Thread: Does this qualify as a Hot Rod?

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Your latches IMO "fit" the car a whole lot better then a bunch of belt buckles bouncin' around on the paint!!!!

As mentioned, you nailed it with your choice of latch. On the red car, did the roof fold away like a correct convertible or have to be pulled apart and stored in the trunk ? I do like your thinking on the panel under the hood to finish the cowl area, it is those little things that makes your car out shine others of the same, eg, the red one with buckles and straps.

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

... On the red car, did the roof fold away like a correct convertible or have to be pulled apart and stored in the trunk ? ...

It folds down in the area behind the seats. It's typically a TR7 top with some slight modifications. That's what this one appears to be, but I couldn't find the owner to confirm. And the other weird thing is the 'wing' windows. Never seen that on a 250 GTO or on a Datsun Z donor.

I'm thinking about making a removable fiberglass top for those rainy days when I just gotta drive the VR.

Something like these hard tops.

hardtops.jpg.

What Dave said

Maybe if they didn't "cover" the car in buckles... Seems way overdone!

SO it makes your selections look a lot better!

A little photoshop work and it might look something like this.


Untitled.jpg

Originally Posted by Fauxre

A little photoshop work and it might look something like this.


Attachment 57950

As long as it comes off......the car is just way too cool topless to go adding a permanent bulky top! Your design looks way better than those others anyway! And your wheel & tire choice plus your innovative styling cues put you light years ahead of the others.....just sayin'!

Thanks for the kind words, Randy.

Top would only be used on those few days a year here in Norcal, when you absolutely can't drive topless.

Wes we were looking at the hardtop convertable Cadillac XLR's. Best of both worlds there. To bad that's not an option! But a hard top/soft top combo is still pretty cool! My friend loves the XLR, but would never dump 72k when they first came out, ironically there are two for sale in our area for under 25k with low miles on them.
Anyway back to the Fauxrrari, it looks great right now!

Steve, my wife loves her VW Eos with it's retractable hardtop. Unfortunately that technology is way above my pay grade.

In the way of progress, I took my first trip to DMV with paperwork in hand. With an appointment, I was in and out in 30 minutes. Walk-ins were waiting up to 3 hours!! After paying $146 in fees, I left with my BAR certificate of sequence number and two one day operation permits.
Two days ago I drove to he closest inspection station for the brake and lamp inspections. Passed the lamp inspection fine, but I was told the brakes were pulling to the right too much, and would need some work. The good news is they didn't charge me for the brake inspection since all the tech did was a test drive.

After talking with the tech., it seemed the most likely cause of the pulling brakes was the 40 year old hoses, since the calipers, rotors and pads are all new. After replacing the hoses yesterday, it still pulls to the right, albeit somewhat less.

I know I need a front wheel alignment, but what else could be causing my problem??

Originally Posted by Fauxre

In the way of progress, I took my first trip to DMV with paperwork in hand. With an appointment, I was in and out in 30 minutes. Walk-ins were waiting up to 3 hours!! After paying $146 in fees, I left with my BAR certificate of sequence number and two one day operation permits.

Glad the DMV was a breeze for you but.. what's the BAR Cert.? And you got out of there for 146 bucks?!?! That was cool.

In comparison, a friend just registered his 29 A after 15 or 16 years of "building it".. he had to use a title service in New York and then went to the DMV here in Mass., his paperwork sailed through until they decided the cars value would be $10,800!

He swallowed hard and wrote the check to cover the 6 1/8 % tax on the nearly 11 grand! And he still had to pay the registration fees for the priviledge of going to the registry, oh and another title fee!

Originally Posted by 34_40

...what's the BAR Cert.? And you got out of there for 146 bucks?!?! ...

BAR is the California Bureau of Automotive Repair. They're in charge of Smog among other things. Under California legislation (Senate Bill 100) BAR provides 500 Smog waivers (called certificates of sequence) per year to home built vehicles. It allows the owner of the the vehicle to choose between the year of the engine or the year the body style most represents when determining what year to title the vehicle. If the smog referee cannot match a year to the body, the default year is 1960. Without the waiver I'd have to meet current smog requirements.

I don't think I'm finished with fees yet...especially since I'll be applying for personalized plates.

Ok...I think I've solved the brake issue. While replacing the tension rod bushings, I noticed the calipers wobbled slightly on their mounts. Apparently I left out the lock washers when I mounted the calipers. The mounting bolts bottomed out in the holes leaving the calipers slightly loose.
With the washers installed the calipers are mounted solid and she stops perfectly straight.
She still drifts slightly to the right when cruising, so I'll get her aligned tomorrow and then head back to the inspection station this week.

Thanks for the info! Over here in Mass. it was decided by the legislature that EVERY vehicle would now have to meet some emission standards. So to do a rod or replica comes to the same thing, essentially buy a late model complete car and place your body over the running gear/chassis. What "they" are after is the vehicle to have the OEM certification (certified equipment) all in place and intact. Even a gear ratio change cannot be greater than 10% from stock/original.

That's why I rushed mine into completion to beat the deadline so I didn't need to meet the emission standards and all the registration hurdles.

So the new "trick" now is to do a restoration of sorts and register your ride as an original and then hot rod it. But a lot of the old cars just don't have titles as they were never needed 'til about 10 years ago. So guys need to jump through these hurdles by getting the car registered / titled out of state and then "buy" the car and register it in Mass. and keep it "original looking" in case the state wants to inspect it.

It's all a mess! The state model A club tried meeting with the registrar to air grievences with the legislation to no avail, they were told there won't be any changes except it's clear that "old cars" have a finite life span now...

Originally Posted by 34_40

Thanks for the info! Over here in Mass. it was decided by the legislature that EVERY vehicle would now have to meet some emission standards. So to do a rod or replica comes to the same thing, essentially buy a late model complete car and place your body over the running gear/chassis. What "they" are after is the vehicle to have the OEM certification (certified equipment) all in place and intact. Even a gear ratio change cannot be greater than 10% from stock/original.

That's why I rushed mine into completion to beat the deadline so I didn't need to meet the emission standards and all the registration hurdles.

So the new "trick" now is to do a restoration of sorts and register your ride as an original and then hot rod it. But a lot of the old cars just don't have titles as they were never needed 'til about 10 years ago. So guys need to jump through these hurdles by getting the car registered / titled out of state and then "buy" the car and register it in Mass. and keep it "original looking" in case the state wants to inspect it.

It's all a mess! The state model A club tried meeting with the registrar to air grievences with the legislation to no avail, they were told there won't be any changes except it's clear that "old cars" have a finite life span now...

Wow, Mike, that's a whole list of good reasons not to live in Massachusetts!!!!