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

How about "universal joint"? What makes them so universal?

 

mid 50s?

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/265-chevy-build-ideas.1182504/

 

Why does one park in the driveway and drive on the parkway?

 

I’m with you. I never heard of that until Al Gore invented the internet.

 

I’m pretty sure a “barrel” is related to the odd system of imperial weights and measures, and the English language. A Barrel is an eighth of a Tun These images came from describing wine containers, but I am pretty sure rather than referring to several different names, we settled on barrel to describe a cylindrical object. Ever hear the phrase, “we drank a ton”?

 

Sorry, I’m nerdy about this, but the double consonant is the plural form for abbreviations in the English language.

 

Fine Corinthian Leather

 

The “hogshead”

 

Why is the word abbreviation so long???

 

Wrong!

 

No! That’s an oxymoron.

 

Semaphore

 

Motors are electric.

 

And having one on your engine makes it easier to start.

 

From my dad teaching me to drive 50 years ago.....Throw out the clutch....What??....as I stalled the engine....again.

 

So then 1bl would be correct?

 

Rocker panel.

 

Signal

 

Life would be better if we used the same names for things

 

A lot of people here use words the way bored magazine writers did. -----I blew apart my car....What??

 

Doghouse.
I grew up hearing the front fenders and hood assembly refered to as the front clip.
Others refer to it as the doghouse.
Could be a regional thing.
Akin to reading "I'm going to sale my car" along with "Is your car for sell"

 

Calling a dent a dint gets me. Is it a small dent but bigger than a ding?

 

Jack. Why not Fred or Billy or maybe Jose?

 

Keg.

Another barrel derivative! No doubt due to the shape, like the end of a barrel.

 

Headers

 

Jack, as a word, has many meanings other than being short for John (which it isn't)

 

Radiators don't radiate, they process heated water for the air to cool.

 

They attach to the heads.

 

They do in cold countries, e.g. England. People have them plumbed into their homes. Each room has one.