Pre War Hot Rod (Go Job's)

I have a couple questions on pre war cars. When did guys start reversing spring eyes? Dropping axles? I have a model A banger in my car, when did guys start using down draft carbs and headers? Thanks.

 

Late teens. I have also heard old timers call them a "cut down".

 

They have been reversing spring eyes, dropping axles, etc since the 'teens. Allot of that stuff was popular on dirt track cars, speedsters and "Gowjobs" in the late Teens and early 1920's. I used and researched allot of those old methods when I was building my '26 Roadster.

Allot of this was done with T's...for obvious reasons.

 

Thanks for the info. Love your "T"! Very cool car.

 

They were called Gow Job's not Go Jobs just saying!

 

I don't know about that... I've seen both.

 

Many disputes over the origin - But the most likely explanation is this;
In California in the '40s and early '50s hot Rodders despised the term "hot rod" and never used it. They considered it a black eye. To the general public a hot rod was beat-up jalopy with no muffler, careening through a school zone with a juvenile delinquent at the wheel. To the newspapers they were a menace on par with Communism and ought to be stamped out by the police. To the serious student of speed who had a lot of brains, sweat, and money tied up in a sophisticated performance car, this was nothing but an insult.
They used the terms hop-up or gow job. So where did these come from? Well, "hop" and "gow" were names for opium which were in use as far back as the late 1800s and probably came from the Chinese. In the old days they improved the performance of race horses with drugs including opium and cocaine. This was not even illegal until the early '20s and continued surreptitiously after that.
A horse that went faster than it had any right to, was said to be 'hopped-up" or "gowed-up". From there it was a short step to apply the same names to a souped-up car. By the way, human drug users got the same names. If you read a few hard-boiled detective stories from the '30s and '40s you will soon find reference to "hopped-up punks" and "gowed-up hoodlums." And people still say "Johnny is all hopped up on drugs"
It was also used in the art community, particularly the Beat Generation as a term for a picture of nude or semi nude females, meaning "flashy Woman"

 

Not so much different than what the term "rat rod" has become today. History always repeats itself.

 

cool history lesson.

 

H U G E difference. Hot Rodders didn't want to be associated with an incorrect public perception of what a Hot Rod was and therefore didn't want to use the term until it became more acceptable in 1948.
Rodent Rodders want to build crap and have a reputation of being some kind of Hooligan or thug.
Hot Rodding was (and is) all about making your car faster and or better looking - Crap Rods are all about Shock Value and "Look at Me"

I hope this thread doesn't deteriorate to a discussion of junk and get closed.

 

I see, you're right.

 

here is some eye candy for ya....best thread on the hamb

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149631

 

bct, great link, great pictures.

 

Guys were dropping axles as far back as the teens. Dyke's manual shows an illustration of a dropped T axle - and I believe that was published in 1918.

Hotrodon is right...it's "GOW" job - coming from the phrase "all gowed up" (rhymes with plow).

 

I'll have to dig out the magazine with a dry lakes racing report in the late 1930's, the term "Hot Irons" was used to discribe what we now call Hot Rods.

 

Didn't Rodders Journal do an artical on early hotrodding featuring The Bug and in the artical called the Gow jobs ?

 

I've heard the expression... Four to plow, and eight to gow! That was refering to a
hopped up car opposed to a stck job.
..bct you are right that is a great thread.

 

Here's the dropped axle illustration from Dykes manual (published 1919)

 

Check out the Chevy Gow Job with the Murock Dry Lake poster behind the windsheild on Old Motor. Great site! http://theoldmotor.com/

 

Thanks Guys very cool thread
anyone know when they started drilling holes in backing plates?