Hot rodding is working on old cars for no reason, then looking back and you have memories and a past doing it.
Some people attemt to own or work on them just to belong to the hotrod community.
My family has always had hotrods, when the family next door was driving thier kids to school in a brand new 77 4 door LTD, my dad was dropping me off at school in a 69 Chevelle with glasspack duals and doing a burnout when he left and racking off the exhaust!!!
You heard about the old car in the garage?
My aunt and uncle still have a 70 Cuda 340 car sitting in a junky old garage with 30,000 miles on it they bought new just to drag race in the 70s!!! My aunt used to take us trick or treating in it for years!!!
Replace "Hot Rodding" with "Being a carjunkie" and you'll get better replies. ;)
But, "Hot Rodding", in it's loose description, to me is Always trying to think of ways of increasing an engine's power output. Even if ever so slightly. For instance, when shopping for a new cam, never settle for the wimpy 'stock' one. Always get the one or 2nd cam below it on the list.
It means buying parts 'on the growth'; "Why don't I go for the roller rockers eventhough these stock stamped ones are more than adequate". But it also means trying to buy as cheap as possible. (usually)
- The 383 in my '65 convertible has been cheaply rebuilt years ago. The motor didn't need a bore so I just cheaped out and ballhoned the cylinders to break the glace. Installed new rings & bearings, but when it came to choosing a cam, I decided to go for the same one that was stock in the '69 Roadrunners.
- My 62 wagon will be getting a 392 Hemi somewhere next year. I didn't go for the stock cam but chose one with slightly more lift to get a slight lope when idling.
- On the 440 in my '60 NewYorker I went a few steps further. A strokercrank found it's way into the block making it a 496". I went out on a lim and converted a hydr.cam into a solid. I also put 1.6 rockers on the Edelbrock heads.
And now I've got a roller cam waiting to be installed someday, just to get a little more torque, which is already insane because of the LongRam-intake manifolds on the engine.
But... ! ;)
To me, "Hot Rodding" in the real, strict sense of the word would mean souping up a vintage, fenderless pre'40 jalopy, trying to locate the largest engine available in the same time period the car 'lived' originally (50's). No billet, no bling wheels, no (visible) modern day stuff, save for a couple of safety-features perhaps.
C&D. Building it yourself and with friends, searching high, low, and everywhere inbetween for the part or info you need, and saying screw it and just fabbing up what you need yourself.......... Meeting and talking to other "car people".........
To me, "Hot Rodding" is putting parts on a car that the manufacturer didn't think belonged there, or removing parts that the manufacturer thought were needed. Also adjusting things in a way that the manufacturer didn't think you should. I know that's pretty broad, but that's the way I see it.
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