Thread: Curious ... What's the Correct Spelling? Hiboy, Highboy, Hi-boy, etc...

Tweet

So in Japan it would be haiboy..........................or would that be hai-boy-san?

I like hai-boy-san ... much more fitting!

Originally Posted by Tim_in_NC

I like hai-boy-san ... much more fitting!

That and 5 dolla............oh well this is a family site.

Since we're discussing it, how far back did the term "highboy" first start being used to refer to a fenderless unchannelled car? Did they call them highboys in the old early 50's magazines? I always kinda guessed the term came up in the 70's for some reason, but maybe it's been around longer than that.

I think I started seeing the term in the '60s.....but I'm not positive about it.

I might be inclined to agree about the '60's. I did a quick look through some Hop Up reprints I've got from '51-2 and saw no reference to the term hiboy (any spelling). They had an article about consolidated rules for 8 different timing associations from dry lakes racing and the only reference was "roadsters" then various classes based on w/fenders, w/o fenders, modified bodies. The word "channeled" showed up in a number of articles and in the race class descriptions.

Here's some scans from a drive test in May of '52 where they used what is a quintessential "hiboy", and never once used the term. Note that the author, well known hot rod historian that he was, wasn't too comfortable with the fenderless configuration.

See if you can find the term in any 60's magazines... I'm still thinking it didn't appear til the 70s for some reason.

So when these bodies first came out in the '30s, were they all just referred to as '32 fords or roadsters ... and then you had options of with fenders, hoods, etc ...

I don't know of anything Henry built without fenders or hoods unless it was strictly for racing and not available to the general public.

I also remember when cars were referred to as "East coast style" and "West coat style." That generally meant the ones on the East coast were channelled and lower, and the West Coast cars were Highboys. Obviously, some cars on both coasts were done the opposite of that, but most seemed to follow that theme.

Don

Fenders . . . bumpers . . . . whazzat?