The Evolution of Street Rodding

Well, one thing's for sure: street rods owe their existence to the good old American hot rod. However, sometimes the line between a hot rod and a street rod is blurred, while at other times it is crystal clear.

Hot rods were generally built for speed, which meant that their engines were souped-up and things like fenders, engine hoods, running boards and other non-essential items were taken off the cars in an effort to save weight which, in turn, helped to increase their speed.

Webster's Dictionary defines the term "hot rod" as "an automobile rebuilt or modified for high speed and fast acceleration," noting that the term was already in general use by 1945.

Dick Strom, who's been a dyed-in-the-wool street rodder from way back when they were still called hot rods, pointed out to me that Webster's "hot rod" definition is sandwiched between "hot pursuit" ("... close continuous pursuit of a fleeing suspected lawbreaker") and "hots" ("... a strong sexual desire, as in he (or she) has 'the hots' for someone").

Conversely, a street rod is defined as a modernized vintage automobile. The car must have been manufactured in or before 1948. Street rods are usually decorated with colorful paint and have plush interiors. Many include modern features, such as four-wheel disc brakes, air conditioning, cruise control, tilt steering and exotic stereo systems.

Hence, it would seem that, while the hot rod was built solely for speed, the street rod is built for looks, comfort and high performance.

Always Trying To Build A Better Mousetrap

The important thing to remember here is that folks have been modifying their vehicles for increased performance or unique appearance virtually from the time the first internal combustion engine tenaciously fired and belched out exhaust gas, and the trend has continued to this day. More frequently than you'd imagine, many of these improvements and modifications were the result of serendipity rather than engineering research and development.

Unlike other areas of automotive history that have been very well documented by the major manufacturers, racing enthusiasts and others who approached recording them in a scholarly fashion, the history of street rodding is a bit murky to say the least. But that's because those who were unknowingly creating street rod history were too busy building their unique vehicles to bother recording what they were doing for posterity. These guys were the purists - with a wrench in one hand and a torch in the other, their vision was clear and their desire was to create cars that suited their particular tastes and designs.

That much hasn't changed in street rodding. But today, thanks to numerous publications and national organizations like the National Street Road Association (NSRA), its on-going history is now very well documented. But let's digress back into yesteryear to get a glimpse of what it was like back then, since that will give you a better idea of where it went and how it got to where it is today.

A Sordid Past, Indeed

The hot rodding craze really started when Ford released its flathead V-8 engine in 1932. Right from the get-go guys started tweaking this mill to coax more horsepower out of it for several reasons, not the least of which was for running illicit whisky and bathtub gin during Prohibition. And such infamous personas as Bonnie and Clyde and other ne'er-do-wells of the era plied their trade using Ford V-8-powered cars to make their getaways.

Early on, the term hot rod took on an unsavory connotation that evoked images of irresponsible young men racing around the streets in their loud, rude and crude jalopies terrorizing the general populace with no regard for property, life or limb. These hot rodders, intoxicated on speed and the desire to go fast, felt the streets were as good a place as any to race. Their vehicles were jerry-rigged to go fast and little thought was usually given to stopping them; structural integrity was scarcely given much, if any, consideration. Hot rodders were hell-raisers, pure and simple.

After Prohibition had been repealed, but still prior to World War II, young men with a mechanical flair would frequently engage in street racing, usually at night, using the cloak of darkness to aid and abet their illegal activities. When the local constabulary did engage these hell-raisers doing their thing they would attempt pursuit of the law breakers. But their black-and-white police cruisers were hardly a match for these high-powered, stripped-down hot rods or the maniacal drivers who piloted them. This was an era of one-on-one pursuit - the good guys chasing the bad guys - and there was no modern radio communication that would have enabled interaction and coordination between police cars. Everything went through the radio dispatcher in those days, so giving chase was the only game in town for law enforcement.

The "Wrenches" Go To War

With the onset of WWII, many hot rodders were pressed into duty overseas working on the maintenance of military vehicles. This proved to be a great educational opportunity for them, since they learned new speed tricks from one another and honed their skills at building and modifying engines.

After serving their hitches, they returned to civilian life and picked-up right where they left off, but now they had the added assets of their muster-out pay to invest in making their rods even hotter and faster. And where better to test these hot new improvements but right back on the same streets they had raced and raised hell on previously?

This resulted in hot rodders getting an even worse rap than they had before the war, and deservedly so. These crazies with gasoline running through their veins and horsepower on their brains were a blemish on the face of their communities, a danger and a curse to law-abiding citizens and the scourge of law enforcement. Songs like Hot Rod Lincoln and movies like Hot Rods To Hell and Thunder Road served to spread and reinforce the negative image of hot rodders as hell-raisers, malcontents and irresponsible hoodlums.

A Menace To Society

And, just the way that Hells Angels, the Pagans and other "outlaw" motorcycle gangs gave Harleys and motorcycling in general a bad name and dark image in society a few decades ago, hot rodders were all generally regarded as social misfits who were disdained by decent folk. Even though, undoubtedly, there were those who built safe hot rods and drove them sensibly, they were cursed with the stigmata of the hell-raisers too, even though they didn't deserve it.

My mom used to have an expression, "show me your friends and I'll tell you what you are," which had some merit and truth to it. With these early hot rodders, it was more a case of, "show me what you drive and I'll tell you what you are." If you drove a hot rod, regardless of whether you were the good, the bad or the ugly, you were a hell-raiser and shunned by society. That's just the way it was. At least at first.

Testosterone On The Tarmac, Not The Streets

Before WWII began, those with the need for speed were taking to the Bonneville salt flats and several dry lake beds in California and neighboring states to get their go-fast jollies. The big attraction of these unpopulated vast expanses was that you had plenty of space to open your engine up fully and lots of room to come to a stop after your run. Timed runs on measured-mile courses were being recorded and eventually these turned into land speed record attempts, with records routinely being set and broken by even faster vehicles on an almost regular basis.

Then, after WWII ended, the runways that had been used to train B-17 and B-29 bomber pilots were abandoned, since they were no longer needed. No one seems to remember who it was, exactly, but somebody came up with the bright idea of converting them into drag strips. These runways-come-drag strips could then be used as relatively safe straight-aways where these guys with the need for speed could vent their testosterone while stomping the pedal to the metal without putting innocent folks at risk.

The idea caught on, slowly at first, and gradually gained momentum. While it didn't eliminate street racing totally, it did help to reduce it quite a bit.

But even so, both the bad rap and the bad rep of hot rodders remained, refusing to die despite the efforts of such well-established groups as the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to put a positive public relations spin on the hobby/sport. Alas, even these well-planned campaigns in the early 1970s to clean up the tarnished image of the infamous past of hot rodding didn't do much, if anything, to change the negative public perception. It became obvious that the bad image was all but impossible to ditch. Some new strategy and positive spin was needed here badly.