Hot Rods What's the difference between a speedster and a gow job?

Exactly like HAMB. "The HAMB" appears at least twice at the top of this page. Using an acronym in a grammatical context like that, assigning the article the to it, is a relatively recent thing.

A lot more terms come from colourful language, with nothing more to it than that. Someone with a knack for evocative turns of phrase makes up a word on the spot, and it sounds so right to those present that they don't quite register that they've never heard it before. It could even be an interjection, a mere sound which happens to express their response to something. It starts orally; it only becomes writable afterwards. The word or sound gets used again in that circle, and then it spreads beyond that, and eventually it's popular and nobody knows where it started. And the interjection somehow became an adjective while nobody was looking.

So my theory: Gow (rhymes with cow) began as a cross between Ugh! and Wow! Isn't that pretty much what it means?

 

Baskerville was kool.

 

A speedster usually has a minimal or no body - think Stutz Bearcat. The gow job typically has a lightweight roadster body.

My impression was “gow” became slang in the thirties, with the long w pronunciation somewhat mimicking a southern accent of the word go. The early rods were “go jobs” which became “gow jobs”.

 

Not an attempt to argue the name or pronunciation, just saying GO JOB sounds alot cooler than GOW.

 

Aren't we lucky it wasn't cocaine. The slang term could have been "blow", which would have given us a whole different thing to debate........

 

according to 'Mr. Bones', Ken Schmidt (RIP) GOW stood for 'Gas' 'Oil' 'Water' .....
My Granddad always said 'bat tree' for the power source to start the car....'six Volt bat tree'

 

This is a speedster.

 

this is a GOW job.

 

I was in bootcamp years ago with a Louisiana Cajun and a "bear" was a "barr" when he told a story so I do think slang and accents do account for some of the words we wonder about today.

Just like "you all" becomes "yall", I sure did enjoy that Cajuns stories...

...

 

So where does "Banger" enter into all of this? Does it strictly refer to a 4 cylinder?

 

Not in my book as my "speedster" will have a straight six in it. 6 volt system with a generator but something that could have been built in the mid 30's that resembles a 2 seat Indy car or those drawings of 20's / 30's Grand Prix cars on those posters.