hot rod wanted

Hi Everyone, Im new to this site and keen to get on the road in a cool rod. looking for something out there and a little different. Early model ford preferably but open to other. Only problem is I have is limited funds, so looking for something around $20,000.00 If you can help me please reply. Willing to do some work if neccesary.

Hey mate

You're going to struggle finding an early Ford in any reasonable condition for that kind of money. However think outside the blue oval, particularly if you are looking at fat fendered cars, and some great cars can be bought for a reasonable outlay. Having said that Old Tin have some pretty reasonable budget packages:
http://www.oldtin.com.au/apickup.htm

It will also help if you better describe what you want in a rod - do you want a family friendly rod like a sedan or tudor, or do you want something you can just blast around in with a mate, like a roadster or t bucket?

I recommend going over to ozrodders.com and saying gday over there. There's a heap of useful guys on there (with a lot more experience with rods than I have! ), and they'll definitely be able to help find you find something suitable.

Hewey

if you think out side the oval you can do pretty close to that money it wont be a maguires super star car but you can do a tidy rod on the road for that sort of money

And as Hew said join up on Ozrodders you'll find somthing

Are you willing to build it yourself and learn the ins and outs of your own car? Or do you just want to buy someone elses and drive their project?

Don't toss the idea of an early ford just yet.. If your willing to build one, and believe me.. their not that hard to build and SO simple.. go out and buy the book "How To Build A Traditional Ford Hot Rod" by Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel. Its like a manual for how to build a REAL hot rod. None of this street rodder IFS shit.

Ozrodders should be able to help you find a project or a finished car, just don't get caught up in the bs that surrounds that forum, and if you sift through the IFS / Jag rear bright coloured 18 and 20" wheeled shitboxes you will find a few cool Hot Rods on there.

For what its worth, i've got everything to put together a complete driving Model A chassis, and it owes me a whopping $1350. You can put an all steel body together for around $2500 - $3g. Find an original cowl for around $500, get a set of repro door skins and make the inners, and steel rear quarters are around $800 each.. Boot skin isn't that much, $300 or so.. and the lower panel under the boot lid is about $100 or so.

At the end of the day, you can pay 20g for someones car and know nothing about it and when it breaks down or something goes wrong, you won't know how to fix it.. or you can build your own and you'll know everything about it, how to fix it when you break it (it'll happen sooner or later) and you can proudly tell others you built it with your own hands.

I estimate mine will cost around $5 - $6 thousand when its done. Others will tell you its expensive, but thats just cause they paid big dollars for someone elses car too. Half the fun of Hot Rodding is building your own car, personalised just how you like it and hunting swap meets for the right parts and figuring out how to make them work for your car.

just don't get caught up in the bs that surrounds that forum

And don’t get caught up with the bullshit that building a traditional/period correct rod is the only way to build a REAL hot rod...

Its like a manual for how to build a REAL hot rod. None of this street rodder IFS shit…. if you sift through the IFS / Jag rear bright coloured 18 and 20" wheeled shitboxes you will find a few cool Hot Rods on there…

Because

Half the fun of Hot Rodding is building your own car, personalised just how you like it

And that includes IFS, IRS, billet and all that wonderful stuff people use to build cool cars.

28A wrote:Are you willing to build it yourself and learn the ins and outs of your own car? Or do you just want to buy someone elses and drive their project?

Because not every one has the Time, space & equipment to do it them self’s and it really depends what you want as to where you look and what you pay.

28A wrote:Don't toss the idea of an early ford just yet.. If your willing to build one, and believe me.. their not that hard to build and SO simple.. go out and buy the book "How To Build A Traditional Ford Hot Rod" by Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel. Its like a manual for how to build a REAL hot rod. None of this street rodder IFS shit.

Its not hard if you know how, but it is time consuming and can be a daunting for some one who hasn’t done it before to take a pair of rusty rails and turn it in to a rod so you need to know what your doing and have a plan from the get go, lets face it there’s plenty of 1/2 completed cars out there, many stay that way for ever because the builder bit off more than they could chew or went off track because they dint have full knowledge of the task or a set plan to see it through to completion, Mike's book is a good start and there’s plenty more on the graffiti site such as how to engineer a street rod, and there’s plenty more.

28A wrote:Ozrodders should be able to help you find a project or a finished car, just don't get caught up in the bs that surrounds that forum, and if you sift through the IFS / Jag rear bright coloured 18 and 20" wheeled shitboxes you will find a few cool Hot Rods on there.

I don’t know what 28A is on about but I guess its horses for courses, I like and appreciate the beam axel steel wheel look, but mine is fitted with Jag IFS and IRS why? Well the steering geometry of the axles is set up form factory and it has 4 wheel disc brakes with out adapting bits and pieces. I’m not saying it’s the best way but it’s the best way for ME and that’s all that matters to ME.

And that’s my next point, it doesn’t matter if you build it or buy it has to be the right car for YOU not for me, not for Hewey and not for 28A for YOU.

28A wrote: For what its worth, I’ve got everything to put together a complete driving Model A chassis, and it owes me a whopping $1350. You can put an all steel body together for around $2500 - $3g. Find an original cowl for around $500, get a set of repro door skins and make the inners, and steel rear quarters are around $800 each.. Boot skin isn't that much, $300 or so.. and the lower panel under the boot lid is about $100 or so.

So from what you’ve written here I gather your still on the parts collection trail for this car and it hasn’t been completed to date? That’s cool they all have to start some where, but in answer to your statement

28A wrote:For what its worth,

Its worth about $80.00 a tonn as scrap until its finished 

28A wrote: At the end of the day, you can pay 20g for someones car and know nothing about it and when it breaks down or something goes wrong, you won't know how to fix it.. or you can build your own and you'll know everything about it, how to fix it when you break it (it'll happen sooner or later) and you can proudly tell others you built it with your own hands.

That’s if it ever gets that far, with out being pessimistic the reality of it is a lot of rods never see the road again sad but true, there was a guy on this forum who started out keen on an old Chev truck it had a lot of promise, but its been shelved in favor of 2 other projects that all show promise, will either of this cars ever see the road? A/ I don’t know.. You would like to think so, as he has invested considerable time and money in all 3 but only time will tell, I guess.

28A wrote:I estimate mine will cost around $5 - $6 thousand when it’s done. Others will tell you it’s expensive, but that’s just cause they paid big dollars for someone else’s car too. Half the fun of Hot Rodding is building your own car, personalised just how you like it and hunting swap meets for the right parts and figuring out how to make them work for your car.

Roddings only as expensive as you want it to be mines progressing slowly on a merger budget I’m not using Boyd this and rod tech that, it’s a simple car with a few creature comforts because I don’t want a car that’s not comfortable for my wife and kids to cruze in

If you want a running car on that budget look at mid late 30’s stuff chevs dodges that type of thing, a few ford pilots fall in to that range as well. A friend of mine got a pilot for that type of money last year and he drove it home from SA to Sydney got it regoed and has done bugger all to it since, he new he wasn’t able to build it with his family commitments and knowledge so this suited him down to the ground. Does that make him less of a rodder? I don’t think so, he’ll help you out when you need or ask, he goes to plenty of events, hes active in his club and he drives the wheels off his car all make a good rodder in my book

Mudflap,

As far as IFS goes, i can accept it on a fat fendered car. If you take a car like your Chev, or any other mid 30's to late 40's car, its fine. You can barely if at all see it.

If someone was to have a fenderless car, Beam axles are the best way to go. Its fairly agreed that the only people who like the look of one on their car, is the ones that run it. Everyone else thinks it looks terrible.

I'm not sure whether or not you've got the book, but any idiot who has some basic mechanical knowledge could build an early ford with the book as a guide. It really does give you pretty much a step by step on how to do it.

I could give it to any of my car guy mates and they could put one together, and they don't even like hot rods.

People seem to always go straight for the left field brands, because they immediately believe that a Ford is the most expensive option. That may be the case if your buying every part brand new, but Model A Ford parts can be had dirt cheap.. and thats not just in the states but in Australia too.

Hell, i've got a lot of parts (Front springs, axles, wishbones ect) that i've just been given for free.

You can buy brand new boxed Model A chassis rails for $700 from a place local to me, then another $150 for a front crossmember and i'm not sure how much a rear is. Point being, if you hunt around you could get a Model A chassis ready to put together, even if its brand new.. for dirt cheap.

If the OP is keen enough to have a hot rod, then he will do the work required to have one. Swap meets, ebay, make friends with guys that have the same kind of car he wants to build.. its not hard.

If he can't be bothered to do the ground work to have one, then he obviously doesn't want one bad enough. Simple as that.

28A - Glassy can do whatever the hell he wants.. he came in here asking where he could go to buy a car for 20 grand.. he didn't ask how to build one.. That doesn't mean he's not 'worthy' of a hot rod just because he doesn't want to build one.. There could be many reasons as to why he wants to buy a car straight up - some of which have been mentioned already.. But apparently if people don't do things YOUR way then they aren't worthy of being a hot rodder..

So it's not as simple as that.

Oh well in that case, heres some places you might find a hot rod for sale.

www.ebay.com.au
www.carsales.com.au
www.ozrodders.com

It really is as simple as that, but what would you know.. Your just a pinup wannabe.

Edit: Just to make life easy, seeing as how hard it really is.. Heres some classifieds.

1928 Ford Roadster Pickup

1948 Ford F1 Pickup

1929 Chevrolet Sedan

1937 Chrysler Sedan

1938 Pontiac Silverstreak

1948 Chrysler New Yorker

There you go. That took me a whole 5 minutes to find a bunch of pre 49 cars for sale, all under 20g's. Not bloody hard if you ask me.

What the fuck would you know about me - your just a hot rod wannabe.. How many hot rods have you built huh? How many cars have you started but not finished because you got bored or fucked up a chop, or realised it actually costs more than you think.. SO before passing any of your 'wisdom' onto others how about you finish a hot rod first.. I'd like to see your 28 A after it's been done for 5-6 grand.. It will most likely be a heap of shit built by dickheads like yourself, no quality, no workmanship.. Then again, you'll probably fuck that one up too and start butchering another car.

Don't bullshit yourself, anyone can build a Hot Rod for 5g. I've got a mate who build a 29 Roadster for 4g, and its the coolest aussie rod i've ever seen.

Just cause a car cost next to nothing, doesn't mean it'll be a piece of shit by the end of it. If you have the ability to do the work yourself, coupled with being able to find parts cheap.. theres no reason it can't be done for a few grand.

For what its worth, you don't own a Hot Rod, or a Custom.. or an old car at all, so how can you possibly try and give someone else advice as to how to obtain one?

Heres the above mentioned car.

29 A Roadster, build for $4500. Its got more style and "cool" factor than any 20g car ever will.

There you go. That took me a whole 5 minutes to find a bunch of pre 49 cars for sale, all under 20g's. Not bloody hard if you ask me

Hmmm, only one 'early Ford' in the mix, and a complete stocker at that. So for old mate's $20K to make it a hot rod he'd either need to do a lot more than a 'bit of work' to it himself, or get someone else to do it (easily blowing out the budget). And everything else you posted a link to falls right within the comments I made in the second post in this thread:

However think outside the blue oval, particularly if you are looking at fat fendered cars, and some great cars can be bought for a reasonable outlay.

If he can't be bothered to do the ground work to have one, then he obviously doesn't want one bad enough. Simple as that.

What a load of fucking bullshit. Im glad you can make such great sweeping generalisations about people when you have no idea about their financial status, where they live (and how much room they have to work on a car), and amount of time available to them.

For what its worth, you don't own a Hot Rod, or a Custom.. or an old car at all, so how can you possibly try and give someone else advice as to how to obtain one?

Maybe because she's talked respectively with people with more experience than her about old cars, people who have been playing with old cars and hot rods for years, and the kind of cars she would be able to afford on a students budget, and she has decided that until her current financial situation has improved, driving a cheap as shit jap hatchback is the most sensible choice for getting to work and uni reliably.

28A wrote:Mudflap,

As far as IFS goes, i can accept it on a fat fendered car. If you take a car like your Chev, or any other mid 30's to late 40's car, its fine. You can barely if at all see it.

If someone was to have a fenderless car, Beam axles are the best way to go. Its fairly agreed that the only people who like the look of one on their car, is the ones that run it.

Everyone else thinks it looks terrible.

Hmmmm not every one, I think you will find it is quite acceptable unless you’re a HAMB die hard and if that’s your thing there’s nothing wrong with that, but please accept not everyone needs to share your love of beam axels

28A wrote:I'm not sure whether or not you've got the book, but any idiot who has some basic mechanical knowledge could build an early ford with the book as a guide. It really does give you pretty much a step by step on how to do it.

I could give it to any of my car guy mates and they could put one together, and they don't even like hot rods.

I don’t have the book, I don’t need it, as I don’t have the desire to set up a beam axle, I’ve worked on plenty as a mechanic and I have no desire to do it again.

But 28A how many of these have you and your non hotrod mates have you set up from your book? And how many of these have driven as well as an IFS set up? With no bump steer, toe out on turns, correct camber / caster angels and no tyre wear issues?

There are plenty of beams set up really, really well there not something that scares me but remember there’s a HUGE difference between setting one up and setting one up well, as there’s also truck loads of really bad set ups running around.

28A wrote:People seem to always go straight for the left field brands, because they immediately believe that a Ford is the most expensive option. That may be the case if your buying every part brand new, but Model A Ford parts can be had dirt cheap.. and that’s not just in the states but in Australia too.

A stuff is certainly cheaper that 32, 34 stuff but GOOD A stuff is still more expensive that GOOD non ford stuff its just a fact of life.

28A wrote:Hell, I've got a lot of parts (Front springs, axles, wishbones etc) that I've just been given for free.

You can buy brand new boxed Model A chassis rails for $700 from a place local to me, then another $150 for a front crossmember and i'm not sure how much a rear is. Point being, if you hunt around you could get a Model A chassis ready to put together, even if its brand new.. for dirt cheap. [/quote]

Well then I guess we all need to go out and build A models then,

28A wrote:If the OP is keen enough to have a hot rod, then he will do the work required to have one. Swap meets, ebay, make friends with guys that have the same kind of car he wants to build.. its not hard.

If he can't be bothered to do the ground work to have one, then he obviously doesn't want one bad enough. Simple as that.

I guess I don’t want one badly enough either, I do all you’ve mentioned above but not to the same extent of a lot of guys, why? Because there is more in my life than a hot rod, I love building mine but I love spending time with my family more, some people don’t have the knowledge time and space to do the

28A wrote: work required to have one. Swap meets, ebay, make friends with guys that have the same kind of car he wants to build..

and that’s just life, if you do then more power to you but please don’t condemn some one who has other priorities in life as being less off a rodder.

The other thing to consider is, if every one built there own hot rods and no one brought some one else’s then finished rods would be worth nothing, and parts would be out side the financial reach of most rodders, rod runs would be un viable and rodding would die out

Woooooo hang on, easy turbo, I was just reading back through your earlier post and

28A wrote:

Your just a pinup wannabe.

I have to say that statement has really pissed me off.

But rather than getting worked up let's look at the facts shall we

* I don’t believe, Kid has ever proclaimed to be a pinup, sure she's done some great pinup work for fun and to help a few friends out, and that to me puts her right in the hot rodder stakes, but not once any ware has she said she’s a pinup model (loads of great feed back from the fireys though kid )

* Unlike kid we're yet to see you post a pic of your handy work, you say you have the bits for an A and I believe you, but a pile of parts in the shed is not a hot rod, it’s really little more than a 1:1 scale Revell kit, I’ve got one of these my self but it’s a project I wont consider it a rod until it has number plates.

* yep your mates screwed together a cool (real cool in my book) roadster for under 5k, but its not a rod that would suit me and my families requirements, also I'm assuming he wasn’t a 1st time rodder, and has a lot of ability, but not every one is in this boat sure I know guys that are from a pen pushing background that go to tafe and learn how and do put together some real cool cars but not every one can or wants to, and what’s wrong with that?

Personally my perfect rod is a larger car that can fit my wife and kids in comfortably can turn the key and know it will start, I can then drive 1000km to an event, or just take the family out for a picnic and not worry if I’ll get home, it will be easy to drive so I can have a few drinks and my wife can drive it home, or if she likes her and3 or 4 of her mates can take for the night and I know they will get home safe and sound and there’s little more risk of it letting them down than if she took her Commodore, I don’t believe I can have this for 5k no matter how much work I do my self but that’s me and that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it.

Interesting reading.... how many cars have you built 28A , I would like to see a finished roadster for that price, I think you are right It will break down...... Most of the cost I find from experience goes into the rebuilding of all the parts. Not just the engine but brake hoses/wheel cylinders/brake lines/brake shoes/fuel line/tires/bearings/king pins/tie rods/gaskets/mufflers/crack testing old parts/sandblasting/rego/engineers/paint &prep/glass/wipers/wiring/switchs/steering/Steel/Bolts etc

In my view shortcut any of those things and all you will build is an unsafe pile of shit, The hardest bit of building a traditional early ford is that not all the parts interchange, tracking down some of the elusive parts can be hard work and sometimes expensive, good luck with your project but until you actually have it all put together I would be carefull not to insult everybody because you might just need those peoples help to find the bits that might join the stuff you have in a pile into a car...

Not saying it cant be done cheap, Ive seen a few done but not many are reliable enough to make it distance to rod runs or nice to drive.

Like its been said everyone has different tastes, no need to can others tastes and no need to get personal.

Hi Glassy (if your still on the forum!)

Best way to buy yourself a car is to arm yourself with knowledge. Find YOUR dream car and stick to it.

Google will find you a tonne of articles to read up on. Ozrodders is also a fabulous place if you have any questions.

Joining a local club and learning from the older guys experiences is always a good option as well.

Be patient and something awesome is bound to come your way.

28A - you know however much you insult people and THINK what you say is right, your pecker is always going to stay the same size

Ebony wrote:

28A - you know however much you insult people and THINK what you say is right, your pecker is always going to stay the same size

Forum Gold

Hey Glassy. Ebony has the right idea, she should know, she's got enough cars herself! ;-)

Keep your eyes open, go to swap meets, join a club, trawl all the internet sites etc, YOUR ideal car will come up sometime.

Ignore what other narrow minded individuals tell you what you should be doing with YOUR money, if your dream ride is a 32 5 window with 24in billet rims and beige leather, then aim for it. It may not be my idea of my dream ride, but it's the variety of people's cars and tastes that keeps this kulture/ hobby of ours interesting. If every car was built the same with the only difference being colour/ wheel combo etc etc then I'd be getting pretty bored with the scene real quick.

Best of luck to you finding your dream ride whatever it may be, patience pays off in the end (we were looking for our 56 Caddy for AGES before ours popped up at the right price).

Hopefully you're not deterred and we'll cross paths with you someday in YOUR dream ride....
Cheers!

Welcome to the forum mate.
We have alot of supportive people here who are willing to answer any questions
and you can determine who isnt.
thanks to the "regulars" for making the guy feel welcome.

Hey 28A, I've been driving a boring old Holden for more than 15 years and have always wanted a HOTROD, but for me to have a sedan that can take my wife and family to where ever we want to go is more important at the moment. I have Rodding mags that go back to the early sixties and have cherished being able to dream about the cars that others have been able to put together on a shoe string. I don't have the time or space to build a HOTROD, But with saying that I do have a Model T speedster that has a full history of when it was someones Rodding project, As Mudflap said it was and still is only worth $80 bucks a tonne as scrap! I came across this when out sourcing holden parts and this dedicated RODDER gave it to me cause he couldn't stand looking at it any longer. I'll keep driving my Old Holdens until i'm retired and have the time to approach the pile of scrap. I've always wanted to drive a HOTROD but I think for me its all about Comfort and not Speed. I agree with you that all we need is a book to give us the guide lines to put together an early ford, But what you'll end up with is the same ROD as the guy with the same BOOK!!! I don't think that telling someone what they NEED instead of what THEY WANT is going to help either party here. Mate just keep Kruizin. Mine, it Kruizes to a different beat and i can change my look with a few turns of a spanner, so I can use my car for what ever Event,Wedding,School Formal or just a club run I want.
Tell me 28A, Can you change the complete look of your HOTROD with about half an hours notice From Traditional to Wild or full Kustom?
What happens when the rain comes down while out on the Hwy in the middle of nowhere? Do you have the ragtop in the boot? Do you wear a beanie to keep your head warm? I just flick the heater switch and alls good! Remember Happy Wife = Happy Life.
My rant!
Cheers The Zed...................................

welcome to the forum. I hope u find what your looking 4

Yeh mate welcome to the forum, I know you said at the start there that this seemed like the kinda forum you would like, I certainly hope you won't let mr 28A's stupidity deter you from coming back. The rest of us here are all very supportive and only too happy to help.
As far as a hotrod for around 20 000 i cant say what to do as i have never built one, though i have seen plenty of cheap cool little cars on ebay that you could start with, if you do want to build one yourself. I'd say the best thing to do is to follow the avice of people who actually own and have built or have owned and built previously some real going hotrods, no matter what style.
Hope you enjoy our forum

cheers
Dave

for example this car was just perchased by a member fo my club for that very figure