hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

[Caprice_Coupe]

What do you think? If you hire a pro to build a engine. You pick the parts give the specs, what you want it to do and have someone build it for you. Are you still going to be as proud as the guy who poured his blood, sweat and tears into it? I think so. It took me months of working over time to get it and... There's just somethings that I want to do that I have neither the skill, know-how or the room etc to do. Like, my last project. I had my transmission beefed up by a pro. I had rather not worked on it because over the long haul it would have cost me less hiring a professional over me doing it and I'm not knowledgeable in automatics. Even though, in theory I know how their supposed to work. Just like I've been debating on whether or not I should build the engine for my 81 coupe or just hire someone to do it. There's benefits of doing things yourself and havening someone else do it for you.

[KeithTurk]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

Maybe you don't care about the inside of a Turbo 350.... or an Engine... Simply not your thing... don't think that makes you a weenie for farming it out...

Freiburger and I have different interests... he's a Motor guy and I'm the car Guy... I've done a motor for the car before and enjoyed doing it... but it's not really my thing... So he supplies motors and I stick them in the car... We've been fairly successful with the Camaro doing this.... don't think either of us are weenies...

It's not like either of us are simply mailing it in...

Keith

[VWMMP]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

For me as long as you don't buy a turn-key ride. I like to think that a true hot rodder does some of the work themselves. If you can't turn a wrench I guess you might not be considered a "True" hot rodder. That being said the more work you do yourself the more respect I have for someone. Myself I wouldn't touch a trans or differential, I just don't know what I am doing messing with gears.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

I do a lot of my own work, used to do it all, last couple of times, do to time, I have taken my motor to a 30 year friends engine shop if there is a speed bump he takes a fraction of the time to make a change and finish it up after we go over what I want with my parts, plus he can give input and its made a better motor, so I can put what time I have into a different area of the car, and frankly what I like to do better.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

So what if you come across a smoking deal on your dream car and its already done...how is this any different that buying a turn-key or farming it out...if your passion is cars.....then whats the diff....

[VTJUNK]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

I think if you don't have the time or tools to do something, it's okay to hire it out. I also think if you are paying to have something done, you should at least have an understanding what you are paying for.

I'm fully capable of doing trans work. I don't like doing it for some reason. I will keep paying to have it done until I blow one up and then I will dig in and do it myself.

If you pay to have things done, as many of you have probably experienced, you sometimes don't get what you are expecting. Then again, if you do it yourself, no matter how hard you try, you just don't get the results you want. I painted a car 3 times over the course of 5 years, and never once put it together. I wasn't happy with the results I was getting, so I put it on the back burner for a while, worked on other cars, gained more experience, and was finally able to get the quality I was hoping for. I am not that picky, but this one car was going together with a 20 year collection of NOS parts, the only car I will ever do that way, and I wanted it be as perfect as I could get it.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

I generally stay out of the tranny's and differentials, but will happily do most everything else as many of you have read recently in my Project Cars Update thread. I just don't trust many people to touch my car from too many bad experiences. I've also had a lot of bodywork farmed out to the pros, because so far I really don't have the touch.

I will admit this. I don't often change my own oil. Too lazy and it's a pain to get rid of the oil correctly. I go to a place where we used to take our fleet cars and get a hand wash included in the $35 dollar price. After all the work I did on my Impala; I drove it down to these guys to change oil and filter and lube the car while I watched.

[Mr.WFO]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

hiring a pro just means your smart...unfortunately, I like to do things the hard way...

like pulling both drums apart at the same time & getting 'em back together with some parts left over...

i started with smaller engines & am working my way up to step 1: the SBC...eventually i'd like to be able to build one from scratch...

[Matt Cramer]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

Few people are able to do all the work it would take to build a complete hot rod. I don't see hiring an engine builder as all that different from buying ready-made headers instead of welding your own together, only a difference of degree.

[Mr.WFO]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

hey cap, worried someone will pull your man card for farming out the motor?

you're right, we will. unless you sacrifice a set of tires to the hot rod gods via a killer burnout.

[joebogey]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

I think the biggest thing is the knowledge of the person.

Take my Dad for example, we've done work on cars for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are working on cars; swapping out the rear bumper on his '56 Vic for a '55 because he didn't like the exhaust through the bumper, or the month of weekends we spent laying under his '64 Galaxie 'vert scraping rust and bomb canning it flat black, or even the regular oil changes with the car up on ramps (not steel, but cut-down railroad ties), or swapping to snow tires every October. Walk through a show and he can name every make and model that a custom bumper was made out of. However, he might as well use a 10# lump hammer when it comes to tuning a carb, then there was the tune-up on the '73 Torino where the distributor cap made it clear to the street from the back yard (I was about 5 and almost peed my pants).

He was always a cruiser guy until my brother picked up a '37 Plymouth 2d sedan (sorry SBC/TH350), then he wanted a rod, as it turns out when he was in the market about 3 years later, the guy my brother bought his Plymouth from had a '37 Dodge 4d sedan for sale, so my Dad picked it up. Now here he bought a turn-key car, but it's not about the car, it's about the owner, I think we're going through a time where people are buying cars for the cool factor without having any idea what it is. My Dad's had this plastic tool box that's been around from the 60's, it contains; water pump pliers, large pliers, wire cutter, roll of bailing wire, flares, 1 flat & 1 philips screwdriver, black tape, hacksaw blade, & a ball peen hammer. This toolbox has been in the trunk of every car he has ever driven, including his daily drivers. When we were taking one of the other cars out on the weekend it went in the trunk, because if you couldn't fix it with all that, you were going to need a tow truck for the pieces anyway.

[KJZ28]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

A true Hot Rodder can be anyone who likes cool custom cars. Whether you build it or have a pro do it. It takes a big man to cut his car, but it takes a bigger man to write the hefty check out to a shop.

I personally work on my own cars, and I consider myself a gear head and a Hot Rodder.

You are talking about two types of people not one. Gear Heads and Hot Rodders there is a difference.

[Ron Ward]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

Good thread!

Here is my take on the subject. Eye candy is fun. If someone drops a boatload of money on a car and it looks cool, so be it. But what really gets me cranked up about a car is when the owner has done every bit of the work himself. Maybe it isn't the best bodywork, or maybe it doesn't run 9-second quarter mile ET's, but if the owner is Joe Schmoe and he has put his sweat and blood into it - no matter how far from "perfect" it is - I have the utmost respect for his car. Some people have money, and that is ok. Some people have talent, of which I am jealous. Some people have the motivation and desire to do it themselves and are not afraid of how it turns out knowing full well it is thier own creation and not someone else's. These are the people who I believe are the grass roots hot rodders.

Ron

[RacerRick]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

Sometimes it comes down to time and tools.

I used to build everything myself after getting royally screwed over by a big name local shop. Now I take it to him and have him build it. He will do exactly what I want, and has all the tools to do everything from boring the block to redoing the heads sitting in his shop. I get a better product for a few hundred dollars than if I did it myself. The time saved alone is worth it to me.

[Schtauffer]

Re: hire a pro = not a true hot rodder?

Saying that "someone who pays to have work done on their car is not a hot rodder" is like saying that "since you didn't build your own baseball diamond you're not a ball player."

On the other hand, just cuz a person can dig in the dirt and build their own diamond doesn't mean they can hit a ball hard and run fast. But, that same person may very well love watching baseball, or even playing it with his or her kids.

Does that make any sense?