Anybody know why that strip of metal from the front to rear wheel openings is called a rocker box? I've even heard it called a 'rocker cover', any theories how it came to be called this?
I think rocker box is used sometimes because there is an outer and an inner rocker panel. The two panels form a box section if you were to view them from the end. To me rocker cover is another term for a valve cover, but I guess in some areas different terms are used. How anything comes to be called anything is a good question. I’ve heard guys call a front fender on a post ‘48 car a front quarter, but that always sounded odd to me. A quarter panel is (usually) solidly joined to the body, where a fender can be unbolted. Deck lid, sail panel, splash apron, and a lot more; body men have their own language.
I don't know. But my assumption is that once running boards were eliminated and fenders were smooth with the doors and quarter panels, that you could rock and roll the car on that panel... I donno
The term actually dates back to the caveman era and the invention of the wheel. After discovering that the wheel wasn't much good for anything aside from rolling it around, it became apparent that to be truly useful two, or even better four wheels needed to be joined in a wooden framework, a box if you will, in order to haul cavemen type stuff around Rocks were a favorite item, as it enabled the caveman to bring them to building sites, erect structures and live in places other than caves. Thus was born the term 'rock box'. Other items were soon found to be viable to carry, such as dead animals, women they'd conked on the head, etc.. Thus the 'or' was added to the name, as in rock, or, box, later shortened to rocker box. Later when rocker boxes became used as basic human transpiration with seats, interiors etc., the name only referred to the lower portion of the vehicle, as we know it today.
The word is "rocker panel". If you examine some early car bodies of the twenties you will see they often have a curved sill below the doors that resembles a rocker off a rocking chair. This is where the name comes from.
I think "rocker panel", that is, the long panel between the wheels at the base of the body, is a term that probably came from boat hull construction, where rocker is the curve of the hull from front to back. That, in turn, probably came from rocking chairs as mentioned above.
Cavemen call them rocker boxes. English speaking people call them "Sills" http://www.dsw.co.uk/paul/Page_folders/replacingsills/ric.htm
Thinking it's called rocker box, back in the day with many gravel roads, collected many rock dents and because it always stored water, road salt residue, dirt, etc, always rusts out usually requiring outer and inner repair/replacement. This is my guess as I don't have a clue and in my years, it was called rocker panel, guaranteed needed repair panels on any Midwest old car!
They call it a rocker box because it gives you a place to store all of your mud and dirt that will rust out your rocker panel. Otherwise you would have no place to keep it.
You call it a rocker, I call it a sill..............then theres the rear luggage compartment you call a trunk, I call a boot.....I carry things in a trunk and I suppose we both wear boots...........you have a fender, I have a mudguard whilst the pommies.....eerr........the English have a wing........you have a hood.........so do I tho' I sometimes call it a bonnet..........you drive on the right but sit on the left whilst I drive on the left from the right side............you taking notes here?................lol..............andyd.
A Treatise on Carriages: Comprehending Coaches, Chariots, Phaetons. Published 1794... page 33: The Rockers, which are two strong boards firmly screwed or nailed to the inner part of the bottom side-piece, from which it descends farthest in the middle, and the descent gradually diminishes to both the extremities : on the bottom of those rockers the bottom boards are nailed; their use is to give depth from the seat, without affecting the external appearance of the body [of a carriage]
For those desiring to know the history of the term "Rocker Panel",here's an interesting full discussion. https://community.cartalk.com/t/origin-of-the-name-rocker-panel/30189
I'm going with Rusty O'Toole for acuracy. Kind of like "rockering' your skate blades. Honourable mention goes to Blowby however. If you're going to lie make it a big one with lots of details as people believe big lies and call BS on the little ones.
The Term "Rocker Box" Is From Civil Engineering And Refers To A Machine That Sorts Aggregate Into Nominal Sizes For Use In Construction Of Roads/Bridges/Etc. With Sand Being The Smallest. The Term Predates The Invention Of Automobiles...
Since most of us are guessing, I'd guess the term originated with the stagecoach. Read the description of the "thoroughbraces" in the attached images. The stagecoach "rocked" on heavy leather straps, and the bottom of the coach that rested on these straps were rocker shaped.
Delighted, at the 'mix' of lexicon. Proper English, "she needs a boot, under the bonnet!" After, having suffered a puncture, whilst running low, on petrol! (in my semi-lit 'Meri-can'.)
The stagecoach was first created in 1827. The quote I posted above from a 1794 book predates the stagecoach and clearly describes the boards being a bowed shape, just like a rocking chair or rocking cradle. And, though leather straps were indeed used before the stagecoach's invention, I suspect they might have 'swayed' just as much or more than 'rocked.' As a species, we can be pretty lazy with language and fall to the obvious. Leather straps and that motion are a slightly longer leap. Someone less elequent than Twain probably said, "it's just like the bottom of a rocking cradle" and the name stuck -- though the common use of leather straps might've helped the term along. EDIT: in fact, the diagram isn't even spelling the word right - it's supposed to be through-braces.
The Jalopy Journal
