History World's first street rod?

Him just a wittle guy....

 

These guys were pretty early. More of a cruiser than a hot rod...

 

Interesting replys.. I wonder if it would be possible to document (with photos) the first car race, road racer, hot rod, street rod, custom, drag race, lakes racer, etc. etc.. I'm not the one to do it, but it might be educational to see a list of the earliest samples of the varioius types of modified cars. Gary

 

The first time someone hooked up more than 2 horses to his Congestoga, that was the first street rod. Well, for as long as it was on a street.

I saw Cletus it made me think of Cletus Van Damme. You have to be a The Shield fan to remember that one.

 

yep. that's it! and I'm the authority.

 

old guy looks more like he needs a "double prune juice" on the rocks!

 

Doesn't look like an easter egg to me?

 

Back in the late 40's and early 50's my family was not car people at all and my grand mother was born in the 1800 era without cars. The one common thing I remember is every thing I did to my ride they all refered to it as a hot rod. Removing any fenders,running boards ect made it an instant hotrod in there eyes and any mods to the motor "Heads,Carbs" it still remained hot rod. In those times all my friends only owned one car and it served as transportation and raced on the street and early 50's at the drag strip. I don't recall the term "street rod" but it's possible in california or other states it was used.Call them what ever you want to but we had a lot of fun with all the old cars.

 

Worlds first boat tail roadster?


NO NO...........Worlds first dry lakes racer!

 

its already sitting on the running board..the dude looks like hes gonna cry.

maybe cleatus was the first cry baby doll

 

Id cry too if someone called any of my cars a street rod!

 

I figured you'd be the culprit!!! hahahahah

 

The car is in good running order and I’ve used it occasionally, including one trip to Mt. Pulaski, where the car was reunited with old Cletus


As it set on a trailer

​

 

See, it is the first street rod! This is the earliest known picture of a crying fender doll.

 

Dale is a great person and his history is much more colorful than Cletus'.

Dale was the youngest owner of a Harley dealership, Mount Vernon Harley...

He became famous for trading a bear cub for a bike, he raised the cub and kept it at the dealership...

The first person to finish the Great American Race on a vintage motorcycle...

Wheels Through Time is the best museum I've ever visited, when it was at the dealership in Illinois. The Batmobile, the Easy Rider chopper and many more vehicles than I can remember. The board track display is unbelievable....

 

Yup, X 10

And back to the Cletus car.....

Some of y'all keep drawing parallels to the first 'modified' cars or hot rods---this thing AIN'T a hot rod. It was an old car personalized by a crafty fellow to suit him---just so happens he did it a LONG time ago. The whole "street rod" thing is just a matter of interpretation......what's the definition of that term anyway? (and who really cares?)
It's just a neat car done ages ago, and pretty clever considering what was available back then as far as technology and tools and styling.

I still say it's a CUSTOM (kustom? )

 

This whole thing is ridiculous. First street rod? How does one figure that exactly? Sounds like someone is trying to establish a paper trail so they can cart this thing off to Barris in a few years

 

I don't think Dale was the first to build a street rod, not by a long shot, but he sure did build something pretty cool, a long time ago.
As far as street rods go, I can't get over the amount of ignorance I see on this board sometimes. The term "Street Rod" was being used back in the 40's (and probably earlier), learn a little history before you spout off.
A Street Rod was an altered car much like a hot rod, but it was meant for the street, hot rods were meant for racing. That's why there's a National Street Rod Association (NSRA) for cars like ours that our driven on the street, and a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) dedicated to race cars.
So whether some of you elitist snobs like it or not, if your car is registered for the street, you are driving a STREET ROD. This is easily confirmed on many of your cars simply by looking at the plate, since some states issue Street Rod plates, but none that I know of issue Hot Rod plates. When it comes time to register their cars, I don't know of anyone who quibbles about the term street rod being used on their plate, especially when that plate gives them special privileges to alter a car beyond whats allowed on daily drivers. Those special privileges that many of you enjoy on your so called hot rods were fought for by the National Street Rod Association.
Just because some guys build street rods that you don't like, that doesn't mean you can change the whole ball game, there are a lot of so called hot rodders that do some pretty silly things as well, so what do we do, form another splinter group (rat rods)?.
If your car is licensed and driven on the street, it's a street rod no matter what you call it.
We car guys better start sticking together a little more instead of always attacking each other, this I'm cooler than you are shit ain't gonna cut it anymore, there are a lot of people out there who'd like to see us all eradicated, no matter what we call ourselves, and "divided we fall".
My long winded 2 cents.

 

Know what a "walk thru sale" is? It's when a person is leaving or losing their house, and their life's belongings are sold for pennies, including the deuce he'd hung onto for over half a century.

Not a happy occasion and his expression is certainly justified, his next stop was probably a nursing home. He's an old hot rodder and it's a situation any of us could be in one day.

 

^Yep.

 

Hey, where are the twin spots? (LOL)