Hot Rods – What Are They?

3

Chris Pollitt

Hot rod. Today it means a lot of things, or should we say it’s been appropriated as a colloquialism to represent a lot of things. The term hot rod can, rightly or wrongly, be applied to any car that is anything other than standard. Generally it tends to be pushed on older modified cars rather than your modern, big wheeled, big winged machines that are generally referred to as being modified. You wouldn’t call a modified Golf GTi a hot rod, for example. 

You’d think then, that if the term hot rod is thrown at the older cars, that’s okay. Old modified cars are hot rods, right? Well, sort of. Again, the term is whitewashed over many styles and traditions in a bid to unify them for the uninitiated. In reality, a true hot rod is a standalone thing. Yet because of pop culture references, that shift to it becoming a colloquialism and general misinformation, a hot rod is deemed by many to be any modified old car. Dragster? That’s a hot rod. Pro-touring? That’s a hot rod. Street rod? That’s a hot rod. Gasser? That’s a hot rod. Except, it’s not, or at least it never used to be. A proper hot rod is very defined.

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John Milner with his ‘American Graffiti’ Deuce Coupe

The etymology of the term begins back in the 1940s and its initial usage wasn’t exactly favoured. The word ‘hot’ is fairly obvious in its usage, especially when applied to a car. Hot is a word that you associate with passion, with fire and urgency. A ‘hot’ car is obviously a fast one. But what about the rod bit? There’s much speculation around this, but one common train of thought stems from the vernacular at the time, when a camshaft was referred to as a ‘rod’. Uprate your cam, it’s hot. Hot rod. Boom, simple. 

Except it’s not. These days, ‘hot rod’ is a widely accepted term, both by observers of these machines and of the owners. However, back in the day, people that built and owned cars that were referred to as hot rods didn’t like the term at all. But before we explain why, we should look at the cars themselves.

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These cars were born out of boredom. The end of the war brought with it many returning soldiers, soldiers who had been trained in engineering. And what better way to pass the time than to tinker with old cars, of which there were plenty. The main bread and butter of the early hot rodder came from the Ford stable. The Model T was a popular car for hot rodding, as was the ‘31, ‘32 and ‘34. The ‘32 would in fact go on to be one of the most desirable hot rods. 

While there is no hard and fast rule on what a hot rod is today, the cars that started the movement were somewhat more defined. The idea behind them was simple – less weight, more speed. As such, these cumbersome old cars would lose their fenders and running boards, the bonnet would usually go, as would any sort of interior or roof mechanism. The front tyres would be swapped out for smaller, narrower items, while the rears would be beefed up in the name of better traction. The engines, usually four-cylinder units, were binned off in favour V8s, or should we say the flat-head ‘flatty’ Ford V8. 

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These cars were not quickly torn down and built back up. These guys took a great deal of pride in what they were building, and as such, did an extremely good job. And this is an important point to remember, and one we’ll revisit. 

As the hot rod evolved, so did the amount of work. Lowered suspension was commonplace, but as salt-flat racing grew in popularity, so too did an understanding of how air affects things. Salt racers become more streamlined and slick, and this bled through to the hot rods on the road. Cars were lowered as we mentioned, but then they would be chopped. A chopped car has had several inches removed from the roof uprights so that it may sit lower. Not only does this look cool, it also means less drag. And if that wasn’t enough, cars would then be channelled. By this, we mean the body would be altered to have higher mounting points, so as to lower the body overall. A lot of work, but very cool when done.

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American band, ZZ Top with their alleged 200mph ‘Eliminator’ ’34 Ford

These early iterations of the hot rod were works of art and the forebear of a huge part of car culture. They were, for the most part, well-built and expertly engineered. Built for speed both on the road and on the track, these cars were expressions of their drivers’ passions, and as such, they were never going to be second rate. 

However, in the public vernacular of the time, the term ‘hot rod’ was applied to any old jalopy that didn’t conform. This meant beaten up, broken, dangerous old relics that had no place on the road. Hot rodders didn’t like this at all. It was akin to someone calling your restored E Type an ‘old banger’. 

Instead, the preferred term used by the people that built these cars was ‘gow job’. A now very archaic term, ‘gow’ was a name for opium back in the 1800s. Opium was used, with a cocaine garnish, to increase the performance of racehorses. Can you see where this is going? If we told you another name for opium was hop, you’re definitely going to be picking up what we’re putting down.

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As these words filtered down the years, their origins loaned themselves to those tuned cars. As such, the guys who built them would happily refer to them as being ‘hopped up’ or ‘gowed up’. And that was pretty commonplace until the ‘50s, when the youth vernacular adopted hot as a synonym for what we might refer to as cool in today’s language. Hot date, hot girl, hot guy, hot car… 

By this point, the origins of the ‘rod’ bit once again fall into question. Some say it was still in relation to the camshaft. Others will tell you it was an abbreviation of the word roadster. At this point, nobody can be really sure. Now the term hot rod is it’s own thing, and a thing that has gone through an interesting transition.

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Due to the cultural re-appropriation of the word ‘hot’, the rodders apparently gave in and accepted it. It’s not the given term for these modified American classics. And in accepting it, it has grown to a point where, like ‘gow’ of old, the rodders have to defend its definition – call a hot rod with a beautiful, original patina a ‘rat rod’ and you’ll see what we mean. 

As for what a hot rod is, it’s open to interpretation today. At its core though, a proper hot rod is a home-built, big power, loud, pre ‘48 car that’s built for one thing and one thing only, and that’s to go damn fast. And that’s the definition we should stick to, because nothing else should wear the name.

Of course, you may think of know of a different origin, in which case we’d like to know more. Drop our editor a line at [email protected] and share your welcome knowledge. 

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