History of Hot Rods

The origins of hot rodding, and the pursuit of higher performance started in the early 1920's when inexpensive, raw material become readily available. The most popular early model hot rods were the Ford Model T. Model T's were durable, available, affordable, and fast. Speed was the most important feature for the early hot rods.

Dry lake beds out west were used to test the hot rods performance. On the east coast, especially Florida, the beach was used. In some other areas, tracks were made from wood, dirt or other readily available materials. Dry lake beds were the most popular because it takes space to reach optimal speed.

The demand for faster and better hot rods grew, so did the entrepreneurial spirit. Cylinder heads, carburetors, modified cam shafts, and any other part that would increase horsepower were being redesigned, developed and then produced. Style and aerodynamics gave birth to "speedster" body kits to give the Model T a sleeker profile, and then modified suspension kits that lowered the stance became available. What followed was custom wheels that mounted wider tires. There were some other brands of hot rods available, but most were loyal to the Model T hot rods because they were affordable and easier to modify.

Ford later upgraded to the Model A, while sturdier than the Model T, was still basically the same design. Hot rod component manufacturers could easily revise their designs to apply to the Model A, B, and C engines. Four cylinder engines were the engine of choice until the mid 1930's, even after the flathead 8 cylinder engine was produced in 1932. The reason for this is that the 8 cylinder still had some bugs in it and was not as durable as the 4 cylinder. This attitude prevailed until the reliability, availability, superiority and popularity of the V8 engine became evident. The Ford V8 engine had a good run for about 20 years, until other V8's and Hemi's were put in some of the higher end hot rods. That is when the Ford V8 decreased in popularity and the other engines were discovered and appreciated.

In 1955, Chevrolet introduced a brand new body style and ohv V8 engine. This new Chevy V8 gained instant success because of the revolutionary design. The Chevy V8 used new casting techniques that made the new engine lighter and more compact. Innovative valve train designed allowed the enigine to rev more freely and to a higher level without valve float. It didn't take long for rodders to catch on. The Chevy V8 only weighed 20 lbs more than the Ford, it fit most hot rods - new and old, and it was also easier to work with.

In 1962, Ford released it's "small block" engine, which copied many of the features of the Chevy V8, but it was not so easy to work on and around for the older hot rods. They built this engine for their new line of cars, not taking into consideration the older models of hot rods. There were many improvements and modifications done on the new Ford engine in the ensuing 3 years. Ford benefits from their headstart and loyalties to this day.

The 1950's were the golden age for hot rods and rodding, and there was only hot rodding. Hot rodding is responsible for the many strains of cars and types of racing. Hot rods are the grandparents to all high performance cars. The drag strip was born out of the traditional hot rodding, as was The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA.) The NHRA was developed originally to instill safety standards but has expanded to be the governing body for drag racing in the U.S. The NHRA held it's first sanctioned event in 1953 on the first true dragstrip.