Hot Rods Hot Rod V Street Rod

I'm interested to know what those on the HAMB fell the difference is between a Hot Rod and a Street Rod is. Also the difference between a Hot Rodder and a Street Rodder. I have my thoughts but want yours.

 

Hot rods/Street rods. The line blurs for me. There are all types of builds, and all types of owners. Some like finished, painted and upholstered cars. Others like ground scraping rusted out truck cabs adorned with all manner of pieces, auto related or not. It's personal choice. I consider myself a hot rodder. Have been since I was 13. I don't see why we need labels. We all love cars, building them, and working on them. Just don't call a new Camaro a hot rod!

 

A hot rod has an assortment of tools in the trunk.
A street rod carries a can of wax, a rag and a California duster in the trunk.


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hot rods look good street rods look like um? whats the word other than "boydster" , crap? um people trying to make a car look like something it shoudlnt be? all that smoothing and weird headlights and 'screens and stuff

 

I was a teenager once, hooked on Hot Rods.

Then the eighties came, and billet, hideous graphic paint work, pastel hues, kinda looked like the stuff I'd spit up, after my young teenage drinking binges.
I figured it was all over for me.
All those cool older Hot Rods seemed to be getting, updated into some weird abominations, and I lost all hope.

Then one day, along came the computer, and I discovered many of those old Hot Rods were still out there, untouched, and some people were even still building cars like that.
I know the term street rod was used before the eighties, but to me, that's where it began, a whole decade, that I'm glad, is long gone.

 

As Dean Lowe said, It's a blurry line in my head. The HAMB seems to define it more as '40s to early '60s style modified cars. If a modification wasn't done (or popular) in that time frame it is probably a Street Rod. Examples would be, hidden hinges, suicide doors on cars that didn't have them, anything electronic, modern suspension, A/C, Power anything. Billet anything especially wheels, rubber band tires, and tweed upholstery

There are some grey areas here as well. (more than 50 Shades) The purists don't consider radial tires, disc brakes automatic transmissions or anything that is trending on current production cars. But, you will see all of these on otherwise HAMB friendly cars.

When I go to cruises or shows, I find cars and trucks of all years and styles worthy to look at. But, I respect the HAMB definition when I'm here.

I'm just enough younger than Dean to believe there is such a thing as a 'Hot Rod Camaro'

 

To me, a person who builds an extreme "street rod" really likes and wants a brand new car, and is just trying to force an old car into to be one.

All the modern looking upholstery

Raping of old dash boards

Covering of motors

Obsession with cleaning up body lines and modernizing, OCD with fit and finish, electronic crap


Chip Foose and Boyd Coddington are/were really talented guys, but to me they are/were just making old cars for monied people who really like new cars, and want just a shot of "old car" in their brand new vinyl and plastic air conditioned computer controlled brand new car coffee.

The line gets blurred when a hot rod just has too much chromed stuff, billet stuff, still "hot" but approaching "street"

Just my opinion. But that and .75 cents might get you a bag of chips.

 

blurred lines.

 

This is a old/endless debate. For me I guess I'm in the Dean Lowe camp. I enjoy looking at ground scrapping cabsters to the high end AMBR. Even early rat rods had some cool ideas, now they've gotten stupid. In the trunk of my sedan I have tools, parts, Mist & Shine, rags but no duster. But I do have a beer cooler!

 

Hot rod parts come from wrecker's yards, swap meets and other blokes sheds.
Street rod parts come in blister packs hanging on hooks.

 

You built it - hot rodder
You bought it - street rodder
regardless of the car.

 

Everyone has their own definition and on the HAMB, it's "Old School" Hot Rod. A few phrase's come to mind. "One man's Junk is another man's Jewel" Wi. Saying, " To each their own said the farmer as he hugged his cow"

 

what he said.^^^^

 

Its pretty simple once you understand the history of hot rodding. Our predecessors figured out how to build a hot rod decades ago so to build a modern hot rod we don't copy what they did as much as we have to follow a very strict set of rules when we build one. We each interpret the rules different and that leads to the diversity.
There are no rules to building a street rod.
So, there you have it. It is far easier to build a street rod, you just make it up as you go along.

 

REAL HOT RODS: Came from the factory with a headlight bar. They have handles, hinges, caps and rings, lowered and louvers, big-n- littles, loud and lumpy, primer and patina. If it isn’t old steel it isn’t real.

 

Hot Rods to me look like old cars. Lots of Streetrods to me look like fiberglass rocket ships and nothing like like the cars they are supposed to represent. Examples are Coast To Coast 37 Chevy's, Speedstars, OZ cars and that abomination they call a 39 Studebaker pick up truck. Owners of these types of cars have usually paid lots of money to have someone build them and their not called Gold Chainers for nothing.

Gary

 

My opinion is that Foose and Coddington don't build street rods they build customs like Barris did in the 50's and 60's and if I had a LS engine I would cover it up also, they are ugly and Camaros should be called modern day pony muscle cars.