Why Velocity Channel WHY?

   So, I love the Velocity Channel but this weeks Wannabe Hotrodder installment is gonna have to rail against them. The Velocity Channel is a car guys cream dream but as of late I am a bit confused. See, there seems to be a very disturbing trend on the channel, they seem to relish in showing me glorious European roadsters from the 50s and 60s. Show after show dedicated to bringing me barn finds and auction house “deals” of multimillion dollar ferrari and lamborghini. Now, these truly are wonderful cars and have their place in auto history but, and this is a HUGE BUT, I don’t need every singe program to show me all these glorious million dollar cars that I could never own. More and more of the channels programming seems to be leaning toward this and I am not quite sure why? There are tons and TONS of awesome incredible custom cars and hotrods and all kinds of American automobiles that could be part of their programming.
    I don’t want this to be misconstrued as a knock against all those awesome technological marvels. They are freakin’ insanely awesome cars that most any car lover would be thrilled to own. The fact of the matter is I could take all the money that my entire family blood line has and will make for all time and that still wouldn’t be able to buy one, so why am I being shown these cars? I am this channels key demographic. Do they want me to like strive to be able to buy one? I can’t, and even if I did have the money I wouldn’t buy one because that kind of extravagant spending it ludicrous. So what is the end game of the programming? Do they set out to just make their viewers feel like crap? That doesn’t seem like sound programming.
   I guess in the end I just want the Velocity Channel to survive. I love it, and I hope it can stay relevant. Because I fear if it stays on its current trajectory it will fall the way of TechTV and the dodo bird. Just a distant memory of what could have been. Now show us some god damn muscle cars that the common man can relate to already!!!!

So Many Options, So Many Choices... So Much Indecision!

 

When scheming to break into the world of hotrodding how you go about it makes all the difference. See, when shopping for “your hotrod” one way is to just save up some money and go out into the market with an idea of what you like and don’t like. Then you buy a hotrod. Fix it and drive and fix it and drive it, then sell it and wish you hadn’t. That is the most common way people get their hotrods.

I am taking a bit of a different approach. I am trying to narrow down what my goal is long before I make the actual leap into hotrod ownership. By goal I mean like what do I want to do with said hotrod. See, you can buy a car for looks or performance or to show up your neighbor or to get chicks. You can buy a car for just about as many reasons as there are cars, but when it comes to a Hotrod that is often a bit different that just buying a car.

The majority of trouble I have in seeing what my future hotrod is going to be is exactly what the hell is my goal? After driving my current Honda S2000 I can’t see my car having a solid roof anymore. The joy of owning a convertible roadster as a daily driver has forever changed my perception of what is an acceptable car. So first goal is it must be a convertible.

Another major goal is my hotrod has to be FAST. This one is a bit tricky because as eluded to in one of my earlier posts we are in the middle of one of the biggest horsepower wars in history. There are no less than 10 cars being put out right now that are faster than 80% of the “fast hotrods” out there. So how can you aspire to have a super fast hotrod when there are honda Accords out there that routinely smoke older heavier cars. One of the other drawbacks to aspiring to have a FAST hotrod is it is an unattainable goal, you can never be the fastest car out there. There is ALWAYS someone faster. So my goal needs to be realistic. So for my second goal by saying fast I mean, faster than 90% of the common cars out there. Will I be able to beat the crow or the murderstang? No, never but I will be able to put down the next civic with a fart canister muffler that thinks he is a race car driver.

So to review, Goal One needs to be a convertible. Goal Two needs to be fast. The third and final goal I am going to review today is a bit of a sticky situation. I restore a lot of things, old machines and old arcade stuff. After seeing what most people do to their possessions and how they “care for” their stuff I think trying to fix up an old car that has been beaten to shit might be a bit too much for me. I always wanted to buy a running car then work on it as I go to save money but that might not be possible. I am also a bit of a control freak in that I want things done RIGHT! By right I mean by my impossible standards. So that leaves me with buying a high end kit car and building it myself. That is actually the way I am leaning. Top contenders for this are Factory Five’s Shelby Cobra replica or a rolling chassis 1932 ford (there are like a million makers of these). The rub is a kit car is always just gonna be a kit car. But I guess going that route will appease my 3 major goals. But there are still a million options out there, and a million decisions to be made. Until next time, keep the rubber side down!

Sometimes Things Change

I have been counting the days until the Labor Day Weekend Greaserama Punk Rock car show ever since I discovered last years too late to attend. I had never heard of Greaserama before but upon unearthing its glory I couldn't wait!

I built my entire vacation this year around the greaserama event. It will be an epic roadtrip starting from Clearwater Florida, spending a day in Tupelo Mississippi to honor the king then off to Greaserama. I love hotrods, I love Punk Music and I love everything about this event. I know I will have fun there but I am a bit suspicious that if I'm not careful I might gain clarity from this road trip also. As you might have guessed from some of my other posts my Wannabe Hotrod dreams are as varied as can be. There are a few contenders that are always present but maybe just maybe this zig zagging trip will give me clarity and direction. Will seeing all the pre-1965 bad ass hotrods influence my future? Maybe. How could it not?

After the Greaserama festival it is off to St. Louis, then Nashville, then Louisville... then finally Ashville as I have been dying to see the Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum from the "what's in the barn" television show. It would be pretty cool to meet Dale. So the road trip will have cars and motorcycles and Elvis and baseball bats and a crap ton of record shop and microbrew stops along the way. Rented a big ass lincoln for the trip... just counting the days until I see America and hopefully gain some much needed clarity. Mostly just gonna meet some cool hotrodders and enjoy the ride. Anything else will just be a bonus. See you soon Los Punk Rods!

The Wannabe ULTRA-CUSTOM Hotrodder?

I gotta admit that although I love hotrods my heart truly lies with CUSTOMS. To me George Barris and Ed Roth were gods among men. If I could drive a bubble topped fiberglass spaceship to work every day I would. I have read a great deal about Ed Roth, I seem to have a fascination about him and his work. From going on various forums and websites about hotrods and street rods it became apparent that many in "the car world" hate these. Sad but true.

I talked to just about the only person in my life that likes cars about customs. My friend "murderstang" is about the greatest car builder, fabricator and customizer I have ever met. I asked him "why all the hate toward ultra customs?" Here is what Murderstang thought about it:

Most of their stuff is super out there, almost spaceship like (to me any way). From bubble tops to the super sleek extreme angular cars.  While you don't see many classics like that, Its become huge in the import world. The more crazy your car is the better its received. Check out some of the Veilside body kits they look like something they would created for  what most would consider "today's" future cars

So to kinda go a little deeper into what i was saying. I think the roth and burreas were both trying to make things that no one thought possible. Like "what if" cars.... what if it had no roof or what if it had a rear mount engine. I think that these types of ideas are so extreme to the car culture that a lot of people can't wrap their minds around it. I mean if you were to ask a person or a few people what a mustang looks like, they will have a fairly clear picture and similar answer of what it "should" look like. BUT, ask that same person/people what would a car from the moon look like the answer would be wildly different. In that respect Their styles were almost a love hate and the amount of work to create something that different then anything else makes it impossible for most to duplicate it. Now do I think their style so to speak is dead? No. I think its alive in a new form, imports. Some call it "rice" but there are others who love it. The kits can make a standard rx7 or honda look like something that came from an anime flick. And with todays tech its no the small fortune it'd take to completely chop and channel a classic muscle car. Personally I think some of the stuff coming out of Japan is a little, lets say "whacky" but some are down right amazing. I think it invokes the same emotion of "what if" that most other car genres have lean away from.

Thanks to Murderstang for rapping with me about my custom car lust. To me they represent all that a car should be. Will I ever get one of these insane custom cars of my own? Probably not, but a man can dream. I guess that's what makes me the Eternal WannaBe Hotrodder.