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what qualifies as a "hot rod"

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by willmont, Oct 23, 2004.

  1. im just curious, i got a 47 for pickup this weekend with a great orginal body on it but new paint, been restored bout 10 years ago, i want to leave the body in stock condition just cause i like the way it looks but i wana do a bunch of stuff with the motor, its got a 20 year old 302 in it right now, without doing any chopping or channeling would it be a hot rod or just a loud restoration that goes faster than a stock one?

    just wondering

    will
     
  2. Unkl Ian
    Joined: Mar 29, 2001
    Posts: 13,507

    Unkl Ian

    Modifying a pre '48 stock vehicle for increased performance would fit my definition of a hot rod.
     
  3. Brad54
    Joined: Apr 15, 2004
    Posts: 6,021

    Brad54
    Member
    from Atl Ga

    Who cares? Call it whatever you want, just have fun with it!

    I saw a KILLER '46 Ford today: black, about stock height, original interior, repop tires--but wait; it was running Cad Sombrero wheel covers, and had a capped cut-out poking out behind the front wheels, under the fenders on both sides. And the front piece of chrome trim on the hood side was shortened to only about a foot long (hell, that could be stock for all I know). Was it a Hot Rod, or a Restoration+? Who cares? I thought the car was cool, and enjoyed looking at it! And he was enjoying driving it.

    Enjoy your truck--and since it's Halloween season, throw a few hay bails in the bed and some pumpkins. Then take the neighborhood kids out trick-or-treating. THEY'LL let you know what they think your truck is!

    -Brad

     
  4. cool, i was just curious, didnt wan to catch flak over calling it to wrong thing, hehe, its fire engine red you can see it a mile off.

    will
     
  5. DrJ
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 9,419

    DrJ
    Member

    The Top Eliminator, fastest car at the local drag strip last Saturday night is THE HOTROD...
    All the rest are just hotrod-wannabe Street Rods.
    "Second Place Ain't Shit!"
    A Hotrod is all about going fast and being the fastest, or constantly trying to attain that goal.

    I think that's why some guys, a lot of guys, just say screw it and build Customs instead.

    Hotrods are for fighters, people who live to win win win, at whatever it is.
    Customs are for lovers, and artists, to express their æsthetic individuality.

    Customs, A less aggressive hobby, as long as you stay away from the trophy hunt.
    Then it becomes competition again, but even more difficult than racing, where the clock is all you have to convince you're the best.

    I think, in that way a "Street Rod" could be called a custom that is built to look like a hotrod, rather than to actually be a competitive racing hotrod. At least that's the way I see my '40 GMC. It's definitely not the fastest rocket in town!

    On your truck,
    If it's got a more powerful engine in it than what came from the factory, it's a hotrod, if you want to call it one. [​IMG] [​IMG]

    (look it up in a dictionary!) [​IMG]
     
  6. Automotive Stud
    Joined: Sep 26, 2004
    Posts: 4,368

    Automotive Stud
    Member

    Hey, hot rod is really in the dictionary!

    Anyway, I don't think you have to have the fastest car in town to have a hot rod. And contrary to popular belief these days, hotrods don't have to be primer [​IMG]

    I think you cross the road from restoration when the early Ford V8 guys get pissed looking at your car [​IMG]
     
  7. kentucky
    Joined: Jun 12, 2004
    Posts: 1,006

    kentucky
    Member

    Hot rods are all about the attitude [​IMG] Kinda like pornography, you can't describe it but you know it when you see it [​IMG]

    That said a 47 pickup with a hot SBF and the right stance and wheel/tire combo could definitely be a hot rod. Post a picture of it for us if you can.
     
  8. JohnnyB327
    Joined: Jul 9, 2004
    Posts: 908

    JohnnyB327
    Member

    loud, fast, quick, quick to stop and mean. All done w/ a pre '48 auto.
    Anyways i dont really call em hot rods but HOP UPS!
     
  9. Automotive Stud
    Joined: Sep 26, 2004
    Posts: 4,368

    Automotive Stud
    Member

    Ahh, HOP UP, one of my favorite terms! [​IMG]

    Oh, I'm getting all excited... [​IMG]
     
  10. Fat Hack
    Joined: Nov 30, 2002
    Posts: 7,709

    Fat Hack
    Member
    from Detroit

    Hot Rod? Any car modified from stock to enhance it's performance and/or looks.

    32 Ford with a tripple carb flattie? HOT ROD!

    57 Chevy with a tuned port 350? HOT ROD!

    78 GMC 4x4 with a stout 454? HOT ROD!

    99 Tiburon with a cold air kit and carbon fiber hood? HOT ROD!

    70 Mustang with a tunnel rammed 351-C? HOT ROD!

    66 GTO with headers and slicks? HOT ROD!

    41 Chevy truck with a 327? HOT ROD!

    49 Chevy with a V6? Ummm...uhh...wait a minute there... [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

     
  11. Dirty2
    Joined: Jun 13, 2004
    Posts: 8,902

    Dirty2
    Member

    John Force calls is Funny Car an old Hot Rod !!! [​IMG]
     
  12. Morrisman
    Joined: Dec 9, 2003
    Posts: 1,602

    Morrisman
    Member
    from England

    I'm building my old '34 Morris into just the style I want, and I'll call it a hot rod.

    Everybody else can call it what the fuck they want to. It won't mean shit to me [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  13. repoguy
    Joined: Jul 27, 2002
    Posts: 2,085

    repoguy
    Member

    To me, a hot rod is any car built for speed.

     
  14. JoeCollectible
    Joined: Sep 24, 2004
    Posts: 196

    JoeCollectible
    Member

    hotrods get more horsepower from a motor than if it was stock, no matter what size.

    I vison my hotrod to be a bigger meaner faster version of my old sears lawnmower... man I miss that thing. [​IMG]
     
  15. AHotRod
    Joined: Jul 27, 2001
    Posts: 12,279

    AHotRod
    Member

    THIS IS MY HotRod!
     
  16. Kustoms are for getting girls.
    Hot Rods are for getting away from them.
    -Robert Williams

    Hot Rod to me equals:

    1. tossing anything that isn't necessary to make it lighter or stop quicker
    2. doing everything you can afford to your driveline to make it faster

    A Hot Rod is the auto world's version of a chopper. Not the shit cartoon choppers you see on TV now, but the chuck everything you can, build the motor to the hilt choppers of days gone by.
     
  17. DrJ
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 9,419

    DrJ
    Member

    Been thinking it over some more and I think I like the word hot rod as a verb more than than as a noun.
    Similar to the lowrider being in reference to the style and attitude of the driver rather than the lowered car, hot rod is more understandable as an activity, something you do to a car rather than what the car is.
    A hot rodder hot rods a car.
    He hops it up so it goes faster, and maybe lowers it or changes the springs and shocks so it handles better.
    He is hot rodding the car.
    Does that necessarily make that car what everyone will recognize as a hot rod?
    Maybe, maybe not.
    It might just end up looking like what the British call a "tuned" Aston Martin ready for some GT racing but the activity of hopping it up, hot rodding it, tuning, or race preping a car is all the same.
    It 's making it different from how it was when it came from the factory, with the emphasis on better performance.

    There's a repair shop a few blocks from me that's had a '32 Ford pickup sitting, un moved, in a stall since the 60's that I can remember.
    It's not for sale.
    It's not a "hotrod" either, even though the valve covers that you can see through the hood louvers say Corvette on them.
    Why is it not a hotrod?
    The owner says it's just a truck.

    If you channel and/or chop the top on a car so it will have less frontal area in the hopes that it will go faster in speed course racing, then that is hotrodding.
    If you channel and chop just to look cool while stylin' on the boulevard, that's customizing.
    Does that make any sense?

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  18. Smokin Joe
    Joined: Mar 19, 2002
    Posts: 3,770

    Smokin Joe
    Member

    Part of the deal is that the owner beefed up/improved the performance. A 6 banger 65 Nova with a V-8 swapped in is a hot rod. A stock C5 Corvette that can whip the Nova's ass 6 ways from Sunday is NOT a hot rod. Like DrJ said, it's as much about the builder/owner as the car. A Street rod is a car built for better street performance. A Hot Rod to me has to go farther than that.
    Street rods are like dogs that make good pets & bring your slippers.
    Hot Rods are more like wolves. You take them more seriously when they snarl.
     

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