Hot Rods Another Attempt at a Definition

^This. It makes for good(?) forum discussion fodder, and the public at large loves to categorize and label everything it can, but it feels wrong to try to label someone's unique vision of what an automotive subject should be.

 

Surely every car with a flame paint job says, "I am a hot rod," meaning whoever shot or ordered the paint job has already labeled or categorized the car. I'm not after categorization. I'm trying to understand the impulse behind the build — an impulse I myself experience often enough.

Don't you enjoy taking things apart?

 

That worked with a 2bbl..

 

I agree with what you are trying to say, but I think that the words (vernacular) that people like us tend to use often have poorly defined meanings which often overlap, or mean something different in different zip codes and even different countries. Take the oft used and abused word , Cool,Kool,Koul...........we all think we know it when we see it, but .............we differ on when its applicable.

 

If that were true, then there would be no classes in any type of racing. Then you would have factory stock vehicles running against blown fuel dragsters. There would be mild customs competing against full-blown all-out customs, or maybe we shouldn't have any type of competition at all, and everybody gets a trophy. Does your avatar actually define what that vehicle is and your interest in it, or would you be happier with a picture of a Smart Car?

 

Hot rod worms ... f**k they're fast!

 

For a number of years , Daryl Waltrip would yap & yammer about late model stock cars being hotrods , never understood why !? Different strokes for different folks !

 

Good luck on your quest for a definition, but I don't think this is right place to ask. Not because the membership isn't able to provide and answer, but because I suspect most feel they shouldn't need to.

 

I'm not forcing anyone?

Or would you prefer to leave the definition to hostile sociologists and the like who have no understanding of hot rods?

 

One of those terminologies that encompasses more than just a definition. Interpreted different, and something no group of people can come to the same conclusion on. By definition a civic can be a hotrod. If they were coined donkeys back in the day, we would be talking about what qualifies as a donkey. Funny.

 

[/QUOTE]
Competitive racing is a different animal that requires classification.
The term hot rod has it's own subsets which can be subjective.
Pre war
Gow job
Traditional
Pre 1948
Mild custom
Full custom
East coast vs West coast
There are more I am sure.
There have been posts on the H.A.M.B. that state if it isn't a pre-32 with no fenders and a flathead it isn't a hot rod. Others have posted if it's newer than 1948 it should be defined as a street machine. Why not just enjoy the vehicle as it is?
My point is that I don't hold the view that a vehicle has to tick certain boxes to be deemed a hot rod.
If the owner thinks it is that's ok by me. If others do or don't that can be their choice.
We all have our own mental guidelines that determine what a hot rod is and we know it when we see it irrespective to others opinions.
As far as trophies go I know plenty of folks who enjoy showing of their vehicles and hanging out with other car nuts and could care less about a trophy and know others who will argue about classification and complain if they don't win one.
My avatar is a picture of a engine sitting in a stock 1953 DeSoto 4 door. Is it a hot rod? Not in my opinion

 

If I may defer to the Supreme Court on another subject : "I may not be able to define it. but I know it when I see it..."

 

The worms you have released this time also seem to be operating on an intellectual plane that is maybe a little to high for the great unwashed.

 

Oh waiter, I will have another round of ( QUIXOTIC ), with a twist!

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And can you bring a bowl of some of those ( OEM ) lug nuts, these chips are stale !
Thank you !

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The best definition I’ve ever heard and agree with is: “I don’t know what the definition is but I know one when I see one.”

John Force calls the thing he drives for the NHRA a Hot Rod and Rusty Wallace said the same thing about his NASCAR. I’m guessing what I said doesn’t fit everyone.

 

Can I make some adjustments?

"A hot rod is any vehicle that has had it's performance enhanced (to unreasonable levels) by modification or upgrading from its original components (by someone of questionable mental stability using all of their disposable income)"

 

You ain't far off w/this one. .
Marcus...

 

That's what I was getting at. Can a hot rod really be a hot rod without at least a little where-angels-fear-to-treadery going on?

 

You been talking to my psychiatrist ? Yep, that's probably a lot more true to life than my definition !

 

Absolutely. A hot rod should scare you a little in some way. That's when you know the execution is perfect.

 

A friend today said "Hot rodding means taking things that don't belong together and putting them together so that you get something cool and fast."

Can't argue with that.

 

Years ago I lost my hearing on one side and my vestibular system in a matter of hours. The Specialists I saw finally diagnosed me with Minear's disease. One rather famous Dr. Epley that I had the honor of being his Guiney pig during that period said Minear's Disease is the name we give to it when nothing else applies or explains it. So perhaps a Hot Rod is what is left when stock, original, restored, custom, clown car (timely), retro-rod, rat rod, street rod and non-operable show cars are removed from the mix. “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be a Hot Rod" Sir Bandit Billy Doyle

 

I hate it when someone beats me to.........nevermind.