grumpyvette
Well-known member
are you a true hotrodder? or just a guy installing aftermarket parts on your car?
And what I mean by that is most people who are into cars and have a fairly fast car/s ESPECIALLY TODAY, simply add some aftermarket parts to increase, the cars potential horsepower or braking ability or change its looks.
While the old-time hot rodders, tended to look at a project, and say OK I want the best I can find, trade for or build!!,that includes the, rear end diff. the interior, front suspension, brakes, ENGINE,TRANSMISSION, paint job, Tires,ETC. available!
I want the best performance!
I want too build it my way!
Now if that meant in your opinion that you wanted Chrysler hemi engine ,the Buick transmission, a FORD suspension , and all installed, in an early Pontiac, because you happen to like the styling of that car, you sat down and figured out how to accomplish it. You knew from the start that there was no way you could buy parts do it, you had to sit down and figure out how to get it all assembled you had to do all your own measuring and in most cases you had to build a lot of your OWN CUSTOM parts. You had to understand how things worked. Why they worked! And what it would take to get certain systems to work with other systems. You had to know a lot about welding and machining of parts or have a big enough wallet to have somebody else do it for you!
Your goal was basically to build something totally unique, and in many cases much faster than Detroit could or would produce, hopefully installed in a package to not only looked good. But Ran good, something that was relatively trouble-free, and something all your friends would admire! In short something you could be eminently proud of!
in short I think the hobby of building fast / custom cars, is losing something, it every part you put in the car can be ordered off the catalog pages.
a GREAT deal of this hobby used to be involved in finding out how to fit and make systems designed for differant cars work togeather in a way that at least potentially improved the result over anything that could be purchased from any dealer!
or put another way... IVE personally got a whole lot more respect and appreciation for some guy that installed a 500 caddy engine in a 240 Z datsun that looks like it was factory installed that only runs 12 flat quarter mile times than some guy that buys a ZO6 corvette and adds a $1000 nitrous system that runs 11.5 second quarter mile times
WHERE are all the guys that have the skills and desire to install/modify thier corvettes like the old days??? why are we not seeing more LS6s, and BIG BLOCK ENGINES installed in the C4 corvettes ? huge brakes? 19" wheels, trans axles? v12 engines? 4,5,0r 6 speed auto transmissions? C5 drivetrains installed in C4 corvettes? twin turbo northstar caddy powered corvettes? or any thing else you can think of? surely you can,t think the C4 corvette is so good it can,t be improved????
YOUR THOUGHTS GENTELMAN????
And what I mean by that is most people who are into cars and have a fairly fast car/s ESPECIALLY TODAY, simply add some aftermarket parts to increase, the cars potential horsepower or braking ability or change its looks.
While the old-time hot rodders, tended to look at a project, and say OK I want the best I can find, trade for or build!!,that includes the, rear end diff. the interior, front suspension, brakes, ENGINE,TRANSMISSION, paint job, Tires,ETC. available!
I want the best performance!
I want too build it my way!
Now if that meant in your opinion that you wanted Chrysler hemi engine ,the Buick transmission, a FORD suspension , and all installed, in an early Pontiac, because you happen to like the styling of that car, you sat down and figured out how to accomplish it. You knew from the start that there was no way you could buy parts do it, you had to sit down and figure out how to get it all assembled you had to do all your own measuring and in most cases you had to build a lot of your OWN CUSTOM parts. You had to understand how things worked. Why they worked! And what it would take to get certain systems to work with other systems. You had to know a lot about welding and machining of parts or have a big enough wallet to have somebody else do it for you!
Your goal was basically to build something totally unique, and in many cases much faster than Detroit could or would produce, hopefully installed in a package to not only looked good. But Ran good, something that was relatively trouble-free, and something all your friends would admire! In short something you could be eminently proud of!
in short I think the hobby of building fast / custom cars, is losing something, it every part you put in the car can be ordered off the catalog pages.
a GREAT deal of this hobby used to be involved in finding out how to fit and make systems designed for differant cars work togeather in a way that at least potentially improved the result over anything that could be purchased from any dealer!
or put another way... IVE personally got a whole lot more respect and appreciation for some guy that installed a 500 caddy engine in a 240 Z datsun that looks like it was factory installed that only runs 12 flat quarter mile times than some guy that buys a ZO6 corvette and adds a $1000 nitrous system that runs 11.5 second quarter mile times
WHERE are all the guys that have the skills and desire to install/modify thier corvettes like the old days??? why are we not seeing more LS6s, and BIG BLOCK ENGINES installed in the C4 corvettes ? huge brakes? 19" wheels, trans axles? v12 engines? 4,5,0r 6 speed auto transmissions? C5 drivetrains installed in C4 corvettes? twin turbo northstar caddy powered corvettes? or any thing else you can think of? surely you can,t think the C4 corvette is so good it can,t be improved????
YOUR THOUGHTS GENTELMAN????