I'm reading a book about the 1920s called Cheaper by the Dozen. One chapter talks about dating, young men and their cars. Here's an excerpt: "The accepted mode of transportation was the stripped down Model T Ford, preferable inscribed with such witticisms as 'Chicken, Here's Your Roost,' 'Four Wheels , No Brakes,' and 'The Mayflower - Many a Little Puritan Has Come Across In It.'" The chapter goes on with a story about one with an exhaust whistle described as a "roar that was high pitched, deafening and insane" with the inscription, "Jump In Sardine, Here's Your Tin." The girl's father called it an "insane calliope." I didn't know kids were building customs(?) in the actual 1920s. It was always my understanding that Ts weren't discovered and used for hot rodding much later, so it's kind of changed my whole perception of history. Does anyone have any pics to share of Model Ts in the actual 20s with such "witticisms" painted on them? *edit: found some
That's not really a hot rod in the pics, just a fun car. A calliope whistle on the exhaust doesn't make it a hot rod. But, there were hot rods made of T's and other cars probably as soon as they left the dealership. Many a fella couldn't resist making his car faster.
Your pictures are from the 30s, too... I would also say that you're not talking about hot rods, as we know hot rods. Perhaps it's graffiti?
Yes, I know they're not "hot rods." I did refer to them as "customs(?)" with a question mark, to express my reluctance to refer to them as anything that resembles what we so lovingly and completely understand here on the H.A.M.B. to be "traditional hot rods." I was merely unaware that any young people had access to or could afford Model T's in the actual 1920s and were "altering" them in any way, shape, or form, as the book suggests. The fact that the photos I did find were from the 30s/40s, to me, suggest otherwise. Now then, does anyone have any photos of young people, customizing, painting, lettering, accessorizing, building, racing, altering or doing anything other than stock to Model T's in actual 1920s to suggest a prelude to the traditional hot rod movement as we know it today?
According to what my dad said a Model T could be had for as little as 5.00 and driven home in the late 30's and getting one for 25.00 that ran pretty good was fairly easy. About the time that photo was taken according to the newer car in the background my uncle and his buddies were said to have handed out a bit of whoopass on a couple of characters driving rigs like that that harassed my mom who was in her early teens at the time. They sure weren't customs though and were a lot closer to today's rat rods.
My dad graduated from high school in 1929. In his senior year he had a beat up old model T ford touring car that he painted bright red with a brush, and he put a trolley bell in it. After they'd win a football game on Friday night, he and his buddies would drive around town ringing the bell . It wasn't a hot rod by any means, just an old jalopy. I don't know what he paid for it, but he was a poor farm kid so it had to have been just a few dollars. Remember that by then Model Ts had been around for 20 years, so there had to have been a lot of old junkers around that were within the price range of young guys.
The hot rod guys in Santa Clara (1954, 'Hernando's Racing Team') rode around town for a week or so then, in a '21 T Touring, with no doors...and LOTS of 'graffiti' all over it: DON'T LAFF, LADY . YER DAWTER MAY BE IN HERE! ENGINE ROOM (on the hood) DREAM BOAT
The Jalopy Journal
