{"id":3800,"date":"2019-11-09T11:20:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T11:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/?p=3800"},"modified":"2024-09-12T16:16:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T15:16:17","slug":"hot-rods-what-are-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Rods – What Are They?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hot rod<\/a>. Today it means a lot of things, or should we say it\u2019s 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\u2019t call a modified Golf GTi a hot rod<\/a>, for example. <\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019d think then, that if the term hot rod is thrown at the older cars, that\u2019s 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\u2019s a hot rod. Pro-touring? That\u2019s a hot rod. Street rod? That\u2019s a hot rod. Gasser? That\u2019s a hot rod. Except, it\u2019s not, or at least it never used to be. A proper hot rod is very defined.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

John Milner with his ‘American Graffiti’ Deuce Coupe<\/p>\n

The etymology of the term begins back in the 1940s and its initial usage wasn\u2019t exactly favoured. The word \u2018hot\u2019 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 \u2018hot\u2019 car is obviously a fast one. But what about the rod bit? There\u2019s 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 \u2018rod\u2019. Uprate your cam, it\u2019s hot. Hot rod. Boom, simple. <\/span><\/p>\n

Except it\u2019s not. These days, \u2018hot rod\u2019 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\u2019t like the term at all. But before we explain why, we should look at the cars themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

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 \u201831, \u201832 and \u201834. The \u201832 would in fact go on to be one of the most desirable hot rods. <\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u2018flatty\u2019 Ford V8. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

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\u2019ll revisit. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

American band, ZZ Top with their alleged 200mph ‘Eliminator’ ’34 Ford<\/p>\n

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\u2019 passions, and as such, they were never going to be second rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, in the public vernacular of the time, the term \u2018hot rod\u2019 was applied to any old jalopy that didn\u2019t conform. This meant beaten up, broken, dangerous old relics that had no place on the road. Hot rodders didn\u2019t like this at all. It was akin to someone calling your restored E Type an \u2018old banger\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the preferred term used by the people that built these cars was \u2018gow job\u2019. A now very archaic term, \u2018gow\u2019 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\u2019re definitely going to be picking up what we\u2019re putting down.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

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 \u2018hopped up\u2019 or \u2018gowed up\u2019. And that was pretty commonplace until the \u201850s, when the youth vernacular adopted hot as a synonym for what we might refer to as cool in today\u2019s language. Hot date, hot girl, hot guy, hot car\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

By this point, the origins of the \u2018rod\u2019 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\u2019s own thing, and a thing that has gone through an interesting transition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ford,<\/p>\n

Due to the cultural re-appropriation of the word \u2018hot\u2019, the rodders apparently gave in and accepted it. It\u2019s not the given term for these modified American classics. And in accepting it, it has grown to a point where, like \u2018gow\u2019 of old, the rodders have to defend its definition – call a hot rod<\/a> with a beautiful, original patina a \u2018rat rod\u2019 and you\u2019ll see what we mean. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for what a hot rod is, it\u2019s open to interpretation today. At its core though, a proper hot rod is a home-built, big power, loud, pre \u201848 car that\u2019s built for one thing and one thing only, and that\u2019s to go damn fast. And that\u2019s the definition we should stick to, because nothing else should wear the name.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, you may know of a different origin, in which case we’d like to know more. Drop us a line and share your welcome knowledge. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hot rod. Today it means a lot of things, or should we say it\u2019s been appropriated as a colloquialism to represent a lot of things. The term hot rod can,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":3801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2],"tags":[1172,1173,1174,15,12,13,11,784,61,1171,1175,308,1176,14,16,1177,38],"yoast_head":"\nHot Rods - What Are They? - Car & Classic Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The term \u2018hot rod\u2019 gets bandied about a lot. But what are they, where did they come from and what\u2019s a proper hot rod? Car & Classic investigates\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hot Rods - What Are They? - Car & Classic Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The term \u2018hot rod\u2019 gets bandied about a lot. But what are they, where did they come from and what\u2019s a proper hot rod? Car & Classic investigates\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Car & Classic Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-09T11:20:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-12T15:16:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1932-ford-ford-hot-rod-807621.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1637\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"969\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Car & Classic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Car & Classic\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Car & Classic\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39\"},\"headline\":\"Hot Rods – What Are They?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-09T11:20:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-12T15:16:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\"},\"wordCount\":1267,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"31 Ford\",\"32 Ford\",\"34 Ford\",\"automotive\",\"carandclassic\",\"carandclassic.co.uk\",\"classic car\",\"custom car\",\"Ford\",\"Ford Model\",\"gow job\",\"hot rod\",\"jallopy\",\"motoring\",\"retro car\",\"tuned car\",\"V8\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Classic Cars\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\",\"name\":\"Hot Rods - What Are They? - Car & Classic Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-09T11:20:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-12T15:16:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"The term \u2018hot rod\u2019 gets bandied about a lot. But what are they, where did they come from and what\u2019s a proper hot rod? Car & Classic investigates\u2026\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hot Rods – What Are They?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/\",\"name\":\"Car & Classic Magazine\",\"description\":\"The latest in the classic car world - articles, news, how to's, advice and more\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Car and Classic Limited\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png\",\"width\":4262,\"height\":3881,\"caption\":\"Car and Classic Limited\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39\",\"name\":\"Car & Classic\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Car & Classic\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/author\/car-and-classic\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hot Rods - What Are They? - Car & Classic Magazine","description":"The term \u2018hot rod\u2019 gets bandied about a lot. But what are they, where did they come from and what\u2019s a proper hot rod? Car & Classic investigates\u2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hot Rods - What Are They? - Car & Classic Magazine","og_description":"The term \u2018hot rod\u2019 gets bandied about a lot. But what are they, where did they come from and what\u2019s a proper hot rod? Car & Classic investigates\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/","og_site_name":"Car & Classic Magazine","article_published_time":"2019-11-09T11:20:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-12T15:16:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1932-ford-ford-hot-rod-807621.jpg","width":1637,"height":969,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Car & Classic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Car & Classic","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/"},"author":{"name":"Car & Classic","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39"},"headline":"Hot Rods – What Are They?","datePublished":"2019-11-09T11:20:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-12T15:16:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/"},"wordCount":1267,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization"},"keywords":["31 Ford","32 Ford","34 Ford","automotive","carandclassic","carandclassic.co.uk","classic car","custom car","Ford","Ford Model","gow job","hot rod","jallopy","motoring","retro car","tuned car","V8"],"articleSection":["Classic Cars"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/","name":"Hot Rods - What Are They? - Car & Classic Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-11-09T11:20:23+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-12T15:16:17+00:00","description":"The term \u2018hot rod\u2019 gets bandied about a lot. But what are they, where did they come from and what\u2019s a proper hot rod? Car & Classic investigates\u2026","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/hot-rods-what-are-they\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hot Rods – What Are They?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/","name":"Car & Classic Magazine","description":"The latest in the classic car world - articles, news, how to's, advice and more","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization","name":"Car and Classic Limited","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png","width":4262,"height":3881,"caption":"Car and Classic Limited"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39","name":"Car & Classic","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Car & Classic"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.carandclassic.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/author\/car-and-classic\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3800"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31500,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3800\/revisions\/31500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}