Hot Rods What is a "real" hotrod?

I call mine a hot rod. It's old tin, has a lot of horsepower, I built every piece of it myself (except for the interior my wife stitched up). The car has over 30,000 miles since first rolled out in 2002.

I also keep screwing with it, making "improvements", changing things. That, to me, is a hot rod.

 

Sure hope mine Falls in that Hot Rod category cause I would hate to have to call it something else.

Beaner..... Do I pass your test?

 

Naw I've been around a long time and know that it has to have red wheels.

You pass my test well enough, but I am the happy owner of one rattled out C-Dan these days.

Pretty sure. Wait a minute let me ask the fellas.

@volvobrynk and anyone else for that matter, when I was a little kid it was a common modification for model 40 Fords was to throw a Deuce grill shell on. *That would have been the very late '50s or early '60s. I don't really know when it first became popular. I like the shape of a '33/34 grill shell but it is not really popular with a lot of people and the deuce grill shell really changes the look of the car.

I think we sometimes we confuse a hot rod with hot rodding. You can hot rod anything but that doesn't make it a hot rod. The concept is the same as it has been since the beginning, take the lightest body you can find and shove the stoutest motor you can lay your hands on in it.In late '40s it may have been a flathead V 8 in a model A or a beefed up B banger in a T. Later it may have been the valve in head from wrecked land yacht in a Deuce. Those were and forever will be hotrods.

But like I started to say anything can be hot rodded. Hell Mr. Roth souped up a skate board. Was it a hot rod, nope it was just a souped up skate board but the concept was the same. Sometimes we confuse the concept with its roots.

I think where we run into a problem is when we paint ourselves into a corner. We like roadsters and in the beginning they didn't let you run anything but roadsters on the dry lakes. But the kids on the street, the ones that got the name "Hot Rod Kids" weren't all driving roadsters were they? In my case the corner I have been painted into is the truck and coupe corner. Hell I would never consider actually owning a sedan, so in my mind if it wasn't a coupe or a pickup it couldn't be a hot rod. I guess somewhere along the way I made an exception for cars like the Orange Crate or the Little Coffin.

Confused yet, hell I'm tryin'.



*when I was a little kid

 

Well said my thoughts exactly

 

What a good thread. I made the mistake of saying "Street Rod" when I first showed up here a few months ago. Owning a hot rod is all new to me and I didn't realize the friction between car lovers that apparently exists. Honestly, I don't quite get what that friction is all about. If everyone conformed to any certain group's rules of how a car should be done, it would be pretty boring.
Hell, I like all of them. I can see beauty in some Rat Rods. It makes me smile to see a kid working on his own car, I don't care what kind it is......at least he's not playing video games and ultimately he is the future of what a car guy really is.
I understand this group being more of the traditional hot rod type. But it doesn't mean you should be nasty to others that come along seeking advice. Many, like myself a few months ago, simply don't understand the difference. When people ask me what my plans for my car were it kinda threw me off a little. It seemed obvious to me the answer is make it roadworthy, put some interior in it, paint it and drive it.
I'm just now beginning to understand the differences, though I'm probably confused. A few things I read in part of this thread makes me believe I, for all practical purposes, have a hot rod. The one thing in particular that makes me feel that way is I plan to drive my car. I don't see it ever being trailered to shows or having a gazillion dollar paint job. It's not a traditional hot rod, but it's a hot rod to me.

 

move to 1:34 he says in this HOT ROD...so
anything that anybody has can be a HR...

 

i use the word hot rod like i use the word athlete.
the debate, for me, is drawing the line on the word real.
is it at a professional level of elite? those with the ability of the N.H.L., N.B.A., N.F.L. etc...?
or is it the daily jogger?
For me i dismiss the competition eating guys [i have family members that out do them in between meals] and the kids that play T-ball. these are not athletes. just like i would not count a "stickered" up honda with fuzzy seat covers, or a toyota 4dr primed black.

NOT A HOT REAL ROD!

 

bottom line, individual choice...

 

Hot rod is just an opinion without pictures!...jeeeeeez this is the HAMB ! We looooove pictures!

 

I was going to say something derogatory about John here, but he has always treated me well and many of you would not understand the joke.

OK then this is a hot rod






And this is not

 

Cut off to be a "hot rod" for me is 5 mph crash bumpers.

 

Suthunman no offense intended here but with a wheel change that car would be a first class jalopy.

The lines and the stance are about as good as it gets.

 

I'll take that as a compliment! You aren't alone in your opinion. It's the one thing I consistently hear, Whether it's from the hot rodders or the street rodders. No one likes the wheels. One of these days I will change them.

 

Yes you are ones again completly rigth, the first one is a hot rod, but it's not a rod for me, too many doors.

The last one ain't a hot rod, it's a project, and that one I actually likes!

Now get in the shop and channel it, no chop, go to spring in front with moved front cross member, tardel-style rear kick up, full fendered, juice brakes and steelies. Eeld it sll eith stick, ans paint the fraim with a brush. And get it back on the road, you can do it! ☺

 

Call it what you want. I know what a traditional hot rod looks like. To me if it's really fast and I mean FAST, I'll call it a hot rod and you can agree or not, as you wish. I won't be offended either way.

 

I'm working on it. If nothing gets in the way I am working on motor mount today. When I am done I may even post a couple of pics of my process on the deal.

I like Mr Tardel real well, both of them, but if it gets a kick it will get a beaner kick. LOL.

All in good time my friend, it aint a contest.

Mr @afaulk agreed, although I probably won't own a digger any time soon. I would like to burn nitro on the street just one time though.

 

I guess to old guys it may be a pre 49 to other it can be a tri five. three pedals or not, at the end of the day It will be like the chicken and egg , Just hope we don't scare young people away because we cant agree on what is a HOT ROD and what is some thing else.
IF YOU DIDN'T BUILD IT YOU SHOULDN'T DRIVE IT. just call it what you like and have fun.

 

My first few years of being on here.. I got smacked by the Hamb police a few times.. Then shut my mouth... Then mainly researched a few things before taking on my own build of my Model A tudor. Then I said screw it.. I cant please everyone, and Yeah there are the great phrases not to use on here... But honestly enjoy the bickering back and forth some days. We all know that no matter how traditional or non traditional something is, Its got 4 wheels and a motor, and has some nostalgia along with the old tin we have found. We have some common threads in all of us since we take the time to be on this Forum... Society has put labels on every damn thing in the world. I kind of like the blanket statement of Hotrod.. But for the record. Hotrod is fenderless and always will be in my mind. Don't care how many pedals it has, or chop and channel. And not something painted like an Easter egg either. Trailer cars are not hotrods.

As much motor as a man dares to put in, as low as he wants to go, and engineered to his best ability. Built by himself for himself.

 

My Hot Rod to me. Only thing I didn't do is the frame rails, cuz dem needs a proper jig to be a driver.
I'll get help with the interior also, can't stitch.

 

no room for 3 pedels NOT a hot rod

 

Dual quad 392 Hemi, 3 pedals, 4:10 gears, slicks, and it's a '32 Ford Roadster, yeah it's a Hot Rod
KK

 

May not have 3 pedals, but damn sure looks like a hot rod to this old man!

 

Don't have 3 legs either.

So I got this old B&M hydro in the garage, I guess if its not a hot rod transmission I will just lay it on the curb on big trash day.

 

....enough talkin ...dust off the tools off and get to work!

"......old school hot roads with soul, to be driven hard and put away dusty!"
Todd Kindler -High Noon Speed Shop


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/take-me-home-counrty-roads.996237/#post-11225692

 

We started a business 15 years ago called "Real Hot Rods" and produced this little modified. Negotiations are underway to get it back in production early next year. I will post more info if it comes together.

 

FASI
Is that along the lines of the Zipper that was being produced back around the early part of the century?

I always thought that was a neat idea, made a place for a lot of fellas to get started and learn while they were having fun.

 

I saw a car the other day that most people here would call a Rat Rod. To me it was a Hot Rod in every sense. It didn't have any of the skulls, rats or welded spider webs you see on some. It was built by the guy with what he had to work with. Is that not a true Hot Rod, building a car with what you have and can afford? There's nothing wrong with copying what was done "back in the day"..........but this guy had DONE what they did "back in the day". He had built the best and fastest car with what he had to work with and built ever much a true Hot Rod as any I've ever seen. JMHO

 

Yes it is along the same line. We did all the welding fitting and drilling. The idea being to put enthusiasts behind the wheel who wouldn't otherwise be able to build one.