the first hot rod??

i was watching my cl***ic car on the speed channel this weekend and this car was on it.they said it was the first hot hod ever build.any body got any info on this??

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Wrong,... first hot rod had wooden spoked wheels.

 

yea...and had REAL horse power.....

 

Henry Ford was hoppin' up Model T's from day one. Does that count?

 

R.E. Oldsmobile on Daytona Beach , 1886 , speed 57 mph , don`t know if it was the first , but its gotta be close.

 

pic might help

 

I'm going with the first hot rod had all wood, metal bands on the wheels, some home brewed grease for lubrication, and a true stallion for the power...

 

Just goes to show you that some of those "Speed Channel" commentators don't know thiere azzes from page 8 and I have heard some pretty stupid comments over the years and I'm sure this one won't be the last ! Fred Flintstone was out chasing Azz in the "Rock Roadster" waaay before him and Barney were even drinking buddies !

 

that one got a write up in osr, or ckd, was a very early custom,1934-6 or so.

 

The car that was featured on the show wa sindeed ahead of its time on some features and was cleverly modded but not the first hotrod by any means........cool as hell yes,1st NO.

 

gramps ran shine in the 30s and he told us in the 20s they would take the body off of cars to race them ... i doubt this car was the first..

 

It was a cool car, but the super charged V8 emblem on the bonnet over the 4 banger was pretty stupid. Later in the show the "taillight guru" named some lights wrong too. I like Dennis Gage though.

 

De Dion Trike,1890's They were being rodded almost from the beginning and guys were racing them too.

 

First Hot Rod? I don't know what it was but it probably involved a small, light, cheap car and a bigger, faster engine from another car that got smashed up...

 

That story of that car is a FARCE as far as the first hotrod thing is concerned. You can thank OSR and CKD for telling such tall tales and kick Speed Channel execs in the balls for falling for it hook line and sinker.

 

I'm thinking the first roman that hooked a second horse to his chariot started the whole horse power race.

 

The first hot rod was made when an anonymous caveman stripped the bark off a log so it was smoother and would roll down hill faster.

 

Maybe I heard wrong, but I thought he said first "street rod", rather than first hot rod.

Bob

 

I'm gonna go with the 999 was the first hot rod,,,the year was 1902,

The two gents in the photo are somewhat famous,,,

The man seated is Barney Oldfield and the other fellow is none other than Henry Ford,,,HRP

 

I talked with the owner of the museum where it is displayed and the story was interesting. He said at the time that he thought it was the first street rod, not hotrod, because the builder actually used it to drive everyday as his driver. The original owner played in a band and towed a travel trailer with it when he went to his music gigs. In his later years, he parked the car in the ba*****t and it stayed there until he went into a nursing home. The museum owner went to the nursing home to try and interview the original owner and the guy wouldn't talk at all.
The museum is the Wheels through time motorcycle museum in Maggie Valley, N.C. and is a fantastic collection. The man who owns the museum is a treasure house of info about his collection and almost all his cycles run. He delights in firing them up.

 

I have an Amish friend who builds buggies for a living (beautiful work, I wish I could take pictures) anyway, I was up there one day and he was talking about his latest buggy, said it was going to be light and fast, and his eyes lit up like any other hot rodder!
His 2 sons were street racing one night and got their wheels tangled, 1 rolled over and ended up in a ditch, the cops cited him for racing, and failure to control his animal! He's still paying back the fine.

 

COOOL!!!!

 

No reason you can,t take pictures of his work as long as he isn't in them.I've got Family in Narvon and got to see and do things there a lot of "English"can't normally do .An Amish family lives directly across from my relatives and I asked permission to photograph their horses and some of their equiptment this was a younger couple with small children and i was careful not to include them in any pics.I wonder if your friend owns the wagon shop I got to visit ?

 

I think the line between Hot Rod and Race Car would be getting crossed with 999. Certainly in the teens and twenties lots of Model T's where getting modified into what would be early Hot Rods. The car pictured at the start of this certainly would be a example of a early custom but I'm aware of a really stunning Custom built in 1930. I am ****** useless on a computer but if someone knows how to lift some scans out of a book that are on thread on another site I would love to start a thread on that car as it has a great story and a wonderful pedigree. PM me if you can help.

 

I imagine the first hot rod was the first car ever built, after the builder was disappointed with how it ran and he started stripping it and trying to boost the power.

 

Maybe a color photo of the car is in order,,,,HRP

 

Wow, that is a great photo, A great example of composition. I give it a 10.
Henry Ford promoted and gained his backers with the exploits of this car. What is great is that the car itself resides in the Henry Ford Museum in Datroit.
I agree with a previous post that hotrodding began with the first car, and Henry Ford is a great example of that. I really don't think that the car in the original post was even close to being the first street rod. You literally had 30 years of experimenting before that car was built.

 

"Maybe I heard wrong, but I thought he said first "street rod", rather than first hot rod."

They had electric windows in 1934??!?

 

I saw that too, does not look like a hot rod to me with that 4 banger in it, maybe first custom.
I was kinda shocked how corny, that Dennis Gage is, I hadnt seen that show in 10 years