Game Changer: Hot-rodding

No points for guessing that the hot-rod movement began life in the USA, but the reasons behind its existence and even the origins of the name remain shrouded in conjecture.

Money certainly played a role. Or lack of it, more to the point. Late-1930s America was a country emerging from the Depression, when new cars were beyond the reach of younger people and any vehicles they could afford were mostly old and slow.

However, Ford had been installing V8 engines in its mainstream models since 1932 and ‘speed shops’ were making performance parts for those engines, so the temptation was there.

Working often in school ‘shop’ classes, American teens would take an old, cheap body and cut away unwanted metal while adding extra chrome and flashy paint. Then into the engine bay would go a V8 with performance add-ons to produce the essential North American hot-rod at minimal cost.

The term may have originated with the modified camshafts – machined metal ‘rods’ that helped extract extra horsepower from the under-developed ‘flat-head’ Ford engines – but more likely was derived from the Roadster bodies fitted to many of these cars. ‘Hot roadster’ quickly and conveniently shortened itself to ‘hot rod.’

Early rod races occurred on makeshift circuits or drag strips marked out on disused airfields. These venues became commonly available after World War II, when many US military facilities were decommissioned.

By 1951 and with the rodding movement enjoying massive growth, some form of organisation became necessary and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) was founded.

While existing primarily to implement safety measures at drag race events, the NHRA also brought legitimacy to the movement that had been regarded by mainstream America as a haven for street racers and ratbags.

Today’s hot-rods encompass a wide range of designs and can cost huge amounts to build. For those who don’t want to risk show-stopping creations on the drag strip, there is a well-supported program of shows, cruises and other events and a supplementary organisation with 70,000 worldwide members.

The Good Guys Rod & Custom Association was founded in 1983 to support the needs of more ‘social’ rodders. It currently arranges some 18 annual events throughout the USA, catering to all manner of modified vehicles.

Australian rodders began to emerge during the 1950s; their passion fuelled via imported hot-rodding magazines.

This country also possessed plentiful supplies of older, low-cost vehicles and cheap V8 engines. Some of these were brand-new, still-crated war surplus combat motors intended for use in bren-gun carriers and other military hardware.

By the 1960s, rodding had found a place within Australian car culture, with clubs forming and the first car shows being held. 1964 brought the first Australian Hot Rod magazine and 1974 saw the Australian Street Rod Federation established.

Early local rods were mostly home-built from whatever parts might have been easily bought or scrounged. Later, as the movement became more organised and rodders became keen to avoid officialdom, rules were needed.

Local rods had to be based around, or be replicas of, cars originally produced before 1949 and needed a full chassis – uprated from the original or fabricated – to meet standards specified in the National Guidelines For Construction & Modification of Street Rods In Australia.

These regulations were implemented in 1999 to ensure that rods being built would meet minimum safety standards for braking, steering and occupant restraint without needing to comply with all the rules applied to other Individually Constructed Vehicles.