Thread: Do you know the differance between a Hot Rod and a Street Rod?

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Since I have no trunk, I more often than not leave wrenches on the intake manifold (by accident) .. Just the other weekend, we pulled into the local 4 bucks only to find my engine mount bolts all backing out!!! One had already fallen out. I called the house to have them bring a 9/16ths wrench. However, all they could find was a 14mm...come to find out, I had what I needed all along. The 9/16 was on the intake manifold!!

I grew up thinking a hot rod was any vehicle you not only modified, but mainly
had go fast. I don't mean pretend sounding go fast, the black stripe kind. When people ask me about my Vette, I call it a hot rod, right/wrong??????? I think someone made the name street rod up to sell more magazines....

Sell more magazines??? Maybe. Sell more Billet? Definitely.

My basic reaction to this question is: A Street Rod has AC - Fuel Injection - and Cruise control, and a Hot Rod has Handles - Hinges - and Horsepower. Some of us lean towards one or the other, and other folks just like them all. I tend to like the horsepower one. I like my cars to sit right, look right and have a bit of an attitude and be a little abrasive, like they mean business. Just like Don said, "mine are always basic blood and guts boneshaking rods with few creature comforts". So I started thinking of my youth, ( teenager in the late '50's early '60's ). Back then in my neck of the woods we had what I called 'mild customs' and the other 'factory hotrods'. In my little world those mild customs morphed into street rods, and those modified factory cars into hotrods. As I remember the girls always liked the mild customs! Bob

hotrods have 3 pedals thats what i know , and streetrods are flashy w fenders and all billet and trashcan covers over there engines .....

I'm all for that classification, It's Mine . Hank

in all my years in this i've never known a hot rodder who would pass up a shiny piece for their car. nor would they build it butt ugly on purpose. i was a stocker at a food store just to pay for my car. i did side stuff to save up for a 5 gallon bucket at the chrome shop. bling has always been part of it. you just could not order it from a book. except speedway and jc whitney for me it's about the cars and trying to make each one a little better than the last.

Originally Posted by shine

in all my years in this i've never known a hot rodder who would pass up a shiny piece for their car. nor would they build it butt ugly on purpose. i was a stocker at a food store just to pay for my car. i did side stuff to save up for a 5 gallon bucket at the chrome shop. bling has always been part of it. you just could not order it from a book. except speedway and jc whitney for me it's about the cars and trying to make each one a little better than the last.

I know what ya mean, Shine!!! Seems I've always had to line up extra projects, work a part time job, or give up doing something to come up with the $$$$$ so I could build a car the way I wanted it. Not having the money for a bit of bling or extra horsepressure simply meant I had to work more to get it and was never an excuse to leave it ugly, then try to convince myself or anyone else that I liked it that way..... Guess it all depends on how much you want a car to be done right, how patient you are, and how much extra work you're willing to do to get the $$$$$....

For most of it I'm with Dave,

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"Well, I guess if I had been to a similar show and didn't get a trophy I would go home knowing that I won!!!!" 


This is a concept I've lived with in a life time of sports and is primary to all the sports coaching I've done. Few understand it....only those who are true sportsmen. It also drives the concept of you maybe not being the best on the field but you force the best to play their best to beat you. Sometimes it happens but many times they can't. You earn big respect from the real players. That's the top of the cake but even that is not necessary.

For the rest of what Dave says ( I respect him, case it's not apparent) I pretty much agree. I build my cars for me not for anyone else. They don't like , tough go look at another car. I bring it on a trailer by my choice not for showing off the trailer or my truck. I drive it to the event by choice because I enjoy driving it, not to impress anyone but me. Simply put, I have a reason for each important to me only.

As for other interests, Cars are a sport to me, I play sports, it's what I do. I also fly big model airplanes which are every bit as difficult to build and fly as any car is to build and to impress no one haha I have a lot more $$$ flying on nothing but radio waves than a lot of rolling stock is worth sitting on the ground safely in the garage.

As for winning and losing haha I rolled an 817 natural ( not my first 800 but the best) at a bowling event and lost to a lady who has probably never rolled over a 100 in her life. She got the $25 prize. I too went home knowing I won. I played my best and lost to luck. That one you never can beat. haha

mooney77, the duct tape one would be hard to take, but I agree you won, let's go have a tea and cry on each other's shoulder.

Originally Posted by shine

in all my years in this i've never known a hot rodder who would pass up a shiny piece for their car.

Hello, nice to meet you. You know one now!

I'll repeat my three categories of cars:

- Those I like
- Those I don't like
- Those I could give a rat's fuzzy backside about

Those are the only three categories that exist in my world . . . because it's my world, and I get to decide.

Jack
- It's good to be the king.

i know guys with cars that they have had since high school and have not driven since. they just go out in the garage and work on them. that is the whole point of having one. driving it is just a perk

Call it whatever you want, the important thing is to enjoy it, in whatever context that means to you.

I agree with Shine on the pretty shiny stuff. I drove my DeSoto for about 4 years with moon disc caps, because I could not afford the wheels I really wanted. I convinced myself I liked the moons on the car, but I bought the "shiny" wheels as soon as I could pay (not afford) for them. If I waited until I could 'afford them', I would never have gotten them.

Jack

chrome may not get me home but i'll look good setting there