Hot Rods and American Muscle Cars

During the 1950's up to the 1970's, muscle cars and hot rods dominated the world. Even females could not help turning their heads when slick vintage vehicle's drove by. Times have now changed but, the urges of wanting to see vintage cars, classic cars, hot rods, and muscle cars have not. People who have preserved these classic cars are very much appreciated within society.


When these cars are out on the road people really enjoy seeing them. Hot Rods and Muscle Cars are ultimate private statements of the car's owner and legacy, which are proudly shown to everyone. You probably have seen them at the car shows, television, or even seen one passing by on the highway. How many times have you turned your head or even tried to speed up to get a closer look at one of these classic cars?

The Hot Rods and Muscle Cars say much about what it is that makes America the proud nation that we are. Hot rods and Muscle Cars have been notorious being an attention-getting device for whatever group of people or enthusiasts they were encountering. Hot rods and muscle cars are a nostalgic part of our culture. Hot Rods and Muscle Cars come in many different imaginable shapes, conditions and modifications. The amount of customization that is done to the hot rod is an extension of builder's imagination or frustration of his sight on a conventional styling that represents a part or unique style of the builder.

This is not a bad thing at all. An individual can draw from it as someone's unique perspective as to a new dimension on the life style in the US or any other country for that matter. The mere existence of the hot rods and muscle cars cannot dismiss the sense of pride in the country. To catch glimpse of the ever-popular hot rods and muscle cars, one just needs to go over to your local auto repair shop and ask them for information on any of the upcoming car shows in the area.

Auto mechanics are forever mindful of the elusive hot rods and muscle cars from many years gone by. Most anyone in the automotive industry can be considered huge fans of the hot rod and muscle car. However fear not, there are those die-hard mechanics still out there that like nothing more than getting there hands on classic hot rod and muscle cars to rekindle the need to hear rumble of powerful engines, or else peak at the slick bodied vehicles from days that are gone by.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/hot-rods-and-american-muscle-cars-1082006.html
About the Author

Author: jamiehanson

American Muscle Cars
Hot Rods pictures

Choosing the Right Tire For Your Rat Rod

Author: Art Tupaczewski

Get A Sneaker For Your Squeaker

When choosing the correct tire for your project, you need to keep in mind a few things:

1. Comfort

Are you doing a lot of driving? If you are, then you might want to keep a taller tire with moderate air pressure. This is no problem for a Rat Rod
or some Muscle Cars. A tire with a wide sidewall has some give to it, giving you a gentle ride . Plus most Rat Rods have fat whitewalls and need
a taller tire to be able to show it off. Smaller sidewalls or "rubber-bands" as they are referred to are hard on comfort and driveability, but are
excellent for handling and are mostly seen on Resto Mods and most Hot Rods. These wheels go from 17" to over 22'.

2. Performance

As we mentioned previously, taller sidewalls do not handle as well as a low profile tire. Most people in Rat Rods are not
exactly tearing up the mountain roads at breakneck speeds. Nor is anyone really thinking about going much
over 65 mph in a jalopy. Most modern Hot Rods and Resto Mods have modern suspension and or air suspension and with
the proper wheel/tire set up can reveal Corvette-like handling.

3. Looks

And most important of all, how will my rust bucket look? Again, as we said before, fat whitewalls are traditional Rat Rod tires. Wrap
them around a set of 14 or 15" steel wheels and you are set. Muscle Cars always look good with the factory wheels. For extreme
originality, some go to the extent of getting the reproduction bias-ply tires. Although not as good as a radial tire, they serve the
purpose, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in some spare wheels with a good radial tire for consistent driving. Modified Muscle Cars
also called Resto Mods are very popular with their use of big wheels, skinny tires. Many wheel companies are offering reproduction
style wheels at a bigger size so as to improve the handling and not sacrifice looks. Hot Rods go to the extreme with large wheel sizes.
These are usually high dollar billet aluminum wheels. Keep in mind, high dollar wheels wear high dollar tires!
I hope this is a good guide to get you started in the right direction for your quest to find the right wheel and tire combination.
Come visit us at http://www.ratrodauthority.com.com for ideas, parts, vehicles and anything to do with Rat Rods, Muscle Cars, and Hot Rods.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cars-articles/choosing-the-right-tire-for-your-rat-rod-2653941.html
About the Author

Started by Art Tupaczewski, his experience in the auto body industry lead him to devise a way to find
that "specialty part" for your car quickly, easily, and cost effectively. Whether just starting
out, or a seasoned veteran, http://www.ratrodauthority.com has what you need.

After analyzing the marketplace, Art figured out an efficient way to get what you need fast and correct
from the comfort of your own home. His website is the most user friendly and is designed to tell you exactly
what you need to know so you can get back to your project. No guesswork and up to the date
products allow you to move at a rapid rate and checkout quickly.

Whether its an exhaust for your lead sled, wheels for your jalopy, or tires for your Chevelle or Camaro,
you can rest assured knowing that you found the only place to shop for your car.

So always remember, from rust buckets to hot rods, the rat rod authority is available 24 hours a day, 7

The Recognition Of The Hot Rod In Automotive Art

Author: Jacques Vaucher

Once upon a time, only a few years ago, if you went to an art exhibition like the Saturday night AFAS show preceding the Pebble Beach Concours, all you saw depicted was classic cars, mostly prewar cars like Duesenbergs, Bentleys, etc.

Then depictions of muscle cars started creeping in, on cat's feet so to speak, but this was inevitable because some of the greatest car artists of our time are former ad illustrators like Art Fitzpatrick who painted the immortal Pontiac Grand Prix and GTO illustrations. At age 20, he was already working with Howard "Dutch" Darrin, designing the 1940 Packard four-door.
Tom Fritz , of Ventura, CA, was one of the first American fine artists to "break the mold" and depict the cars he grew up with;not LeTourneau et Marchand Bugattis but good ol' hot rods he saw on the streets of San Fernando, an LA suburb. Tom's vivid childhood recollections of the motorcycle and automotive cultures prevalent in Southern California during the 60's and 70's are reflected in his work.Among his clients are Harley Davidson and his paintings hang in many corporate collections and museums including the NHRA Museum.
And then, just like out on the lawn of Pebble Beach, hot rods appeared. Oh, the painters, many of them, were familiar with hot rods, heck many either owned or lusted after the '32 Ford "Deuce" roadster in their youth but never wanted to admit it in polite company at events like Pebble Beach where the talk was all of Hispano-Suizas, Erdmann and Rossi 540Ks, James Young Phantoms and the like.
But now the secret is out. We all be hot rodders. Because fundamentally a car is a car and if it's mechanical we love it.
The depictions of hot rodding that have appeared in fine art so far are steeped in history—say paintings of hot rods being run at the dry lake beds where hot rodders raced them even before WWII. More modern setting depictions are rarer though recently there has been a blossoming of "cruise-ins", impromptu car shows, at places like drive-in restaurants nationwide.
And then there's the problem of the commercial cliché—if you show a hot rod in a drive-in restaurant (like the kind where the waitresses rolled out on roller skates to take your order) then you risk painting something that commercial retro-theme restaurants are still currently exploiting.
And once you've opened Pandora's box, how far do you go, because there's a deep dark secret about hot rods. Now neat and clean hot rods are one thing, but deep down if you research the genre, you find out there's another vein of hot rodding called the "rat rodding." Because back in the day hot rodders had enough money to buy Smitty mufflers or Rajo axles but didn't have enough money to paint the car so they ran them in flat primer. There's a whole subtext/genre of hot rodders who have no intention of ever finishing their cars to normal "finished car" standards. To them, it is an outlaw statement on four wheels to leave it unfinished.
Call it being "in your face."
One of the first books to show this side of the car world was the artful softbound Hot Rod by Barry Gifford with David Perry taking the pictures of rough cars built by some rough looking ("wife beater" t-shirts and lots of tattoos) dudes. Perry also wrote the movie Wild at Heart. This book captures the era when driving a hot rod made you a "bad dude" --almost as bad as riding a Harley.
There was a real life example of hot rod meets fine art that I saw a couple years ago at the AFAS tent at Pebble at their party. It was when Chip Foose, a young designer who has worked for the Detroit automakers but who now is famous for his hot rod designs, drove up to their tent in a Ford roadster –the car full of aeroplane parts like exhausts from a WWII fighter!
The artists poured of the tent to see his hot rod and there was plenty of admiration expressed—indicating that, deep down in many an American-born artist famous for depicting classic cars is a hot rodder who knew the names Bill Cushenberry, Dean Jeffries and Gene Winfield long before he ever heard of Sergio Pininfarina or Giorgetto GIugiaro….
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/classics-articles/the-recognition-of-the-hot-rod-in-automotive-art-2068508.html
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www.arteauto.com
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Rat Rod

How to Buy a Rat Rod for Sale for Pennies on the Dollar

Author: dj fresno

For those of you looking to get into the rat rod scene here are a few solid suggestions that will help you not overspend while still finding the perfect rat rod project or already built rat rod to purchase. The first mistake many make when looking to buy a rat rod is actually searching for rat rods for sale. What you should be doing is locating the make, model and year of the rat rod you are looking into FIRST without having the rat rod, hot rod or classic car in your search at all.

A simple example of how this will help you understand why NOT including the actual term rat rod and other "hot niche" keywords while searching is as follows. Someone selling a rat rod odds are knows that within the rat rod scene itself they can sell it for a markup because it is exactly what a person looking for a rat rod would want BUT if you search for an exact model and year you can locate a rust bucket that is sitting on someones property who is not in the rat rod scene but simply wants it off his or her property and at many times for pennies on the dollar.

You can even come across plenty of people who have rat rods or what we would consider a rat rod just sitting around for years and would GIVE you the rat rod car or rat rod truck just to get it off their property. What you need to do now especially now that you know the best way to save a ton is to locate the make and model that you are wanting to buy and see what pops up whether in an online auction, online forum or local. Instead of the rat rod markup you can get the same rat rod vehicle for much less.

To someone in the rat rod scene a rust bucket is a goldmine but to someone outside the rat rod scene it is an eyesore and something they would like to unload on someone else. That is what I like to call a win win for everyone in the deal. You can then use all of that saved money towards all the rat rod parts you want to further make your custom rat rod more of your own style.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/classics-articles/how-to-buy-a-rat-rod-for-sale-for-pennies-on-the-dollar-733535.html
About the Author

Check out my site for more rat rod information if you are looking for rat rods for sale or simply want to learn more about the rat rod scene.

How To Create A Cool Rat Rod, Simple And Easy

Author: Art Tupaczewski

Now, be sure that you don't confuse them with Hot Rods, which are generally classic hot rods that are pretty and shiny lots of chrome. And don't confuse them with Muscle Cars. You know, camaros, gtos, corvettes, etc, you get the picture.

Rat Rods are your old, rust bucket looking car. It can be very primitive, looking like your typical jalopy. Rat Rods are all custom, built to the owners taste. Some say the more of a rust bucket, the better. Others like flat black paint, large whitewalls and red wheels, with zero chrome. As long as its not shiny, its in the Rat Rod class.

No one can truly tell you how to build it, but we can give you some ideas. You can turn any car into a Rat Rod, but do it with taste. I wouldn't go out into your garage and spray flat black paint on your Lexus, if you know what I mean. Some of the more popular vehicles are 20s, through 50's vehicles. Fords and Chevys are more popular, but dare to be different. Make a statement and build a Hudson or a Metropolitan.
I've read many blogs on "How to build a Rat Rod" and have wondered if any of them have any truth over others. The truth is in fact that many beginners as well as seasoned veterans build these cars and the only "rule" should be, how cool can you make it.
Come visit us at http://www.ratrodauthority.com.com for ideas, parts, vehicles and anything to do with Rat Rods, Muscle Cars, and Hot Rods.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/classics-articles/how-to-create-a-cool-rat-rod-simple-and-easy-1996064.html
About the Author

Hi. My name is Art Tupaczewski and I am the founder of The Rat Rod Authority. After being involved with cars, motorcycles, etc for over 20 years, i am devoting my time to what my passion really is at, and thats Rat Rods. I currently own an auto body shop, but I see my future with cool builds, not just collision repairs

Rat Rod Versus Hot Rod and Yes There is a Difference

While there should not be any confusion between a true rat rod and a hot rod there seems to be many who are getting them mixed up. Within the hot rod crowd even mentioning the word RAT in their circle is a big no no for many reasons but mostly because the hot rodder group tend to have a higher end taste than most rat rodders do in general.

A ratrod in general has many qualities that are exactly opposite of what a true hotrod should have and many works in progress tend to be generalized as a rat car or rat truck for one reason or another. You can tell for the most part the subtle differences between a work in progress muscle car styled hot rod versus rat rods and it lies mainly in the details of the work.
No matter which scene you might be in or thinking of joining there will always be those who dislike another style of rod just like those who have an issue with ford or chevy. In the scene many people will brand their identity to the make, model or style of their ride and those who trash talk others are mainly doing it out of fear, embarrassment or their own insecurities and nothing more.
Throwing around the rat rod word in a hot rodders backyard can end up in an arguement even though we all can agree with how childish that may seem but to those who take their cars, their scene and their rods seriously, it is a big deal and you should at least be aware of what words come out of your mouth and when.
You can search for both rod types whether rat or hot through any search engine and don't forget to do an image search as well. See how many you know as a true rat or if it is a project vehicle on its way into the hot rod hall of fame. Don't let price fool you because you can drop a decent amount in either scene depending on what frame and model you start with as well as what stage of completion the ride is in.

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