Thread: Who took the "hot" out of hot rod?

Tweet

Let me get on the other side of the tracks a little in this discussion. I'm like most of you who are approaching mid-life , and have gone through every phase that this hobby has had. First were the cars we built in High School when we didn't have a pot or any idea what we were doing. Then, when we got jobs we could afford to either spend more on our cars or buy a shiny new muscle car. After that came family responsibilities and we somehow managed to squeeze out a few bucks to keep our hand in the hobby. Finally, once the kids (and sometimes the Wife ) were gone, we could afford the time and money to seriously pursue our dreams.

But after doing this for so many years and seeing so much of the hobby it started to become boring for some of us. When I go to a car show I walk by hundreds of shiny cookie cutter cars that are all built with the same 1-800 parts source, but will stop and stare at a car that the guy or gal used their imagination and busted up fingers to create from nothing. That is why car shows like Billetproof are becoming so popular. The cars that come to these events are the products of late nights and probably late mortgage payments, as opposed to cars that some pro shop turned out for big bucks.

Another aspect is that we are trying to recapture some of our youth by recreating cars that we saw back then, but couldn't afford. These cars are exciting on another level from the tire smoking, fire breathing ones we ran down the quarter mile. They are a visual trip down memory lane, and are just plain cool. Speed and horsepower are not as important to some of us these days as is dependability and being unique. To me, going to most car shows now is like walking through a new car dealer's lot looking at row after row of cars that all look the same, except for the different colors.

I never wanted a flathead powered rod in my life, but I just picked up the complete running gear and engine from a '46 Ford, and can't wait to get started on a little rod using all of those parts.

Just my opinion.

Don

It's all relative to your age, testosterone level, past and current technology as well as the price of gas! One of my favorite books is "Speed and Power Handbook (Special High Mileage Library Edition)" from Newhouse Automotove Industries, copyrighted 1952. Unfortunately my copy has lost it's cover but it is still a prized posession. On page 121 there is a picture of a '41 Ford convertible with a chopped top and rippled bumpers with the caption "...Engine reworked to deliver over 200 H.P. This is a very HOT rod." On page 15 there is a picture of a dual carb setup on a flathead with finned heads and a beehive oil cleaner on the firewall described as a "FULL HOUSE MERCURY". Then on page 22 there is a picture of what was nostalgic in 1952 as what looks like a Cragar setup on a Model B 4 cyl complete with dual carbs and a 4-into-1 header. Today, "HOT" probably means a tubbed musclecar with close to 500 H.P. but it can only run on the weekends due to the price of gas. Maybe "American Graffitti" was the high point of the hobby? Today the trend is toward turbocharged 4 cyls and smaller bodies, so on it goes. For a typical time-boundary (paradigm shift!) imagine it is 1954 and then take a look at

http://www.oogabooga.ca/oogaboogapag40.htm

Yet only a year later you could buy a '55 Chevie with a 265 OHV soon to be followed by a 283, 327 and then 350. The hot rod philosophy is simply interest in what can be modified, tweaked and improved on autos, with emphasis on speed. Just a rambling answer to a vauge question. '

In edit mode I want to mention that I really miss the Barris era smoothie customs based mainly on '41-'51 Fords and Mercurys. Once they were plentiful but I suppose the body work was much more difficult to chop the compound curves than the straight coupes and roadsters of the early '30s models. Still for me the "neatest" cars are/were carson-topped '40 converts and '41-'48 coupes that have been chopped and smoothed out.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder