KUSTOM KULTURE - JUST ANOTHER PHASE?

[Rat Rod]

As with all popular trends in our culture, it always seems it's just a matter of time before they go from being the "in thing" to being outdated and lame.

While I've always been interested and admired many aspects of Kustom Kulture, I wonder if it too will be a passing phase? Oh sure, there will be some hardcore folks who were into this way of life before it was the cool thing to do and they may continue on until the day they die, but I wonder how long this trend will continue. The signifier of a dieing trend always seems to be it's saturation into mainstream American culture.

The other thing I've always wondered was, what did these folks look like 10-15 years ago? Greased black hair with full sleeves of tattoos? White T-shirts with rolled up cuffs on their jeans and black boots? Bettie page hair cuts with bright red lipstick? Or maybe they had long hair back then and wore a leather jacket and went to Guns & Roses concerts?

This all started swirling around in my head last week when I saw some old car show photos that I had taken back in the 90s when pink and teal street rods with tons of billet were all the rage. Made me wonder how long the current "traditional hot rod" and kustom kulture trend would go on.

Anyway, just some thoughts I had recently and thought it would make for a good conversation. :wink:

 

[snydur]

i wonder this all the time when it comes to old school hot rods. how much longer till its old and we are looking back on it thinking "what the heck were we thinking". i read some old magazines about hot rods from the 80's and 90's and i still wonder what we were thinking. just hope it doesnt pass to soon

 

[sensor]

yes and no......theres guys who have been building 'traditional' hotrods since the 20s and didnt change anything when it wasnt cool....so id wager the general public will let it fall out of favor and the ones who are really in it for the long haul will still be around....
its kinda like skateboarding in the 60-70s hot.... then it died out and was uncool for almost a decade but the real ones stayed and still rode even when the public laughed and wondered why they were playing with kids toys :wink:
everything has its turn in the sun and then is shunned sooner or later
i hope its soon though since its driving prices for parts up since the yuppies want that hotrod to have 'kemp' now