Traditional hot rods are built by using parts that were made no later than the sixties at the latest. The first step is to pick a theme for the car. Once you have zeroed in on an era you are building your car on, it is necessary to stay within that time frame.
The parts that go into the car should be ‘period correct’. To slightly elaborate on this, a 50’s car would have had a generator and not an alternator. The tires need to be bias-ply instead of radials.
The choice of wheels is an important aspect to focus on when building a hot rod. Going back to the birth of hot rodding and oval track racing in the ‘20’s, most hot rods were early Fords that used early Ford steel wheels – stock/modified. The early ‘50’s saw magnesium wheels becoming standard on many cars.
Chrome steel wheels and aluminum discs came later in the 50's hot rods. Early ‘60’s saw the introduction of spoke wheels. An excellent book penned by Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel can be a valuable guide for someone intending to build traditional early Ford Hot Rods.
