Hot Rods What's the difference between a speedster and a gow job?

Particularly when you are referring to the model T era.

 

according to google images Gow Jobs have a T body while speedsters don't

 

That is how I tell the difference.

 

What is a Gow?

Larry

 

According to the OED "Gow is a slang term that is used to describe someone who is considered to be unattractive or ugly".

Per the Urban Dictionary, it is an acronym for "Grumpy Old Woman".

Neither term is very complimentary.

 

Ok, how does that pertain to the HAMB?

Larry

 

It's actually a drug reference.
Gow was slang for opium.
Also referred to as a soup.
A person on opium was hopped up.
A gow job was
"hopped up/souped up"

 

Aww, ok, thank you.

Larry

 

A gow job uses the complete roadster body minus hood, fenders, etc.

A Speedster uses only the original cowl and possibly the rest of the front portion of the body. But the rear portion is either completely missing, utilizing only a seat, fuel tank and possibly wooden trunk or custom built, often in a boat tail configuration.

 

That definition fits in nicely with the 1920's era when these cars were in their prime.

 

Which one is this

 

I'd call that a speedster, Anthony. But with what looks to be a completely or mostly custom-made "body".
Speedsters were the first street driven cars that made an attempt to emulate very early race cars.
I believe I read that an early term that preceded even the name "speedster" was "speed car".

 

Speedster


Gow job

 

My take (extra hopped):

 

Gow jobs.

 

Do you pronounce gow like "cow", or like "go"?

 

Well, there's a whole thread of something like 40 pages with pictures of "gow jobs", so it seems relevant.

 

"Go"
the predecessor to the Hop Up

 

So...seems I have been saying it wrong in my head for quite some time now. At least it was only in my head...

 

I think it was Alex Xydias on a car TV show, was talking about the start of Hot Rod magazine. Something about not being fond of Hot Rod, bad connotations and all, "But what were they going to call it ? Gow Job Magazine ?". He said it like "Cow".
Mike

 

Never trust an etymology claiming to derive from an acronym. Exceptions tend to date from WWII or later, and are usually of the form where the acronym was the actual term for a thing, and people started pronouncing the acronym like a word e.g. L. A. S. E. R. -> laser.

 

Go Jobe

 

You mean like HAMB?

 

When I first heard about the HAMB I thought it was HAM, as in a bunch of guys on a car forum hamming it up with each other, but found I was wrong. See ? There we go again, where did the term hamming it up start ?

See this is an area that a person can quickly go down a rabbit hole for hours...
Man ! I did it again! Now it's rabbit holes !!

I'd better quit or I'll be at it until the cows come home !! Oh nooo!!! .....

...

 

"... until the cows come home."

And seein' since we don't have any cows...
it's gonna be a while.

 

Cool T-modified!

 

Actually, it came from a rhyme made up back in the teens, rumor had it, Ford himself - but I ain't buying that one... "Fords for gow, Chvys for plough" . (& also rhymes w/cow.) I get it, but always thought it(gow job), a rather stupid term. Slang of the day... Have also seen it reference a T totally stripped down to the rails, runnin' gear, rad, & steering. Nicest one was McUltys(sp?) Hot T. Usually references a fast car back then that was stripped-down. Depending on the era, & area(of the country), Speedsters could be body-less except for rad/hood/some-sorta-cowl w/seat-buckets like Ricky posted, may be fendered or fenderless. Interestingly, these were offered as factory-stock by some companies in late teens/early 20's.
Speedsters, early 20's->on, had more streamlining, mimicked the board-trackers & dirt-trackers of the day, sometimes referred to as "tail-jobs" back then too.
No one exact body style for the particular name back then, generalization at best. But you knew when you saw one.
.
Never heard the drug reference, but that also makes sense... sadly.
Marcus...

 

G.O.W.=Gas/Oil/Water...Olde Term...

 

Gray Baskerville explained it as rhyming with "cow".

I've never seen his name come up on the HAMB (that may be just me), so I don't know what the board's collective opinion of him is, but as a youth reading his editorials on keeping it real and favoring beaters, I was drawn into the culture.

-rick