Hot Rods....are they?

the bloody thing looks like it fell straight out of a showbag !!

looks like something out of the Philippines or similar and not a rod - just tasteless to me

Now that IS style. (Not sure what sort, but style all the same. LOL)

Bored out of his brain, with his bog-standard MitsuHinoYota's .. Bruce decided that his trucks needed some "personal flair" added to the design, that was missing in the original construction .....





Dekotora Trucks - Japan ..

Now I've got it!! (SLAPS HEAD) - the more lights, the more chrome, the more bells & whistles, THE MORE NOISE! .. the bigger the chick magnet!! ..

I wonder how they go tilting there cabs with all that crap?
You wonder how they can see anything or where there going.
They look like little Jacobs toy transformers.

You wonder how they go, tilting their cabs?? Very carefully, I'd guess, Jake Brake! Very carefully!!

FWIW: I belong to the Classic American Iron Forum (CAI) - a site for discussion and the exchange of knowledge in the restoration and enjoyment of classic Harley Davidson

I really don't think we need a "modified and rodded" section.

I also think the extreme rodders don't get it. It is not that people don't like their machines or are pedantic purists it is the fact they are destroying rare historic machines that can never be replaced.

They fool themselves and everyone else that they have just "customised" the machine with "many OEM" parts. Few people have trouble with true customising where a machine is still basically original ie uncut on original chassis but with bolt on, engine, upholstery and colour modifications. The vehicle can be returned to original if someone wanted to reverse the project and it is not lost to history.

What gets up my craw is the regular advertising in the classic and vintage columns of "23 Ford, Genuine Henry steel" for a totally homebuilt machine using a chopped T Model tub and NOTHING else- not even guards or bonnet - off a 23 T Model Ford which was destroyed for the project.

The beautiful workmanship vehicles are only the tip of the iceberg. In the current hotrod boom we talk about this beautiful workmanship but there are many hundreds more would-be if they could-be rodders who have hunted out vintage vehicles. They found how easy they are to take apart and sit on an HQ ute chassis that was also easy to take apart.

They then realise (after they have had the gas axe out and dumped the original mechanicals) that they have no skill, no money and no work ethic to finish the job.

The magazines and car ads are full of efforts of these clowns (I am tempted to use a stronger C word) trying to offload their disasters. They should have just taken the cars to Sims to save time.

My thoughts on the "hot rodding" of trucks is that the original intent of the manufacturer of the vehicle needs to be taken into account. In the case of the vehicles of most members of this forum, the intent by the manufacturer was to make and sell a commercial vehicle for the purposes of the transport of goods. Therefore modifying or modernising the vehicle in keeping with this intent is OK. This will include engine changes, replacement gearboxes, modified diffs and back ends, instrumentation changes, lighting etc.

Where the vehicle is however chopped about, modified for extreme acceleration, or no longer bears any resemblance to a vehicle used for commercial purposes, it has gone down the other path, and is simply a "show pony".

Well said Bugly.