Newbie from New York City!

[MistaBee]

Hello to all of you on this forum! PLEASE read!

This may come as a surprise to all of you as to why i am here, meaning on this website. I am 21 years old, and an avid Import tuner, having worked on and owned various Honda's and Acura's and some Nissan's of the late 90's. Yet last week when i was looking for a new edition of my beloved Honda Tuning magazine i stumbled upon a recent issue of Rod & Kulture. Every waking moment since i have thought of nothing more than rods rods and rods. Ive been on line researching constantly to gain the knowledge i need to but my automotive knowledge to use with these beautiful yet older, much older, cars. I dont want to buy a kit, i want to build everything myself. I have a 2 car garage for my personal use, and a salary of about 300 a week. not much but hopefully enough, with time, to help me build a street rod. I am already looking to enroll in welding classes at a local school but i would love to find someone, or a group of people who can teach me more about these cars.

NOW, onto the good stuff! From the research ive done so far, the style i hold the most interest in is a late 20's early 30's ford model a businessman coupe or roadster.

I want it to have tons of old school flavor but i also want some new school touches that also reflet my love for imports. basically meaning a CLEAN look, agressively lowered with a nice set of wheels (era matching of course).

ANY TIPS, OR ANYONE THAT IS IN MY AREA OF BROOKLYN OR QUEENS NEW YORK THAT WANTS TO MEET LET ME KNOW ID BE GLAD TO!!!

 

[MistaBee]

and by the way this website was recommended to me by Ronnie at OldTinRods.com! check his website out if you have not heard of it!

 

[rainman]

Welcome to the site!!!

The year and style cars you mentioned are very popular and therefore pretty hard to come by. Several people have opted to build their bodies from scratch, however if you've never done anything like that, I wouldn't recommend it!
The cheapest, and easiest rod to build right now arguably is 40's to 50's trucks. Thats why you see so many around!! The reason I bring this up is you might want to go the route of something a little cheaper and easier to build for your first one!! (one is never enough)
Anyway the first thing I would do is keep my eyes open for a body I liked, that was within my budget, and go from there!!!

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do!!!

 

[MistaBee]

Welcome to the site!!!

The year and style cars you mentioned are very popular and therefore pretty hard to come by. Several people have opted to build their bodies from scratch, however if you've never done anything like that, I wouldn't recommend it!
The cheapest, and easiest rod to build right now arguably is 40's to 50's trucks. Thats why you see so many around!! The reason I bring this up is you might want to go the route of something a little cheaper and easier to build for your fist one!! (one is never enough)
Anyway the first thing I would do is keep my eyes open for a body I liked, that was within my budget, and go from there!!!

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do!!!

Thank you for the input, highly appeciated and i wil deffinitely take it into consideration, however, my original plan was to fab my own frame and go from there with a fiberglass body. I have heard from a few people now that 40's and 50's trucks are cheaper but when it comes to my cars i am very picky!! if its not what i wanted first and foremeost, i will end up either scrapping the project or selling it off way before its completion. i bought, built, and sold 4 different honda's before i got the one i really wanted.. each time thinking maybe i could make it work but deep down i knew it wasnt wat i wanted so i gave up on them.

my main concerns right now is finding somewhat of a 'guide', if you will, of street rod fabrication know-how. and i can take it from there.... i am handy and i can acquire a mig welder from my job... so all i need is a sense of direction and industry education

 

[rainman]

You can start by hanging around here, when you see what you like ask a ton of questions!! There's a lot of knowledge here and these guy's will share, just ask!!!!

 

[42chevy]

Welcome! Thanks for making me feel better about my income. You may have to start with a 40's or 50's car. I got my '42 chevy for $400, it just took time to find a deal. I am a family guy without a lot of money so it can be done if you do all your own work. I hope you enjoy it here.

 

[Old Iron]

Welcome to the RRR, the best place on the net to learn, hangout and enjoy. You'll find out that's how the majority of who builds hotrods got started.
When you start a build always post lots a pics we love them!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sam_Fear]

Welcome to RRR!

You're clearly not afraid to type! Now how about a pic of your ride? - you mention it, you got to post it.

You're on the right track finding a welding class to go through. That year body is probably gonna cost ya unless you get REAL lucky, so be ready.

 

[sgtpontiac]

Hello from MI

Welcome to the RRR..post pics.....

 

[Bonehead]

Glad you found us. These guys are right as usual.
Welcome to the site.

 

[MistaBee]

Welcome to RRR!

You're clearly not afraid to type! Now how about a pic of your ride? - you mention it, you got to post it.

You're on the right track finding a welding class to go through. That year body is probably gonna cost ya unless you get REAL lucky, so be ready.

I got no problem posting pics of my past and current cars that I've either owned or worked on but I'm warning ya'll they are not up to par concerning your tastes! Like I said, I just NOW got into hot rods, I'm an import tuner guy originally! If that doesn't bother anyone here then lemmeknow cause ill be glad to show u my beloved H's!

 

[RatTrap]

Welcome ....welding

Find a Community school near you or a Tech school that
has adult education classes. Many teach several types of
welding, auto body repair, and other helpful classes for a
decent price.

Most will even let you bring a "project" in to work on.

Show us your tuner, it will be good for a laugh when you
go full blown Rat!

 

[MistaBee]

These are the last two I've owned that I have pictures of on my phone, the rest are on my computer. Have a good laugh if you will but these puppies ran hard and even saved me from the fuzz a few times out here!

 

[RatTrap]

I wasn't laughing AT you....

I always regret not taking "before" pictures.
It really comes in handy after finishing a job
whether it be home renovations or building a rat.

I went through 8 interviews at Toyota and had I got
the job I was going to put a Tacoma V6 in my wife's
Corolla.

Nice looking cars.

 

[MistaBee]

I always regret not taking "before" pictures.
It really comes in handy after finishing a job
whether it be home renovations or building a rat.

I went through 8 interviews at Toyota and had I got
the job I was going to put a Tacoma V6 in my wife's
Corolla.

Nice looking cars.

Lol they are actually both hondas, the four door dark green one I traded for the lime green one. I put the masking tape to write toyota on the rear bumper when I drove to new jersey for the infamous Honda Day event. So I wanted to be funny nd wrote toyota on my car. The midori green hatchback that u see, when I got it it was a rust bucket, although in the rat rod world that's cool, in hondas, its NOT, at all. Therefore I redid all of the bodywork. New quarter panels, dents pulled door jams treated.... everything... then I got it painted in and out with about 8 layers of clearcoat on top of original midori pearl color. Waiting on some suspensions for it to slam it to the pavement like the dark green one u see.

 

[cycledog]

Welcome.

 

[MistaBee]

Welcome.

Thank you! I'm a very proud DIY'er so once I get more knowledge on these types of cars hopefully I can donate some helpful threads here!

 

[izzy]

the book store is a good place to go, I have gotten a few books like how to chop tops and how to build chassis, sometimes i gotta have a nice pic to study for a while.[[S

 

[MistaBee]

the book store is a good place to go, I have gotten a few books like how to chop tops and how to build chassis, sometimes i gotta have a nice pic to study for a while.[[S

Yes I am considering that as we speak. I'm about to order a book off amazon titled: how to build a hot rod chassis, by Tex Smith. Its the book with a red chassis/frame on the cover.

Any reviews from anyone here on this book pleaseeee???????

 

[Sam_Fear]

Don't have that one, but I have Tex Smiths - How to Chop Tops. Excellent book.

Go to the RRR Builds section, click on 'Replies' to sort by # of replies. The first 2 pages have a lot of info on what's you need to think about and do to build a frame.

This thread has very good info and pics from Donsrods - starting on page 2. http://ratrodsrule.com/forum/showthread.php?t=197&page=2