Thread: Modern Day HotRod, you be the judge

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If some dude was like "Hey I have a hot rod, come check it out" I would not be expecting this. And if I worked the gate at some event that specified "Hot Rods only", then no you're not coming in.

It's a Miata with a big ass engine. Fast, fun, cooler than the other Miatas. But then again, is a CRX with an Acura motor a Hot Rod? I know you guys are gonna say yes so I'll stop the argument now. You guys win.

And in my defense I really am considering stuffing an LS2 into a Saturn Sky for my wife. But "hot rod" never crossed my mind with that...more like "crazy ass Saturn"..

i wouldnt call that a hot rod.
i WOULD call it powerful car.

Webster dictionary says it is:

Automobile rebuilt or modified for high speed, fast acceleration, or sporty appearance. A wide range of automobiles may be called hot rods, including some of those used in drag racing as well as those used in recreational cruising. They may be composed of used or new parts. Some are intended primarily for exhibition.

John Force calls his 330 MPH ride a Hot Rod... Sure if you want to call it a Hot Rod go ahead and watch the eyes roll back and eyebrows raise. Im my world it would be a Customized Import.

The dropping of an American V8 into the lightest import that can be found is hot rodding the Shelby way. Even though all of my previous hot rods were traditional such as this '55.....


....my passion is the same as Shelby's, big engine, light car. Maybe my '55 can be called a hot rod but in my book the OP with the V8 shoehorned into the Mazda has a Shelby flavored hot rod. I have a 427 in a 1790 lb Track-T, both a hot rod and a Shelby flavored one at that.

Now a muscle car is generally thought of as a Detroit produced, high hp car from 1963 to 1970 (and a couple of 71's that didn't drop compression). In the year 2040, will my V be called a muscle car? I don't think so, as muscle car denotes a bare knuckle, low optioned, top hp motor offering.

Carroll Shelby was first, last, and always a road racer! The big block and small block Cobra's were built for road racing as was the Cobra Daytona Coupe and the GT 40. The only reason he lent his expertise and his name to the Shelby Mustang's was because of Ford's insistence!!! AKA, appease the Big Sponsor!!!! Even then, the Shelby Mustang's that became the icon's of SCCA A and B Production classes were special built cars. The clones that hit the Ford dealerships as Shelby 350's and 500's were a civilized version of the race cars. Later on he also did some work with Chrysler because his old pal from Ford, Lee Iacocca was there. Anyway, Carroll Shelby was a racer, not a Hot Rodder.....

Light cars with big engine's work good, but it started long before Mr. Shelby began building Cobra's.....Back to the days of the dry lakes, B-Ville, and deserted sections of highways all over the country guys there were stuffing big V-8's into Model A's and T's and running them on the street! Big Caddy, Olds, and Chrysler V-8's stuffed into T and A bodies were the fore-runner of today's glass bodied T's, A's and all the other combinations, not the Cobra.....

Kind of a rambling rant, but my opinion is that if it is modified from stock to go faster and or handle better then it did out of the showroom and it spends it's time on the street, regardless of it's country of origin, it's a Hot Rod!!!!! Just my opinion I guess, but having been in this deal for so many years I don't like to see cars being "classified" as something other then a Hot Rod, because some group or faction seems to think that only their style of car is a "real" Hot Rod!!!!!

Dave your right...

Only the cars I say can be a Hot Rods are true Hot Rods! Now if everyone would fall into step the world would be perfect! LOL

I mean really Who cares? I work on Hot Rods every day and all that matters is the guy that owns it likes it, if he perceives it to be a Hot Rod then it is. But with that said, I know what is truly a Hot Rod!

Nope. Style is everything when talking about HotRods. Body and motor have to have attitude in my book. 5.0's are a dime a dozen and not classic enough like the 327 or 351 Cleveland.

man, its really tough for a guy who came up in the sixties to adjust to this new-age, post Barrett-Jackson, image is everything, cry-baby doll, cruise night crap...If your car gets its ass handed to it by soccer moms in Cadillac Escalades, it'll never be a hot rod in my world, and I dont care if its a henry-steel '32 ford roadster. If it dont go, its a street-rod, not a hot-rod.
Note that performance comes first in Websters, cripes, even THEY can get that...