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Has Hot Rodding Ever Been Cheap?

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  • #16
    Oh, anybody really into cars is probably going to be spending more on them than food, yep. We are blessed to live in a time/place where food is actually not that expensive, one thing that makes hot rodding possible. I can remember how crazy I thought it was to ever buy a can of brand-name chili when the plain-wrap would mean twenty more cents toward some intake manifold or whatever.
    ...

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    • #17
      Originally posted by pdub View Post
      Let's take a time frame, maybe three or six months, whatever. When I was heavy into road courses.....I dunno, I never thought about it. But I'm thinking about it now, I'll bet I had more money in tires than I had in food during that time period.
      You also dove straight in the deep end of the pool and were having a blast. You know how you make a small fortune racing? start off with a large one.
      I'm probably wrong

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      • #18
        hot rodding always costs $1 more then what you have.... so yes, it's always expensive.
        that said, it doesn't mean hot rodding isn't fun - but chase the guys who spend money and you'll be miserable. chase the opinions of others and you'll be miserable - but if you do it for that amazing feeling that breathed life into some lifeless hunk, you'll find a million dollar smile is in you (aka 'the stupid grin')
        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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        • #19
          X2.

          Since it always costs a buck more than you have, set your sights/interest on something that costs two bucks less. Works for me, is actually kinda a secret formula.
          ...

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          • #20
            start simple, make complex is my motto.

            and to the question - I think hot rodding is cheaper now then ever.... inflation adjust the dollars for what you can get - I know someone who spent 5 grand in early 80s dollars to make 600 hp - and we thought that was a good deal

            and yes, I feel like Bill summing up rock music in B&T's excellent adventure.
            Last edited by SuperBuickGuy; February 6, 2019, 07:26 PM.
            Doing it all wrong since 1966

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            • #21
              It's as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. Some guys use the cost as an excuse to not do stuff. Others just do what they can afford, and have fun. There are so many things you can do with cars to make them go faster, or at least be more fun, for not much money.



              My fabulous web page

              "If it don't go, chrome it!" --Stroker McGurk

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              • #22
                Originally posted by squirrel View Post
                It's as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. Some guys use the cost as an excuse to not do stuff. Others just do what they can afford, and have fun. There are so many things you can do with cars to make them go faster, or at least be more fun, for not much money.


                Look at HRPT and Drag week. Everyone has fun on their budget, from the most high dollar to the rental, and the fastest to the slowest. Object.... ENJOY! Don't worry about the other guy.
                Pt 2010, Long Haul 2011,12,13,14,15,16,17, 18, 19, 23
                If you wait, all that happens is that you get older

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by tedly View Post

                  You also dove straight in the deep end of the pool and were having a blast. You know how you make a small fortune racing? start off with a large one.
                  I'm old enough, I'm not afraid of dying. That was a heap of fun, those road courses. Lord, if I hit that wall, please let me hit it hard enough to kill me all the way, not just killed halfway. I was just in the way, not even going fast enough. I was a danger to the other participants and that's not what I want to be. I was an obstacle.

                  I'm not real sure if I had a much faster car that I'd be much faster on the track. But I sure did it and I'm glad I did. Something nobody else saw, except for the guys passing me.
                  Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                  • #24
                    Hot Rodding has always been cheap.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                    But you have to be willing to think outside the box., using parts others would pass on.
                    Have to be willing to learn how to fab up things,
                    Have to be able to fail or have others laugh at your rig or your booggger welds , your not foose metal work , as you are learning.
                    You have to take with a grain of salt ,the catalog hot rodder and the checkbook rodders and the older guys that forgot they were not born as master fab/metal workers. that will tool on your junk.
                    Hot Rodding started from used p.o.s. and adding junkyard used p.o.s. parts. and maybe a few speed parts later.

                    Sure you are not going to build a 32 ford anymore cheaply. but you can still build a hot rod cheaply. The original rat rod movement showed this, before the over the top crap entered into it.
                    No one cares if you pull a 1925 dodge, and put a later 90's early 2000's 3800 s/c set up (meaning whole cradle and all) in the back. and have a very cheap 250-300 h/p with instant torque hot rod. pantia is a thing, so, put 2 cheap buckets in it, cheap gauges, and a radio for tunes. and boom. same can be done with the un-loved years of any make.
                    Sure you are not even getting a 55-57 rot bucket chevy cheap, but the 49-54 oh yes. same with dodge/ply/buick/Pontiac/olds.

                    Hot rodding will always be cheap if you are willing to not need to "keep up with the jones"
                    Last edited by JamesMayberryIII; February 6, 2019, 11:34 PM.

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                    • #25
                      I guess that's why they call it "racing." You're going, doing all you can do. And in a millisecond of spare time you glance in the mirror and notice somebody coming up from behind going about twice as fast as you are, and there's a sharp curve coming up about 700 feet ahead..... and you're going way too fast for common sense already ..... that's a track day. That's what you pay for. I'd recommend everyone give it a try. It may make you a better driver on the highway, maybe.

                      I got into what I considered to be a testy situation at Daytona. Turn 3 into 4, when you have that much speed and momentum going, you can't slow down soon. I'm coming up onto a slower car and there was a car dogging me from behind. Windshield mirror windshield mirror. Decision time. That was a good driver, he let me pass that other car and then he blew my doors off. That was a good driver. There are good drivers out there.

                      Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                      • #26
                        I always like to add intake, carb, cam and headers to my dd stuff..
                        Driveability improves, making the trip more enjoyable...
                        It also improves mileage... If I'm hauling multiple heavy loads, I'll spring for super to get that little better driveability.. Pullability if you will..

                        When I was 16-17, met a classmate's sister who married at 17... Both kids were 17 with a baby.. She had a small car (early 70's) not new but she had wheels to take baby to doc and grandma.. He had a Chevelle that was pretty potent, 4 speed Muncie being rebuilt on the apt kitchen table and the bedroom closet was full of parts and he PUMPED GAS! Supported his family, and hot rod habit that way.. No food stamps then..

                        When I started derbying, I was one of the few who did NOT run stock dashes.. Basic car was chained together and channel iron sides inside and bracing so it does not flop and hurt me. (trust me, iron hitting you no matter how padded HURTS!) Now there is a whole aftermarket devoted to derby stuff.. Cages around motors/trans, special ball joints, spindles, and even motors. I ran a simple all-thread shifter that had a reverse pattern.. Now the kids run slap shift shifters with P lock out..
                        Does it cost? Yes! Is it worth it? HELL YEAH!

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                        • #27
                          What does it take to make a car a hot rod? Can a hotrod have a stock engine? Your goals, what you want, (live with / live without).

                          My mustang currently has a stock engine from the TB to the oil pan. So maybe it's not a hotrod, but I did bolt it together and I do take it to the track. I do have alot of money (to me) in it. But I wanted an 87-93 LX Coupe with all (most) the safety gear, and I want AC and radio and full interior. I am sure a gutted car would be faster. It is easier to pass inspections with it stock. If I had kept the 79 Capri I wouldn't have to worry about it.

                          I had a hole lot less money in the Capri and it was faster. I bet it weighed less and it had newer and aftermarket parts to make more power. But it was not street car. Open headers, lights didn't work no HVAC. The 87 does 60' alot better than anything else I have owned.
                          http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
                          1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

                          PB 60' 1.49
                          ​​​​​​

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                          • #28
                            One thing to consider is there were times when "hot rods" were cheap but weren't considered "hot rodding". In the actual muscle car era only the current model got respect. If it was '69 and you were driving a '67 Hemi Belvidere it was looked at as a plain jane sedan. A sleeper. In '70 your '68 L78 396 car was considered slow compared to a new LS6 454. Then the new cars got slower and everyone lost interest. Hot rodding then was either racing or street rodding. You could get cast off musclecars for $500 - $1000, but they were just used cars that sucked a lot of gas. The spotlight is sort of dim and diffused these days but isn't the goal of hot rodding to get just a little bit of that spotlight on you and your car? And if it was cheap, easy and obvious then everyone would do it and it would be a floodlight.
                            My hobby is needing a hobby.

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                            • #29
                              The thread line has me thinking and trying to remember, and we know that's dangerous. But I'm remembering now, at the first track I ever ran at, Atlanta Motorsports Park, the first instructor I ever had, he was in the Chump Car League. That's what they called it back then, at least.

                              In Chump, you have to provide a bill of sale, something proving that you paid $500 or less for the car. The was the point of entry, $500 or less. Now, you could put a million dollars' worth of safety equipment on it if you wanted to, but you could not do anything to improve the car's performance.

                              I mean old oil-leaking Datsun sedans and abandoned Toyotas, what a bunch of junk. But that was a hoot. And they'd go out there and race those. And I mean racing, they weren't just running gentleman laps like the other folks on track day, that was a race. Slow, but... Swapping paint, door to door. Wrecking slow at times.
                              Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by RockJustRock View Post
                                Does anyone really ever want to brag up how cheap their pride and joy was? .

                                um........yes?



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