MAGAZINE

RIVER CITY RODDIN'

Ya gotta love it. Growin' old gracefully. Or maybe not.

Primered cars with Chevy engines and holes in the muffler are not graceful. They might have the tops cut down on them so you have to kind of scrunch down to get in them or drive them. The short wheelbase make 'em kind of hop when you hit something funny in the two-lane, the bias ply tires do a sort of rhumba in those grooves on the freeway that were never there in 'the day' of the bias ply tire; wind probably whistles in thru the windshield because it was made to swing out for some funny reason; there's a resonance in the cockpit that you'd better like, because when the harmonics are just right, it sounds like DC-3 trying to leave JWA.

The '39 box always fill up with gear oil that found it's way there from the rear-end, and leaks, I guess, because they never sat lower in the front like this on stockers; the soft top leaks when it rains, the wipers were never there since you put it together and Rain-X is OK but not foolproof when you're stuck goin' 45 behind a set of doubles somewhere on N-93.

They were made for smaller people in those days, so every ergonomic element of your existence in the thing is compromised; those low gears that were so cool at the Antique Nationals are makin' for some 11 MPG fill ups that happen every hour and a half because the fuel guage is undependable and the thing's got a tank smaller than your bladder.

Stop it. Who cares if some of it is a little uncomfortable? We've GOT a late-model car to use if we need comfort. We're hot rod (Hop-Up) guys. Traditional rods have personality, character, and are direct decendants by sheetmetal birthright of the ones that started it all somewhere since 1900. Taking that trailered-in hulk of a Ford coupe, turning it into a 75 MPH Interstate cruiser using parts and techniques that were innovated in the 40's and 50's is why we're here. Those people back then (some are still around to judge our performance) were enthusiasts driven to change the appearance and performance of old cars. Old in those days was, by the way, as little as 10-15 years old. It figures, doesn't it, when you consider that automobiles themselves were only 30-40 years old.

They wanted the cars to behave more like expensive cars and even to look more like them. No? Why do you think they chopped tops? Look at a Duesenberg or Packard Deitrich coupe or convertible sedan and note that the body had to accomodate a huge chassis with all that 'high tech' happening in it. It was big. But the greenhouse only had to accomodate people. Thus, the canopy was smallish. Trasnslate that to your Ford. How we gonna make it look more like a 'big' car? Let's whack the pillars.

There is honor in celerating our roots. There is no wrong way to be a rodder. At River City, we do it in an un-evolved way, that includes a steep learning curve, because although most traditionalists have been hands-on for their entire lives, some have defined themselves later; found out that there is a lifetime of catching up to do. Thank goodness we have the Tardell, Jacobs, Simard, et. al. examples to follow.

Because River City guys don't care much about how the hobbly evolves, and they're doing it for their own pleasure, knowing that some day they'll croak and it won't matter anyway, they do it in a pure, focused manner that we will probably explore here at great depth. And even if the above names are faily recognizeable, the main attention here will be to share with you some names that might never (or seldom) have appeared on these pages. The guys themselves probably don't covet the attention....may even reject it..... but we want to honor their style. See, hot rod guys who 'get it' have a style that comes, innately built in to their character, in the package. There's a lack of interest in impressing people, all the while wearing a cool that is the envy of the uninitiated.

And don't get us wrong about the failings of the apocraphal coupe in the lead paragraphs. These guys' cars are well built, safe (steering and stopping), they look bitchin, and they do everything they are supposed to do. In a simple way. Our favorite builders major in simplicity. Function. You might be (or not be) surprised how good the ride is in some basic hotrods that come from this fold; and how quick, fast, dependable, and high-mileage they are. They just are out there doing the deal with no fanfare.

There's traditional rods and customs "Right here in River City" (center of the rod and custom universe, ya know?) and every month we will proffer our take on current events or trends or newly found old rods or - who knows? Opinion is inevitable, but they tell us that that is what columns are all about. It's not like the movement toward traditional cars has been absent here: you've seen all the good ones here already. But River City is a medium through which you might get a feel for the visceral - the gut - the core of the old school.

This is exploratory for us, too. We claim no expertise. Just passion soldered to a steep learning curve.

Stick around and grab a gear.

Your hot rod has three pedals, doesn't it?