have seen changes to our car world over the past half century and the way I currently see it there is more to come. I can remember when sitting down to write in the “old days” or going to an event I would think, “Wow, these Model As or Deuces were really old cars.” Well, they were then, and they’re really old cars by today’s standard. Heck they were 40 or more years old then. I get a bit of a chuckle now when I think the same thoughts. A 40-year-old car now wouldn’t even be considered hot rod material, or would it?

Something that I have observed over the past 10 years or so is the influx of later model cars into our hot rod ranks. It’s been 20-plus years since our traditional street rod events have done away with the pre-’49 cutoff date. Now there is a sliding scale or no cutoff. As it should be. Nowadays when you attend events where there is either a “no year” limit or if there is one the cutoff is somewhere in the late ’70s or early ’80s. While I find that a natural evolution, I do find it a bit uncomfortable. Just a little, not much, but enough to want to make a comment.

As the sliding scale came into being the new generation of hot rods that were allowed into formerly restricted year events proved to be a novel idea. It was interesting, and many would say it was a
“… welcomed breath of fresh air.” Once again, I would agree. The influx of new iron meant new friends to make, new products to be developed, new builds to marvel over, and fresh ideas that all of us could benefit from. It was all good. It still is good, but here comes the … but …

This phenomenon began occurring in earnest about three years ago—which means it probably began long before.

I have nothing against ’70s- or even ’80s-era cars. They are plentiful, affordable, if not downright inexpensive, and oftentimes they are driveable as-is. So, here we have a new hot rodder wanting to join the ranks and here is a bounty of plentiful building material readily available, affordable, and he or she can drive their new project to an event that very weekend. Wait, there is the … but …

Just because you have purchased a car that fulfills the year break requirement to be allowed into a hot rod event doesn’t mean it was intended for stockers. There are plenty of original vehicles, restored, or collector car events to attend. When I do go to a hot rod event, I want to see hot rods not stockers. I can pick up a sales brochure, the local autotrader, or for that matter visit the local used car lot and see the same thing. Nothing has changed. I go to the events to see change.

Now, back in the day when you went to a street rod event there were the modified early cars but there were also from time-to-time complete stockers. These were anomalies rather than the norm. There might be a few but not literally a “sea” of them. In the larger events that I have attended the “sea of stockers” has been just that—a boatload of stockers. By year the car was welcomed but based on “Is it a hot rod?” my immediate answer is “Not yet.” Time is needed for the new owner to make his or her changes to bring the hot rod out of the DNA of the once factory stock iron.

I attended several such events this past summer and there must have been several dozen vintage Corvettes. A favorite of mine for sure but these were all stockers. Now, a Corvette can pass itself off as a factory hot rod, but the reality is it’s a stocker. I want to see some owner creativity and imagination and some good ol’ garage time making changes. This behavior wasn’t restricted to Corvettes. There were literally hundreds of ’70s and ’80s cars that any one of us could have purchased at any local used car lot and drove it to the event. That’s not a hot rod, at least not yet.

I don’t want to come off as some type of hot rod elitist but a ’77- or ’84-something, a hot rod it isn’t. That can only happen when the owner looks deep within and sees something the rest of us haven’t, at least not yet. Bring it to the surface and then show it off. It’s great to expand the years of cars eligible at an event but let’s keep the stockers at home and keep working on them until your vision brings the hot rod to light.