The term may
have originated from "hot roadster" and the term
was used in the 1950s and 1960s as a derogatory term for any car that
did not fit into the mainstream. Other sources indicate that the term
was derived from replacement of connecting rods in engines to allow
higher RPMs to be reached without parts failure. When hot rodding became
commercialized in the 1970s, magazines and associations catering to
"street rodders" were started.
Hot rodders, including
Wally Parks, created the National Hot Rod Association NHRA
to bring racing off the streets and onto the tracks. The annual California
Hot Rod Reunion and National Hot Rod Reunion are held to honor pioneers
in the sport. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum houses the very
roots of hot rodding.
Nowadays
people who own hot rods keep them clean and try to make them noticeable.
Those who work according to the original idea of cheap, fast and
no frills are often called rat rods. There are many magazines that
you can look at to see real hot rods, including The Rodders Journal,
while commercial magazines that include Hot Rod Magazine, Street Rodder,
and Popular Hot Rodding cover street rods. There are also television
shows like My Classic Car, and Horsepower TV.
Hot
rods are modified older - even historical - cars. Originally the term
was used to the practice of taking an old car, usually a Ford, and
improving its performance by reducing weight (usually by removing
roof, hood, bumpers, windscreen and fenders), lower it, change or
tune the engine to give more power, add fat wheels for traction and
paint it to make it stand out.
was one of the first to recognize the importance of hot rodding in popular
culture, and bring it to mainstream attention, as described in his book,
The Kandy- Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby.