Early on, most drag cars were roadsters as they were the lightest body style. A fast roadster was 'hot'. The term 'hot roadster' morphed into 'hot rod'.
I'm just waiting for someone to say they first heard the term from thier grandfather, who invented it, while hanging out in his garage. Yea.... wait for it.
Well there is some reference to hot rodding in the Bible...In Genesis it says that God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden in his Fury.......
Hey WickedJimmy i've had a great day and definitely some good laughs but that line is absolutley hilarious. A classic!
Alot of old timers, the guys that were there in the begining, have said the first thing you do to "hop" up your car is put in a custom ground cam shaft. The cam was referred to as a "hot rod". In the begining of the lifestyle/hobby your car was not called a hot rod until you put a cam in your motor. It was refferred to as a jalopy. I've taken this info. from several books about early hotrodding.
Actually, the first and most accurate bible reference is when "Moses struck his ROD against a rock" . Could this also be the first MVA ever recorded?
It's true origin goes back to a Mrs Eunice Hornswoggle of Seven Oaks Missouri. It was a particularly hot and humid summer in 1929 and she was working in her yard hanging laundry while her husband Rodney was attempting to whitewash the fence. She was commenting on how hot it was outside when the neighbour's kid raced past in a dual carbed tractor powered Apperson Jackrabbit. He was watching the open exhaust modified jalopy tear past when she commented from behind a sheet "This is surely some kind of hot, Rod." The rest is history (the longer and more detailed the story, the more believable)
I always thought with early motors when you hoped up them up one of the first things that happend was the oiling system was'nt up to the job. There for you had a hot rod.
try a search here: "Hot Rod". What is the Origin of the Term?? - www. jalopyjournal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-362826.html
Well... I know I was always told that God rode a Harley. But it's in the bible that "The roar of Gods Triumph was heard throughout the land". So you just never know. ______________________________________ "LIFE'S A GAMBLE......LET EM' ROLL"
speaking of "hop up", its an old horse racing term, when you hopped up your horse on cocaine. Horse racing was the best reference at the time to hotrodding, tho the whole low in the back stance came from powerboats at speed. you go with what you already know, right?
Hop and Gow were old slang names for drugs. Hopped up or gowed up, horse or person. Soup was a slang name for nitro glycerine extracted from dynamite by safe crackers. Souped up = explosive performance. Even before they started using nitromethane.