Hot Rods Automotive terms that don’t make sense....

And smiling

 

i was in the army with a southern guy who talked about his camaro with a "scoop" on the back. turns out he was talking about a spoiler!

 

It's from the era when headlights were fueled by acetylene. So you literally burned your headlights this was around the 1880s until about 1910 (model t was 1914 I think).
Side note I think tail lights in this era were kerosene fueled.

 

How do you know I am an automotive nerd? I know that grease zerks are named after Oscar Zerk.
I prefer to call them Zerks in honor of their inventor because they really are awesome.

 

I've only ever known them as grease nipples. That's what they've always been known as here. Don't know about the rest of the English speaking world.

 

He said nipples!

 

Wray - you look so young!

 

The first time I heard the term “doghouse” was from my dad. He tasked me with changing the air filter on his motorhome.
He spies me looking through the little opening in front of the MH and trying to get the wing nut off the lid, the “No Mike, take the doghouse off”

Huh?
So he explains what he means.
I asked him why is it called a doghouse?

He says “set it on the ground”

Sure enough, it resembled a dog house.

for anyone wondering what I’m talking about it’s the removable housing cover on the inside of the vehicle that give about full access to the top of the engine and the BH area as well.

I will say it would only work for a short legged dog though. …

 

Who knows what a dashboard is? Yeah, you're thinking of gauges rt now, most of you are anyways. A dashboard is the panel ahead of the coachman on a horse drawn carriage. "Dash" is horse shit off the street, so the front panel was the dashboard. Today, what we call a firewall is actually referred as the dash panel. Mostly it's a liability thing for the OEMs so as not to let the public think it protects them from fire. It doesn't. The instrument panel holds the gauges and controls.
Still, we're all all gonna continue to use the colloquial terms so we can communicate effectively. Unless you're building some channeled Amish buggy with big and little wagon wheels your worries about "dash" in the road is moot.
That history info, coupled with $1.59, will get you a large coffee at the gas station.

 

This is an example of a front grille..... You don't want to see a rear grille!

 

Never understood how automatic transmissions worked
but
now I understand why

 

what to do if your house only has cold water? put in a "hot-water heater"!

 

They won't let you in the door for $1.59 a Starbucks !

 

If you called it a cold water heater people would look at you funny ! its just a water heater .

 

There was still dash in the streets back then...

 

Starbucks sux, I don't like coffee that needs a fork.

 

Never felt the need to try it !

 

Starbucks is a milkshake shop.

 

13 pages and 380 posts and nobody has grumped about calling a wheel a "rim".
I'm disappointed in the HAMB possie. You guys are dropping the ball here..... big time.

*I skimmed many posts so if I have stepped on anyone's foreskin by overlooking a mention, I apologize.
..

 

Inflation must not have hit SE Michigan yet!

 

How about spare doughnut
Hey Flow how about a spare doughnut to go with my buck seventy nine coffee LOL

 

why do you need to heat hot water in a hot water heater?

 

Coffee flavored Coffee?

 

JC Whitney also advertised "EXTRA SUPER FULL"racing cams.
6sally6

 

catfish..........dogfish...dolphinfish (NOT to be confused with Dolphin) ???
Mahi-mahi are dolphinfish so why not call them that ?!
6sally6

 

RPM - We all know it is Revolutions Per Minute. But now on the internet and in magazines, RPM's seems to be prevalent. Revolutions Per Minute's? How many minutes? That makes no sense.

 

It involves counting. One word or two, it makes a difference.

 

2 (TWO) barrel