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Can a "Four Door" be a "Hot Rod"

27K views 110 replies 35 participants last post by  Northstar T 
#1 ·
I titled this introductory post simply to get an opinion and introduce myself as a "new subscriber". I've always been a "motor head" since my youth, first on the block - in the neighborhood to have a mini bike, go-cart, then a motor bike (whizzer - wish I still had that one), then first to have a car....but I am the "back yard" mechanic type...no major builds, body off restorations, simply the "under the hood" wrenching needed, and I've built - repaired a lot of body components with old license plates and "bondo"...so you see the type of "wrench head" I am....love the "Barrett Jackson" cars, but mine are more "Drive and Enjoy" classics. Now with that said and getting back to the title of my post. I look for, buy, drive, fix and flip the somewhat "Un-conventional" classics...you know: Vans, Wagons, Corvairs, Vegas, VW, Pinto, Maverick.....love the "off - classic" cars....somewhat lean toward the Ford brand. Just to give you a little more background on my likes; When I go to the local "Bike Nights", you know where everyone rides a HD, I ride a Triumph....local "Car Shows", you know where everyone drives a Camaro or Chevell, I drive and show off my Ford Maverick...so that's my intro, my question and current ride: 1975 Ford Maverick (four door), "Police Interceptor" (mock), black beauty, trophy winner....is she a "Hot Rod", I think so and a blast to drive. Hey, can we post pics on this site? Thanks for listening (reading).
 

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#76 ·
Like you, I remember the definition of hot rods from the earlier days... I.E....

"A hot rod is a pre-World War 2 car, modified for performance"!
I still like that definition best. :)

Today's generation has redefined it into...

"A hot rod is anything anyone wants it to be! ...even if it is just a stock Prius with a custom cigarette lighter, modified to give you an audio alert that it is hot enough!" :-(

Get used to it. They won't go back to the original def. {:-(
 
#78 ·
If a "Hot Rod" has to be based on a pre-WWII car, there'd be so few "true hotrods" left that the legislators would have virtually zero opposition to banning them outright.
We need the active participation of as many folks as possible in the "modified cars" hobby, just to vote down the uninformed idiots who get elected.
 
#80 · (Edited)
I agree with Jay !!:thumbup: Its like the Custom car Yrs ago a Custom had to have at least 3 major body mods like top chop or, sectioning, radiused corners, filled seams , frenching , tunneling and on and on, but know simple bolt ons are looked at as custom ' when I was young a Hot rod was usually in primer and unfinished but driven as minor work was still being done on it , a street rod was finished, Convertibles were heavy, sedans also heavy, but 4 door post cars were lighter and usually used for sleepers and made fine hot rods and drag cars, and great Customs!

Jester (Chris)

My old 4 door below: Went from a Gasser to street sleeper, and still was appealing and won many shows ! it had filled seams , lead body sculpting, frenching , rolled front and rear pans and tunneling and still was not considered a custom in the 60s or 70s!

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=269434&stc=1&d=1453155606
 

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#85 · (Edited)
The term Rat Rod in the beguinning evolved from Rat Bikes ! I rode a chopper all over the states and Canada when young and had street rods , And never heard of a rat rod but in the biker circles an unsafe ratty looking motorcycle was called a rat, Then bike shows started having a rat bike class for fun!

A few yrs later the term rat rod started floating around and it was aimed at the rattiest looking cars you would see ( unsafe, ugly , dirty, (bailing wire and duct tape Etc!! Then it caught on and a rockabilly culture took hold of it LOL Now the rat rods are innovative with great creativity, and engineering but never finished or detailed. I even took jobs in my shop to turn a high priced finished street rod into a rat rod in appearance only in this new decade LOL Its funny how quick it went from a ratty unsafe rolling mess to where the rat rod is now:thumbup: The jalopy was a car still on the road that just was old and in disrepair , and still driving around, With dented floppy body parts ,rusty, bad tires, holes in the exhaust, torn wore out seats engines rattling and knocking and back fireing and continually defying logic and still making it down the road (like the Beverly Hillbillys Jalopy truck) !! A jelopy is not a puposly built car its just wore out and in disrepair!!

A Rat Rod was just a Ratty looking un planned botch that was unsafe uggly and when bailing wire or duct tape was used for an emergency repair it remained there and was never ever repaired properly and after many repairs like this it became what we called a RAT, But now rat rods are much closer to resembling unfinished hot rods from yrs gone by, that used to be called hot rods!! I really think rat rod is not what they are any more they are actually what we called a hot rod , Their not really RATTY or unsafe anymore anymore!!:thumbup: The Rat Rod today is purposely built to look like what we called a ratty rod yrs ago before it became a trend! We all can relate to seeing a car with a tin can wrapped over an exhaust hole or a throttle linkage made with bailing wire or a license plate holding a fender or running board on and saying what a ratty or stupid thing to do :eek: Well yrs ago a motorcycle or car that was full of those kind of repairs is what in the beginning was called ratty LOL now its done for looks and not needed, underground welds left on purpose a crooked top chop on purpose, floors made from street signs done on purpose or no floors ETC, not from laziness or inability but for pure effect!

I do not know why Ratty became a trend or a quality someone wanted for their cars but it has become a real culture today, Even to go as far as painting a car to look like patina or using acid to add rust to good clean parts or actually denting and ripping and unfinished welding what were good body parts !

My buddy bought new 34 ford fenders and just ratted em out with acid rust and sledge hammer dents and cut them with nibblers just to weld them with bubble gum welds so they would look ratty on his rat rod he is building :eek:
That kind of thing drives me nuts:mad: It used to be: use what you find and make it work :thumbup: Now its buy new stuff but tear em up or ruin a good project car for a restorer or hot rodder that really needs it , instead of them actually using salvageable ratty parts that they could find to actually do a real low buck rat rod build!

The other part of this is rat rods were low buck owner builds in the beginning that was the whole part of the culture:thumbup: Now there are professionals that are building 100,000 dollar and more RAT RODS and TV shows dedicated to it! To me: I do not class those as RATRODS I see those as expensive custom creations like done for Hollywood movies built for the elite class That are trying to fit in or use the custom creation as an attention grabber ! That Custom Creation is no more a rat rod then the custom creations built for "Mad Max: Fury Road"`

Just my thoughts:thumbup::mwink: Being a young boy hanging with my Dad that was a Hot rodder after his time in the Army after the War in the 40s and 50s and seeing the changes over the yrs in what things were actually called and seeing how the uninformed called things the wrong name and that wrong name catching hold and becoming the norm and replacing the actual name and driving guys in the know and in the Hotrod culture crazy . (like HIGH BOY man has that title changed since the 40s)

Jester (Chris)
 
#88 ·
Mid 50's, had so many PERFORMANCE VEHICLES the last 40 years I couldnt count them. The term Hot Rod is such a general term taken so many different way I think you stand a better chance with World Peace than you do getting people to agree what the term Hot Rod means, LOL :D

Look it up on GOOGLE and it says...

hot rod

a motor vehicle that has been specially modified to give it extra power and speed.


Oh ya that really narrows it down, thats like saying I live on Earth, LOL

But look up the word Hot Rod on Google Pics and I see what I have always considered a Hot Rod. To me thats a Bad *** 30's, 40's or 50's heavily customized machine. Doesnt mean it can get out of it's own way but to some a Hot Rod can have a 6 cyl, 4 doors, 5 doors, anything goes.

So to answer the op yes a 4 door can be a Hot Rod but in my book that surely doesn't make it a performance vehicle. I think the year the vehicle was made is what makes it a Hot Rod, Classic Car, or Muscle Car. But it's the Motor, Trans, & Rear that will decide if it's also a Performance Vehicle.
 
#91 ·
You are right. My '67 pickup does look kind of forlorn.:( But it is actually well loved and reasonably well cared for. I just do not have room for it in my shop, and it has not been washed since winter set in. It is patiently waiting for rockers and cab corners, but meanwhile it runs and drives good. :thumbup:
 
#96 · (Edited)
N.H.R.A. and N.S.R.A. in the 60s and 70s and early 80s didn't recognize anything newer then '48 as a hot rod Now they are recognizing newer cars but the majority of members wanted it left at '48! '48 and newer was considered too new to be termed a hot rod. I can't remember what year they started changing and letting in newer vehicles?

Jester (Chris)
 
#102 · (Edited)
There were a lot more pocket mags then HOT ROD :thumbup: To think you need engine mods to hot rod a car is way off base to what it was yrs ago! In the 50s if you just pulled the fenders off an old model A and removed the hood and installed a loud Smitty Mufflers or steel packs it was considered a hot rod it was light and faster actually! Many hot rods were not fast at all when I was a boy they were lowered or raised, they were stripped down and streamlined with stock engines and ran dirt tracks or on the streets engine mods were not important unless no mufflers is an engine mod ?? A High boy with stock engine and running gear and loud exhaust was a hot rod in the day :thumbup: A 40 ford channeled and chopped with a loud exhaust and stock flat head, was a hot rod! especially setting in a high school parking lot! There was the term (man that girls hot) There were "Hot Pants" And when you saw a car you liked it was "Man thats a "HOT ROD" Later the word Groovy or Cool was used Like in the coffee shops among the "beatnik" Crowd
But maybe Hot Rod was a area you lived in type terminology or what the kids you hung with thought But in my area there were souped up hot rods hot looking hot rods and cruising hot rods some made fast and some just for looks that made the owner happy and it reflected his personality and likes in a car! Building a Hot Rod Was a personnel preference and freedom (rebellion in a way) in the beginning, not a fad or culture till it caught on and was copied by people turned on to it and was trended and has progressed into what it is in today's culture!
My thoughts on terminology in the area I grew up in Born in '46 and having a father that built hot rods of his own after the war and his war buddys that did the same thing I have a good idea what hot rod meant to hot rodders in my area from the time I was old enough remembering riding in his HOTROD and burning rubber on the streets with his buddys and tearing up the dirt roads!
In the beginning It wasn't talked about on the radios, (There were no TVs) No Mags on the subject not any advertizing of it, just passed on to other enthusiasts from word of mouth and what was seen on the street and spread in a very short time across the American continent!! I don't know where it started or what yr. or the first hot rod (maybe a horsless buggy LOL)but it may have started in more then one spot and more then one car? We may never know Like who first changed his horse drawn buggy to make it lighter and lower and sleek so it was faster that led to harness racing today?

Jester (Chris)
 
#108 ·
There were a lot more pocket mags then HOT ROD :thumbup: To think you need engine mods to hot rod a car is way off base to what it was yrs ago! In the 50s if you just pulled the fenders off an old model A and removed the hood and installed a loud Smitty Mufflers or steel packs it was considered a hot rod it was light and faster actually! -Jester (Chris)
Yeah, a lot of beloved car magazines have fallen by the wayside over the years... my closets and attic are full of them... I can't throw them away... I have the important technical articles and page numbers noted on the back covers... a 1940 Popular Mechanics shows how to make a minibike (2 1/2 HP Briggs/wheelbarrow tires/EMT frame) long before anybody ever heard that word supposedly invented in California in 1960's... what you're describing above, we would have called a 'doodlebug' around here... and, of course, our Dad's yelled at us for "hotrodding" our beginners cars if we drove them simply without the ugly wheel covers... but, to me, hotrodding will always be turning a tepid engine into a snorting engine... back in the Depression years of the 1930's, my Dad built a doodlebug tractor from a 1928 Chevy because GrandPa didn't have the money for a real tractor to farm with... and the farm horses were getting obsolete... used the Chevy 3 speed tranny mated to a 4 speed truck tranny for 13 speeds forward and 7 in reverse for a very low speed first gear and un-tractor-like speeds top gear... big military truck rear tires... not a hot rod, Chevy 4-banger left stock... but still the fastest tractor around... LOL!
.
 
#103 ·
I just got done my "1st" build with some questionable non-educated guesses. Specifically in the area of squish and rod stretch. It runs like a boss in the barn, up to operating temp, but no road test possible. I may have created your "true hot rod definition". Time and spring will tell. Your definition hit a funny bone (sort of) NM
 
#106 ·
I am just amazed and shocked that anyone would put forth less than their best at what they were doing. Sure there are times when we can't get to everything for what ever reason..if I were to put out chicken crap welds my dad would have skinned me and that might have been easier to take than the chewing out that I received...

Sam
 
#107 ·
Spoken like a true perfectionist, some of us have other interest than being perfect, we just work hard, try our best and sleep well at night with no worries, no disrespect intended. Just the way it is, but the fact is I have done this project while many I know have absolutely know idea what is under the hood of a car. That's enough for me and I have enjoyed the fruits of my labor to boot. N
 
#110 ·
There is a wide range of how nice a car can be. From the mind blowing detailing of a real show car to a driver with dents and dings, I dig them all. Any older car is interesting to me.

I always say the best part about any car is the smiling face behind the wheel!


Brian
 
#109 ·
Interesting to bring up a tractor.. The one my Dad built was from a wrecked logging truck. took the cab and fenders off, shortend up the frame and welded some spring hangers for some front end he had and there was the tractor. had a blade on it and an arch on the back. He cleared quite bit of land with that thing. To me that is what this is all about to build something that is not available with parts at hand..

Sam
 
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