Quote:
Originally Posted by 69fury
pretty sure that the dividing line date is there because during WWII the auto companies weren't making cars- they were making tanks, engines,planes, and trucks. Ford was making copies of Willys copy of the Bantam (jeep) - ford even had ovaled F's in the bolt heads on their jeeps.
so no new cars were being built until after the war then the first year was a slam fest to get going again- using the older tech from right before the war. while that was happening the engineers were putting together "the new stuff" with tech gleaned from the war projects+natural progression of time. So when the new stuff came out it was a big difference.
traditional hotrods have (traditional) been based on prewar tech, but people are coming around.
if i am talking out my keister, someone please let me know.
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Yep, you're talking out your kiester...
No, actually you make some good tech points but 49th Street has nothing to do with tech. It's a state of mind.
History lesson.... The Muscle Car era almost killed traditional hot rodding. Here was the prevailing thought in the mid to late '60s. Why put a bunch of time and work into swapping an Olds motor into a '40 Ford coupe when you can drop a few down payment dollars and buy a 442 which is faster, rides nicer and has a killer 8 track? Except for a few diehards, a lot of folks unloaded their hot rods at bargain basement prices or parked them in the south 40 and joined the factory rod parade. By 1970, when the Musclers were beginning to be on their way out due to cost, high insurance premiums and growing Govt. intervention, the diehards..guys and gals who had kept their old rods got together in Peoria, Ill for the first Street Rod Nats. Rod and Custom mag put the first event together as I recall. Several hundred old school rods showed up and the Street Rod movement began. The NSRA was formed and with good intentions set the upper age limit to participate at 1948, the last of the pre war body styles.The Street Rod movement grew through the '70s, '80s and early '90s. Some of the cars got away from being true rods..a Model A 4-door with a Jaguar rear end, full fenders, stock bumpers with a bunch of period trim, velour interior, powered by a stock 289 is NOT a hot rod in my mind, fiberglass Deuce roadster bodies with repro chassis came along because more affluent folks didn't want to be bothered digging a rust bucket out of a swamp and the hobby swung toward big money and snobbery. The 1948 cutoff, began with good intentions as I stated became more of a point to keep lower buck folk with an interest in rods but who could only afford a '51 Plymouth out of the clique. What began as a great car hobby movement of playing with low buck old hot rods became anything but, and with exceptions that's where it stands today.
As for the need for a 49th St, much more brilliant minds than mine have puzzled on that for years. The late Bill Burnham, an astute writer and long time hotrodder even penned a column called "Across 49th St" in Street Rodder and later Custom Rodder magazine, a rag began for the later rods but folded from lack of readership a couple of years ago. He never figured it out nor have folks like Dennis McPhail, Jerry Weezner, Rob Fortiner, Pat Ganahl and many others.
Since folks seem to have a compulsive need to classify everything, I'll lay a couple of '49-up examples of what I consider trad rods on you. You decide what they are. How about a '50 Ford Business Coupe, dropped in the front, nosed and decked, a DeSoto grille but no other customizing. This car is powered by a '64 Pontiac 421 Tri-Power with a Muncie and 4:11 gears in the stock rear. It wouldn't be a Kustom by the lack of body and interior mods and was built to go fast. Or how about a '57 Ford Gasser, sitting a mile high with a straight axle front end, no front bumper, a piece of pipe filled with lead across the rear for weight bias, radiused rear fenderwells, a bare bones interior. This turkkey is powered by a '63 427 with a 6:71 Jimmy Blower, fenderwell headers, a Top Loader and a locked 4:56 gear in a stock width 9". These cars aren't Street Rods by NSRA standards though they would be if they were pre-'49, definitely aren't muscle cars, so what are they other than cool?
As y'all know, I'm a hardcore Jalopy Journal/HAMB follower and these would be hot rods by their standards, just the same as a '32 Ford. As most of you know, they have a (somewhat flexible) cutoff limit of 1964 which makes sense as that's when the Muscle Car deal began.
Jan
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