Hot Rods Would you call this a pre-war hot rod?

Sometimes you find cool stuff on BringATrailer. This one has all the stuff I like about old hot rods. V8-60, strombergs, Scintilla mags, some custom alterations to adapt the drivetrain. And it looks good, too.

If I had the time to do another build, I might consider going down this path, maybe using vintage sports car stuff to do a period build.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1927-rally-abc/

 

A Bulgatti

 

No.

 

Definitely Bugatti GP racer inspired. That thing would be a blast!

 

"A rose by any other name..."

"Special", maybe?

 

Which war?

 

Rally was a manufacturer of small sports cars, something like a French MG, and were in business 1921-1933.

The V8-60 in this one possibly qualifies it as a special.

 

It is a Speedster. Awesome group on FB that covers these.

 

Not a hot rod.

 

A special or sports rod to me. I’ve always thought speedsters were single seaters. Or not?

 

I would not. It was the car of it's time but not a hot rod.

 

Not

 

After reading the story on it from BAT, I'd almost have to call it a Hot Rod. I mean, they pulled the 4 banger out and stuffed a flathead Ford V-8 in there. Call it what you want, it's cool . I'd drive it and smile every minute .

 

Very cool modified vintage sports car!

 

I think a special with a hand built body is probably mostly defined or identified by its ch***is.
A hot rod is mostly defined or identified by its body.

 

Both very cool.

 

Check these out, built by my uncle in the Philippines probably early 60’s

 

No sir.HRP

 

Like the famous quote, "it all depends on what your definition of the word ___ is" . Hot rod, no. Hot-rodded, yes. Early French maybe English style, yes. Sportscar/special, yes. Speedster, no. Fun, yes. Exhilarating, Yes! Mine, no.
Marcus...

 

Call it whatever you feel right, but : How many of you looked at it & said "I want to drive the snot out of it"?

 

If I saw it parked at a car show, my first inclination would be to wander around to the rear and check for VW power, seeing no evidence of such, I would look further. After checking it out, I'd think it was cool...not a hot rod, but cool!

 

Visually,Nope. Sports car , yes.

 

I remember cut downs. Ford's with the doors welded closed and a dip cut into the top of the doors to ease entry. They were emulating sports cars but were all Ford. They were featured in hot rod magazines, maybe late 1950s?

 

That's what I was thinking, too.....

 

Well now. Which part of this car disqualifies it as a hot rod. Time period? Nope. Modified for speed? Nope. Changes to the body, wheels and tires? Nope. Definitions get blurred. Look them up and a sports car could be a muscle car. A muscle car could be a hot rod. Canadians have it easier. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment considers a hot rod as any motorized vehicle with a replacement engine that is different from the OE engine. Hot rod it is.

Maybe y'all'd define a hot rod like ****ography-you can define it but you know it when you see it.

 

Hot sports car…….sports rod

 

I don’t care what the “right” name is for it but I wish I could call it “mine” - it’s nice!

 

Maybe this discussion begs the question...... If this vehicle didn't have a Ford flathead in it, would we even be discussing it in the first place?
I'm tempted to categorically state that hot rods don't have righthand drive. But I won't. You didn't hear that from me.

 

While you guys in the US have driven on the right hand side of the road from your beginnings, you do realize that all of your car companies made only right hand drive vehicles until 1908, when the Ford Model T of that year was produced as left hand drive. That was when they decided it was probably a safer option. It took another 13 years for the rest of the companies to all follow suit.

You really can learn something new every day.......

I would not call the car in the pic a "hot rod", but I certainly would like to own it.