This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Excessive Violence Sexual Content Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id: WHEBN0000436522 Reproduction Date:
Hot rods are typically old, classic American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. A possible origin includes replacement of the camshaft with a new ("hotter") version, sometimes known as a hot stick or hot rod. Roadsters were the cars of choice because they were light, easy to modify, and available inexpensively. The term became commonplace in the 1930s or 1940s as the name of a car that had been "hopped up" by modifying the engine in various ways to achieve higher performance. A term that was common in the early days to refer to a hot rod was a "gow job". This has fallen into total disuse except with historians.
The term has broadened to apply to other items that are modified for a particular purpose, such as "hot-rodded amplifier".
The term seems first to have appeared in the late 1930s in southern California, where people would race their modified cars on the vast, empty dry lake beds northeast of Los Angeles under the rules of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), among other groups. The activity increased in popularity after World War II, particularly in California, because many returning soldiers had been given technical training in the service. Many cars were prepared by bootleggers in response to Prohibition to enable them to avoid revenue agents ("Revenooers"); some police vehicles were also modified in response.[2]
The first hot rods were old cars (most often Fords, typically Model Ts, 1928–31 Model As, or 1932-34 Model Bs), modified to reduce weight. Typical modifications were removal of convertible tops, hoods, bumpers, windshields, and/or fenders; channeling the body; and modifying the engine by tuning and/or replacing with a more powerful type. Speedster was a common name for the modified car. Wheels and tires were changed for improved traction and handling. "Hot rod" was sometimes a term used in the 1950s as a derogatory term for any car that did not fit into the mainstream. Hot rodders' modifications were considered to improve the appearance as well, leading to show cars in the 1960s replicating these same modifications along with a distinctive paint job.
Engine swaps often involved fitting the Ford flathead engine, or "flatty", in a different chassis; the "60 horse" in a Jeep was a popular choice in the '40s. After the appearance of the 255 cu in (4.2 l) V8, because of interchangeability, installing the longer-stroke Mercury crank in the 239 was a popular upgrade among hot rodders, much as the 400 cu in (6.6 l) crank in small-blocks would later become. In fact, in the 1950s, the flathead block was often fitted with crankshafts of up to 4.125 in (104.8 mm) stroke, sometimes more.[3] In addition, rodders in the 1950s routinely bored them out by 0.1875 in (4.76 mm) (to 3.375 in (85.7 mm));[3] due to the tendency of blocks to crack as a result of overheating, a perennial problem, this is no longer recommended.[4] In the '50s and '60s, the flatty was supplanted by the early hemi. By the 1970s, the small-block Chevy was the most common option, and since the '80s, the 350 cu in (5.7 l) Chevy has been almost ubiquitous.[5]
After Wally Parks created the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to bring racing off the streets and onto the tracks. They created rules based on safety and entertainment, and allowed Hot Rodders of any caliber the ability to race. The annual California Hot Rod Reunion and National Hot Rod Reunion are held to honor pioneers in the sport. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum houses the roots of hot rodding.
As automobiles offered by the major automakers began increasing performance, the lure of hot rods began to wane. It was no longer necessary to put a Cadillac engine in a Ford roadster to be fast. It was now possible to buy a muscle car that outperformed just about any hot rod, with more passenger room, and without having to expend the effort of building and tuning the car oneself. After the 1973 Oil Crisis, the public called on automakers to offer safety and fuel efficiency over performance. The resulting decrease in an average car's performance led to a resurgence of hot rodding, although the focus was on driving hot rods over racing so the term 'street rod' was coined to denote a vehicle manufactured prior to 1949, often with a more reliable late model drivetrain. Street rodding as it was now known was a different phenomenon than hot rodding, as street rodding was mainly family oriented. National events were hosted by the National Street Rod Association (NSRA), which also stressed safety as the NHRA did 20 years before, but this was safety for the street as opposed to on the race track. Each NSRA event has a 'Safety Inspection Team' that performs a 23-point inspection process that goes beyond what normal State Safety Inspections Require.
In the mid-1980s, as stock engine sizes fell, rodders discovered the all-aluminum 5 liter Rover block and crank, a maximum displacement of 317.8 cu in (5,208 cc) is theoretically possible.[7]
There is still a vibrant hot rod culture worldwide, especially in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden. The hot rod community has now been subdivided into two main groups: street rodders and hot rodders.
There is a contemporary movement of traditional hot rod builders, car clubs and artists who have returned to the roots of hot rodding as a lifestyle. This includes a new breed of traditional hot rod builders, artists, and styles, as well as classic style car clubs. Events like GreaseOrama feature traditional hot rods and the greaser lifestyle. Magazines like Ol' Skool Rodz, Gears and Gals, and Rat-Rods and Rust Queens cover events and people.
Author Tom Wolfe was one of the first to recognize the importance of hot rodding in popular culture and brought it to mainstream attention in his book The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.
There are magazines that feature traditional hot rods, including Hot Rod, Car Craft, Rod and Custom, and Popular Hot Rodding. There are also television shows such as My Classic Car, Horsepower TV, American Hot Rod, and Chop Cut Rebuild.
The culture is vibrant in Sweden and Finland where enthusiasts gather at meetings such as Power Big Meet and clubs like Wheels and Wings in Varberg, Sweden have established themselves in Hot Rod culture. Since there is very little "vintage tin" the hot rods in Sweden are generally made with a home made chassis (usually a Model T or A replica), with a Jaguar (or Volvo 240) rear axle, a small block V8, and fiberglass tub, but some have been built using for instance a Volvo Duett chassis. Because the Swedish regulations required a crash test even for custom-built passenger cars between 1969 and 1982, the Duett option was preferred, since it was considered a rebodied Duett rather than a new vehicle.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Some 1950s and 1960s cars are also hot rodded, like Morris Minor, Ford Anglia, Volvo Amazon, Ford Cortina, '57 Chevy, to name but a few. These are known as custom cars (sometimes spelled Kustom).
Certain linguistic conventions are followed among rodders and customizers:
Some terms have an additional, different meaning among customizers than among rodders: NOS, for instance, is a reference to new old stock, rather than nitrous oxide.
Top Fuel, Andra, Islamabad, Funny car, Motorsport
Swedish language, European Union, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania
Mazda, General Motors, Ford Fiesta, Henry Ford, Detroit
General Motors, Pontiac Catalina, Oldsmobile, Pontiac Star Chief, Chevrolet
Oldsmobile 98, Oldsmobile 88, Oldsmobile Cutlass, General Motors, Oldsmobile Toronado
Hot rod, Ford Motor Company, Pontiac, Mercury (automobile), Ed Roth
Star Wars, Elvis Presley, Francis Ford Coppola, Modesto, California, Charles Martin Smith
Hot Rod, United States, Southwest Street Rod Nationals Plus, Western Street Rod Nationals Plus, Street Rod Nationals South Plus
Hot rod, Drag racing, United States, Kustom Kulture, Skinhead
Hot rod, Kustom Kulture, Welding, Custom car, Amc Amx-gt