Tag Archives: Hot Rods

Our World Tuesday – Darryl Starbird’s National Rod and Custom Car Show – 2017

The Darryl Starbird Car Show is a must see for me. I like car shows of all kinds but the Starbird Show is special because it is for custom built and modified cars and people can get best car dealerships from Scrap Car Pickup for Cash Ottawa. In this day and age where the cheapest and most expensive cars all pretty much look like Toyotas it is nice to see custom built cars. Apparently there used to be twenty-one Starbird shows a year but they have dwindled down to just this one in Tulsa. People don’t work on cars like they used to do. When I was a kid there were lots of car guys out there, modifying engines, transmissions, and suspensions and the bodies. Cars are too computerized these days and emissions regulations strict (which is a good thing). People can also check The Car Finder Used Vehicle Dealership, if they need the best car dealership.

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1970 Plymouth

These cars are like works of art to me. The ideas are born in somebody’s mind and carried out, sometimes they take years of  trial and error to reach final form. Sometimes they don’t ever get to final form.

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1964 Thunderbird

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1981 Cadillac- I am thinking this may be a low rider or a derivative. It has machinery to jack the car way up and down.  They were big in New Mexico when I lived there. Years ago, our family went back and in old town Albuquerque a bunch of cars showed up and drove around slowly honking their horns and rocking the cars up and down and making them tilt side to side. It was quite a show.

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Ultra sleek and streamlined. I love the wheels and the clean lines. I also loved how they went with a different finish with the engine than the expected chrome.

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1932 Ford Coupe – I love the modified old cars also.

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1932 Ford Coupe – I love the paint job on this creation.

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1960 Corvette – You just can’t beat a corvette, they have stayed ahead of the curve for years.

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Alright car guys what is this. Is this eight carburetors, or a supercharged engine. I’m so ignorant. It is a very manly looking engine is what I think.

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1970 Chevy – How about this? I love the low ride, and the boat.

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How about this hippie lovemobile??

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Here is a VW Camper. My wife’s family had one when she was a child.

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Cool interior.

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How about another hippiemobile.

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Another VW hippie surfmobile.

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1949 Ford – Another manly engine.

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1925 Model T

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And I’ll finish up with this rat rod. I love the saw being used as a headliner over the front window, the backwards doors, and the most obviously phallic hood ornament. Not that it has a hood.

So another year down for the Starbird Car Show.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Rat Rods! at the Starbird Car Show

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I went to the Daryl Starbird Car Show here in Tulsa a couple weeks ago and I learned something new. I’ve learned the term “Rat Rod.”

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Rat Rods are like hot rods only with no chrome, rough or nor paint, and just generally look kind of homemade.

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Wikipedia talks about Rat Rods being a reaction to the pretty show hot rod show cars of today that are meant to be shown and not driven.

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Rat Rods are often associated with Rockabilly or Greaser culture. They are supposed to be a throwback to the hot rods of the 1930’s to 1960’s. I love them. They have that Mad Max home built slopped together look about them. The safety people among us are going nuts I’m sure. Exposed exhaust pipes, drive belts, and fans. Whoops there goes your fingers, please don’t bleed on the cars sir.

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Apparently conventional hot rodders loathe the rat rods. I just love controversy like this. Reaction and counter reaction, yin and yang. I’ll be looking into this more.

What about you? Have you ever heard of rat rods before?

2015 Darryl Starbird National Rod & Custom Show

Saturday I dropped the kid off at his Improv group and headed over to the Tulsa Fairgrounds in order to check out the Darryl Starbird National Rod & Custom Show.  I’ve been to lots of car shows but I had never been to this. It is a show of custom and hot rod cars. They are labors of love and I don’t see how the owners will ever recover the value of the time and money they have put in their cars.

1965 Cobra

1965 Cobra Mustang. I love the fake snakes on the body of the car and in the trunk. I least I think they are fakes. I told you that I am not much of a car guy. I’m attracted to fancy paint jobs and the lines and appearance of the car.

1940 Ford

1940 Ford. I love the color and white wall tires and the chrome on the wheels, bumper, grill and headlights, and again the swoopy lines. (Swoopy is a word. I wouldn’t try it in WWF though.)

1948 Chevrolet

1948 Chevrolet, gorgeous color, and the wide whitewalls on the tires and I love the chrome bumper and simple lines.

1950 Packard

1950 Packard painted up to look like an Army staff car. Apparently Packards were popular with the generals back then for staff cars. I can see why. I love the hood over the windshield and the way the engine hood opens up.

1950 Ford?

Now, my tagging says 1950 Ford but I am uncertain about that. I just love the two toned color scheme and all the chrome and that huge grill.

1938 Chevrolet Business Coupe

1938 Chevrolet Business Coupe. Look at that tall grill and that paint job. Wonderful. I loved how they displayed this car with the cool lighting that really made it shine.

1940 Plymouth Road King

This is a 1940 Plymouth Road King. The owner is the son of the original buyer and it has been the family since it was brand new, 75 years. It has been a labor of love for him. He did all the work himself and he dedicates the car to his late wife who died of cancer.

Custom Triton

I am not sure but I think this car is a total custom car. A one of a kind. Look at the headlights. The car has a clear acrylic roof that has air conditioning vents in it. And I love the paint job. Notice the shrouds around the rear wheels. This car is wonderful.

1953 Buick Convertible

A 1953 Buick Convertible. Oh my, the red leather seats, the black and white paint job. How long and sleek it is. This is a wonderful car.

So that was just a sampling of what was there. In addition to all the super deluxe show cars there were many cars on display by other people who have nice cars and keep them in good shape and polished and detailed them for the show.

Plus they had some people there demonstrating how custom cars are built. There was non-stop music and I think they had some small races later in the day. I left because I was overwhelmed plus I had to go pick up the kid.

I’ll be back next year!!

Check out Darryl Starbird National Rod & Custom Show

Linking with Our World Tuesday

I like cars but I am not a car guy and I don’t take very good notes. In fact I take no notes and the way I try to keep things straight is by taking photographs of the accompanying posters. Often I don’t do a very good job of it so if I misidentify something please leave a comment and set me straight.