The Dirty Word!!!
Our automotive hobby is a funny beast, all in itself. The community not the cars we all love. When certain terms are brought up, those faithful to that segment of the hobby stand strong and defiant,,,, whether they are fully educated on the subject or not. Want a quick example of what it is i'm talking about? Spend 10 minutes on the H.A.M.B. (Jalopy Journal's Hockey Ass Message Board) and you will surely encounter the faithful masses who "All Hail" the Traditional Hot Rodding aspect. I'll save that blog for a later date. It IS quite entertaining! This month's Rant n Rave is centered squarely, as you may well have already noticed, on that devil known as Billet Aluminum.
As Kids, our Dad dragged us to Fairground Speedway, Beech Bend Park and any where nearby that had a Van In. Hippy vans were all the rage and we all loved racing in any form. I just mention this to say that since 1961 i've been fascinated with anything on wheels and love the art of self expression that goes along with it. I'm no spring chicken, i'm no expert on the subject at hand but at the same time, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck either! Yet, it is absolutely amazing how many people feel the need to try to "learn me sumpthin" while discussing cars and car shows.
Years ago Hot Rod Magazine did a full blown feature on a man by the name of Lil' John Buttera who had just finished a "33 Willys. What made this car so famous was the fact that Lil John had taken the idea of hand making parts instead of buying off the shelf and ran with it. When asked about the different unusual parts on the car he stated that going to the surplus yard, buying cheap blocks of billet aluminum, which he then whittled down and made the parts he needed was much cheaper than opening a catalog and ordering new. Everything he made was one-of-a-kind and even the four wheels were not exactly the same from wheel to wheel with only slight variations in the angle or depth of the cut outs. He said hot rodding in it's truest form was about knowing what you needed to get the job done, then building or finding the parts that would get the job done. This idea, if carried through by others within the hobby, might have taken the hobby in a truly different form. Instead people like Boyd Coddington and others saw an opportunity to use CNC machines that could whittle hundreds of these cheap billet blocks into parts that would line store shelves and cause a boom in the industry. This did in fact cause a significant boom in the street rod industry as what was deemed "cookie-cutter" rods popped up from all over the country. Add the mono-chromatic paint that would follow and the "Easter Egg" rods where born.
In the Past several years an Anti-Billet community was born and rodders claiming to be throw backs to the way things were in the early days saw the hobby in two ways: Traditional & Non-Traditional. This is where the idea for this story sprouted. The greaser community and their red headed step child - The Rat Rod. I have enjoyed years on the H.A.M.B. and have questioned several times the undeniable hatred towards Billet. I understand the Coddington Era's influence and can see where that would be a problem for people who want to go against the grain,,, but to deny billet aluminum as a building material solely based on the store-bought excuse is truly not smart thinking. I always got the H.A.M.B. version of reply (the afore mentioned Coddington era) and at the same time got a "this is my answer and i'm not listening to what you have to say" vibe. This is absolutely ridiculous. Period! Just a closed-minded thoughtless process. It has been an absolute pleasure to have stumbled across GearHedz Shiftknobs on Facebook. These products are whittled out of wood and , you guessed it, Billet Aluminum and he has a waiting list FOUR YEARS LONG! Every item he carves is amazing beyond words!!!!
Click on the name, check out the product and look for more from me in the near future!
