Hot rods, street rods, kustoms and a few other things
Discussion
Silver Smudger said:
swisstoni said:
Little Deuce Coupe - "She's ported and relieved, and stroked and bored".
Leaved - Reference to modified leaf springs I believeRelieved is correct.
From the song....
Just a little deuce coupe with a Flathead mill...
Porting and relieving the heads on a Flatty were standard tuning mods back then.
Nick Grant said:
Crafty_ said:
...but first I need a bit of help, I know very little about the scene in the 70s. Whilst drag racing moved away from the gassers and FEDs and to the funny cars and there was a bit of a downturn in hot rodding because of the muscle cars and oil crisis, it was also the decade that hot rodding really took on in the UK. I was wondering if Streetrodder could fill us in with what he knows/can remember ??
I'm a little young but I know plenty of people who were part of this, from what I understand the release of American Graffiti really kickstarted the UK Custom Scene and lead to cruising round London and eventually the Chelsea Cruise. American Graffiti is a "coming of age" movie, written by George Lucas (prior to Star Wars) and produced by Frnacis Ford Coppola (who went on to make the Godfather movies) and starring young actors Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford it tracks a bunch of recent high school graduates over a single day. It was set in 1962 (hence the byline "Where were you in '62?") its mostly made up of Lucas's memories of growing up in Modesto, California. It was made for a small budget (about $750k) and has apparently earned over $200 million.
For those who were around in the 60s its a great reminder of how life was, for those who are younger its a small peek at the time they call "back in the day".
Not much more to say really - go and watch it! There is a fan site here with all sorts of information at: http://americangraffiti.net/
There was a sequel (More American Graffiti) that continues the story of the group of friends, it doesn't have the same following as the first film but does have some neat drag racing in it, not to mention the smoking hot blonde! I reckon its still worth a look.
Milner (Paul Le Mat) squares up to Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford) in AG
Hot rod films have been around almost as long as the hot rod itself, there was a whole bunch made back in the 50s - Hot Rod Gang (http://youtu.be/zj5dIeA6Xo8), Hot Rod Girl (http://youtu.be/tfr32OkQIFE) to name just two. Check out this page for many more http://www.ahrf.com/category/cool-stuff/hot-rod-mo...
Other hot rod movies ? California Kid (released a few years after American Graffiti) starred a Pete Chapouris built '34 3 window which has virtually cult status.
The California Kid (right) with Jim Jacobs '34
The other that immediately springs to mind is 2 lane blacktop, starring Dennis Wilson (The Beach Boys) and musician James Taylor and Laurie Bird as "the girl" its a road movie it starred a '55 Chevy that is driven from town to town, racing for money. Personally I think its a bit of an odd film but I've watched worse..
The two lane blacktop '55
Hotrods influenced music too, during the 60s surf music would often mention hot rods and or drag racing. Of all the surf bands none are more popular than The Beach Boys, songs like Little Deuce Coupe, I Get Around, 409 and Shutdown, the music pretty much sums up life in 60s California - surfing, hot rods and chasing girls.
The Beach Boys were far from being the only group making this sort of music, but were the most commercially successful.
I'm not really sure where the association was made, but there is a strong link between rockabilly and hot rods. Artists like Brian Setzer and Reverend Horton heat are pretty popular.
If you like the gold oldies try listening in to hot rod radio (http://www.hotrodradio.com/), every week or so there is a couple of hours of music put up as a podcast (you can find it on itunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hot-rod-radio-...
I'm sure the other contributors can add some more information around the music.
As with many hobbies/pastimes before the internet came along magazines were a vital source of information, a kingpin for the hot rod magazines was Robert E Petersen. He built a publishing house that specialised in automotive titles - Hot Rod, Car Craft, Rod & Custom, Motor Trend (and later Streetrodder magazine). In the early 90s he purchased an old department store that sits on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles to house an automobile museum. If you're ever in the area its definately worth a look - http://www.petersen.org/
Hot Rod magazine (started by Petersen) started in 1948 with Wally Parks (NHRA founder) as its editor. It soon became popular as more people got involved in the hobby and drag racing. Its still produced today and focuses on street/strip cars and tech.
The first issue of hot rod magazine
Nowadays, the internet makes the hot rodding world a smaller place - people can connect with other rodders all over the world, we can get near real time pictures and info from shows. For the strictly traditional side there is no great site that Ryan Cochran's Jalopy Journal (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/), the site's forum called the Hokey Ass Message Board (or HAMB) for short is pretty much the biggest hot rod message board in the world. In particular the history threads are, I think really valuable, often with personal photo collections and first hand accounts.
There are scores of other sites and forums, some specialise (e.g. particular years/makes), some are news & event sites (e.g. http://www.rodauthority.com/www.hotrodhotline.com (as already mentioned by someone)) and so on. Again maybe other contributors can add their favourite haunts.
I need to do some posts on the current (US) shows and associations and try and cover the scene in the UK - events, clubs, websites etc.
We also need to do 80s to today at some point.
Porting and Relieving.....
1932 to 1953 Ford flathead V8 motors have a narrow passageway (called a transfer port) between the valves and cylinder bore (both of which are in the block), and to improve the air flow between them this transfer port is enlarged (relieved) by grinding away excess metal and polishing.
Porting refers to a similar job of opening the intake and exhaust ports, again to improve air flow.
Great article, by the way 80)...
1932 to 1953 Ford flathead V8 motors have a narrow passageway (called a transfer port) between the valves and cylinder bore (both of which are in the block), and to improve the air flow between them this transfer port is enlarged (relieved) by grinding away excess metal and polishing.
Porting refers to a similar job of opening the intake and exhaust ports, again to improve air flow.
Great article, by the way 80)...
Edited by brizey on Tuesday 24th June 23:40
Edited by brizey on Tuesday 24th June 23:41
Blib said:
Excellent thread. Here's the only photo I have left of my '32 Ford.
Sorry to correct, but this sedan is a Model A Ford, not a `32. A`s were built between 1928-1931. 1932 Fords were a completely new car to the Ford range for that year and were built with a choice of a 4 or 8 (V8) cylinder motor. 4 cylinder equipped cars were designated as the "Model B", while (V)8 cylinder cars were designated as the "Model 18" 
AdeTuono said:
ClassicMotorNut said:
They didn't get any better than Humdinger. 
Was that the pink Mk3 Zephyr with cow-horns on the front? Owned by Bill someone, a teddy-boy?? Always did divide opinion...
With regards to the music, the earliest mention of hot rods in a song that I can think of is the excellent country number Hey Good Lookin' by Hank Williams, from 1951. The car most alluded to in rock 'n' roll/rockabilly songs, though, must surely be the Cadillac. The reason why hot rods and rockabilly are associated with each other is because they go hand-in-hand, both being icons of 1950s youth culture and rebellion.
I'm a bit lost with the modern rockabilly 'scene', though, because artists like Brian Setzer and the Reverend Horton Heat are not proper rockabilly artists (more just rockabilly-influenced) and the scene itself is full of stuff that didn't happen either at all or on a mainstream basis in the '50s, like rat rods and tattoos. I'm a traditionalist.
ClassicMotorNut said:
I'm a bit lost with the modern rockabilly 'scene', though, because artists like Brian Setzer and the Reverend Horton Heat are not proper rockabilly artists (more just rockabilly-influenced) and the scene itself is full of stuff that didn't happen either at all or on a mainstream basis in the '50s, like rat rods and tattoos. I'm a traditionalist.
Crikey.....you are out of touch if you think Brian Setzer & Reverend Horton Heat is modern rockabilly scene 
Unless your definition of modern is 30 years ago.
ClassicMotorNut said:
aeropilot said:
Crikey.....you are out of touch if you think Brian Setzer & Reverend Horton Heat is modern rockabilly scene
Unless your definition of modern is 30 years ago.
I could well be! Rock 'n' roll's been going downhill ever since Buddy Holly died...Unless your definition of modern is 30 years ago.
It's alive and kicking still.
There's been some and currently are some really good young bands/singers from the USA/UK/Europe and even Australia around in the past 20 years.
There were some great young (and old) acts at the 18th Rockabilly Rave two weekends ago.
I'm very biased as I was a teenager of the 70's but it was a fantastic period for youth culture (although terrible in other respects of course).
Along with headline stuff like Glam, Prog, Disco, Punk, New Wave there were all sorts of revivals and sub-cultures to dip into.
One was Customising. In all honesty, for the majority, it consisted of applying all sorts of tat to ordinary cars but it was in homage to proper Hot Rods, Kustoms and Americana.
When I went to the Custom Car Show at Ally Pally (in, I think 1978) I remember staring at this for ages with so much want. It was a light green metalflake and had a quality of paint I had never seen before and chrome Appliance Steel Spokes or possibly Cragars.
It must have affected me because in 1970 I did THIS to my 1600E
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/AejU6Egi.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/AejU6Egi" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/AejU6Egi.jpg)
Along with headline stuff like Glam, Prog, Disco, Punk, New Wave there were all sorts of revivals and sub-cultures to dip into.
One was Customising. In all honesty, for the majority, it consisted of applying all sorts of tat to ordinary cars but it was in homage to proper Hot Rods, Kustoms and Americana.
When I went to the Custom Car Show at Ally Pally (in, I think 1978) I remember staring at this for ages with so much want. It was a light green metalflake and had a quality of paint I had never seen before and chrome Appliance Steel Spokes or possibly Cragars.
It must have affected me because in 1970 I did THIS to my 1600E
swisstoni said:
I'm very biased as I was a teenager of the 70's but it was a fantastic period for youth culture (although terrible in other respects of course).
Along with headline stuff like Glam, Prog, Disco, Punk, New Wave there were all sorts of revivals and sub-cultures to dip into.
One was Customising. In all honesty, for the majority, it consisted of applying all sorts of tat to ordinary cars but it was in homage to proper Hot Rods, Kustoms and Americana.
When I went to the Custom Car Show at Ally Pally (in, I think 1978) I remember staring at this for ages with so much want. It was a light green metalflake and had a quality of paint I had never seen before and chrome Appliance Steel Spokes or possibly Cragars.
I remember that car (and going to that (and other) Ally Pally shows.Along with headline stuff like Glam, Prog, Disco, Punk, New Wave there were all sorts of revivals and sub-cultures to dip into.
One was Customising. In all honesty, for the majority, it consisted of applying all sorts of tat to ordinary cars but it was in homage to proper Hot Rods, Kustoms and Americana.
When I went to the Custom Car Show at Ally Pally (in, I think 1978) I remember staring at this for ages with so much want. It was a light green metalflake and had a quality of paint I had never seen before and chrome Appliance Steel Spokes or possibly Cragars.
In the background to the left is the Mk3 Zodiac 'The Sweeney' which I believe is still around and is, or has been, restored back to how it looked back then.
Figoni and Falaschi, Carrossiers, ( The cradle of creation )
Always had an interest in the Figoni and Falaschi type of styling with flowing curves , the balanced aesthetics and characteristics popular in the late 1930’s leading to designs from manufacturers like Bugatti (Atlanta) to Jaguar (XK120 sports two seater) and even the post war MERCURY ( Top-chopped , lead-sleds ) of the early Hot-rod street machine period but being an impoverished young trainee motor engineer I could not justify the capital investment to indulge in owning an example.
Cars of that type have unseen costs involved with owning them , from day one . the need for suitable and accessible storage due the current environment ( both criminal & temperate ) becomes an essential part of the deal, followed by expert mechanical /maintenance facilities which will obviously add to the upkeep unless one is able to do the spanner work as a hobby at minimum expense except for parts etc.
However as life progressed circumstances improved and I was able to afford a suitable compromise in the form of car which appears to be difficult to characturize by todays standards/trends or Reg’s. Is it a :- Kit-car, Replica, Hot-Rod, Concept, Suedo - Antique or just a plain “ Freud-Ford “
Incorporating very interesting styling features from exotic historic makers such as American Packard French Bugatti and British MG Airline it is definitely not a copy of anything specific but certainly creates a great deal of interest where ever I take it, whether that is the annual historic meeting at Nurburgring FRG or Santa-pod UK. Built by GP PRODUCTs in Islesworth London in Left Hand Drive form to conform with FRGermany reg’s the car features a Ford Pinto 4cyl OHC 2.3 litre motor and manual transmission which produces absolutely super MPG on the autobahn at a steady 80 + mph
Photo :- MADISON COUPE.
Always had an interest in the Figoni and Falaschi type of styling with flowing curves , the balanced aesthetics and characteristics popular in the late 1930’s leading to designs from manufacturers like Bugatti (Atlanta) to Jaguar (XK120 sports two seater) and even the post war MERCURY ( Top-chopped , lead-sleds ) of the early Hot-rod street machine period but being an impoverished young trainee motor engineer I could not justify the capital investment to indulge in owning an example.
Cars of that type have unseen costs involved with owning them , from day one . the need for suitable and accessible storage due the current environment ( both criminal & temperate ) becomes an essential part of the deal, followed by expert mechanical /maintenance facilities which will obviously add to the upkeep unless one is able to do the spanner work as a hobby at minimum expense except for parts etc.
However as life progressed circumstances improved and I was able to afford a suitable compromise in the form of car which appears to be difficult to characturize by todays standards/trends or Reg’s. Is it a :- Kit-car, Replica, Hot-Rod, Concept, Suedo - Antique or just a plain “ Freud-Ford “
Incorporating very interesting styling features from exotic historic makers such as American Packard French Bugatti and British MG Airline it is definitely not a copy of anything specific but certainly creates a great deal of interest where ever I take it, whether that is the annual historic meeting at Nurburgring FRG or Santa-pod UK. Built by GP PRODUCTs in Islesworth London in Left Hand Drive form to conform with FRGermany reg’s the car features a Ford Pinto 4cyl OHC 2.3 litre motor and manual transmission which produces absolutely super MPG on the autobahn at a steady 80 + mph
Photo :- MADISON COUPE.
swisstoni said:
I'm very biased as I was a teenager of the 70's but it was a fantastic period for youth culture (although terrible in other respects of course).
Along with headline stuff like Glam, Prog, Disco, Punk, New Wave there were all sorts of revivals and sub-cultures to dip into.
One was Customising. In all honesty, for the majority, it consisted of applying all sorts of tat to ordinary cars but it was in homage to proper Hot Rods, Kustoms and Americana.
When I went to the Custom Car Show at Ally Pally (in, I think 1978) I remember staring at this for ages with so much want. It was a light green metalflake and had a quality of paint I had never seen before and chrome Appliance Steel Spokes or possibly Cragars.
It must have affected me because in 1970 I did THIS to my 1600E
I went to a couple of the Ally Pally shows, and still have one of the advertising posters somewhere....Along with headline stuff like Glam, Prog, Disco, Punk, New Wave there were all sorts of revivals and sub-cultures to dip into.
One was Customising. In all honesty, for the majority, it consisted of applying all sorts of tat to ordinary cars but it was in homage to proper Hot Rods, Kustoms and Americana.
When I went to the Custom Car Show at Ally Pally (in, I think 1978) I remember staring at this for ages with so much want. It was a light green metalflake and had a quality of paint I had never seen before and chrome Appliance Steel Spokes or possibly Cragars.
It must have affected me because in 1970 I did THIS to my 1600E
It got me more into the Drag side of the culture though.
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