Rust-Oleum Roots Rods.(Revs)

Byline: MARK ELIAS

Their owners in some cases are not even old enough to have been gleams in their fathers' eyes when these cars first hit the road. But that is no reason not to adopt the lifestyle of their ancestors. In one fell swoop that reenergizes the junkyard business and lifts Rust-Oleum stock shares at the same time, a roots-rod revitalization is afoot that breathes life into the hot rods of their parents' youth. Not shiny and pink or any other pastel color for that matter, there is a primer movement underway.

Car clubs with names such as The Rumblers, Hot-Rod Hooligans and The Draglinks, are making old-old school cool again with a collection of true run-what-you-brung hot rods that are faithful to the era if not actually coming from the same era. An example is the 25 or so members of West Palm Beach, Florida's Salvagers Car Club, part of a grass-roots movement that is decidedly low-tech, eschewing such high-line devices as dynos and the like, favoring instead the "use what you've got'' school of thought.

Typically based on 1920s-era Ford Coupes with small-block Chevrolet power, the cars are a hodgepodge of old, new and whatever happens to be lying around the garage. A work in progress, Eddie Vicente's 1926 Ford "Tall-T'' five-window coupe already has the small-block, and is ready for its plywood floor. In the lying-around category, a rear benchseat from a Chrysler first-generation minivan awaits the Mexican blanket upholstery job that it will surely receive. Mufflers are merely suggestions to the ...