With all of the radical changes we see in the design and execution of some professional and garage-built projects, it’s puzzling to look at a car like this 1928 Ford roadster—originally built by Fat Jack Robinson in the 1970s, though this is a contemporary shot—and not see a thing we’d change. We’ve come to expect design changes made to many professional builds, but sometimes you’ve got to wonder if it’s because it’s an improvement or a desperate grab for attention.
All these decades after Jack built this hot rod, it still stops people in their tracks and swivels heads. Yet, there is not a single body modification performed on this 90-year-old design. The body is exactly as it came from Ford. The drivetrain was obviously improved, and stance and relationship to the pavement is substantially different from those high-riding stockers from before WWII, but Jack felt no need to change what has always attracted us to these old heaps in the first place: their simple, era-defining designs. Old cars represent a particular time, and we marvel at their design and execution from our current perspective. Why try to complicate, overthink, and change what it is that attracts us to these old works of art? Execution and details are way beyond what was found when new, but the design, character, and essence of the car has remained unchanged.
Did it need to be changed? Would you have changed it? Why do so many contemporary builds seem to require changes when you see a ride like this? If you’re attracted to a car to such an extent you want to build it, why make changes to that which originally attracted you?
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