Hot Rodders are vandals. Do you agree?

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nzrys, Jun 13, 9:01am
I dont think its the cars so much as how rude they are when someone even so much as inquire about their hobby. The see it more as a challenge rather than share their experiences.

richardmayes, Jun 13, 9:13am
Not vandals.

Most of the hot rod / V8 type people who I've met are so full of issues that you could write a book about them.
The defensiveness. The M.I.A. sense of humour. The chips on their shoulders about the Jap performance car scene (for some reason you seldom see that reciprocated, obviously big V8s aren't really for bigger men at all.) The condescending smugness at anyone who doesn't drive a 7+ litre V8, and then the hurt feelings when they see that you're briefly interested in that massive chrome supercharged mill, but you're not really profoudly impressed like you "should" be.

But no they are not vandals.

A real hot rod is some average old American tank that I couldn't care less about, turned into a work of art by someone who can really work metal and paint with his hands.They are not my cup of tea, but you have to respect what goes into their creation.

vjregal770, Jun 13, 11:33am
Sounds like you've just been unlucky in running into the snob-sector of the hobby.

Rodder, restorer or ricer, I'm happy to talk about their and my car all day.

And yes, it's well over 7 litres :-)

Although I could adopt the attitude you speak of and say at least my "average old American tank" doesn't leak and is totally turn-key reliable (unlike those average small ugly Pommy things) nor is it a bland plastic Asian box with 600kg of stereo and fibreglass stuck to it.

But I'm not like that :-)

guider1, Jun 13, 6:11pm
As far as i'm concerned there is a big difference between a "Hot Rodder" a muscle car person & a classic car person. I for one love muscle cars such as the SS396 Nova, Yenko Camaro, Bathurst Monaro etc; I also like what I consider to be a classic car such as the Impala or Caddy. I'm not big on Hot Rods & my depiction of the word Hot Rod is the likes of a '32 coupe, '34 sedan etc. yes, some of them are nice to look at but not my thing really. I have over 100 pictures on my walls & not one is of anything earlier than a '56 Chev. So Classic & Hot Rod are 2 different things in my opinion.

guider1, Jun 13, 6:14pm
I'd say some piece of rice paper or a Euro tub of lard.

bmwnz, Jun 13, 8:55pm
There is one unpardonable crime that hot rodders do not seem to commit, thankfully. That is of course, tri-spoke mags. Barf city. O the humanity.

sifty, Jun 13, 9:14pm
It depends,
if they hack up a true classic and make it worse, definitely vandals.

if they make modify a piece of generic transport into something original / quirky / exciting, they are artists.

(all depends on your definition of 'classic' I realise). My advice is if you want to modify something that has some inherent value, keep all the original bits and make sure it can be returned to original.

ljs, Jun 13, 9:36pm
Cos some of those old dungas just needed it.

mrfxit, Jun 9, 5:53pm
AAAaaarrhhhhhh. skimmed . BUTT .

A Vandal, (in this case) would be better defined by WHAT has or hasn't been done.
Good taste
Bad taste
Wasted parts
Well matched parts
Quality of workmanship
General concept of intention in direct relation to the above^