Hot Rods - Performance cars for the individualist.
Hot Rod culture emerged in the United States years after the Second World War and has become an equally important ingredient for motor hobby like rock and roll at the same time was for the music. American soldiers had been inspired by the small, light and fast sports cars in Europe. These cars are offered excellent performance and driving pleasure, and well back home in the United States returning war veterans began to modify old cars to mimic these properties. After the war, there was more time than money, a high technical knowledge and a hunger to design to distinguish itself from the crowd. Old scrap was built because of the speed demon of races on both road and track.
Expensive and exclusive.
More and more cars have in recent years been built by professional builders with the most expensive construction sites has cost over a million dollars. Some of these famous persons and companies are Boyd Coddington - Hot Rods by Boyd, Caresto - Leif Tufvesson, Roy Brizio and Chip Foose.
Inspired Detroit.
Hot Rod is thus originally a term for a converted American open car manufactured before 1949. They would rather make use of a large and powerful engine option which was Ford's V8 and you wanted a light body. The combination was to be found in the Ford 1932 Roadster without sidewindows or roof which therefore became the most sought after model to build on. The concept of Hot Rod has over the years become more nuanced and includes covered wagons. Ford open roadster model was built namely only in 8033 copies and became increasingly difficult to find. Thus began also use other covered bodies and T-Fords which there were many. It was the Hot Rod trend that inspired automakers in Detroit to start developing and selling muscle cars.
Unnecessary parts give undue weight
In order to obtain better performance through reduced weight dismantled body parts that were considered "unnecessary", such as wings and bonnets. The suspension was modified, modern brakes and mounted engines trimmed. In addition to running in the street in 'Street Races competed owners also rebuilt their cars in' Dirt Track Races - informal races on oval tracks ground out in the countryside.
Street Rods - a more modern version.
During the 1970s, replica car bodies made of fiberglass came to appear on the market. Some cars was now built so that they became more comfortable, previously unthinkable heavy components such as air conditioning and electrically adjustable seats began to be installed in the cars. For these vehicles, coined the term Street Rod.
Hi-tech era
In the 1990s came a new direction in Hot Rod. The style became known as Hi-tech, when modern components that direct injection engines and ABS brakes mounted on these builds. The cars were fitted with expensive custom made components in aluminum and stainless steel. At the same time the first cars are presented that were custom built from start to finish, many times with advanced design, aluminum bodywork and engine & chassis that was both modern and gave race performance.
Rat Rod and return to origin
. From being a cheap hobby has Hot Rod become a very expensive job. The cost of a fancy building with the "right details", ie with the details cars built in the 1950s had, is very high. More and more cars are built by professional builders. As a reaction, the cars that are inspired by the original shape of the Hot Rod in the 1940s has become increasingly popular. This form of Hot Rod does not focus on top-finish and is more to be cheap to build, fun to drive and are generally referred to as rat rods.
