Hot Rods....are they?

Please Note:
This is not a Topic / Post to start a slanging match..

I am noticing lately, there are more people posting with modified vehicles....
Isn't that great! although others may not think so.
I read with interest the different points of view..

We have seen over the years, many different vehicles 'altered' to suit an application..
Heres a few examples:
'ol mate' with the 1418 Benz fitting a roadranger to cope better in the hills..
A 653 or 671 detroit being fitted to replace a tired petrol engine, that could no longer cope with its new role as an interstate banga..
Bogie backends to suit the weight being carried..
Larger radiators out of what ever to stop the ol girl boiling in the Australian climate..
Pusher axles, bigger diffs, overdrive boxes...whatever..
The list goes on..
How many rigs have plyed the highways, particularly the hard yards on the early outback runs, were made out of 'junk'..
Bits and pieces of whatever to make it what was required.
What was ingenuity then, is sometimes frowned upon now..
If a bloke whats to blow some new life into an old 'China bound' buggy..good on him!
If a bloke loves the look of a 40's or 50's whatever and it is mechanically 'shot' why not fit up a whatever and drive it on a daily basis..
Is fitting a 'decent' set of guages or tubeless rims 'Hot Roddin'?
I think there has been a bit of 'Hot roddin' goin on in the 'commercial transport world' for quite some time..

Appreciate your thoughts, comments and input..
Keep em nice if you want the thread to remain educational and unlocked...

chocs

Wholeheartedly agree, Chocs'..........

Aussie truckies have been Hotrodders, for years.......

That's probably why anything; original & unmolested is so sought after today..........

i agree with you chocs every truck that comes of the assembly line has been modified from the orginal design and we still change components to suit what we are using for.at least the vecihles are still on the road and not heading to china. steve

Well put Chocs

And it wasn't just individuals doing it, think of all the companies that had a good business improving on what the factories provided. To name a few ......

Bartlett
Permatrack
Transpec
IDEC
Clae
Norling

add to the list please.

Chocs,

I think there is a big difference between "modifications" and "Hotrodding".

If someone finds say an engineless A model Ford remains in a paddock and uses the body to put on an HQ chassis with a 350 I think that is fair enough.

Unfortunately the hotrod guys are spending so much (on fabulous standards of engineering and workmanship in many cases) they see no problem with buying a really top restored A model Ford for $20,000 to speed up the process.

They then pull the body off it, using only the shell, and most of that is cut, then dump the rest. They might sell a few bits at swap meets but I have seen lots of these ratted rolling chassis pushed out in the weather behind the shed. I think that is destroying our heritage.

We have very strict laws about exporting cars older cars in Australia and you have to demonstrate there are a lot of that model around before you will get an export permit (I have been through this several times). The hotrod guys are destroying our history from within just to say "My car is all genuine Henry Ford steel" when wonderful quality fibreglass panels are available to make a beautiful car that really only has attachment to one person until he gets onto his next project.

I love to look at the hotrods but the entire car is totally improvised from 95% new or repo parts from 50 different suppliers - why destroy our heritage just to put a couple of guards and a chopped body on a homemade machine?

I know, there is the mild class of hotrod where they keep the car pretty original (no body chops etc) and just put modern wheels and brakes, probably lower it and even swap engines, making it returnable to original at some later date. I can live with that but once the gas axe is out that loses me.

People can do what they want with their stuff but it sure makes me sad.

Yes in total agreement there,

Trucks, cars bicycles, boats
I rememeber reading in a english classic boat magazine how restorers were getting upset when classic yacht hulls (they didn't buy them) were being retreived from the mud banks and converted into part time houseboats.
The converters just built a big housebox on top but didn't damage the hull itself knowing they were classics, They couldn't afford the resto then but just wanted to save something old.
The die hards complained to the authorities about these ugly structures (they were) on the river.
In the end the boxes where people lived were torn off again leaving the bare OPEN hull to rot in the mud. Gone for ever.

Geoff

Here's a "Loaded" subject. LOL.
Again I reckon everyone is going to be "Right" in thier own way.
Chocs is spot on I reckon with the trucks, Clae (Detriot Diesel)and Cummins themselves used to offer a service to repower trucks with thier brand of motor. Modifying trucks is nothing new. I quite enjoy it and it is similar to what the hot rod guys do to cars with a lot of "scratch" fabrication and engineering practices. Is restoring a Diamond T or R 190 and fitting a 6V53 in it hot rodding, it was a pretty popular conversion in the day? If that's OK then what about a late model motor. It really is personal taste. Is Ian Lee's Diamond T a hot rod or a restoration? It's still a nice truck either way, and an awfull lot of hours and nice engineering gone into it.

Lang, if I was going to build a hot rod and I could buy something that all the paint and panel was looking good I'd pay it. Makes the oldies under priced really, but again supply and demand. (I'm not going to build a hot rod by the way, though I was seriously considering going down that path with an AS 148 not long ago, mind I was given the truck, looks like my mate in Toowoomba is going to restore it now). Bit of a can of worms eh?

I do enjoy seeing the engineering that goes into conversions and hot rods, as well as the enginuity that comes about restoring something. At the end of the day, it's usually the owners own money that's being spent, and I know when I spend mine I don't like other people telling me how to do it. LOL.

WE touched on this a while back

www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1309518510

i didn't know this thread was going when i posted a comment along these lines on Latta 1966's abm van thread in the restoration section so i'll just leave it there

cheers