I read this article written in Hemmings Motor News and found it interesting coming from more of a restoration oriented publication and I stopped when the article reached the era of muscle cars. The fundamental nature of hot-rodding has always been a reworking of old parts into something newer and faster. Hot-rodding as a philosophy of building vehicles has existed since before World War I. The earliest efforts of the pioneers who created the automobile strongly resemble hot-rodding, but because they weren't working from used, m***-produced parts, they don't quite t the mold. Only when the moving ***embly line permitted Ford to crank out Model T's in previously unheard-of numbers and at prices so low it brought motoring to the m***es, did the major ingredient of hot-rodding come to be. Once those affordable new Fords became cheap used cars, the stage was set for the first era of hot-rodding. The Speedster Era Speedsters likely first emerged in the Midwest, where racing on old horse tracks had become a popular pastime. The line between the earliest speedsters and a stripped-down race car would simply have been a matter of lights and license plates. Drivers of Fast Fords, as they were typically called in this era, didn't want to look like they were riding around on junk, though, so various bodies began appearing atop the Model T ch***is. At their simplest, those "bodies" consisted of a pair of bucket seats, a fuel tank, and a toolbBrendaox— shades of the expensive Stutz Bearcat and Mercer Raceabout sports cars of the World War I era. As the Twenties roared on, speedsters got more sophisticated. Race-bred hardware like overhead valve conversions from RAJO, Laurel/Roof, and Frontenac became popular on the street. Wood wheels, practical and durable at low speeds, were either covered to resemble disc wheels or replaced with disc or wire wheels. Wires, like those from Houk/Buffalo or Dayton, were particularly coveted due to their light weight, good ride, and improved handling. Of course, even at this early date, hot-rodding wasn't confined to the Tin Lizzie. The Chevrolet 490 and Superior series, along with Dodge Brothers' cars were all worthy candidates for speedsterization. While Model T mechanical's remained a popular basis for hot rods through the 1940's, the arrival of the all-new Ford Model A in late 1927 signaled that a new era was approaching.
The Gow Job Era With almost twice the horsepower of a T, but in a package substantially similar, the new Model A engine caught the fancy of speed nuts and the aftermarket. Between December 2, 1927, when Model A went on sale, and October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed, the Model A attracted considerable attention from hot-rodders and speed-part manufacturers. Those hopping up Model A's often didn't strip them down so thoroughly. That style spread through the ranks of folks still building Model T's as well—think of a speedster ch***is with a stock roadster or touring-car body (the latter were often cut down to just the front seat area), sans fenders, and you'll get the idea of a gow job. The new style also saved considerable effort and expense versus a speedster body. The advantage to building a Model T in the 1927-'35 era was that the T was highly advanced, thanks to race and street technology developed during the speedster era, but the sudden interest in the new Model A a**** the well-bankrolled of the era meant that Model T speed parts were not only easily obtained, but far more affordable than they had been when new. The gow job era also saw the first widespread engine swaps a**** enthusiasts. Once Model A's began showing up in junkyards, gow jobbers were quick to combine A engines with T ch***is or, more commonly, T bodies with A ch***is to instantly produce a more capable machine than either car in its pure form. The gow job style started to fade out in the mid-1930s. The Model A engine and its successor, the 50-hp Model B of 1932- '34, gradually became the dominant force in hot-rodding, displacing the increasingly antiquated Model T. The inexpensive Ford V-8 of 1932 caused a sensation with the public, but junkyard supplies didn't catch up until around 1936. The "bangers" as the T, A, and B engines remain known, continued to be a hot-rodding mainstay through the mid-1940s.
The ongoing Depression shook the aftermarket parts industry to the core. Many of the speed parts devised in the first swell of enthusiasm for the Model A had short initial production lives, though some, like the Miller OHV conversion, had second and third runs with other manufacturers. The economy started to recover in 1935 and there was a new wave of enthusiasm for hot-rodding. The bulk of this zeal had now shifted to California, where conditions favored the dual-purpose street/race cars. In the Midwest and on the East Coast, where the weather was harsher, race cars became increasingly specialized machines and fewer people were modifying street cars for improved performance. One notable exception was the Automobile Racing Club of America's (forerunner of today's SCCA) clever racers, who, in the absence of a large network of imported cars, used cast-off American and European parts to build road racing specials. Things took a different tack on the dry lakes of California, however, where gow jobs evolved. The basic form remained the same—a stripped-down Model T or A, and an increasing number of '32s—but technology and styling became more akin to the familiar hot rods of the postwar era. Early, 21-stud flathead V-8s began to show up in cars, and a slowly reviving aftermarket took to providing hop-up parts for both the V-8 and the Model A and B engines. Another source of influence and technology was the Indianapolis 500. The Brickyard had returned to its roots at the behest of new owner Eddie Rickenbacker. A production-based formula resumed at Indy for the 1930 race. Serious efforts were put forth based on Hudson, Buick, Hupmobile, Studebaker, and, of course, Ford V-8 engines. The Chevrolet four-cylinder, too, had its moment in the sun late in the hot iron era, with names like Lee Chapel, Bob Ru. , Chuck Spurgin, and Bob Giovanine showing what could be done with a Chevy block, an Oldsmobile head, and some ingenuity mixing and matching junkyard parts inside. Ru. used his to set a 140-mph record at Muroc Dry Lake (today's Edwards Air Force Base) in 1940. Dry-lakes racing had started out as a sort of hybrid acceleration and top-speed contest, but gradually (under the au****es of the Southern California Timing ***ociation, founded in 1938) became a one-car-at-a-time event with maximum velocity alone as the goal. Today we call it land-speed racing. Acceleration contests remained popular, however, and were increasingly a problem around the drive-in restaurants and other youth hangouts of Southern California. They would eventually lead to drag racing, a sport which helped hot-rodding go nationwide with a little help from an enforced four-year hiatus due to America's entry into World War II.
The War Years After Pearl Harbor, America needed to conserve tires. Automobile racing was formally banned (though some illicit lakes meets did occur during the war) and other driving was heavily curtailed thanks to gas rationing. Many hot irons went up on blocks for the duration as their owners commuted via streetcar, bus, or carpool to defense factories or entered the armed forces. Hot-rodders enlisting and being drafted caused them to mix with the general population in a way that had been impossible during the Depression years. They served as amb***adors to other Americans, spreading the tales of mechanical fun and proving their mettle as technicians thanks to their hands-on experience with high-performance engines. Technical training, both in the military and in defense plants, gave hot-rodding a boost in return. When they returned home, those who were still interested in cars applied the discipline and critical thinking they'd learned to their own cars and to their endeavors as aftermarket suppliers of hop-up parts. The Golden Age of the Hot Rod was about to begin.
The Golden Age of the Hot Rod The 1944 G.I. Bill famously provided educational and home ownership opportunities for returning servicemen. Less well known was its 52/20 clause, giving unemployed veterans $20 per week for 52 weeks. While many found jobs immediately, this safety net permitted others to take a chance on an entrepreneurial undertaking, like making speed parts. New cars were in short supply, but money and skills were not. Even those without any ambition toward racing on the dry lakes could see the advantage to driving a Model A or '32 Ford—especially if it was hopped up to the point its performance met or exceeded that of new cars. The Golden Age of the Hot Rod was also the pinnacle of the Ford flathead's desirability. The aftermarket was closely focused on the V-8, especially its 24-stud variants from 1939 to '48 Ford and Mercury cars. Many newer cars, like 1936 and '40 Ford coupes, received speed parts as well. In fact, hot-rodding in general was expanding beyond the roadster bodies it had always favored— something that also helped spread its appeal nationwide, where closed bodies had been more popular since the 1920s. The 1949 introduction of overhead-valve V-8s from Cadillac and Oldsmobile meant that the ********** of Ford parts in the hot-rodding scene was ending. When supply of new cars caught up with demand, the incentive to rebuild a 15-year-old car was greatly reduced. By 1953, the last year of the Ford flathead in the U.S. market, the writing was on the wall. Hot rods in the traditional sense were now a thing done primarily for self-expression. Those who simply wanted performance could go out and buy something like an Oldsmobile 88 and those who wanted to win races were going to build a race car, not a hot rod.
Hot-Rodding Fragments Whether you drove a Deuce roadster with a hot flathead or a brand-new Rocket 88, you were probably still curious how it performed—especially compared to other cars you deemed similar. In the immediate postwar era, you were more or less limited to challenging other drivers to acceleration contests on public streets. In Southern California, especially, this caused a huge public relations problem for hot-rodding. What had been marginally acceptable in the low-density population The plethora of now-abandoned (or at least under-utilized) airstrips across the country, built for the war, seemed to offer a solution. C.J. "Pappy" Hart was one of the first to explore that when he set up drag racing at the Orange County airport in 1950. Drag racing exploded in popularity and, in 1951, the National Hot Rod ***ociation was formed with the idea of formalizing it and becoming what SCTA was to landspeed racing. Starting in 1954, the NHRA "Drag Safari" crisscrossed the country helping local clubs set up safe, sanctioned drag races, and clean up their image and the perception of hot-rodding in general. Drag racing helped revive the dual-purpose street/strip hot rods. Not only were the early cars welcome to participate, but it was a venue for those with hopped-up late models to show off their stuff and compete against similar cars. Even factory fresh vehicles with a performance bent had cl***es in which to run.
Beginning in 1949, domestic automakers found themselves involved in a series of "horsepower wars." Makers that had gone into the 1950s offering perhaps two engine choices, by 1957 were offering a plethora of engines with up to 400 hp. Fuel injection, supercharging, and multiple carburetors were no longer the stuff of hot-rodding alone. In fact, it was almost silly to pour time and money into a 100-hp flathead when a 210-hp Chevrolet V-8 swapped in so readily. Following factory upgrades could boost that 265-cu.in. engine up to 240 hp, and the aftermarket was ready and eager to push those numbers even higher. One needn't even remove the engine from its original home, either, as a hopped-up '55 or '56 Chevrolet soon became a mainstay of hot-rodding right alongside the '32 Ford. This was only the beginning, though. After a brief hiatus following the 1957 AMA racing ban, factory performance cars made a huge resurgence starting in 1961. The muscle car era had arrived.
There is a old adage that states, "Art imitates life" or "life imitates art", regardless Mark's 32 roadster with the exception of color could p*** for the car in the article. HRP
Thank you, history was my favorite subject when I was in school, in my old age hot rod history is my favorite subject.
This is a very good example of hot rodding. And this article is why I find some people annoying, certain people have a very narrow window of their idea of hot rods, if it doesn't have a flathead, steel wheels, a certain look, etc or any combination of the above that fits in their definition of a hot rod then it's NOT a hotrod. One thing I learned at an early age is no one single person can claim to have the perfect idea of a hotrod. A hotrod is was more than1 single idea, it's a conglomeration of different era's, different ideas, different examples and different people. When you become so narrow on your thinking and idea what a hotrod is or was your missing a whole lot... Thanks HRP, sometimes people forget... .
I think we all have our slant on what makes the perfect hot rod or custom, but my idea may very well not be the next guys take on the subject, that's what I love about hot rods. HRP
My quite elderly friends Lee and Norma knew that I like old cars. We'd talk. I explained that "hot rod" is the term that we use, but if you go back far enough, there were other terms used for old cars, modified or not, such as "gow job", "strip down", etc. I asked them if they might be able to share with me any other old terms for old cars they might remember. Lee said... "jitney". Yes! Jitney! Awesome, Lee! That's going pretty far back. Now you have to understand that Norma had had a stroke. And she could talk, but not real easily, so she didn't talk a whole lot. But for my request, she visibly rustled up some effort, a small smile crossed her face, she raised one crooked old index finger and she exclaimed... "GAS BUGGY!" And we all three laughed. Wow... yeah... gas buggy. Thanks, Norma. You win.
'' GAS BUGGY " That's a new one, There use to be a elderly lady that was a family friend and I occasionally tan errands for her. I went by her house on the way home one afternoon driving my Model A pickup and when I met her at the door she said that's a " Cute Dune Buggy " that kinda burst my bubble. HRP
I just read the entire post and I must admit author actually did a good job on the article, It was much better than I expected and didn't cast hot rodders as the bad guys.
When I was a kid, my grandfather told stories of buying a few junked Ts from local junkyards. Combine the good parts to make something that ran, then running it until something broke.
From Gow Job to Hot Rod When is a hot rod not a hot rod? When it was built in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, a hot rod was called a “hop-up,” “soup-up,” or “gow job” (from “gowed up,” meaning intoxicated). The typical gow job started from a Ford 4-cylinder Model A (1928-32) or Model B (1932-34) that had been stripped down and performance enhanced for speed. As one hot rod enthusiast notes, “Hot rods are built to burn rubber.” A Model A’s top speed was 55 to 60 mph. To increase this top limit, a gow job mechanic would remove anything unnessary – fenders, bumpers, windows – to improve the power to weight ratio. The roof could also be lowered or the windshield removed. The real action was under the hood (if it still existed). The mechanic intent on speed could choose specialty parts from a variety of SoCal manufacturers. Stripped down, souped up, a Model A or B could go 80-90 mph, with the fastest cars topping 100 mph. Farmers with a talent for mechanical ingenuity took their souped up cars out on country roads to race. Later, meets were held at dry lakes where the cars could really be opened up and safety was less of a concern. One of the earliest timed dry lake meets was held at Muroc Lake, Kern County (now part of Edwards Air Force Base) in 1931. By 1938, the Southern California Timing ***ociation (SCTA) was operating time trial meets, and over 300 racers participated at Muroc Lake. Hot rodding still attracts numerous car club enthusiasts throughout California, and the SCTA still holds land speed trials at Bonneville Flats, Utah, where some of the fastest vehicles in the world come to make their mark on history.
I have my idea of a hot rod. But I can also appreciate someone else's ideas. There are a lot of different hot rod styles out there. To be narrow minded means you'll miss out on a lot of cool stuff!
Although I like the Hamb styled hot rods & customs the best, some of the 70's styled hoy rods catch my eye. HRP
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