Question for the hot rod guys

[TDSapp]

So I am 50 years old now and I think that most of the guys on here are probably not to far from that age +/-. I became a car guy because of the huge gigantic influence of my dad.
My grandfather owned a garage and with that my dad learned how to work on cars and so did his three brothers. So I was born into a car family. He bought a 23 Model T many years ago and we have discussed building it for years once he retired. However now that he has the time to do it his health has taken a turn for the worst. He has told me that I can have the car and it will be my next project once the 33 is done. He has owned some cool cars like a '74 Formula Firebird, a Karmann Ghia and he still tells stories about his Nash Rambler that he and his brother dropped in a fuel injected 327 out of his brothers 59 Corvette.

But I recently realized that an additional big influence was CarToons Magazine. Once I found out that they were back in print I went and bought a year subscription ( https://www.cartoonsmag.com ) and while reading it I realized just how much it impacted me. I remember walking up to the store as a kid and checking out the magazine stand looking for the latest issue. Wishing it was monthly and not bi-monthly. While sitting around thinking about my Hot Rod build I find that some of the things I want to do are from CarToons. The big motor sticking out of the hood, the loud exhaust and I have even thought about the long 3' shifter sticking out of the top of the car. Even my desired paint job has some CarToons in it.


So, I can't be the only one that was influenced by it so much. Anyone else feel the same way?

[RoadRacer]

Never heard of that magazine (probably because I'm English) but the best hot rods have always been caricatures haven't they? I love the look of a proper fad-t, preferably in metalflake. The big-n-littles from dragsters look crazy to normal people. Ed Roth, Dean Jeffries, etc were awesome at it.

Usually nasty to drive of course I had a bright orange flake 10s pro-street 66 nova for daily use once.. lol it was horrible.

But I still want a fad-t one day in my collection

[GoDadGo]

Nor I and I am 54.

But I Am From The South!

[NAZ]

I was a teenage car nut in the sixties and remember all the crazy cartoon style cars in the magazines and on t-shirts. And the SoCal custom car designers would stoke the flames by creating some of these "far-out" designs that you could actually drive. The rat rod crowd seem to be deep into the old 60's cartoonish look and they really pull it off. If I wasn't building a performance hot rod I'd probably gravitate in that direction as they are so ratty they're cool. Plus I'm a country boy that lives off a dirt road and it's impossible to keep a car clean -- you don't need to wash a rat rod.

The great thing about hot rodding is you can build a car anyway you want and who's to say it's wrong? Google rockabilly cars and check out some of the clever designs people come up with.

[Arrowhead]

Yea I can't say I recall that magazine either (although I am in that age group), but I drew most of my inspiration from building models when I was a kid. When I got my hot rod on the road around 2011, I gave an artist on another forum the idea of what I wanted and he drew up this cartoon for me. I think it came out pretty awesome. I even made a screen print out of it and made up a couple tee shirts for myself.

area 33.jpg

[TDSapp]

area 33.jpg

Wow George, you have some really big eyes.


I do like that cartoon though... That's the kind of stuff that CarToons does.

[JimLev]

Never heard of that comic book either. Wish I was still in my 50's!
When I was 8 the next door neighbor's son was a car guy, he always had a 50's hot rod. My Dad always fixed our cars and I'd be handing him the wrenches. Then when I was in 7th grade the school library had Hot Rod magazine, that did it for me.
Before I had a license I had a 56 Chevy, pulled the straight 6 out of it and got a '62 283 from the junkyard. Did the swap under the oak tree in the back yard. The second car was another '56 Chevy with no drivetrain.
Pulled the drivetrain from the first car and stuck in #2. 3rd car was a '62 Chevy with a 327.
I've always had sort of hot cars but have always wanted a 32, 33, or 34 Ford.
That's my story and I sticken to it.