Hot rods, street rods, kustoms and a few other things

Hot rods, street rods, kustoms and a few other things

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Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Thursday 19th June 2014
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Following some ramblings on the "photos of decently modified cars" thread it seemed like a good idea to stop polluting that thread and start a new one, so here we are.

The intention is I'll add posts to the thread as it goes along on stuff related to hot rods and the culture. In no particular order we'll cover the cars themselves, some history, influences and some of the important people over the years.
I should add that I'm no authority on all of this, there are people out there that are far more informed than I, hell some of the people and cars that we'll cover are still around ! So, if I get anything wrong please do correct me. I'll also quote sources for further reading when relevant.

By all means ask questions or if you have suggestions on what you would like to read about post a reply.

So, first of all a difficult question.. what is a hot rod ?
Its a question that usually starts arguments, "its gotta have 3 pedals", "gotta be pre-48", "gotta be steel" people will say.
The short of it is there is no strict definition of a hot rod, in a very broad sense your local chav saxo is a hot rod, now that would be a controversial thing to say!

One thing for sure, the definitive hot rod is the '32 Ford roadster. We'll go over some of the cars in a later post, but for now just look how timeless this is..

Gray Baskerville driving his '32 Ford roadster in 1977

Where does the term hot rod come from ?
That isn't too clear either, we know its a post war term. In the 20s and 30s the cars were known as gow jobs, in this period to call someone's car a hot rod or someone a hotrodder was offensive. Hotrodders were hoodlums, bad news.
This is from a 2001 issue of street rodder that explains the origins of gow job
Street Rodder said:
"They used the terms hop-up or gow job. So where did these come from? Well, "hop" and "gow" were names for opium which were in use as far back as the late 1800s and probably came from the Chinese. In the old days they improved the performance of race horses with drugs including opium and cocaine. This was not even illegal until the early '20s and continued surreptitiously after that. Even today the performance enhancement of human athletes and horses is nor unknown.

A horse that went faster than it had any right to, was said to be 'hopped-up" or "gowed-up". From there it was a short step to apply the same names to a souped-up car. By the way, human drug users got the same names. If you read a few hard-boiled detective stories from the '30s and '40s you will soon find reference to "hopped-up punks" and "gowed-up hoodlums."

As far as "soup" goes, in the '20s, nitroglycerine was called "soup" in the under-world. It was not easy to get -- safe crackers had to extract it from dynamite. It was all illegal substance and possession was evidence of criminal intent, like burglar tools. Hence the code name. "souped-up" probably referred to a race car running on exotic fuel. I know that in the '20s it was possible to buy special racing fuel from the big oil companies. An old-time motorcycle mechanic told me of taking a can of such fuel to the races where his employer had bikes competing, then pouring the leftover fuel into the tank of his hopped-up Ford, and how fast it went on the way home.

In the '50s they began to use nitromethane, which is a close relative of nitroglycerine. Small world. By that time "souped-up" had acquired the general meaning it has today and hot fuel users coined new terms like "pop" and "nitro."
So gowjob can be explained in a reasonably sensible manner, but hot rod ?

Some say it comes from stroked engines - Stroking an engine involved replacing the connecting rods for longer ones, giving the engine more displacement, when the work was done the car had been hot rodded. A similar explanation is given but the hot rod part referring to an upgraded camshaft...

Gray Baskerville (life long hot rodder and hugely respected journalist, known as old Dad to millions) has possibly the easiest explanation - most cars being hot rodded were roadsters, the modifications made them hot and roadsters got shortened to rod. Hot rod.

So, we need to go back to gowjobs to find our start.


A gowjob

Since the invention of the automobile people have raced them. In 30s and 30ths american it was no different, specifically in the sunny climes of California young guys wanted to race, so they'd go out to the dry lakes of Muroc and El Mirage and try and go faster than everyone else. This particle is post war but shows young guys doing much the same thing: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=r0wEAAAAMBAJ&am...


The cars were stripped of anything that might slow them down - the huge canvas roofs removed, the plate glass windshield unbolted, the fenders consigned to the scrap bin. As time progressed the engines were fettled - bigger carburettors, more efficient intakes, higher lift camshafts.

Fords were popular, because they were cheap cars - they're still very popular today. Back then it was model T Fords, then the model A and finally the model B which was somewhat of a watershed. The cars would take a run up and would then be timed over a set distance once up to speed. In 1937 the South California Timing Association was formed, they sought to set some rules as to how events would be run, improve safety and standardise the rules. SCTA still organise and run events on the dry lakes, and of course Bonneville.


The lakes weren't the only race venues, dirt track racing was taking hold in cars like this, known as midget

Then ? well, some German upstart got in the way didn't he ?. Car production simply stopped in 1942, the factories turned over to the war effort.
Late 1945 car production started up again, the manufacturers just picked up their 1942 designs and put them in to production. The good people of America were encouraged to spend their money, this meant older cars were cheap.
Another effect the war had was that the guys who were trying to build aftermarket parts (or speed equipment as it was known) had gain engineering knowledge and experience whilst building aeroplanes, tanks and all sorts of other vehicles. They took this knowledge and applied it to the parts they created.

The other effect the war had was the quest for adventure. Young guys, back home from the war had money in their pockets and found domestic life boring. Spending their money on "hopping up" an old jalopy was fun, so was racing it at stop lights on the streets. It was common to find racing on a Friday/Saturday night on the "main drag" in towns all over the country.
This, predictably led to accidents and deaths. Slowly all over the country "drag strips" appeared, where you could race relatively safely. the problem was there was no unified structure, you could run in a class in California but travel 100 miles and the car was ineligible because the rules were different.

Enter then editor of Hot Rod magazine Wally Parks. He could see the problems and was concerned about the varying safety rules at different strips, so he used his contacts and influence to form the NHRA, they defined a standard set of rules and class definitions, soon tracks all over the country became affiliated and drag racing as a sport (rather than a hobby) was born.
One of the earliest tracks was Santa Ana, a few pictures and info here : http://selvedgeyard.com/2009/05/25/1950-1959-the-s... Effectively at this stage the tracks were mostly doing what we now call "run what ya brung", you turned up, paid a small amount and ran your road car up the strip.

This is a bit cheesy, but is a typical "road safety" video of the time to try and encourage kids to go racing instead of racing on the streets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUynqZoOTlA

Thats a start, so keep an eye out, those hoodlums are still around:

I'd guess sometime in the early 50s, 4 guys sit on a 5 window Model A


Mid 50s Ford Model T


32 Ford 3 window dry lakes car from early/mid 50s. This car is the real thing, raced in the 50s, it was restored in 2006


PanzerCommander

5,026 posts

217 months

Thursday 19th June 2014
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As a drag racer and what you might call a 'modern day hot rodder' I approve of this thread. I am no expert on the old hot rod culture so I am going to sit back and enjoy the thread and chip in occasionally.

Its an interesting subject on how these hot rods morphed into the dragsters, funny cars and altereds that you see on the drag strip today, alongside the regular road cars that have been modified for racing, from the highest pro levels down to the smaller sportsman classes (in which I race).

Keep it up smile

Chipmunk1

1,314 posts

161 months

Thursday 19th June 2014
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Fascinating read

kwak

210 posts

151 months

Thursday 19th June 2014
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Thanks a lot for the write up, keep it coming!
I barely know anything about these cars, it's great to get some background on it

aka_kerrly

12,416 posts

209 months

Thursday 19th June 2014
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A great read.

Silver Smudger

3,292 posts

166 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Excellent stuff! - Looking forward to more instalments

McWigglebum4th

32,414 posts

203 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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PH employ this man to write some articles

ClassicMotorNut

2,438 posts

137 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Brilliant article, I love all the early hot rod and kustom kulture stuff.

If I may mention the definition of 'soup job'/'souped up', I was under the impression that it derived simply from the phrase 'super job', i.e. modified vehicle. That would explain why it has also, but less commonly, been spelt 'supe job'.

maxdb

1,533 posts

156 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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PH - make this an article wink

It was really interesting and I was going to post how interesting and formative it was but I have been beaten to it already.

Streetrod

6,468 posts

205 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Crafty, as you may gather from my moniker I have a thing for Street rods, Hotrods and Customs. My fascination started in the mid 70's at the age of 15 when a school mate showed me first copy of Custom Car Magazine. I was instantly hooked. I have been steeped in the culture every since. I have collected every copy of CC magazine since plus a whole range of others including the Rodders Journal, highly recommended by the way.

My very first ever car spent all of 5 miles on the road before being rolled into my garage for my first attempt on hotrodding. I had no mechanical skills but over the course of 4 years I learned to weld, fabricate and spray, roof chop, french, pancake plus a whole range of other hotrodding skills. I still own that car to this day. Here is a pic of it just after its second paint job in the early 80's.



I now have no hair and am a lot fatter but the car still looks the same. It may not be a traditional hotrod but has had hotroders skills applied. I am now rebuilding it in a even more traditional late 50's / early 60's style plus I am about to start a brand new project. Up dates to follow

I have immersed myself in the history. Plus I spent loads of time hanging around hotrod shops in the USA. I even got to know Boyd Coddington quite well

So I highly approve of this thread and look forward to contributing in the future




Edited by Streetrod on Friday 20th June 09:55


Edited by Streetrod on Friday 20th June 09:56

peterg1955

746 posts

163 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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I used to get Hot Rod magazine back in the 70s when I could find it - for some reason the newsagent always looked at the top shelf for it before I said erm, its a car magazine.... laugh

somewhere in my loft I still have Custom Car magazines from Issue 2 onwards for about 7-8 years which I keep meaning to dig out and eBay if they're still readable

Ginja

1,018 posts

200 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Awesome thread, thanks for posting. I hope its not too off topic to add this link to Hot Rod magazines 'history of street legal drag racing'?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TccUZOHuJuI

Seek

1,169 posts

199 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Excellent start to a new thread clap

Why not copy over your posts from the 'other' thread to here as well?

stephen300o

15,464 posts

227 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Good stuff, keep it rolling.

Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Friday 20th June 2014
quotequote all
Hello Streetrodder, yes I remember you posting a picture of your project before, 34 3w right ?
Do post updates of the build, it'll give us all some insight to an early coupe.

I did write out a post last night showing the different Fords from the 30s, but its kind of pointless really, all you need to know is the year.
To encourage owners to change their car often manufacturers changed the cars every year, this still goes on to this day in the American market.

So, you can identify a car by its year, '33 Ford Coupe for example. Due to their popularity "Ford" is often dropped, so if someone says they have a '36 Sedan they mean a Ford. If they have any other make it'll be specified.

One thing to watch for with '38-40 Fords is that they had two models, Standard and Deluxe. The models weren't new, but in '38 they actually changed the sheetmetal around the grille area. The Deluxe became the next years Standard model sheetmetal.

All manufacturers in the 30s stuck to these basic body styles:
Roadster - convertible roof, windshield is usually bolted on
3 Window Coupe - 2 door, hardtop. 3 Window refers to the number of windows (excluding the windshield)
5 Window Coupe - 2 door, hardtop. Again 5 Window refers to the number of back and side windows.
Sedan - 2 door, hardtop. Has a rear seat and little or no boot space. There are variations, you'll hear "humpback" and "slantback" - they are pretty descriptive terms.
The humpbacks have a bigger trunk (or boot as we'd call it) that stick out in to the side profile of the car.
4 door, sometimes nicknamed "moredoor". Basically a sedan but with 4 doors.
Cabriolet - A coupe with a convertible roof, windshield is part of the body and it'll have roll up windows (unlike a roadster).
Phaeton - A four door sedan with a convertible top, no side windows (at all).


'32 Sedan with a small block chevrolet

Not all manufacturers made all styles, but you get the idea.

Some manufacturers (Ford specifically) did make both 3 window and 5 window coupes, why ? I'm not really sure. The 3 window was more considered "sporty" and is probably a bit more desirable now. 5 windows had a little more space inside.

If you google the terms (e.g. "35 3 window coupe") you'll find countless pictures. Try it with other manufacturers too (chevrolet, pontiac, packard etc).

Back to the '32 for a moment.. as I said, considered by many to be the definitive hot rod. The car was very popular at the time, it was the first year for Ford's flathead V8 engine, released as a 3.6 litre, 65 horsepower engine it survived until 1953 in various forms when it was replaced by the Y-block overhead valve engine.
In 1932 V8 engines were nothing new, Cadillac had been making them since the mid teens but this was the first time that a V8 had been made available to the working class.
Hot rodders, racers (at the lakes or on the track) loved them, as did the bootleggers who'd strengthen the suspension and create hidey holes for their jars of moonshine and then use the flathead power to outrun the cops in order to deliver their goods to speakeasys.

Deuce is a term used for '32s as well (cos of the 2 in the year). Hence the Beach Boys "Little Deuce Coupe", the song is all about a hot rod '32 and racing.. the engine is stroked & bored, both referring to increasing the displacement of the engine, 4 on the floor means its got a manual 4 speed transmission (US term is stick shift).. http://youtu.be/ZXFFLuoaMzM

Henry Ford (like everything) oversaw the development of the flathead. There are books on the man and the story of his company but in short at best he was awkward to work for, at worst he was an anarchist. He had rival development teams working on the V8 engine idea. He told one that the engine shouldn't have a water pump, another that it shouldn't have an oil pump. The reasoning was that these were complicated/expensive things to manufacture, he wanted something cheap and simple to make.
He eventually rescinded on both of these points when engineers proved the engine would simply not be reliable without them.
The flathead was a monoblock design, the valves recessed into the block itself, the heads were just a flat block of cast iron with a small recess for the valves (hence the engine name). All this meant that virtually all the machining was in the block itself. Much simpler than engineering a conventional cylinder head.

Early flathead Ford engine and transmission

By comparison Chevrolet had moved to straight six cylinder engines in 1929 and didn't produce a V8 until the ubiquitous small block chevy was released in 1955.

One of the reasons you'll hear quoted for the pre-49 cut off is because in '49 Ford released an all new car that was quite a departure, it didn't have bolted on fenders, the body was one piece, much like cars now.
Soon, the term "shoebox" was coined, the term really applies to the 49-52 Fords but some use it generically for all early 50s cars.

'49 Ford 'shoebox'

So with the influence from drag, track and dry lake racing in terms of engine power and speed these things also influenced hot rod styling. Pretty early on racers figured out junking the bumpers, fenders (wheel arches) and running boards gave both a weight and aerodynamic advantage. The next thing was the big flat windshields, obviously not good for aerodynamics racers soon started chopping their cars. To chop a car you simply cut the roof off, remove some of the A/B/C pillars and weld the roof back on again.
Easy, right ?
Well, on early cars where everything is vertical, yes its not too difficult.

But soon the bodies had sloped windshields and more graceful lines at the back of the roof section. This makes a chop much harder, because when you put the roof back on the two parts don't line up. the common way to resolve this is by cutting the roof in half, then the front can be married up with the A pillar and the rear section with the back, then you need to fill in the gap between the two pieces.
The alternative is to lay the a pillar back so it matches the roof. Thats how this '34 has been chopped. This gets complicated because of the number of curves and radii that get changed. The other thing with this method is you typically end up with a wedge shape, which some like..


Chop done, roof re-attached, front doesn't line up. The entire lower half of the a pillars have actually been cut out of the cowl section, allowing them to be leant back


All done


Stock height by comparison

Because in the early days many people would drive their "race car" or "lakes car" on the street chopped coupes were a common sight. So much so that when people were building street cars they'd still chop them to get the look of a hot rod.

Racers would also reduce the frontal area of the grille by making a smaller nose, often called a "track nose" they were typically more aerodynamic.

Both of which lead us nicely to the Pierson bothers coupe



This car is a cornerstone of hot rodding. It still exists today, I think living for most of its time in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.
The Pierson brothers built it as a race car, its severe chop providing inspiration for thousands of hot rods. Powered by a flathead engine built by Edlebrock engine supermo Bobby Meeks it went 150mph at El Mirage in the early 50s
You can read more about the Pierson brothers here: http://www.streetrodderweb.com/milestones/0106sr_p...

Soon some started paying more attention to the styling of their cars, one inhabitant of California who was doing this was Harry Westergard. He worked out of his home in Sacramento, modifying the appearance of cars, many people would visit his shop and see what he was doing, two of these people were Sam and George Barris.
Westergard sparked off a whole style but probably never saw the recognition, he died in a street racing accident at the age of 40 in 1956. He was the part of the customising scene.



A Harry Westergard custom, originally a 1940 Mercury


A stock '40 Mercury

Another customiser was George Duval, he worked for a chrome plating company. Often car owners wanted to improve the looks of their cars, to try and make them look for like the luxurious Cadillacs. Amongst other things Duvall developed a replacement windshield, with a graceful swept back design and V shaped posts it would totally transform a coupe with a much more graceful look.


A duvall windshield on a '34 roadster

As the 50's progressed cars got more outlandish - Soon, the overhead valve engines were commonplace in contemporary cars, offering much more power than flatheads and straight sixes, engine swaps became very common. We'll cover it in more detail, but when the small block chevy was released in 1955 it fast became a favourite, with numerous cars sporting the engine by the end of that year.

Style wise the cars became more outlandish too - hot rodders started painting them brighter colours, instead of the dark blues, browns and (of course) black they left the factory with they were repainted lighter and brighter colours, Scallops and flame paint jobs started to appear. I think flames originate from pre WW2 but were not common back then, the 50s is when many started to take more of an interest in to the appearance of their cars. Upholstery was another area that saw attention.


Scallops on a 5 window model A coupe, note the '32 grille


Tuck and roll upholstery, so called because the pleat would be stitched, then folded over and stitched on the underside, resulting in the original stitching being hidden from the top

Next time we'll visit the 60s for gassers, kustoms, show cars and whatever else randomly comes to mind.

Just one note, if you're at a loose end this weekend and fancy checking out some hot rods, drag cars and a wee bit of racing the NSRA is hosting the Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare's County Raceway this weekend, more information here: http://www.nsra.org.uk/nsra-nostalgia-nationals/
The weather looks tip top so I imagine it will be pretty busy.

If thats a little short notice, free up your diaries for 1st-3rd August for the NSRA Supernationals. Just about the biggest show in the UK and (imho) the best in terms of turnout and variety. It takes place at Old Warden in Biggleswade, a quick shufty up the A1M from Hitchin and Luton. You can visit all weekend or just for the day on the Sunday.

Caviar

209 posts

205 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Sorry but I can't remember the builder but the car somehow is called Dirty Secrets Of Car Design

Edited by Caviar on Friday 20th June 20:42

Fruitcake

236 posts

126 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Crafty_ said:
I realise I am probably falling into an "in-crowd" trap smile But doesn't that have 6 windows?

Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Windshield doesn't count..... smile

swisstoni

16,850 posts

278 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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I love all this stuff. Hot Rod, Custom Car and Street Machine were my teenage reads.

Fast Bug

11,597 posts

160 months

Friday 20th June 2014
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Love hot rods, if I wasn't so deeply on to cal look Beetle's I would have had one by now!

Streetrod, I've got photos somewhere of your car taken (I think) from Victory Wheelers show in Hayling Island when I was about 6? So that's 30 years ago!