Can anybody explain the HOT ROD thing to me please

[braaap]

What is a hot rod to You?

I would call Dez and metalshapes experts and they may be able to tell a bit of history, but almost every RR member may have his own opinion?

I don't know much about hot rodding. I understand that probably in the 30s people began tinkering with old cars, making them lighter, powerfuller and faster.
That's why I would define a hot rod by its age: 20s to 40s, subdivided in different styles like loboys, hiboys, street rods, coupes, roadsters, but in the end all hot rods.

I have noticed that the term hot rod in the US is even used for what I know as muscle cars, so any overpowered car may be a hot rod?

And today I read the term in here:

Feb 16, 2023 9:09:21 GMT bmcnut said:

I've always liked toyta starlet hotrods with their wide bodykit.

So an emptied out car with only one purpose (driving fast) is a hot rod too? Is it an official racing class or just bmcnut s definition?

Who can shed some light or will tell his own definition or where he knows that definition from (like old books e.g.)?

edit: I forgot to mention all those variations of that rat rod fashion thing that resulted in something like this:

[generallee]

Feb 16, 2023 11:15:46 GMT braaap said:

And today I read the term in here:

Feb 16, 2023 9:09:21 GMT bmcnut said:

I've always liked toyta starlet hotrods with their wide bodykit.

So an emptied out car with only one purpose (driving fast) is a hot rod too? Is it an official racing class or just bmcnut s definition?

The hot rods bmcnut is referring to is a short oval racing formula in the UK, and possibly Belgium and the Netherlands, using stripped-out saloon cars.
It is a non-contact formula, whereas stock cars (not to be confused with US stock cars) are allowed to bump each other off the racing line.

Edit. Have a look here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Rods_(oval_racing)

I believe Porsche owners who modify their cars call them hot rods too.

[HoTWire]

Feb 16, 2023 11:37:05 GMT generallee said:

I believe Porsche owners who modify their cars call them hot rods too.

Outlaws

[Jonny69]

www.vhra.co.uk/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_rod

Some owners will call their car a hotrod because it technically fits the wording of the definition when by spirit it's clearly not a hotrod. Muscle cars are not hotrods. Porsches are definitely not hotrods (I can't believe I've had to actually type that out).


Edit: wait, this is a troll post and I bit, right?

[generallee]

I'm not really into Porsches. I certainly wouldn't call them hot rods, even if they were a bit racey.
In my defence I did say "I believe" as in I thought I heard it somewhere.

[generallee]

I just googled 911 hot rod, and got loads of (mostly American) articles about tuned Porsches, calling them hot rods.
So I tried the same thing with BMW E30, loads of American articles shouting "hot rod" at tuned Beemers.

....so I put in Range Rover hot rod, and got an American article about "the new Range Rover Velar hot rod" and thought I'd better stop.

[HoTWire]

In America everything is a Hot Rod

[Dez]

Feb 16, 2023 12:23:27 GMT Jonny69 said:

www.vhra.co.uk/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_rod

Some owners will call their car a hotrod because it technically fits the wording of the definition when by spirit it's clearly not a hotrod. Muscle cars are not hotrods. Porsches are definitely not hotrods (I can't believe I've had to actually type that out).


Edit: wait, this is a troll post and I bit, right?

The VHRA definition is of a traditional hotrod.
I like that the VHRA won’t compromise on this. I’m in the VHRA because I don’t want to see stuff with ifs and radial tyres.
Pre-49 American cars modified in a period correct way are what it’s about. Yes the odd English bodied thing fits and so do some later powerplants, but the core of it is about the aforementioned.

If rules aren’t as strict invariably one guy gets something in on an ‘exception’ and then loads of similar stuff gets in, to the detriment of the intended goal. Exclusivity and purity can be good, especially over here.

No muscle car is a hot rod. A muscle car is the absolute antithesis of a hot rod, even if you modify and tune it.

Another interesting thing to not is the term ‘hot rod’ was little used before the war. Previously the same cars were generally referred to a ‘gow-jobs’. The transition to the term hotrod happened in the late 40s/early 50s, with them being used concurrently for a number of years.

Over here the term is stymied by the banger racers calling one class of racing ‘hotrod’. That is what the starlet above is. What it really means in this car is it’s a non-stock class, so you can tune the cars.

As Johnny says, *technically* some cars are hot rods, but in reality they’re not because they would never have existed back in the day, so go against the spirit of it all. People who describe such cars in this way are generally trying to make themselves and their cars seem ‘cooler’. It’s like the term ‘racecar’. A fraction of the cars referred to as such actually are.

[bmcnut]

As I understand it a hotrod in simple terms is 'less weight, more power, wider wheels better handling'. Its probably easier to associate a classic (oval) hotrod with a vintage American hotrod, they've just evolved differently.

[HoTWire]

Some more terms, because the car scene is almost as much fun as the metal scene for sub genres.
Street Rod
Custom
Kustom
Resto Rod
Resto Mod
Trad Rod

[Dez]

The other real reason why people over here can’t tell the difference between a hot rod, a muscle car, and a modified American car is because of organisations like the NHRA (uk version) failing to make any distinction between them for so long.
In the pre internet days any vaguely interesting car turning up to anything would be welcome. So you’d generally have a the largest portion being stock/near stock American cars, a few muscle cars, and the odd hot rod or two. It was hard for the real diehards who only wanted to see dictionary definition hotrods to network and meet up. With the interwebs it can now happen much more easily. The VHRA has 600ish members I think, all with proper authentic pre-49 cars.(in fat so many people own more than one it’s probably about 1000 cars). If you turn up in a muscle car you’ll get told to put in in the car park with the rest of the moderns.
The ‘hot rod scene’ in the uk is really about half a dozen or more subgroups who’ve always been lumped together for various reasons, and it’s only in recent years we’ve really seen some of those groups really come into their own because of the ability to organise and mobilise themselves differently to how things were done previously.

[HoTWire]

Feb 16, 2023 14:14:45 GMT Dez said:

With the interwebs it can now happen much more easily. The VHRA has 600ish members I think, all with proper authentic pre-49 cars.(in fat so many people own more than one it’s probably about 1000 cars). If you turn up in a muscle car you’ll get told to put in in the car park with the rest of the moderns.

What are the VHRA doing if I turn up in this?


Just so I know if it's a Hot Rod or not.

[Dez]

Feb 16, 2023 14:18:19 GMT HoTWire said:

Feb 16, 2023 14:14:45 GMT Dez said:

With the interwebs it can now happen much more easily. The VHRA has 600ish members I think, all with proper authentic pre-49 cars.(in fat so many people own more than one it’s probably about 1000 cars). If you turn up in a muscle car you’ll get told to put in in the car park with the rest of the moderns.

What are the VHRA doing if I turn up in this?


Just so I know if it's a Hot Rod or not.

I know nothing of its build. But i would imagine it’s too street rod to be eligible. The tyres alone are enough to exclude it.

[stealthstylz]

You could argue that they should really be called "a modern recreation of a modified vehicle of the 1940s-50s popularly known as a hot rod" as very few of them really fit the purpose of what a hot rod was.

[HoTWire]

Feb 16, 2023 14:31:24 GMT Dez said:

I know nothing of its build. But i would imagine it’s too street rod to be eligible. The tyres alone are enough to exclude it.

Which is where I think VHRA should be considered Trad Rods and something like an AMBR eligible '32 should be considered a Hot Rod, because that picture right there, is a picture of a Hot Rod. Whatever technicalities you want to throw at the term, you put that picture, a 32 Ford roadster, with a big V8, big and littles, some meaty rear tyres, you're looking at a Hot Rod. Now I know the owner probably doesn't have a check shirt and monster turn ups, but they are still a hot rodder*.

As penance for being an argumentative curse word, have this awesome Trad Rod (which is also a Hot Rod)

1934 Ford coupe by bballchico, on Flickr


*The owner of this is Joe Kugel from kugelkomponents.com/ and they might, I don't know them.

[Dez]

Feb 16, 2023 14:44:07 GMT HoTWire said:

Feb 16, 2023 14:31:24 GMT Dez said:

I know nothing of its build. But i would imagine it’s too street rod to be eligible. The tyres alone are enough to exclude it.

Which is where I think VHRA should be considered Trad Rods and something like an AMBR eligible '32 should be considered a Hot Rod, because that picture right there, is a picture of a Hot Rod. Whatever technicalities you want to throw at the term, you put that picture, a 32 Ford roadster, with a big V8, big and littles, some meaty rear tyres, you're looking at a Hot Rod. Now I know the owner probably doesn't have a check shirt and monster turn ups, but they are still a hot rodder*.

As penance for being an argumentative curse word, have this awesome Trad Rod (which is also a Hot Rod)

1934 Ford coupe by bballchico, on Flickr


*The owner of this is Joe Kugel from kugelkomponents.com/ and they might, I don't know them.

Argumentative? Us? 😬

159 looks like a rolling bones car, which are very good traditional style cars.

The previous one id classify as a street rod as it’s a post 1970s build style. Although with how cars like that have evolved in recent years, they’ve got a strong aspect of pro-touring to them as well as a touch of resto-rod and I think are deserving of their own classification. a pro-rod?

I agree VHRA style cars are true traditional hot rods. If I get asked what my cars are that’s what I’d describe them as. All pre-1965 parts etc. There’s a large degree of historical re-enactment goes into any hotrod and often *any* car build at all. People (myself included) deliberately pick certain wheels tyres and paint to evoke certain fashions and linked time periods- be that a 1940s hot rod, a 1950s kustom, a 1960s cafe racer*, 1970s street freak, a1980s Chicano lowrider, a 1990s euro looker, or whatever.

*really it’s just a period clubman motorsport look, but the phrase seems to have stuck.

[HoTWire]

Feb 16, 2023 15:04:11 GMT Dez said:

a pro-rod?

I think you'll find sir that this is post-ska second wave pop punk, not post-ska third wave punk.

Feb 16, 2023 15:04:11 GMT Dez said:

I agree VHRA style cars are true traditional hot rods. If I get asked what my cars are that’s what I’d describe them as.

Yeah I think Traditional Hot Rod is the best definition for them (and I love them very much, and would like to own one). If someone said "what is a hot rod" I'd probably pull up a picture of a 32 Ford High Boy and say "that". Which may or may not be a traditional hot rod, depending on what Google threw up first.

[horrido]

While you can 'hot rod' anything, not everything can be a hot rod.

I've heard the name explained years ago in a magaizine article, by some oldtimer, referring to back in the 1920s, when they were modifying Model T Fords. He said something like "we used to get 'em up to about 90mph, before we'd melt the rods out of them". Hence 'hot rod'.
Might be true. Who knows?

[metalshapes]

Feb 16, 2023 13:31:43 GMT HoTWire said:

In America everything is a Hot Rod

Language evolves, so terms and descriptions do too.

A friend of mine ( a hardcore trad car builder who has passed away ) had a radically modified 1940 Ford that ran at Bonneville and was drag raced.

A late '40s/ early '50s build that was period perfect in every way.

But according to him, it was not a Hot Rod because it was too new.

To him the cut off date was 1935, when the fenders got bigger.

A lot of Hot Rodders/ car builders of his generation used that cut off date.


The way I'd use it is a cut off date of about 1949, to include the fat fender Fords but exclude the Shoebox Ford ( when they stopped having seperate fenders and got smooth sides )

A traditional Hot Rod to me is pretty much how they are defined by the HAMB ( a forum specifically for Trad Hot Rods ).
A Hot Rod built in pre 1964 style, using only parts that were available pre 1964.

A Hot Rod using newer parts is a Street Rod ( although I think you could argue a Hot Rod built in a '70s style using period correct parts is a '70s Trad Hot Rod...)



So the way I see it, my '28 Roadster is a Hot Rod ( Traditional Hot Rod )

When I built it, I didnt use anything newer than what was available in 1960 ( although some newer parts have crept in since then )





And my '32 Coupe is more of a Streetrod ( right on the edge of Trad '70s Hot Rod and Streetrod, because of radial tires, Halibrand wheels, Weber carbs,  AC, seats out of a '70s Fiat, etc...)








Just one guy's take on it all...

Other people will call a fiberglass bodied billet laden Boydster a Hot Rod, and who am I to say they are wrong....


Edit:

To clarify, a Hot Rod doesnt need to be Trad.

It can be more modern, and still be a Hot Rod.

But when it gets niceties like AC, power windows and even things like a 3rd brakelight and a tilt column, its a Streetrod.

( broadly speaking, a Hot Rod is closer to being a racecar, a Streetrod leans more to being a comfortable cruiser)


Again, just the way I see it...

[calecosse]

I'm not that clued up on the intricacies of what actually classes hot rods as hot rods, but I do know that I love them! One that always pops in to my mind is the yellow one from American graffiti.