has anyone ever sleded out there truck? not a full sled but nice and low, suede paint, wide whites, lakes pipes... but with some muscle behind it. I saw a 64 f100 in one of my mag's semi sleded, unfortunatly in only had the six cyl. in it, but it looked sweet.

 

huh? Suede paint??

 

He's callin' flattened paint (with a flattening [anti gloss] agent added) semi gloss, satin finish, matte, epoxy primer sealer (with a tint) & if one's not too "HIP", regular ol' garden variety of rust thru primer, "suede". Shelf it up there with "Kemp", "cruiser", and several other venacular or colloquial anomalies.

It's colloquialism, sort of a type of "Freaque Speak" like sleded (ie sledded) as in drag
across the ground like a rock for Stone Henge would have been. Also called "slammed", which's a "Kewl" way of saying radically or extremely, get stuck in driveways, scraping along the ground, lowered.

What's not clear to me is what's meant by "semi sledded", is that one end lowered & not the other, producing a rakish tilt, or one side lowered, the other not producing a dangerous lean on certain corners and turns, or does it mean only half as low as one that has been fully sledded ? Which brings up the issue of what is fully sledded, a stream of sparks as it goes along the road. . . .

Not my cup of "beverage" mind you, but a language unto itself none the less.
FBp

 

FBP:
Not too bad for a "29" year old.

--Mike

 

FBP,
Were you around "back in the day" It's fun to hear guys romance about old hotrods and I love photos. Must have been a simpler time. I think I was born too late.
Tiremine

 

I'm familiar with the terms, except Suede paint threw me for a loop.
FWIW I don't really think "lead sled" is a term for a truck either. More so an old merc or buick with the big wide tail end. I guess that could be debated. I suppose they were still using lead to do body work in the mid 60's but there probably isn't much lead that goes into the back of an old slick.
Flat black and wide whites can't be argued with though, its tried and true. I love it, and its even the current look of my 53 Belair. My 2wd slick will be in black primer and red steelie rims until everything else is in check.
Cheers.

 

Lowered, flat black, red steel rims, white walls = kool in my book!

I'm building my '64 along those lines.

 

Thanx Mike. . . and YUP!
Built my 37 Tudor Flatback Sedan with a 3/4 race 59L (canadian) Block Flathead & "juice brakes", "Aircraft Shocks", Columbia 2 spd etc etc etc in late 40's with help of my uncle who returned from San Diego where he was stationed in WW II & came back with a head full of "Hot Rod".

Seems he hung out with street rodders of SoCal, SCTA, Muroc, LA Roadsters, etc. All his WW II Pix were street rods & lakes cars of the late 30's & early 40's. . . .

I was only a kid, my Mom wasted a tranny in her 37 during the War & Dad couldn't get parts to fix it. After the war people were giving cars away so my Dad gave me Moms 37 Flatback V8 60. The hot set up in midget racing was the V8 60. My Uncle swapped the engine & (broken) tranny from my 37 for a 1948 Merc 4 door that hit a pole sideways between the passenger side doors. We stripped that & put all the running gear under my 37. 4 years later I got my D/L & that's what I ran back & forth to HS in.

My uncle had a 36 Ford Phaeton which we put a Chet Herbert equipped (roller Cam) 53 Caddy El Dorado, Dual Quad V8 engine & Borg Warner Hydramatic tranny in. His 36 was one of a few local rodes that "put me in the weeds" at will, until the 56 Blow Tie Power packs showed up. My Flatty could walk away from a 55 Blow Tie, but the 56's got away from me. I stupidly sold my 37 and started chasing the Blow Tie Fantasy.

Went to the 1st NHRA Sanctioned "Drag Race" in Allentown, PA in 56, it was my 1st legit drag race. By late 57 I was back into FoMoCo because I shattered several of the orange engines. One cut a sweet 50 Ford Business Coupe nearly in half when the fly wheel turned into shrapnel on a shift. . . that was enlightening, had onboard fire, engine fell on steering drag link, the master cylinder got blown off the frame, couldn't
steer stop or get out until the thing hit a guard rail & stopped. . . car was totaled.

So I missed the actual late 30's origins, but I was there in the late 40's as a young kidand 50's as a teenager and so forth. My uncle actually knew the likes Bill Leslie, Vic Edlebrock, Joe Hunt, Ed Iskenderian, the Chrissman brothers and a bunch more. . . I'd just stand in the corner wide eyed & drooling on myself whenever they dropped by his shop. . . .

He also knew The guys at Valley Custom, George Barris and a few others from the SoCal Custom (now lead sled) scene. They never seemed to come east. . . Some guys from the original LA Roadsters did from time to time though.

SO I guess I was there sort of "Back In The Day" but I was a Gofast type and not really a customizer.

FBp