What car fits what event?

Hello All,
I haven't visited or posted on this website very much, but my daughter has taught me to use it properly so here goes.

After going to many of these new 'rockabilly' events i have seen things that go on underground. I just wanted to get your guys opinions on it, because all of it is mighty different from when me and my wife and son were living in Sydney back 20/30 years ago.
I have seen many girls profiles on myspace and the first thing they claim or want is attention, i personally think a girl that is standing next to a car looking pretty should know what the hell she is standing next to! the only thing i have recently seen was in a usa car mag a young girl with her 63' cadillac dressed properly in authentic 60's clothing with the 'twiggy' mod look and the beehive hair. She knew what she was standing next to because she grew up with it in her family and as she said her dad educated her on the whole lifestyle.
I was talking to a friend the other day and he says 'You know mate, when i was in the states, all these 'pin ups' were walking around at pamona and you could just go up to them and say 'hey hows it going' and my god, what genuine and lovely girls they are' here in Australia (most) of the girls seem to be 'take my photo, don't talk to me im far too good for you, because im a pin up girl' I think they just need to settle it down a bit and not let it all get to there heads so much. In America alot of these girls eg: Heidi Van Horne, Sabina. modelling is there full time job and they can make a career out of it, Heidi owns her own car club for women 'Hells Bells' and she lives the culture through and through. Im really glad it hasn't gotten to my daughters head, she now dosen't really want to do photos anymore because she feels she will be put into the self centred categorie and she just wants to enjoy this lifestyle, but if someone at a car show goes up to her and says can i take a photo of you with my car, she isn't going to say no, because its a compliment.

Alot of people put alot of work into there cars sometimes you hear things about people doing up 'toyotas' and making them customized etc. But no matter how much work you put into your toyota is won't be accepted into the hot rod/ rat rod scene. Im not saying i have a problem with toyotas, because one of the best customs ive ever seen was an early crown. But if it turned up at greazefest or garter belts it wouldn't be accepted! Each type of car show cater for a certain type of car, Greazefest is mainly, Tank Fairlane, Falcons/Fairmonts & Rat rods. Some people i have spoken to haven't been accepted into such events because of there car, should a person really be judged by something they have worked so hard on building to a state where its there pride and joy? and what they wan't to do is take it to a show and enjoy themselves, they don't want to hear 'oh thats just wrong' from on lookers.
The first time we visited Greazefest was last year and we took our newly purchased chevy, the first comment i get was
'Man whats that? a 64 impala? that grille is damn ugly' and him and his mate snickered for 10 minutes on how they disliked it.
Im sure if it was lower, matt black and was covered in skulls and such, it would have been the best thing ever to them. These guys wouldn't have been over 25, when they walked away i just thought 'Nice to meet you to fellas' what is going on? is the older generation of rodders and custom builders being kicked out, i think more respect is needed!
At a recent trip to harry's diner, I was suprised to see street machiners driving 57' chevys with there cap backwards and big chains hanging from there necks, Then a mint xy falcon drives past and they go 'BOOO' and carry on. They simply want these cars because that's what the gansters and people in video clips drive in America. Unfortunatley we recently sold a car that we hoped we would see done up the right way, but unfortunatly he has entirely different ideas to what we wanted to do, but in the end he's got the car, and we've got the money so its not the end of the world.
Anyway, I hope this can start a discussion and i can get talking to you all, I hope to meet some new accepting folk and friends at cruisin dj tonys 'jukebox diner' car show grand opening this saturday 13th

Im now off to help install a new motor in my daughers 66' fairmont (the one she picked and paid for herself..deadsled..and i am quite happy with my impalas wheels thankyou very much!)

P. creasey

The SoCal trend has been in fashion for a while now - a lot of my friends are very into it.

There are a group of guys that drive past my street constantly & they are exactly how you describe.. but my god they have some nice cars!

One has a Chevy Impala & it's gorgeous.

I think the lack of respect is just a generational thing. Which is sad.

As far as I remember there WAS a later model toyota in greazefest one of the years (can't remember which) because it fit the 'spirit of greasefest'. I can't remember what it looked like but it had a flat paint job and white wheels or something. I think what you need to keep in mind the greazefest spiriting IS ultimitely about the greaser culture so flat black, lowered, customized and all that jazz is what mostly goes. Greazefest isn't all about immaculate stock cars/trailer queens/etc. While they will let in stock cars its more about it being the daily driver than than being immaculte. Greazefest is about low cost jobs, white wheels, metal flake, pinstiping, rat rods and bog. It is also for under ... what was it? 70 or 74 cars.

Garterbelts and gasoline is for 64 models and under. I believe whoever was on the gate earlier in the day was caving in and saying 'ok you can park in the field but you won't be in the competition. I think Paul (one half of the organizers of the entire thing) got the shits about that and so they putt Matt (my boyfriend on the gate). Matt is a perfectionist and he was absolutely brutal and did not let one car under 1964 into the field. He even sent about his mate's cadillac that was a year or two young (must have been 65 or 66, i'm not sure). He felt bad about it, especially as nick the cadillac owner got the shits and decided to leave rather than park in the car park with all the normal cars. But anyway, rules is rules, under 64 and Matt was put there for a reason to do just that. If you want to enter your later model in a car show go to wintersun or cleveland auto spectacular or whatever else there is that has different rules. The rules are there because the ORGANIZERS are enforcing what THEY WANT the show to be.

I find that people who are actually really into the old stuff have a lot more respect for the older generation. But having said that you are going to get people who are respectful and people who aren't. You will always have arseholes and then the nice people in the world. Fact of life. Young people for the most part are usually disrespectful in my opinion because they are spoonfed throughout life and are given no discipline by their parents or the school system these days. Sad but true!

I myself LOVE working on the old cars and learning new things and how to do this and that. You just can't do that with a new car and I find that is the biggest charm about them along with their aesthetic qualities.

Timely debate this one, I personally have built my cars for me and I don't always like stockers but I try to stay with unmodified bodies and personalise with bolt ons. I find it very difficult to talk with alot of the younger folk as they think that I don't have anything for them. I might not be the slim, handsome gentleman I once was, But HAY!!! I'm still the same person inside. Another thing, I drive my cars every day(Well the EK Van) and my sedan when I can get her out of the back of the shed. For me its not about looking good or having the best, but for all the memories that my cars bring back to people, and I don't have a problem staying at the servo for an extra 5 minutes to talk them about how it was their first car or that they travelled across the nullabor towing a caravan. I find younger folk will fob you off if you don't drive Yankie Metal because its cool. now we are finding that all our own Aussie cars aren't anywhere to be found cause we think that we didn't build anything worth preserving, Don't get me wrong for a Holden man, I think a Forty Ford Tudor is the ducks guts!!! and I do have a Model T under the house somewhere plus all my Holdens. We could go on for hours on this, so I leave it now for someone else to pick up where I've digressed.
Cheers The Zed.........................

20 years ago, I built a full custom EK Holden. It had all the traditional style tricks, De-Soto grille, Packard style taillights, spinner caps n whitewalls etc, etc. Guess what, it wasn't accepted. Oh sure it would fit right in now, but back then I was always hearing, "what a waste of parts" or "trying to make it look like a chev" or the best one was when I was helping a mate set up his car at the Brisbane hot rod show and had it parked inside, was, "I'd rather have a dose of gonorrhea", (I guess his wish came true because he walked over to polish his red 32 ford). Mostly these comments were from older guys. Cool people & the ones who understood dug it tho.
There will always be good n bad people and i think the young-uns today have nothing to cling to except what there fed by the cathode ray nipple, all that bad ass or nothin west coast chopper style attitude tripe. Alot of em think that a t-shirt n tattoo are all it takes to be Kustom Kulture. I think its in the blood.
In their defence tho I know a few young-uns with their heads screwed on properly and they actually despize their own generation, go figure.
As for the pin-up girls, god bless their little cotton socks.

young or old tools are tools, Ive met some old wankers and some young ones, its just the old wankers tend to beable to choose when they open their mouths

I dont know about the rest of you but I choose to build the car I want to build based on a number of factors its acceptance is a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way down the list I can back that up as I'm currently bulding a late 30's chev and to make it more unacceptable its a 4 door

every one will have an opinon on every car some dont agree with wheel / tyre choise some dont agree with engine / trans choise some dont agree with paint choises, I dontgive a rats I am who I am and I respect who every one else is some i respect for beeing good guys (n girls) otheres I respect there right to be a wanker I dont particuly like them but its a big sky we live under we can all fit n do our own thing, the wankers that think a T shirt n Tatt defines them wll move on to the next fad n buy a new shirt and get the rockabilly tatt covered over with somthing else

young or old tools are tools, Ive met some old wankers and some young ones, its just the old wankers tend to beable to choose when they open their mouths

Yup, ditto!

There's wankers/posers/tools/holier than thou bulls*** in all hobbies and interests, thats just people Personally I find a lot less of it with the rod and custom events than something like a fast fours show or something like Powecruise or Summernats. Having said that, Sydney has nowhere near the 'rockabilly' culture that you guys up in Qld do, so by shear virtue of number there's more likely to be more wankers up there.

As far as what car for what event? I chose my car for me and my interests (XY with some 'bellflower' and tiki/surf influence), and when she's running (I can hear mudflap laughin already!) she wont 'fit' into the street machine scene, or the rod and custom scene for that matter. But I'll love it, and beyond that I dont care! Now I'll take it to events where it fits in, and for other events she'll be relegated to the carpark - thats fine, i just love taking an old car for a cruise

hewey wrote:

young or old tools are tools, Ive met some old wankers and some young ones, its just the old wankers tend to beable to choose when they open their mouths

Yup, ditto!

There's wankers/posers/tools/holier than thou bulls*** in all hobbies and interests, thats just people Personally I find a lot less of it with the rod and custom events than something like a fast fours show or something like Powecruise or Summernats. Having said that, Sydney has nowhere near the 'rockabilly' culture that you guys up in Qld do, so by shear virtue of number there's more likely to be more wankers up there.

As far as what car for what event? I chose my car for me and my interests (XY with some 'bellflower' and tiki/surf influence), and when she's running (I can hear mudflap laughin already!) she wont 'fit' into the street machine scene, or the rod and custom scene for that matter. But I'll love it, and beyond that I dont care! Now I'll take it to events where it fits in, and for other events she'll be relegated to the carpark - thats fine, i just love taking an old car for a cruise

Y 4 I laugh?

I think the XY is a realy good solid base for your plans, and you know me as long as your not planing a Phase III mock up all XY's cool and as long as your finished product includes a shrunken head its all good LOL

mudflap wrote:
Y 4 I laugh?

"when I get my XY going..." because Im working on it so much

hewey wrote:

mudflap wrote:
Y 4 I laugh?

"when I get my XY going..." because Im working on it so much

Time is a funny thing, theres no sence becoing a hobit in the shed when your not earning money just to get your car on the road you need a social life and, well you need to be arsed, becasue you wont be happy with the end result if you put it together with a 1/2 arsed attitude, I find my self going back and re doign things ive done on days when I couldnt be arsed.


O and HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEWEY

mudflap wrote:
O and HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEWEY

Yarrrrr! Be a happy birthday to ya son.

I agree with you Peter.

First up.. Pinup Girls.

From what i've seen, some are what we could call "Walkabillies" who dress and act like they know their shit but really aren't into old cars at all. I don't particulaly like it either.. to me a girl whos gona dress all 50's style is gona impress me if they have an old car, drive it daily and have a clue about it.. whereas on the flip side they'll get my attention and then quickly lose it if they don't know shit about old cars or the traditions of Hot Rodding / Kustomising.

Nothin shits me more than posers.. and we all know at least one (or more in my case ).

Second.. Cars for a Car Show..

I find that generally speaking shows are put on.. to host a certian kind of car. Most shows in the States whether it be the GNRS which only lets Roadsters in.. or various Swap Meet events and other shows like Billetproof ect.. have as Drea said a cut-off year.. and anything that is made after that date isn't allowed in.

Kinda like the HAMB.. Pre-64 seems to be the general rule.

Now.. no one wants to go to a Pre-64 car show and see ricers, ect ect there when its supposed to be Pre-64..

Thirdly.. The crowd who will put shit on your car if they dont like it..

Been around forever, and will always be there.

Theres always gona be young guys bein wankers to old guys, but it goes the other way too.. theres a lot of old guys who will refuse to talk to a young bloke just because their young. Now there are a lot of helpful old guys on Ozrodders for us Young and Aussie Hot Rodders.. the HAMB is even better but its a shame that theres such a tiny Traditional following in Australia.. and most young kids would rather just put big wheels and shit on their cars..

Seems the Traditional following in this Country is goin down the shitter. And now.. ask most apparently oldschool young guys who Gene Winfield or Bill Hines or George and Sam Barris are.. Or ask them about the Ala Kart.. or the Hirohata Merc.. you'll just cop one big WTF?

Its a shame really.. i've got a mate with an EH wagon with a 5" chop and the rear doors welded up.. its a Kustom alright.. but then he doesn't give a shit about the History of Hot Rods and Kustoms Doesn't care about who all the legends of it are either.. and it seems most other young blokes are exactly the same.

DeadSled wrote:to me a girl whos gona dress all 50's style is gona impress me if they have an old car, drive it daily and have a clue about it..

Some people don't have the means to own, build and drive an old car... especially young women (and men) like myself... I LOVE old cars, I've wanted one (or 10 ) for a very long time, and I have pretty good knowledge about them.. but I drive an excel, because that's what I can afford.. not to mention I'm a student so petrol and the up keep for an old car is just too far out of reach right now.. I love the music, I love the people, I love the style, I just love the atmosphere at places like greazefest and wintersun and rockabilly gigs in general.. but I'm a walkabilly because I don't own or drive an old car?.. Obviously, that's a rhetorical question - but I'm just saying, most young people can't afford to drive around in big 6 or 8 cylinders every day, not to mention finding the money to do them up!

True to what Kid says. I would have an old car if I had a spare 10 grand sitting around. It's really frustrating that I have to save up 8 grand for my course but you gotta spend money to make money ... right? And with the car I want, the guy who owns it knows I desperately covet it. I don't think it's going anywhere for a few years though. So I've begun saving ... very slowly. I know if he ever sells it he'll ask me first.

I've heard that a million times.. old cars go through too much fuel too expensive to buy one yada yada..

No, their not THAT expensive depending on what you want. You can find any old Holden and a nice clean example at that.. for anywhere from 3g onwards.. running, driving, tidy interior and tidy paint. I found one the other night for a friend of mine whos after a first car.

Also unless i go out cruisin with mates or go for a fair drive somewhere.. i'll spend about $40 on fuel a week. Furthermore.. I bought my first car (A '75 Kingswood) for a whopping $400 with very tidy interior, tidy original paint and all it needed was a front windscreen and a set of tires. I spent a few grand getting it painted, different wheels ect.. but for a measly $300 i could of had it on the road.

So whenever i hear that oh their too expensive to buy, i'm a girl i couldn't build one, too expensive to run.. thats all a crock of shit because i know first hand with my own and my mates old cars that they aren't that expensive at all.

Unless you want a Caddy or something of equivalent size and cost.. generally speaking they won't cost you a 50 year olds life savings to afford one.

It aint about havin a car, it's about havin the vibe.

The Pinstriping Assassin wrote:It aint about havin a car, it's about havin the vibe.

Exactly!

DeadSled wrote:From what i've seen, some are what we could call "Walkabillies" who dress and act like they know their shit but really aren't into old cars at all. I don't particulaly like it either.. to me a girl whos gona dress all 50's style is gona impress me if they have an old car, drive it daily and have a clue about it.. whereas on the flip side they'll get my attention and then quickly lose it if they don't know shit about old cars or the traditions of Hot Rodding / Kustomising.

Cars are just one aspect of retro/kustom kulture. Each to their own I say! And hell, the more people in general keeping the whole thing healthy the better, and I gotta admit I dont mind seeing cute rockabilly girls at shows, I dont really give a f*** if they know a flathead from a small block Chev.

Old cars can be affordable, but the honest answer is they can be a pain in the ass to live with as a daily, especially when you're doing bulk kms commuting. Even just trying to get basic spares for emergency repairs - ever tried getting parts for a '72 beetle from supercheap? And theres nothing worse than having a crap day at work, and then having to drive home in the pouring rain, with crappy antiquated wipers, skinny wheels and whitewalls, with the window fogging up - yup been there too Ultimately for some people, the priority is getting to work/uni reliably! Funny that

agreed

lets face it if the people are there they are there becasue the enjoy iy well then there my kind of people, my wife knows very little about cars infact she knows I'm building a 30's chev but has to check to confirm the year

does it matter

hell no

does she have any place being at an event

as much as any greasey haird rat rod driven person I say

thats it, if these car shows were jsut for car owners they would be nothing more than a car park, these things are for a "seen" a "life style" so what if the cute burnett cant tell the difference between a 32 ford and a 40's chev she likes the style and the people arround it, same goes for the guy that rockes up in a VN commodore. he mightnen know any thing or even ever intend on building a car but again he likes what the seen is about.

I have a Camera its a bucket of crap, I cant afford ot build a cool car but love going to events and I intend on doing this for some time, perhaps one day I will be able to have a cool car.

Until such time I will admire every one elses

The Pinstriping Assassin wrote:It aint about havin a car, it's about havin the vibe.

^THIS!

The discussion got us talkin'
Glad to see what i have said has started a few people talking
i dont personally think that anyway could have a hot rod or a kustom that is going to be a daily driver
to achieve that you would have to of built is as a brand new car. my chevy impala has done less that 5000km in the year, you can't take it to the shopping centre and leave it in the car park-more reasons than one- trolleys, people, kids, and its pretty big! so it dosen't fit in car parks.
as far as people saying The younger generation dont have respect for cars and people, i dont figure why that has to be, is that because there mates don't act properly, so they dont? there parents weren't morons so why do they have to be. I grew up in the 60's we had respect for our elders, when we went to hot rod shows, its the guys that were acheiving things is who we turned to for information and thats how we found out to do stuff!
my first car was a morris low liter which i fitted a 186 and aussie four speed it had a 13'' tail shaft triple webers (the back one was in the glove box the gear shift was behind the drivers seat) and i built it with the help of alot of older hot rodders to show me how to do things and i actually went for my driving test in that car and passed!
if girls dont know about cars, i suppose we can't really complain,because if they really want to learn they will if they are genuinly interested they will learn

pete

petercreasey wrote:I dont personally think that anyway could have a hot rod or a kustom that is going to be a daily driver to achieve that you would have to of built is as a brand new car.

I disagree. Hundreds of guys in the states use their Hot Rods as daily cars.. Mark from Voodoo Tattoo drives his Pickup most days.. Mine will be a daily car.

Build it reliable and you can drive it daily.

DeadSled wrote:

petercreasey wrote:I dont personally think that anyway could have a hot rod or a kustom that is going to be a daily driver to achieve that you would have to of built is as a brand new car.

I disagree. Hundreds of guys in the states use their Hot Rods as daily cars.. Mark from Voodoo Tattoo drives his Pickup most days.. Mine will be a daily car.

Build it reliable and you can drive it daily.

I disagree, I think if your doing short drives every day perhaps, but Australians tend to travel much further to their place work than most other nations.

Classic cars a cool but, there is no question that new cars are much more reliable and the creature compforts in new cars meens you arive at your destination in much better condition

Yeah but regardless of new cars being more reliable (Apparently.. my mates with new cars have more trouble than the old cars..) how can you possibly try and tell me that old cars cant be used as daily cars? They were fine 30 - 50 years ago so as long as they are maintained whats stopping them from being fine now?

I've driven my HJ over the border numerous times, i've driven it 40mins each way to Salisbury 5 days a week for a month when i went to tafe.. so the whole mentality of an old car not being usable as a daily car is a crock of shit. You build it to be driven daily and it'll be able to be driven daily.

You gotta remember also.. old cars weren't made just so people 50 years later could put them up on a pedestal. They were created to be driven.. so to anyone with an old car who prefers to keep it in the shed as opposed to driving the thing.. quit being a pussy and use it for what it was intended for.