No doubt this a a new street rodder fad that has come up with the renewed popularity of "traditional" style street rods. I'm kinda into the street rodding scene. My dad owned a rod shop in Florida before he died, and I still kinda follow what's going on. Although I definitely don't have the kind of money it takes to play that game, so for now I just watch...
THere have been loads of articles about this in the street rodding magazines in the last year or two... rod builders going to great lengths to give cars that left-out-in-the-barn look. Even some big-name builders have been doing it. Most of the big shows (Autorama, Oakland, Goodguys) have "traditional" rod sections and new judging categories for "unfinished" rods. Here are some pics:
This is the car that was in Hot Rod. '37 Ford
This car is owned by Billy Gibbons, ex-ZZTop guy and big-time street rodder:
This is a pic from one of the big shows, don't know anything about the car:
In my opinion, this is silly. It's just another street rod fad like pastel colors in the 80s or neon chassis lights in the 90s. I get it. I really LIKE traditional rods. IMO, though, cars should only have a "patina" if the guy who built it couldn't afford paint, not because the owner paid the builder $20k to paint it like that.