What the heck is a "Build"???

[Terry Bond]

New terminology I guess, probably given to us by those TV car cutters who create all those customs we see on reality TV shows.  Not taking anything from their talent, I think the term demeans the level of true craftsmanship and skill used in some of those creations.    I find the term "build" creeping into old car vocabulary too.   I know a lot of antique automobile "restorers" and "originality" enthusiasts who are now regularly using the term to describe what are "projects" or even "restorations" in their various forms and types.  More commonly I see finished cars being referred to simply as "a build."    It's a term I don't particularly like but I guess I'll need to get used to it.  Even those who "build" cars are now known as "builders."  I always thought a builder was someone who built houses, buildings, bridges, etc. 

Thoughts?

Terry

[Walt G]

Terry, my thought is that I agree with you about all that you said.

My heritage is that my ancestors were "builders" as was my grandfather , father as well - they were masons and worked with brick , mortar, concrete, and block and occasionally stone.

Walt

[John_S_in_Penna]

"Build" is properly a verb, and I won't diminish our

beautiful language by using it improperly.  My perception

is that "build" is used for modified cars:  The worker

is not restoring the technology that was there  previously,

but is building his own creation.

[JACK M]

History channel has several "++++++s" that built the world (or America) series.

Pretty much everything has to be built.

My dictionary says something like "the joining of materials".

Pretty broad ain't it?

[Restorer32]

Any time anyone starts telling me about their latest "build" I know it's a resto mod or street rod.

[George Smolinski]

When using “build” in it’s many mutations pertaining to cars, must the car in question also have a Chevy LS in it? I’d be willing to bet at least half the “builders” on TV wouldn’t have a clue as to how to REbuild a stock sbc or sbf .

Edited November 16, 2021 by George Smolinski (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

see reply below

Edited November 16, 2021 by 1937hd45
correction (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

4 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

Terry, Most "Builds" are modified cars, and posting your Build on a website allows you to share the process with others, share your skills and motivate like minded hobbyists. Many times when progress is slow and you don't post updates the followers will ask about your health and general well being then ask about the stalled project. It is a more involved group of people. There is only one "Restoration" I check on here on the AACA site, and that really is a "Build" since 90% of the car is being built by a highly skilled machinist.

 

Bob 

 

[TAKerry]

I am a 4th generation builder, and although not on cars I dont find that term as applied to cars to be that bad. As someone that makes a living putting things together with my hands I can see the direct correlation. The one term I DESPISE though is when a car is referred to as 

'born with such n such'. Cars are not born they are built.

[Ed Luddy]

1 hour ago, TAKerry said:

I am a 4th generation builder, and although not on cars I dont find that term as applied to cars to be that bad. As someone that makes a living putting things together with my hands I can see the direct correlation. The one term I DESPISE though is when a car is referred to as 

'born with such n such'. Cars are not born they are built.

I agree. "Born with big block", blah,blah

[Paul Dobbin]

I think they think of themselves as building a sculpture or work of art, as opposed to restoring one.  To me it's more like plagiarizing one.   Most reproductions are cheap copies with questionable value.   

[erichill]

The term probably is overused, but there are folks out there that do "Build" cars from scratch, and I think term readily applies to them.  Maybe I am guilty as when asked about my Chander I say I am rebuilding it as I don't want anyone to think I am restoring it.

[Alex D.]

7 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

Any time anyone starts telling me about their latest "build" I know it's a resto mod or street rod.

What about the Clark Car.  I would not consider it a street rod or resto mod, but a car built from existing parts and registered as the Clark Car. A Speedster?

[joe_padavano]

Each revision of a software package or computer code is called a "build". The noun version of the word has been in use long before the automotive aftermarket started using it.

 

[rocketraider]

7 hours ago, George Smolinski said:

When using “build” in it’s many mutations pertaining to cars, must the car in question also have a Chevy LS in it? I’d be willing to bet at least half the “builders” on TV wouldn’t have a clue as to how to REbuild a stock sbc or sbf .

You ever notice none of them go into any detail about what has to be done to make that LS start and run? Course there's always manufactured drama when the thing WON'T start and someone finds an electrical something that wasn't connected...

 

A young friend has a 91 Camaro and got an LS swap in his head. When we sat down and outlined all the ancillary stuff he'd have buy to make it work, young Will decided more trouble than it was worth. His comment? "The TV shows don't tell you all that."

 

🙂🙃

[JV Puleo]

Like so many of you, I detest the term and NEVER use it. it's just another erosion of the language and its used just as much in other areas. People who make muzzleloading rifles are calling themselves "gun builders" - which is, to my ear, idiotic. They aren't doing anything gunmakers haven't been doing for 500 years. I have the same reaction to all nouns made into verbs..."gifted" is especially irritating.

 

Fortunately, I don't watch television or I'd be perpetually annoyed.

Edited November 17, 2021 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

Reminds me of the fellow that restored one of my motorcycles. It was a 1913 model, this particular guy has the factory drawings for the make. Any parts, and there were a lot that needed to be 'made' were done so by his hands in his machine shop to factory spec's.  This was during the chopper craze of a few years ago. Near his shop was a place that was building choppers. He called them 'box' motorcycles. Said they came into the shop via the delivery truck in a box, and left the shop as a completed motorcycle.

 

Now to play devils advocate just because, when one takes a bin of parts and assembles into a final product is that not 'building' something? OR, do we say its assembled? 

[Str8-8-Dave]

When I worked at Ford in Timing/Release/Material Control (TRMC) any new prototype or pre-production vehicle was considered a "build" and had a "build" number that appeared in a "build" schedule.   Once in production the "build" number may have been replaced by a vehicle identification number (VIN),  but if Body Engineering was tracking a particular vehicle or batch of vehicles they would have been assigned a "build" number as well.  Perhaps the OEM terminology somehow leaked out?  How could that happen? 

[CarlLaFong]

Language is continuously evolving. On every TV show when a part is made for a project it is "fabricated". On my last big project I made many of the parts in my shop. I didn't fabricate or create a single one of them. Did I build the bike? No, I heavily modified an existing, running bike. Maybe it was a "build" How about a reconstruction?

[JimKB1MCV]

  I think the English language is constantly evolving.

 

 It really doesn't really bother me, I just choose to ignore it.

 

What really does bother me is reading or being told there are words and phrases that I can't use anymore, so I have to go out of my way to use them. That may be a sign of approaching crumudgdonhood, which is OK. 😁

[CarlLaFong]

I tend to resist evolution since much of it is pretentious and silly to my ear. I have never called an engine a "mill", a mustang a "Stang" . I i dislike "Vette" , Elky" "tranny", "Chebby" and "Pick em up truck" equally. Furthermore, I will never call a wheel a "Rim".

[joe_padavano]

You kids get off my lawn.  🤣

[Walt G]

15 hours ago, JV Puleo said:

 

Fortunately, I don't watch television or I'd be perpetually annoyed.

Joe, perfect line my friend.  I find any tv show, movie, etc can be interesting to me if the story provided is well thought out. Even news of the day, how is it presented and what words are used. Yes, I am referred to as an an author by many people but in my view I am a storyteller. I can read the same story over and over ( mostly mysteries written prior to 1930 by Arthur Conan Doyle) and still be captivated by the way they are presented - I like stories to take me back in time to an era , even more modern stores that can transport me to the location and make me feel I am there in the same setting as the story takes place. Thought and creativity.

[BHWINCVAP]

I would much rather hear BUILD than to hear Restored for every fouled up job. Some clown that don't know which end of the ratchet to put on the bolt managed to accomplish..

[Grimy]

21 minutes ago, Walt G said:

I can read the same story over and over ( mostly mysteries written prior to 1930 by Arthur Conan Doyle) and still be captivated by the way they are presented - I like stories to take me back in time to an era , even more modern stores that can transport me to the location and make me feel I am there in the same setting as the story takes place. Thought and creativity.

Hemingway comes to mind as an author who can put the reader in the moment by appealing to almost all the reader's senses in his/her mind.  He is the consummate storyteller.

[Billy Kingsley]

This thread has gifted me a better build to my vocabulary. 

 

😁 Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[JACK M]

Well, how important is the build sheet that is usually made into thee rear seat?

Some cars are not real without that. And I have never heard it referred to any other way.

So, cars are built.

[TTR]

4 hours ago, CarlLaFong said:

Language is continuously evolving.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, JimKB1MCV said:

  I think the English language is constantly evolving.

[TTR]

I find the idea of people actually watching moronic car “building”(?) show on TV much more troubling than the vocabulary used in said shows, not to mention people debating their objections to the said vocabulary used in said shows.

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by TTR (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

A friend who passed away some years back made his own cars sans the drivelines. If you wanted a "NEW" car that looked like a 33 Ford or if you wanted him to build you a car of your own design he would build it. A machinist, mechanic, a metal man able to create bodies and his own frames. I would call him a builder. When it came to engines and transmissions rear ends and suspension he would call himself a rebuilder. If he was adding something more that the stock specification such as brakes , springs or electrical he would call this work modifying. I never asked him about putting something together from a box of parts-a kit, but I would assume he would call that assembly work.

 When I was about five or so my parents bought me a erector set and with that set you were able to assemble things from  instructions, but also you could create and use your own imagination, create things on your own with the existing parts and some of your own if you were creative enough. I consider a erector set for kids a step above assembly work. I also think a erector set is a great learning tool for young kids who have just past the basic Lego stage in their development.

[Terry Bond]

41 minutes ago, TTR said:

 

 

 

Yes, agree the English language is being used depending on the individual conversationalists.  It's also impacted by the setting in which the conversation occurs and many other factors.  If you want to sound like a southerner, you'll fake a nice drawl.  If you want to mingle with hot-rodders and custom car craftspeople, then work on the cars becomes "builds."   Language suits the individual and the occasion.  For me, I'll never call my 1912 Triumph motorcycle a "build" even though I (built) restored it myself.

What's the adage "a horse by any other name..."

Terry

[JV Puleo]

There isn't any question that language evolves over time. I spend a lot of my time reading 17th and 18th century documents and, lately, 16th century. What strikes me is that once you get accustomed to the spelling it isn't hard to understand. The exact meaning of words changes – usually when they were used euphemistically in the past and that meaning has been forgotten. What does not survive is slang, at least not in any appreciable amount. This has always been a feature of language but it tends to be very dated and short-lived. Also, what we know of speech in the past is almost entirely through the written word. We simply don't know what an 18th century farmer or laborer sounded like. There is a good chance he would be just as unintelligible as the professional computer geek or pop music "celebrity" is today.

[Bloo]

3 hours ago, TTR said:

I find the idea of people actually watching moronic car “building”(?) show on TV much more troubling than the vocabulary used in said shows, not to mention people debating their objections to the said vocabulary used in said shows.

 

That hit the nail on the head.

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Racer-X-]

19 hours ago, rocketraider said:

You ever notice none of them go into any detail about what has to be done to make that LS start and run? Course there's always manufactured drama when the thing WON'T start and someone finds an electrical something that wasn't connected...

 

A young friend has a 91 Camaro and got an LS swap in his head. When we sat down and outlined all the ancillary stuff he'd have buy to make it work, young Will decided more trouble than it was worth. His comment? "The TV shows don't tell you all that."

 

🙂🙃

 

LS Swaps, or any other engine swap does require some forethought and planning.

 

I've done about a half dozen Chevy V8 swaps (4 were LS based swaps, 2 were earlier Vortec 5.7L truck engines swapped into other vehicles).   Every one I've ever done started the first time I turned the key and cranked the starter. There were a couple times I stopped short of turning the key when I remembered leaving something important disconnected.  And my habit is to have the OBD-II Scanner hooked up and check everything when the key hits the "on" position, before turning it to the start position and cranking it. But when I hit the starter, they start.

 

To me, "build" isn't such a derogatory term. But I do think it's more a resto-mod or hot rod term than a serious "all original restoration."  There's something to be proud of pointing at a hot rod or a resto-mod with a drive train swap and customized suspension and the whole nine yards and being able to say, "I built that one, and that's the only one like it."

[Bhigdog]

10 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Now to play devils advocate just because, when one takes a bin of parts and assembles into a final product is that not 'building' something? OR, do we say its assembled? 

 

I'm guessing it depends on how close to usable right out of the box those parts are.

My wife and I "made" the house we now live in. We started with a poured foundation and "made" the house from there out of piles of lumber, pipes, wire, roofing etc etc. We cut every board, drove every nail, ran every wire, soldered every pipe joint, taped every wall board, applied every coat of paint and stain. I even made some of the window frames.

So, what say you?

Did we assemble it, build it, or simply "make" it ?

I'm thinking I like the sound of.......... "We made it ".

I do know one thing. I will never ever refer to it as "my build"................Bob

[John348]

I guess it makes the customer feel a little more important in the long run, it sounds better then saying "we got to put more hours on that Buick job" Referring to it build adds at least another $35 an hour to the JOB

 

[Herb Iffrig]

One thing that makes me cock my head sideways is when someone in a description of an item says "It needs restored". I always feel it should be "It needs to be restored"

[Restorer32]

"Eschew obfuscation"  is my motto.

[kgreen]

Build: technical term used when a seller actually re-assembles the car prior to the sale.

Project: Car is complete and the hard part is complete, all removed parts loaded into the trunk and interior of the car

[Guest]

23 hours ago, TAKerry said:

 

 

Now to play devils advocate just because, when one takes a bin of parts and assembles into a final product is that not 'building' something? OR, do we say its assembled? 

 So you are saying that a carpenter assembles a house from lumber yard parts?