Old school Rat Rods versus back in the day...

[BuckNeccid]

I was thinking yesterday about the "rat rods" that are so popular today, versus how we really did it back in the day. Seems everyone wants to paint the whole car flat black with a nice smooth finish or even "simulated rust" on the job so everyone knows that there is "rust" on the car.

What I remember is we'd get a car, get it driving, and then start working the body while we drove it. We'd try to keep as much of the original paint, keep it clean and as good looking as possible while we worked the body, and we'd only prime the repaired area. Almost always the primer was the red oxide, very seldom would you see black, even the gray was more common than the black. Almost never would you see the whole car primed, until and unless you were ready for paint.

A paint job was so expensive, we might drive the car for a couple of years with an "apaloosa" paint job, just spots of primer where the repair was, and the original paint as much as possible, along with a nice set of wheels (Cragers or slots most likely, since they were the cheapest). We'd be looking for someone to paint the car the whole time, hopefully a friend or someone to become a friend so we could get the best deal and not have to visit a well known, very professional actual body shop.

Anyone else remember things this way, or is alzheimers setting in on me so much that I can't remember what was what?

Comments, discussion, whadda ya think, heck, flame me if you want to, it'll get us talking huh?

 

[Ron 73]

Back in those days our cars looked like that because they had to look like that, you would see cars with rust, a little red and gray (what ever you could get) primer and sometimes one painted fender and hood sometimes with a scoop. What you describe is a driving project hot rod.. You did what you could and still polished the wheels and drove it like the masterpiece in our eyes it was.. Sometimes they would never get all the way to the point of paint, raced out, worn out time to move on to something bigger.
Now they want cars to look like what we had to have them lol. Its kind of funny, i remember (barely) when my daughters would tell us they needed new britches and then would cut holes in them, tear them like there worn out! I told dad about one such incidence and he laughed and said we have a dresser full of worn out pants, not cut to look! Funny how people want to replicate what used to be real. Want the old to look older still. I don't think i would want something like that now, thinking back on some cars and all this can be fun, but to have it now, and do it on purpose, i don't think so with me. It isint alzheimers, I remember it, and its cool to think back to those days, to go back though?, HECK yea, id do it all over again.

 

[Sixpack70]

I am doing something similar with my Falcon. Getting it driving, and then doing the body work. It may be ugly but I am not doing a full color change. The older paint has great adhesion and the car has only one small rust spot on the passenger door. Otherwise the car is ridiculously rust free. I am not doing it on purpose, I am just doing it because I can drive it and enjoy it for the time being. Now, my Charger during restoration will be stripped to bare metal because it is ridiculously rusty...

 

[Meep-Meep]

For me it was always function before beauty. No matter what I had it usually looked like crap, but it ran good.

 

[Cranky]

When is back in the day? IE, how old are y'all? I didn't get my driver's license until 67 but remember chop top model A Ford pickups in the late 50's that looked like what people call rat rods today but it wasn't about looking like that. It was more about getting it running then making it look nicer which usually didn't happen for a long time. I got my 66 Belvedere in 69 (danged 4 door) and it spent a lot of time in Galveston (yeah, I was a surfer) so I was chasing small rust spots but I kept the 'primer dots' to a minimum since the original yellow paint still looked pretty decent but I've had a more than a few beaters over the years that had plenty of large primer spots on them. Rat rods? What the hell is that? I know....but I don't call hot rods by any other name no matter how old or ratty they are. That's the way I grew up and I'm not changing my spots now. The are either good running but crappy looking hot rods or junkers in my book.

 

[Ron 73]

Got my drivers in 70 i think it was. Cars then I seen a lot like explained, usually by friends and of course myself,, My first two cars were driving projects, rust, primer paint and never did paint it all the way before i got a 57 Chevy and started over again, that one finally did get a blue paint job though.. My first Mopar a 67 Charger didn't start off like that but a couple years after i bought it i started some body work and looked kind of bad at the time, I cant call them "rat rods" (however explained) but same thing when your driving them and working on getting them to be ready and fixed up for paint.. And just for the record we always called them our hotrods or jalopy's..

 

[kb67mopar]

As far as I can tell the whole car in primer look stems from kids driving rice burners. After they bought their body kit for 4 billion dollars they couldn't afford to get it painted (or after they hit a telephone pole and had to buy used parts). So instead they painted everything with rattle can black and drive it around feeling cool.

The rust look.....I just don't get it. I spend inordinate amounts of time replacing and preventing rust not replicating it. No idea why it started but for me, those are not cool.

Oh and for the record I got my drivers license in 2000. (yeah I aint old yet)

 

[MalamuteJohn]

No Mr Neccid, I don't believe you're suffering from an onset of alzheimers. Whilst I am admittedly younger than a couple of the previous posters, even tho I certainly don't FEEL younger, I was 'around' and noticing such from the early 60s on up. My memories, and I have had this discussion with older friends who were in the thick of it that corroborate same, were that people tried real hard to keep the cars clean and shiny. Rust/body damage was repaired and spotted in - to be repainted as soon as funds would allow. Cars completely in primer were somewhat rare, and usually somewhat temporary also. Plus it was almost always light grey primer. Of course this is from the south/central part of the country, so other's experience may vary. Just look at period photos and home movies often posted on youtube to verify. You'll also notice that whitewall tyres appeared to be the 'norm' up until the late 60s...
This 'rat rod' thing is just a fashion statement imho. And not a very good one...

Oh, and as for the black satin covering everything, methinks we might look to the Italian motorcycle industry for that fashion trend. Ducati has been offering such from the factory for 15 years or so. Always leading edge those Italians...

 

[RS23VOA]

I would have sprayed my GTX with black primer and put it back together and run the dog out of it. Now i'm stuck with the tedious task of putting everything back just so, then i can run the dog out of it!

 

[Budnicks]

I agree

For me it was always function before beauty. No matter what I had it usually looked like crap, but it ran good.

Meeps me too X2, I was never a "no go show boat" guy, alway the guy messing with the show goers, nearly almost always a typical type 20ft-er, "driver 1st & fast of course", paint was the "last thing" I worried about, except on my Race Cars, they had to look good... BuckNeccid & yes lots of red oxide & gray primer, never any exposed rusted out panels, but very little semi gloss or flat black "ever", that's a new trend trying to be "old school", but I did have a lot of completely primered dark gray cars too, cheap & easy...LOL...