For alot of us the "rat rod" look (to use modern parlance) wsn't really a choice
. Once your car got known there was little reason to put any money in cleaning it up and most of us simply put our money in the driveline first, took out & ran it & suddnly, if you were good< your car became known. Since these were alot of young guys, extra money just wasn't availible.
I can remember standing above Connectin or hanging out at the Marina, sometimes for hours just waiting to see a high dollar run.