important that each day you take a few minutes to sit and enjoy something simple. That way you can keep from gettin lost in the daily confusion that life today has become.