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According to the HAMB board (Jalopy Journal) a traditional car is something that resembles cars that were built before 1965, using parts available in or before 1965. To their viewpoint, everything back in the old days were painted, perfect cars.
They are loosing up to accepting cars a little less then perfect, and to cars using newer drive trains and suspension, as long as its not wide out in the open and you don't brag about it. Independent suspension with no fenders is a no-no.
According to the HAMB, rat rods are cobbled, unsafe, piles of junk, thrown together to provoke shock to the average citizen. The words "rat rod" will close threads or delete entries on the HAMB board.

Rat Rods have a very wide range of vehicles that fall under the banner. Some are indeed thrown together, unsafe junk, I wouldn't ride around the block in. Some are Art or wild show cars that don't represent any existing car. Some are well built cars with a lot of design and engineering, but are or show a lot of modern parts and components, with little or no concern about the condition or even the existence of paint. Some are newer cars that have been hacked up or cobbled together.

What I find interesting is how many "Rat Rod" sites are distancing themselves from the unsafe junk, shock rods, and the wild non-car contraptions that fall under the Rat Rad banner. Many sites are now setting model year dates for their rat rods. They seem to be moving towards the HAMB, even though they show so much dislike towards the HAMB.

In my opinion, a Traditional car is something that resembles a 65 or older model year car or truck that has been updated for performance and/or safety improvements using parts or components readily available to the builder. Safety and function are big necessities for me.

I like the HAMB, there is huge amounts of information available there as well as a huge accurate tech section. I get along fine as long as I respect the rules they have there. I don't talk about rat rods, and I'm not going to make a build thread on my 48 Plymouth coupe mounted a Dakota chassis. I can post pictures of my coupe, because it looks like a 48 Plymouth race car, so life is good. Gene

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I've tried to research it so as not to step on toes at the H.A.M.B. but I didn't do well. I appreciate the "traditional" hot rod too. But I think they,ve lost sight of the goal of the original hot rodders. They wanted to go fast on a tight budget. Kinda the theme of most everybody still hot rodding today. I respect that they want to keep it "traditional" too. I just was unclear what they expected. Reguarding traditional, they say, "if you don't know what that means, you shouldn't be here" I guess I'm just not a purist, I like what I like. And I like about anything with wheels.

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If you can find a copy of the first edition of Auto Cult, October 2011, there is a lot of interesting info on how the Rat Rod thing started. Is this a Rat Rod or a Street Rod that needs a lot of work?

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from what i have seen the HAMB doesnt like any thing shinnny,,,

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I think what makes the "traditionalist" mad is the fact that people walk right on by their cookie cutter "traditional" Model A on 32 rails with a flathead or sbc... to look at a rat rod.
I still maintain there are some nicely built and ingenious rat rods. They all arent just unsafe junk thrown together. www.ratrodsrule.com

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Yup my friend has a patinaed 51 Chevy four door which is safe and fun. The guy next to him had a pretty car and actually asked him to move. My buddy was like not going to do it. Sucks for the guy who had the pretty car since he needed work done on his car and a mutual buddy was going to introduce them so my buddy could do the work. Well the guy ended up trying to play nice which didn't work with my buddy.

It's funny my buddy's car ended up with an award and the guy with the pretty car didn't. The traditional cars are so expensive that a guy can't buy or build one but the rat rod is open for everyone to enjoy.