Thread: Rodding Pet Peeves

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Hacked wiring, modern looking bucket seats in a old car.

Originally Posted by johnboy

I dunno. It's blue.".

BUT, It was a great BLUE, lol..

Originally Posted by falconvan

modern looking bucket seats in a old car.

But I like my bucket seats

This is another LED tail lights, third stop light so out of place, to modern .

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

But I like my bucket seats

You got the right vibe through your whole build to make them work. Some cars the stick out like a sore thumb

Originally Posted by pepi

This is another LED tail lights, third stop light so out of place, to modern .

It was like drinking poison putting extra stop lights towards the top of my bed. I figured it's a good trade off for not getting cornholed. But I still hate them.

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

BUT, It was a great BLUE, lol..

Actually it was. It was a completely stock '55 Chev...very tidy.

But it most certainly wasn't a HOT ROD!

And he wasn't 'one of us.'

(He's a retired school teacher...I rest my case...)

i only have one . ratrods . last thing i need is some rockabilly punk telling me how true hotrods were built . i was there .

Originally Posted by shine

i only have one . ratrods . last thing i need is some rockabilly punk telling me how true hotrods were built . i was there .

What? You mean to tell me true hot rods weren't built with circular saw blades for steering wheels, chains welded together for steering arms, and hog feeder lids for hubcaps?

yep. dont know anybody who built one butt ugly on purpose .

Originally Posted by shine

yep. dont know anybody who built one butt ugly on purpose .

I didn't know the clown, but how about a T cowl & windshield with an old manure spreader for the body and old toilet seats for the interior? And those were the good parts!

i just consider that stuff as art .

Years ago we lived in Tacoma, Washington. I’d recently separated from the Air Force and since I had fond memories of Tacoma from the time I’d spent at McChord AFB we thought why not try Tacoma – that and the fact that I’d been offered a job at West Coast Grocery’s headquarters in Tacoma.

One of the guys I’d met at church (Dennis) asked me to come by and help him with a wiring project he was doing for his elderly neighbor. Sitting in the elder gentleman’s garage was a bone stock 1957 Nomad – ivory and dusk pearl paint, 283 and a three speed on the tree. It was dusty and the tires were real low and obviously had not been out of the garage in a long time. Well, we finished the electrical project (circuit for a new microwave oven) and I asked if he had any plans for the Nomad and told him I’d be interested in making him an offer if he wanted to sell it. He explained that his grandson was also interested in the car and that he’d promised to him. Oh well.

Fast forward a year or so and I again had occasion to visit Dennis. When I pulled up in front of Dennis’s house, the Nomad was sitting in his neighbor’s driveway. I was shocked to see the car had changed so much so I detoured to inspect the car. Much to my horror, I observed close up what the grandson had done to this car – huge Indy tires on the back (sticking out at least 4” from the side of the car); rear wheel wells looked like they had been enlarged with a Sawzall and long shackles holding the distressed springs nearly parallel to the driveway. He had skinny, dragster like wheels and tires up front. There was a scoop sticking through the hood (again, a Sawzall cutout job) and fender-well headers routed to what I believed to be Thrush aluminum side pipes. The extreme nose-down, ass-up stance must have made it impossible to sit in but he’d taken care of that by installing what looked to be a pair of funny car seats complete with five point harnesses. And let’s not forget the little chrome plated chain steering wheel and a floor shifter that sported a skull knob. A roll cage made of 2” galvanized water pipe (complete with elbows) was bolted to the floor pan behind the seats with pipe flanges.

While standing there (with my jaw on the ground), grandfather and grandson (guessing early 20’s) came out and waved with a big smile on his face and started the Nomad (huge cam with way too much timing – imitating an elephant flatulating as it struggled to fire) and took off – slipping the clutch as the beast would barley idle below about 2,000 – and left us in a cloud of raw gas fumes and burnt clutch. I wanted to cry. Grandpa shook his head and muttered something about, “… I should have sold it to you.” And walked a bit stooped over back into his house.

I may have forgotten the "exact" details - but this really happened folks.

I have a similar story. A friend bought a 57 more door chevy, and we went with his dad to tow bar it home. While there I see sitting right next to it a 55 Ford 2 door "Ranch Wagon". I was in love! LOL.. Nice solid car , bone stock and the interior was still in good shape, the exterior paint was faded badly and it was covered in leaves but it didn't look to bad. After the 57 was paid for and hitched to the pickup and we were saying our good byes, I asked the cars owner if he'd consider selling me the wagon. he said yeah, I'll let it go for 200. I agreed and said I'll be back in a week with the cash. When I returned, he said things had changed and his son wanted the wagon. I was less than happy for sure, but like Glenn's story - the next time I saw it was almost heart breaking. the interior had been gutted and some ugly bucket seats mounted on a stack of 2X4's were tossed in, I don't know what it had for a motor, never heard it run.. almost thankfully!! LOL. The paint was still faded and dirty.. I never saw it again, can only imagine what happened to it.

when i was about 12 there was a 33/34 ford sedan setting out behind a farmers house . had a hackberry tree growing through it . i bugged the old man to buy it . one day he said ok you can have the car but you cant hurt my tree . well i showed up sat morning with a hacksaw and a hand full of blades. he asked what i was doing so i said i'm gonna cut it in half . he freaked. said he really didn't want to sell it but he had fun watching folks try to figure a way to get it off that tree . he never though some kid would cut it in half .
never underestimate a young hotrodder .