My first real involvement with "hotrods" came in 1965 when I moved to Belleville, Ontario and got involved with the Belleville Road Angels. The club membership was limited to 20 people, and surprisingly, you didn't have to have a hotrod----just an abiding interest in them. I was fascinated by the "hotrod" thing, and at the time my car was a 1956 Chev Belair. I only remember about 4 of the guys having "traditional" styled early thirties hotrods, but they were well finished, painted, and upholstered. There were one or two early 50's Chevies in black primer, at least one of the early 50's Plymouth coupes with the trunk about 10 friggin foot long, and I think that it still carried original paint. I don't remember anything that would resemble a "rat-rod" at the time---at least not the "no floorboards/spanner wrench brake-pedal/rust everywhere/ plexiglass windshield/ mexican blanket upholstery" type that are now glorified in "Ol Skool Rodz". Most of us (except one or two older guys) had only one vehicle, which was our daily transportation, our grocery getter, and our "late Saturday night drag car" (which was not sanctioned or approved of by the club). Many of our cars were "works in progress" which meant that you did as much custom bodywork as you could on the weekends, then primered that area to keep it from rusting and drove it that way thru the week. ----Nobody seen red oxide primer as a "finish coat" and the cars were eventually finished and painted some nice gloss finish.-----A few who enjoyed the "rebel" look did keep their rides in black primer (and repainted them about every 3 weeks when the black primer started to turn grey). As someone else on the board here says "we never built them to look ugly". Gradually over the years, as our skills and incomes improved, those of us who stayed with the rodding scene were able to have both a family car and a dedicated hotrod. I personally don't like the "rat-rod" thing. They offend me, and one of my fears is that the unsafe ratty looking damn things will bring down the power of the police on the heads of all the other rodders who try to build safe and well finished vehicles. I make no excuses for my opinions.