The wrecking yards were sources for late model wrecks giving up 'performance' parts. They also offered many bodies/chassis that had to be preserved (babied) throughout the war. The combination allowed the youth to create individual rides. ( cheap ) Many of these guys had talents and stamina from military and depression era regimen. So why not?
Customs were for getting the girl, hot rods were for getting rid of them! Hot rods were the excuse not to have kids!
These pictures of "Ed" and his "T" roadster, are pretty much, a good definition of what a "HOT ROD" is !
Individuality...Innovation....Engineering......Problem Solving.....Bad-Assery.....Drag Racing ....Street Racing.....Girls.....Parties.....Hot Rods......Kustoms......Car Shows......Girls....Music.....Cruising the Local Burger Joint.....Chasing Women......Raising a Little Hell....Staying Out of Jail.....Trying to Keep Your License.....Late Nights on the Local Illegal 1/4 Mile.......Girls....Late Nights in the Garage.....Haulin' Shine......Girls. What did I miss?
Figuring that covers from 1945 through 1960 if you wanted a fast car you pretty well had to build it. The new cars that were pretty fast when they rolled out of the dealers showrooms were also pretty expensive at the time and not what most guys could afford. Quite often you could stick a later model engine out of the wrecking yard in a fairly decent older and lighter body and have the fastest car in town for less than the down payment on the new model version of the engine's donor at the dealership. In 57/58 my then step father traded a 53 Mercury with a tired engine for a 52 Ford Victoria with a 56 Thunderbird Special engine in it that had run in the 14's at the drag strip. That car was fast for the time period. A friend of my dads started selling cams and intakes out of his Gas station and that grew to the point that he left the gas station and started a parts house that ended up being a small chain of parts houses known for stocking speed parts in the Renton and Seattle area.
Which one ? The original generation ? Current ? Since hot rodding began before the war, there have been a few.
Finally , somebody said it , gettin' laid , everything else was a by- product , the same thing that motivates everything .
Perhaps "hot rod generation" just needs to be qualified more narrowly? Do you mean "generation" in the sense of a society-wide age group, considered to have some kind of societal attitude in common, in this case the tail end of the Greatest Generation and the beginning of the Silent Generation? Or do you mean "generation" in the sense of a group of contemporary creative figures who worked in the same cultural/historical context, and who were in some way in conversation with each other, like the Beat Generation? A generation in a subculture like hot rodding would seem to be either a bit of both or something in between. The history of the hot rod phenomenon during the "traditional" era does indeed track the Beat Generation in many ways, and it can be argued that both are responses to the same societal situation: a sense of being well-informed and sidelined at the same time, and therefore making do with what you can get and working outside the way things are set up. As to what it was "about": it should be fairly obvious that Allen Ginsberg wrote Howl because he wanted to, but we don't learn a hell of a lot from that bare fact. The fact that hot rodding in the "traditional" era was as a rule not overtly political does not mean that there wasn't an inherently subversive aspect to it. The "hoodlum" character was generally not consciously embraced by hot-rodders, but thrust upon them due to the unbeknownst systemic implications of hot rodding. I do not the time to flesh this out right now, and I am fairly sure a thorough socio-cultural analysis would take in territory inappropriate to the HAMB. Besides, I have to leave now because my wife reckons we need beer (yes, she's a keeper!)
Hello, It was something that just came along with pre teen to teenage activities. Everyone seemed to like cars, so making a car go fast and faster was the logical thing. In going to the nearby dragstrip in Long Beach/Wilmington just seemed like the teenage thing to do for all of us. So, one thing led to another and as the teens started gathering at our house, one thing was in common, they all like their cars. Some more than others. Some willing to spend some hard earned cash to upgrade or make their cars fast or look better than others. On a "rare" lunch break watching carefully, learning, waiting for my turn at the wheel. But, we realized we were in the minority, despite the stands and pits being packed weekly. At our school, cars were daily school necessities. For us, yes, they were necessities, but it was just so much more. The rest of the student body had their own ways to grow up and hot rods/drag racing was not in the cards for them. All around the campus, the parking spots were packed for blocks. We had no designated parking lot for students. So, cars were there, it was just a few that were the “hot topics” for the so called, “hot rod kids…” Independence... Yes! And, we were learning a skill of sorts... When the students gathered at the dance/entertainment centers in Long Beach, the parking lots had hot rods and cruisers, but, again, the majority were 4 door sedans and some trucks for variety. The same thing for our teenager hangout at the local drive-in restaurant parking lots. There were some teens that did not hang around there and did their own thing, elsewhere. For us, it just seemed like hot cars always came into the parking lots and then it all fell into place. One teenage hangout had limited parking spaces and if/when one arrived late and no parking spots were available, it was a simple thing to drive over two blocks to another teen drive-in or hamburger stand with a larger parking lot and less expensive hamburgers and fries. Both were attractive to money hungry teens. So, the gatherings led to other activities and all was good for the “hot rod/surfing” crowd. If the hot rod kids were in the minority, where were the other teens from the large enrollment high school? There were two teen gathering spots sponsored by the Long Beach Recreation Department and each usually had music, food, pool tables and almost every Friday, a band. Finally, my turn and a good one... 14.68 best and average 14.9 e.t. Jnaki If one part of teenage scene stands out or gets some notoriety publicly, then it is a hot topic of conversation. For us, as teenagers, it was a fun way to express ourselves. Modifiying what we had may not have been what other teens in different parts of Long Beach had or bought. But at least, it was the general idea of cars of all kinds being modified and perhaps accelerated at high speeds in the dark of night. Yes, we all knew where those dark places were and it was a great outlet for us. Not everyone was a teenage hot rod kid. But, at one time or another tried to surf as we were near some good surfing beach locations. Not all teens who tried surfing, continued into the post high school years. As a matter of fact, one of my friends was a great athlete and had the skills as good as any. He got his surfing skills up and I thought it was going to be a long lasting sport for him. After high school, he stopped surfing and left for college. YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
