38th Annual Street Rod Nationals - The Street Rod Nats On A Shoestring

The Street Rod Nats on a Shoestring
Every year at the Street Rod Nats, we're pleasantly surprised with the overwhelming amount of cars driven to the event and are obviously purpose-built. Rock chips, dead bugs, leaky motors, and worn-out tire treads are all indications that the car was driven to the event and is not a trailer queen. You couldn't count on one hand the number of guys who are surprised when approached about their car. "Why do you want to shoot my car? It's just a driver," is a common response. But, that's what street rodding is all about to us. It's not about power parking at the host hotel or pushing the car onto glass and chrome pedestals inside the exhibition hall-it's about driving. And it doesn't take $50,000 to build a bitchin', dependable street rod. All it takes is a little ingenuity, hard work, and dedication.

Ingenuity has been a strong trait in hot rodders since the first adrenaline-fueled lad stripped his Model T of its fenders and other non-essentials, added a head from this car, wheels from that, a transmission from this, and went screaming down the road. Almost 100 years later, guys are still cruising around wrecking yards and using parts from all sorts of cars imaginable with one goal in mind-hopping-up their early iron. One thing has changed though, and that's the availability of early bodies. While the availability of vintage parts is still pretty good and supplemented by a vast aftermarket industry, the availability of 70-year-old cars is starting to dry up, and what is left is pretty rough.

Enter the budget-minded, lowbrow hot rod crowd. Starting with second-rate original steel, the emphasis is placed more on the aesthetic than the overall appearance. Cars are being built these days that have more soul than a Motown record, embracing the cancer, rot, and damage that time exuded. Instead of concentrating on the newest billet wheel available and trying to keep up with the street-rodding Jones, guys are gathering speed equipment and vintage parts and building cars like makeshift time machines. The idea and execution is hot rodding in its purest form, and it was overwhelming how many cars and hot rodders were embracing this at the Nats.

While Ron and Brian were inside the exhibition hall sharing a snow cone, I hit the pavement in search of a few homebuilt, budget-minded hot rods to include in our coverage of the Nats. What I found were nine of the coolest cars on the grounds, and not a one was a high-dollar trailer queen. All nine cars were driven to the event from various destinations and displayed their road wounds like a heart on the sleeve.