70's era hotrodding...history lesson please

[special-K]

Now,this thread is about the street freak style that was big back then. But,even then,the clean look that is popular today was happening back then as well. It was known as The California Look and would be more like the look Chuckmc8 is sporting...timeless. It seemed back then that most people had a hard time resisting the temptation of adding the latest greatest speed shop trends. I recall most cars being more show than go. It was more important to chop the pipes and slap a pair of Thrush mufflers on,get the wide wheels & tires on back with Hi-jackers than anything else. The rear was up in the air (higher center of gravity) and ridin' tight all pumped with air while the old soft mushy stock suspension was ignored. So you ended up with a loud car (that wasn't any faster than your mother's) that handled like crap. And to add a snorkle scoop on top of all that? Hilarious! don't forget the tiny foam padded steering wheel you leaned on because you couldn't sit back all jacked up like that.

[Hubscrub]

i'm a product of 1982 so i'm learnin here

[ChevLoRay]

As always...."If you can't make it run, make it LOUD!" I'm loving the trip down memory lane....but honestly, I don't remember the superwide tires on the rear until the mid-seventies. Then again, some of those "trends" are a little slow in reaching into the center of the country. I guess I was (and still am) a fan of The California Look. It's what I dreamed about. The wide tire and wheel thing? Reminds me of a skateboard. In fact, there's a guy here in our town, with a mid-Nineties Ford Escort 4-dr, with big tires/wheels on the rear and stockers on the front. Gotta get a pic....

[Mack81]

This is good reading. Yes, I definitely am not slamming the nose and putting the jensen stereo and what not. There is no interior at all, I just finished gutting the dash and crusty carpet and painted the bare floor. I started on some trick mounts for the plastic race seats which have the black covers. Remember I'm running 1/8th mile brackets so while I want a period correct style it does need to be functional. I also need to run a quality dot race tire.
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[Hottrucks]

I love this I'll even pass along my underdash amp/EQ with the bouncing lights and a pioneer super tuner 3...and if your tires dont rub the outter fender in back there not wide enough..or your shocks are not pumped up enough ( of couse when a shock blows when your drag racing on the street and it cuts down your bias plys, blows a rear tire your going to hit the guard rails and roll over them...oooopppppps??)..a bird catcher ?? we called them pizza box scoops because a box would slide in it like a warmer??

Hmmmm what else...???oh aluminun with a spun brush finish and SW guages hooked to a big block and 4 speed

[Mack81]

I was thinking something along these lines just not straight axle and not as high

[ChevLoRay]

Coker tires should have you covered.....

[special-K]

Aw man! That Falcon Futura is sex-y! So is that woman...I reckon

[69 Okie Truck]

Those are gassers and they pre date the 70's

[Spoof]

I was lucky that I loved these trucks as a thirteen year old back in 75, and I knew a few of them owned by some older kids in their twenties or so.
Back then SWB were no big deal, but a swb,stepside was. Egg crate grills were the most desirable.
You'd be surprised how a modified truck would fit right in with todays style, except nobody that I knew ever considered lowering their truck, not that anyone hated it, just never occurred to anyone.
I recall one painted metallic bronze and another metallic green, both are commonly seen today on fresh paint jobs...but always with a complimentary pin stripe job back then.
Matching paint on the rally wheels, some pin stripe on the glove box.
Another thing, nobody seemed too concerned about souping up the 402's, a Rat was good enough!
We loved these trucks then every bit as much then as I do today.

[69 Okie Truck]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

As always...."If you can't make it run, make it LOUD!" I'm loving the trip down memory lane....but honestly, I don't remember the superwide tires on the rear until the mid-seventies. Then again, some of those "trends" are a little slow in reaching into the center of the country. I guess I was (and still am) a fan of The California Look. It's what I dreamed about. The wide tire and wheel thing? Reminds me of a skateboard. In fact, there's a guy here in our town, with a mid-Nineties Ford Escort 4-dr, with big tires/wheels on the rear and stockers on the front. Gotta get a pic....

I was more partial to the Texas look...A hopped up C-10 to race all the 'stangs and camaros with.
I'm wishin' it hadn't of taken off in the rest of the country. I'd still be able to pick my old C-10's out of pastures for a song if it hadn't........

[Spoof]

Originally Posted by 69 Okie Truck

Those are gassers and they pre date the 70's

The bottom pic would be circa 70-75 IMO. She's a hottie, wonder how she's holding up?

[69 Okie Truck]

I bet you're right...that bottom pic is prolly around 1975....
Lets see...if she was 25-30 at the time of that pic, some 35 years ago......well, she's prolly a gasser (geezer?) too at this stage.

[N2TRUX]

There ya go. That is a perfect example of mid 70's "Street Machine"...

[PanelDeland]

The guys pretty much covered a lot of what was going on though by the 70's the "Van Craze" had pretty much taken over the scene,including "Hot Rod" magazine.Gassers had started out earlier but were still pretty common up until the late 70's when Pro street took over.Most of the Hot rod trucks I remember from back then had basic bolt on engine stuff,a set of mags(usually slots or Cragars) sidepipes(functional or not) and wide tires.You went as wide as you could afford then drove carefully until you could afford,shackles,air shocks or coil spacers to make your tires not rub.Many even ran a camper top for function.The trucks of the day might have been a guys toy but it was also his DD or he may have even worked out of it.
In the same era was the Trucker style which almost always included a camper top or a slide in camper(some were even cab overs),Junior West Coast mirrors,mudflaps(with Yosamite Sam,bare feet up and down,the tasmanian devil' or a naked woman chrome cutout on them),sidepipes(loud exhuast), and some Mags.Many had the visor over the windsheild and all sported a CB antenna or a pair mounted on the JWC's.Fog or driving lights were pretty common though not much brighter than the headlights.
A performance part I have not seen since the 70's that used to be used on only the baddest street freaks was the "Clutch Auto" tranny,basically an auto tranny fitted with a clutch rather than a torque converter.
Oh and I agree with the Falcon being a hot street freak of the era.

[cdowns]

yep there were quite a few of them falcon gassers on the street//raced in the mid thru late 60's many were available as abandoned rollers in the early 70's for $25-$50 all you did was stick in a drivetrain and cheap bucketseats. you were then good to go with a nasty street machine, and you'd also get to know evey cop in town on a first name basis

[19seventeeCustom]

keep em coming guys, This era was way before my time, but I enjoy reading/learning about it, hot rodding has always been around, but different styles for different era's make it cool.

[bruceman1968]

Paint has already been mentioned, but how about some pics. There was two choices of paint when I was in high school (76-79) lacquer or enamel and lacquer was King. If you went with enamel it was one color with mabey ss stripes and or a pinstripe down the side. But if you went lacquer the sky was the limit. Laying down 15 to 20 coats of lacquer with 5 to 10 coats of clear was common. Pearls and big flake (we called it boat flake, like on checkmates.) scallops, flames, freak drops, panels, fine line, and fades were common. Airbrushes or jamb guns were used for the effects. Also candies were common with white, silverflake, or goldflake for the base. This first pic is of one of our trucks with fine line

simple strips

more complex strips

simple fade

fade with stripes

[bruceman1968]

Can't forget about flames, often done with a simple color fade

or if you could afford a mural

Airbrush with stenciles and fine line and fades


Scallops were common and often done in bold stripes or panels

[bruceman1968]

remember freak drops!! Also big silverflake and lace

panel fades and fine line

Lot's of paint jobs like the next two in my high school


van from the era

Most kids souped up their cars with little regard for paint, but some did the paint up real nice to.

[bruceman1968]

just a few more

[Torrey72]

Wow, that’s a blast from the past! We are going to need to post a warning on this thread soon that states.
“Please don’t view photos in this thread if you suffer heart problems and seizures!”

[bruceman1968]

Quick note, what I call scallops you probably call fish scales. This is the more common style of scallops, more from the 50s and 60s

[PGSigns]

Well I was driving a 63 short bed step side in 75 and it had a candy apple red paint steel wheels and baby moon hub caps. The radio came from Western Auto and you had to have the 6X9 Jensons. And that was the style that was in for truck in Virginia at the time. The next thing I got was an SS Chevelle and it had Ansen sprints,air shocks, ladder bars, cherry bombs and a big block with a 1050 three barrel Holley. Shifter was a Hurst competition plus box with the super shifter handle and mount. It went 12.90 at the local strip and I thought I had set the world on fire with a car that fast. You needed the decal for the window that said "gas grass or ass no one rides for free".
Jimmy

[special-K]

I was into the more subtle look back then. I sterted with a '56 VW and,although I loved the wheel adapters/Cragars,fiberglass flared fender,scoop on back look,I went with more of a Poor Man's Porche look. I ran wider chrome Porche wheels & caps with 70-series V-rated Pirellis,Koni shocks,lowered by an adjust-a-drop up front and turning the rear torsion bars for a degree of negative camber for handling,Hurst shifter,'67 transaxle (wider),big bore stroker motor with dual Webers and the works (including a Sig Erson cam),and a convertible rear deck lid for extra louvers. It was red oxide through HS and got painted Mercedes Blue,a solid medium blue that was very European looking. The interior sported a wooden steering wheel and a gauge panel I made in place of the center 6x9 speaker,which had tach/oil press/oil temp. With the same wood as the dash I built a rear shelf with two Utah speakers for the Atec under dash cassette player.

In '73 I bought my first truck,a '72 SWB Fleetside Highlander (although I never knew that back then). It was Ochre/White with a 402,posi,tach,am/fm/8-track,and a wood floor. I got 8" & 10" steel wheels I painted white and put '56 Chevy car caps on. I used 8-ply hiway tread tires in 10" & 12" wide,which gave it more rake. Back then you hardly had radials and it was questionable how they would hold up on a truck. The only other tires that wide were the Parnelli Jones and such which were real low profile and also not good for a truck. I put headers and duals out under the bumper,Mallory dual-point,shift-kit,and an open element air cleaner and that's all I recall for power mods. When I had my Bug painted I decided to have the guy paint the sides and top Ochre because I didn't really care for the two-tone. That was for old men,lol. I had a white tonneau made for it. And,the final touch was getting the tailgate letters done in old western style with a sunset fade out airbrush job.