shot rods

was reading a coffee table book and the writer mentioned the term shot rods. anyone heard this term, or built one?

 

never heard of it but I'll be sure to keep checking back to see the post

 

Don't quote me,but I think it was a '50's put down for an un-kool(rusty,badly painted,slow,clapped out)rod/custom/jalopy that the owner was trying to pass off as kool.There is a great R'n'R instrumental from the late '50's titled "Shot Rod" by Connie & the Bellhops which features the sound of rough motor breaking down.
Paul

 

So, that's what a rat rod was called back then? Gary

 

One of the surf bands... Beach Boys or Jan & Dean, did a song in the 60's titled 'Shlock Rod' so it may be something similar..

"I got a 48 buick and it's painted green'
Shlock rod, beep beep.'
'All the kids on my block say it looks real keen"
'It's got big chrome stars on the side of the hood,
and those 6 exta tail-lights sure look good..."

Cheers, Glen.

 

I read once that a hot rod was a car you're working on and a shot rod is one on which no work progresses.

 

Yeah,that's probably about right

 

Shot rod and rat rod are modern terms.



Beater was a term for the unfinished hot rods that were being driven while they were still being worked on. Some guys liked driving them and never got much further than being streetable. It never was their goal only their current state of restoration.

There were often "beater contests" at the local rod runs for us. There was even a slogan that was often used..."It's better in a beater"

In my case I had a beater of some kind for several years to drive while I was working on my real hot rod in the garage. This tag was on my 48 Chevy Woodie wagon. All stock except for 8" 4x4 truck rims. It's hard to believe that that was 30 years ago.

 

So if rat rods now are shot rods and beaters of old, does that make them Traditional?????????????

 

LOL - I think your on to something

 

Go ask slaughterhouse customs.


And yes, the term has been around for years/decades.

 

nope

 

I heard the term "shot rod" in the 60's. There has always been thrown together junk in the car world. The junk then wasn't really the same as the junk now, so that doesn't make RRs traditional. Not many people would go to the trouble of chopping and lowering a shot rod.
As far as "beater" goes, around here they were everyday driven cars that didn't look as good as some of the nicer cars but were dependable transportation.
Larry T

 

i drove my beater to work on bad weather days,fishing,to the junkyards ,and the beater is the car i taught my kids to drive in. i loaned the beater to people i didn't want deiving my good cars.

 

I've been involved in this hobby starting in the 50's, and, at least in Southern California that word was never used.
It sounds like something that a newspaper journalist would call a crappy rod that was involved in something bad, or maybe a term used in one of those kids paper back books about hot rodding.
But in SoCal 50 years ago, no...never heard it.

 

X2 not on this site

 

Am I losing it, or was their a bubble gum trading card set by that name?

 

oh no,is this gonna be the post of the day ??

 

ditto here on the never heard it, but some of you have been rodding since before I was hatched, so I'm no guru of terms...

I saw a guy with a '29 Ford that had bullet holes in it. I'd call that a shot rod. He'll be at BTT 50's. I'll look for him and ask. I'm not making that up, It looks field fresh. If I had a dollar for every field car I've seen used for target practice...

 

"Shot Rods" could it have evolved from the fake bullet hole decal sickness..oh my!

 

guy i know paid 8 grand to get his 30 coupe painted and flamed. shows up at the first carshow with those bullet decals everywhere.....SHOT ROD!!!

 

Yeah, Jan & Dean. There's even "Schlock Rod Part II", extended version goes like 6 minutes long.

"I've got one big truck tire that's low on air
Makes her sit a little lopsided but I don't care."

 

It seems to me that I saw one of the first series ('50's) Dragnet episodes where Friday and his partner (Frank Smith) were trying to track down somebody in an old beat up car that was terrorizing the neighborhood. Their investigation finally brought them to the local hot rodders who were law-abiding, "well-groomed", and had nice cars. If I remember correctly, the president of the local "hot rod club had a very nice Model A roadster with a flathead. He informed Friday and Smith that is one of the local bad guys, who drove a "shot rod"

 

My parents called all hot rods, "strip downs."

 

Don't think rat rods & Beaters are even slightly related.Plenty of kool beaters out there,always have been.Can't say the same about the rats.....
Paul

 

This is classic! The guys in the background are just laughing their asses off! What the hell is that box thing on the passenger side of the engine compartment! Thats a big ass battery!

 

I remember the term, 'shot rod', from an episode of 77 Sunset Strip.
They were referring to a bunch of bad guys driving shabby rods... NOT like Kookies T.
That had to be about 59 or 60, I think.

I never heard it again until today.

 

The first time I heard the term was when one of the neighbor kids brought home the oil drippingest, noiseyest, nasty lookingest, push it down a hill to start it, O/T Nova I have ever seen outside a junk yard. Thats what his dad called it, I thought he made it up.