Kinda ironic what you wrote because in the day when we used "short" or "ranfla" for car, we weren't called "Latino". We were just Mexicans or "Chicano". But that last term; at least in my experience was NOT to be used by others. I recall my dad talking with his buddy about someone else and my dad asking, "...es chicano?" Essentially translates, "is he one of us?" Later the media jumped on that term and "barrio" - I've always suspected to have analogous words to go with the then new terms "black" and "ghetto". It's extremely faux pas now but black people were referred to as colored or Negro and ALL brown people but "Indians" were called Mexican; regardless of where they came from! From a minorities standpoint things are a LOT better now...well, except of course that we're NOT truly in the minority anymore! Ironic, once again.
Yeah FNG's and Shortimers were the ones that usually got "Tinged",.... And yeah guys that were "Short" got "Very Crazy"... and wanted to go back to the "World".... "Really quickly"..... Chasing that "Freedom Bird" But if you get ting GI,.... you #10 !..... Sin -Loi ! Con-Biet ????
"Im so short I cant see over the top of my Zippo" ... never hear the term short used in reference to a car, but I guess that explains why Engine Eddie in SanDiego advertized "Short Blocks as little as $119.99 (with core)".
It's chopped, nosed and decked. Chopped = chopped top Nosed = chrome trim and emblems removed from the hood, holes welded and smoothed over Decked = same on back, trunk lid emblems removed, holes welded and smoothed over (also "shaved")
it's shorts Beach Boys Shut Down Lyrics Songwriters: CHRISTIAN, ROGER VAL / WILSON, BRIAN DOUGLAS Tach it up, tach it up Buddy gonna shut you down It happened on the strip where the road is wide Two cool shorts standin' side by side Yeah, my fuel injected Stingray and a 413 Were revvin' up our engines and it sounds real mean Tach it up, tach it up Buddy gonna shut you down Declinin' numbers at an even rate At the count of one we both accelerate My Stingray's light the slicks are startin' to spin But the 413's really diggen in Gotta be cool now power shift here we go Superstock Dodge is winding out in low But my fuel injected Stingray's really startin' to go To get the traction I'm ridin' the clutch My pressure plate's burnin' that machine's too much Pedal's to the floor hear the dual quads drink And now the 413's lead is startin to shrink He's hot with ram induction but it's understood I got a fuel injected engine sittin' under my hood Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down Shut it off, shut it off buddy now I shut you down Shut Down lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, EMI Music Publishing
Long before the term "Lowrider" in the '70's, the term "Short was use for cars in general and a "Cherry Short" for a very cool car. I first heard the term "short' in 1956 with the Mexican guys I went to school with. Bear Medal Kustoms and I were giving out an award for the "Coolest Short" in the West Coast Kustoms show for a few years. The term like many car terms came out of Southern California after WW2 and when customs were the coolest shorts on the streets of Southern California. You can find the term "short in songs and the small car books of the '50's.. CRUISER
I grew up in East Los Angeles. There was an older guy that lived down the street. He had a '61 Impala. Cool car. Baby moons, Glasspacks with pencil tips. About two or three times a week, He would show up at my door drunk. He needed to get somewhere but couldn't drive. Same question every time, "Little homie, could you drive my short for me?"
Man, I've listened to that song a hundred thousand times, & I'd always thought they said "two cool sharks", too. Learn somethin' new...........
As many have said short timer was big in the Army in the mid 1960's. It was with Uncle Sam when one of the brothers commented about a short in reference to a car. That was except for the Beach Boys, the only time I heard short to describe a car.
JackdaRabbit.. You are on to it. Its "JackaCar". In Chicago during the late 30's, the term was from the vernacular of Hotrodders and black gangsters. It probably comes from when to "hot short" a vehicle, later evolved to mean "hot wire" a car.
The Jalopy Journal
