The hot rod is a staple of American history. Often called a street rod, a Hot Rod is a classic American car with an oversized engine modified for speed. It is this powerful engine that gave the hot rod its name. The term “connecting rod” comes from the connecting rods of the high-powered or “hot” engine.
And so, the name of Hot Rod stayed. There is a secondary meaning to the term hot rod when used as a noun. The term in this case describes a stolen vehicle. The meaning here comes from thieves finding a car too hot to drive for too long.
A car, or its parts, must be discarded quickly. The longer the car or its parts stay, the greater the risk of capture. Like a hot potato, the car is a hot rod.
Hot rods
are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term hot rod is not clear.One explanation is that the term is a hot roadster contraction, which means a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible source includes modifications or replacement of the camshaft, sometimes known as a lever or rod. A camshaft designed to produce more power is sometimes called a hot rod or a hot rod. Roadsters were the cars of choice because they were light.
The term became commonplace in the 1930s or 1940s, as the name of a car that had been climbed by modifying the engine in various ways to achieve greater performance. The term can also be applied to other elements that are used for a particular purpose, such as the hot rod amplifier. The hot rod was born when factory cars were stripped of their non-essential features to improve performance. Instead of buying a brand-new vehicle, enthusiasts would play with old cars and machinery parts to create a custom soup of their own. In its simplest form, the term hot rod, used as a noun, is a reference to a vehicle that has been modified in some way to make it faster, handle it better, look better or sound better. A few years later, Parks went on to form the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), and Petersen, building on the momentum of the mega-successful Hot Rod magazine, built a magazine publishing empire.
Different custom car prototypes started making waves on the endurance racing circuit, also called “fun cars” due to their strange appearance. The first Hot Rod exhibition took place in Los Angeles at the National Guard Armory in January 1948; 10,000 people attended this famous event. Nearly a quarter of the United States was unemployed during the Great Depression; as a result, most people couldn't afford a new car. In the 1940s, the public despised the hot rod scene as street racing was associated with injuries and deaths. Hot rods were rebuilt with large rear tires to increase speed by increasing gear ratio; normal street tires often stayed on the front wheels to reduce wind resistance. When I was physically working on the show, not the camera, I always enjoyed the episode where the car was used because number one was a hot rod.
Delving into the rich history of hot rod, decade after decade, takes a look at the evolution of custom cars and street racing. Hot rodders took aerodynamic customization very seriously by cutting rows of grilles or slots in a car's body, hood, and rear cover to ensure efficient engine cooling and circulation when driving at high speed. The initial breakdown eliminated what hot rodders considered “unnecessary parts” such as windshields, fenders, running boards and trims. It was cheap to manufacture, easy to source and performed better than most cars on the market at that time. The common theme is that heat is related to heating up a car which means modifying it for greater performance. One theory is that rod means roadster which is lightweight two-door car that was often used as basis for early hot rods. Hot rods have been around since 1930s and have become an integral part of American culture and history due to their unique design and powerful engines which have been modified for speed and performance. The origin of this term is not clear but one explanation suggests that it comes from 'hot roadster contraction' which means roadster that has been modified for speed while another suggests that it comes from modifications or replacement of camshaft which is sometimes known as lever or rod. In 1940s public despised this scene due to street racing being associated with injuries and deaths but later on it gained popularity due to its unique design and powerful engines. Hot rodders took aerodynamic customization very seriously by cutting rows of grilles or slots in car's body hood and rear cover for efficient engine cooling and circulation when driving at high speed. The initial breakdown eliminated what hot rodders considered 'unnecessary parts' such as windshields fenders running boards and trims. It was cheap to manufacture easy to source and performed better than most cars on market at time. Hot rods have become an integral part of American culture due to their unique design powerful engines and modifications made for speed and performance.
