In interpreting the meaning of “hot rod,” the last part of the word plays a key role. Some experts argue that this very “rod” is an abbreviation of the term roadster and indicates the body type required for modifications. Others say that this is a designation for the connecting rods, the parts that were the first to be replaced during the construction of a “hot” car. This is how garage craftsmen increased the engine capacity of their hardware. And although, in general, hot rods were a wild “bush,” from time to time, genuine masterpieces arose among them, which conceptual designers still look back on to this day. This article is devoted to several similar works.
Classics of the genre
Hot rodding originated in the USA in the 30s of the last century, gaining popularity rapidly and everywhere, becoming perhaps the main male entertainment. What else can an unemployed man do on a Friday night other than drink bitters and rush through the streets in half-dismantled carriages? The governmental ban on the sale of alcohol, as well as on driving fast on the roads common use. Therefore, in order to find an underground brandy market and escape from the cops if there was a raid, the guys desperately needed fast wheels.
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But rusty carts like the Ford Model A or B didn't exactly please their owners with their dynamics. To increase speed characteristics, they tore off everything unnecessary from the cars: fenders, running boards, casings engine compartment, even the roof! The loss of body rigidity did not worry the craftsmen too much. The main thing is that the car flies like the wind. In this she was helped by the eight-cylinder engine, promoted by Mr. Ford on all mass models of his company. Thus, by the will of chance and many-armed masters, whose names were lost under the soot of hundreds of carbon dioxide evenings, the appearance of a classic hot rod was formed. The most ardent admirers have elevated it to the canon and even now reject any custom built on the basis of a car older than 1945.
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Over time, hot rodding has grown from a semi-handicraft hobby to a high-status and expensive hobby. When America stopped being in a fever from mafia showdowns and legalized military conflicts, the rich flocked to exotic alterations. Speed racing was no longer a matter of survival: it moved from the streets to sports tracks and specialized arenas. The famous Lake Bonneville became the largest of these sites. And of course, the studios of the surrounding regions have long become champions in the construction of hot rod classics.
For example, the Rollings Bones studio is famous for making hot rods that are closest to the original. In a modern interpretation, they look like the creations of Dr. Frankenstein, as they are assembled from dozens of parts belonging to different cars. However, their souped-up engines and aggressive appearance make them the same evil bastards that cut through the salt expanses in the 50s. Experienced craftsmen know that no matter how ambitious the project, the main thing is to pay attention to detail. Only then will a simple metal trough on two side members and four wheels truly come to life.
Peculiarities:
Clyde Barrow, the notorious Prohibition-era gangster, admired cars Ford brands. He even addressed a letter to the president of the company, where in a half-joking tone he promised to steal only Fords. But among American bandits, Clyde was no exception. The criminals preferred Henry Ford's products for their cheapness, simplicity and power. Custom modifications of such equipment have become a kind of side effect this popularity. So Mr. Ford is responsible for many things that happened in the States in the first half of the twentieth century. And the second one, too.
Red Baron
The unusual appearance of hot rods began to attract bohemian people. Artists, musicians, and most importantly, filmmakers, driving such equipment, were included in a closed club, a kind of secret lodge with its own customs, laws and rules. In America in the 60s, there were not many specialized publications that covered the projects, competitions and workdays of real hot rodders. The most authoritative of them was the magazine Hot Rod, owned by Robert Petersen. But when Monogram became interested in “hot roadsters,” this subculture received its own pop star.
Box cover with model Red Baron Monogram
The Monogram Models formation was very popular in the States for providing leisure time for millions: everyone, young and old, liked to assemble kit models, turning a pile of plastic into a perfect example of motorized technology. Representatives of the auto industry seriously monitored the Monogram assortment, because if the next creation of one of the Big Three was reproduced on a scale of 1:48, then its success was not accidental. However, the path of the hot rod named Red Baron turned out exactly the opposite.
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Tom Daniel was a freelance designer. He worked with Monogram Models only once before it dawned on him: it is not necessary to draw sketches of real-life equipment - after all, you can invent a machine that never existed! To do this, Daniel studied the rating of prefabricated models, highlighting those that sold better than others. They turned out to be fighter planes from the First World War and... old Fords. Putting these two images together, the designer got a distinctive hot rod with a Kaiser's infantry helmet instead of a cockpit and Albatros D. II war paint. The car was named “Red Baron” in honor of the best ace of the war, Manfred von Richthofen, who shot down 80 enemy aircraft.
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The model hit the shelves in 1968, creating a real sensation among kit collectors. In just a few years, Monogram Models has sold more than 3 million copies of this construction set! And when they were offered to embody an unusual hot rod in metal and in life-size, no one was particularly surprised. Chuck Miller, an engineer at Detroit's Styline Customs, took on the job, meticulously restoring all the parts. The Red Baron was built in a Bucked T body, the most classic hot rod design using the underpinnings of one of the 1917-27 Ford T models. release. Trying to achieve maximum compliance, Miller wanted to install in the car aircraft engine of the indicated era, produced by Mercedes-Benz or BMW, but was unable to find a suitable copy - I had to be content with a 6-cylinder Pontiac OHC racing unit.
Peculiarities:
The Red Baron was to the world of hot rods what Bon Jovi was to rock music. His appearance is like the imperishable single It’s My Life, sounding non-stop. Even Chuck Miller receives awards for creating this machine with the same regularity with which the famous musician receives Grammy awards.
Greetings from Roswell
"Mischief managed!" - Harry Potter's satisfied friends repeated, conjuring over the magic map. The same can be said about the work of “Big Daddy” Ed Rott, a legendary figure for several generations of hot rodders. Many of today's masters were inspired to get down to business by the extraordinary author's thinking and philosophical view of this man. Ed Rott came up with a lot of things that made this subculture meaningful. He is also responsible for the creation of such symbols as the pot-bellied rodent Rat Fink - the emblem of independent customizers and the Beatnik Bandit car, the wonderful appearance of which enthusiasts are still trying to outdo.
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The story of the orange striped Bandit followed the fate of the previous hero, Red Baron, almost to the letter. It all started the same way with a tiny scale model Hot Wheels Revell, for which Ed developed the design. He then created a "full-size" hot rod based on a 1955 Oldsmobile, shortening the chassis to just over six feet.
The master sent the original body to a landfill, melting something out of fiberglass that looked like the skin of an alien ship. To match the image, a transparent bubble was installed in place of the cabin/roof. To make it, Mr. Rott stuck a piece of plastic in a pizza oven, and when it was hot and soft, he inflated it like balloon. Even though the master was not the first inventor of such a roof, he was definitely a popularizer of such “soap bubbles” - many of his subsequent models had this signature touch.
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The “cheated” 5-liter Beatnik Bandit engine was equipped with a Bell Auto supercharger and a dual Ford carburetor. When assembling the exhibit, Mr. Rott did not seriously think about hundreds Horse power in it, but I was still afraid to drive this hot rod. The machine he built was perhaps the only one that moved exclusively on a carriage. After all, she had no steering wheel at all: control, acceleration, braking and gear shifting - all this was displayed on a metal steering wheel. The latter, oddly enough, worked, which horrified everyone, including its creator.
Big Daddy passed away 15 years ago, at the age of 69, but his works still have a magical effect on people. Most of Ed Rott's cars are in private collections, but there are also some in museums - for example, the Beatnik Bandit. This strange device has such a stimulating effect on customizers that they borrow its touches in their projects. But only a few people like Fritz Schenk, an inspired enthusiast, manage to build the ideal new Bandit. He named his car Roswell Rod, and it has a number of serious differences from the original. Firstly, you can start it and drive without risking your life. And secondly, Schenk is sure that he built exactly the device that the FBI found in Roswell in 1947.
Peculiarities:
Ed Rott left behind not only cars, but also several books, essentially practical guides to this or that action. “I worked with a whole bunch of cool stuff that no one wanted to know about,” he wrote. “And then he took it and built a car out of it all!” Great way to attract attention, by the way. Moreover, not only to yourself, but also to what worries you, as, for example, Fritz Schenk did.
Vagabond/Marauder
Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” was not in vain admiring English language: It contains a huge number of words with double meaning. The so-called “words-words” very accurately characterize processes and phenomena, especially if they end unsuccessfully. Take, for example, the Prowler model - its sketches have been approved and passed around for so long that you can’t call it anything other than “Tramp”. But when she nevertheless established herself in the production of Plymouth and for five years did not bring her native company a dime, her hidden essence came to light - the Marauder. Yes, it’s not good to rob your parents, but the Prowler is perhaps the only hot rod launched into production, for which a lot can be forgiven.
The idea of producing a retro car in the hot-rodding style first came to the mind of Bob Lutz, president of Chrysler, in 1990. Its marketers have calculated that this subculture costs several million of its admirers a tidy sum - $10 billion! Lutz, himself an avid racer and retro fan, rightly decided to lure this audience to the side of the “five-pointed star” and launched a corresponding project. A concept car, vaguely similar to the current Prowler, debuted at the 1993 Detroit Motor Show and shocked absolutely everyone. But its adaptation to the production chassis lasted for another five long years, after which it was decided to assemble the roadster by hand.
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On American market The Prowler was available in small quantities for $38,000 apiece. Under its hood was an aluminum 3.5-liter V6 engine producing 253 hp. With. Contrary to real hot rods, this car could not accelerate properly, had lousy dynamics and created discomfort behind the wheel. But they still bought it. For the sake of appearance. For the feeling of freedom. But since Chrysler not only did not make money on this project, but also suffered losses, the Prowler attraction stopped working in 2002, stopping at 11,700 units produced.
Peculiarities:
Even though the Plymouth Prowler is not a “true” hot rod, this model is unique in its own way. Yes, the manufacturer failed to combine retro aesthetics with racing characteristics"hot roadsters". But this project is one of a rare number of cases when genuine emotions prevailed over cost calculations. Although Chrysler didn't make any money, it managed to make some of its customers really happy.
Hot Nord
Oddly enough, hot rodding has gained close attention among Scandinavian craftsmen. Admirers of their own traditions, they suddenly willingly adopted the American style in the construction of custom cars. True, in some ways the northerners departed from the canons. They liked the aggressive looks of hot rods and the enormous dynamic potential. But a lot of hanging trinkets seemed unnecessary to them. The Scandinavian public, who revered order and precision, began to build “hot roadsters” in their own way, and Lief Tufvesson, who succeeded in this, even received the status of a demigod.
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This example is not the only hot rod with the Volvo logo on the hood, but it is certainly the most iconic. Lief Tafvesson named it Hot Rod Jakob in honor of the very first car of the Swedish brand, which, by the way, was also created on Jakob Day (July 25)! The five-seater Volvo OV4 was equipped with a 28-horsepower engine and sold 293 copies in the first year. Behind the scenes, mechanics called this car with a removable top... Jacob.
The new Jakob is powered by a turbocharged 5-cylinder engine producing 265 hp. With. (borrowed from Volvo T5). Paired with it is a 5-speed “mechanics” M90, used on the 960 sedan. The chassis, like on racing cars, is made of carbon, the frame is steel, the body is aluminum, and the suspensions are dependent. Brake system with huge discs with a diameter of 450 mm at the front and 515 mm at the rear and 4-piston calipers all around. Mechanisms hidden in grandiose rims AEZ Forge (19" front and 22" rear). The wheels are shod with special Pirelli tires with the Volvo branding. Perhaps the most original exhibit in the factory museum Volvo Haven't been to Gothenburg yet!
Peculiarities:
The spar frame and spring suspension are far from the only technological solutions adopted by the Scandinavians from overseas. Thanks to the efforts of Lief Tufvesson, the small-scale production of Volvo hot rods is just around the corner. He has already created more than a dozen powerful concepts in this style, and the public idolizes them. If the industrialists from Gothenburg do not surrender, those descendants of the Vikings who fell in love with hot rodding will take their factories by storm. Sooner or later.
Epilogue
The popularity of hot rodding waned with. Compared to these sleek beauties, the modified Fords seemed like hulks. In the mid-60s, hot rods went underground, which was not the first time they had done so. However, complete oblivion did not happen: now many retro fans are ready to overpay for new cars in top trim levels, just to have an iconic and unique device in their collection. Which, in general, is gratifying and increases my faith in a bright, non-standardized automotive future.
Traditionally, hot rodders subscribe to a fairly strict set of rules, and I'm going to refute that thesis right now.
I can understand the mantra of “doing it like it used to be,” but personally, I think it's fundamentally antithetical to “hot rodding.” "The way they used to do it" depended on creativity and maximum use those parts that were readily available, except for the expensive parts that were not available in the sixties.
I've never been a guy who differentiates every turn signal by year and model, nor did I know which cylinder heads were the most preferred. I'm a hot rodder because I like things to look right. And ordering spare parts from a catalog never guarantees that your car will look good. 
In short, I like "hot rods that can do THIS - because to me a real hot rod is just old car with soul and this is something that everyone will appreciate - car enthusiasts and not only. 
Jared Seganti's '37 Dodge pickup did just that when I caught a glimpse of it on Instagram. It was one of those cases when you repeatedly look at an object that interests you, then evaluate it by squinting, and eventually begin to study all the details. Fortunately, Jared was easy to contact from there, and since he is a fan of Speedhunters, he was delighted that Sean Kinglehofer himself offered to capture the features of his work. 
I guess I should give you time to digest what you see because this is a special type of project. It all starts with a 37' Dodge truck cab that was part hot rod, wrapped in sheet metal to fit Sandrail, a symbiotic combination of various race car parts, all mounted on a chassis derived from Trophytruck SUVs. It's a pretty serious hybrid of styles that are fundamentally completely different, and yet it works.
This, my friends, is what I call “hot rodding.” 
You see, Jared first got his first work experience at the age of 17, sweeping floors in a manufacturing plant. From that moment on, he was hooked by what he saw and never looked back. Since then he has worked for Predator Sand Cars, Alumicraft Racing, Racer Engineering and even had a brief stint with West Coast Choppers. Apparently he'd bent enough metal into the silhouettes of a Sandrail or Trophytruck that when he set out to build a hot rod, it basically worked out. 
Things like the rear-mounted radiator with ported mounts come straight from the off-road world, where you need to keep the cooling system out of harm's way. For Jared's pickup, it was more of a tribute to the old days. 
The advantage is the clean face of his hot rod, free of body parts. Instead of the front part of the body being purely mechanical; the tubular structure, suspension and engine are all combined to create a form whose function is purely design. 
Row six-cylinder engine of the old Chevy, this is really the only standard part of that same truck, besides the cab. The engine is located in its starting position, parallel to the chrome-molybdenum frame tubes. Note the radiator cooling system, which follows the same pattern. 
The first thing that caught my attention about Jared's 37' Dodge was the body, to which he added original sheet metal. The style and quality were such that I could say it was as if it had originally been manufactured in a special factory. 
If you've ever spent time around Sandrails and Prerunners, you can feel their influence too. Tightly fitting aluminum panels, Dzus locks, metal perforations - it's all there. 
Like the half-covered front, the chrome frame is only partially covered at the rear. 
Plus, Jared built a working car from scratch, which we'll get to shortly, the styling is truly an amazing thing - a car designer can absent-mindedly draw while daydreaming. The most ingenious part is the way new aluminum panels are sourced from Dodge's factory lines and then quickly converted into an aggressive, angular, layered shape. When creating a car design, the concept of "angle of attack" is used, and this car has a lot of them. 
If you walk around the machine, you will begin to see the levels that come into play. I've never seen a hot rod that had this depth and size of the rear quarter panel, if you can call it that. 
The renovation work continues inside, where Jared handcrafted nearly every detail. Look at a gas pedal taken from a sprint car or latest models. This is an example of the use of a cool detail, the installation of which Jared skillfully played around with. The origins of all this are almost irrelevant, because this idea has now found its place. 
Jared seems to know all the tricks to using his sheet metal like a pro. 
Not only did he use quality stainless steel fasteners throughout, but he was able to add aesthetic beauty to it. Jared made excellent use of his experience; he knew that a 4-inch spacing between screws would be sufficient. As the rivets move away from each other, the sheets of metal will begin to knock, and with a more frequent interval there will be too many rivets. 
Of course, you can be considered a talented car builder if you can combine an old truck cab with a chassis self made, and not only purely visually, but also, ultimately, to obtain a mechanically sound, working vehicle as a result. 
So, many of these great visions turn out to be just dreams - projects locked up in someone's garage, never to be completed. That's why I couldn't help but smile when I saw small truck Jared Seganti, kicking up dust with his own power. 
Everyone has their own reasons for not finishing these “dream projects”: maybe due to lack of funds, or maybe simply due to lack of time or motivation. I suspect one skill Jared learned from working in these amazing off-road shops is the ability to see a project through to completion. It would be a gross and oversimplification of things for us to look at the photos of this hot rod and think that creating it would be as easy as shelling pears. 
Of course, Jared learned many useful skills from working in the shops, including welding and pipe bending, which he used to create his chrome chassis. Sheet metal processing is another feature from the exciting world of off-road vehicle construction. 
Jared built the front suspension from scratch using A-arms and coilovers. But what really surprised me was that he built all the geometry at fixed lengths and angles - with zero adjustment. The only thing that can be changed is the toe angle. Instead of threaded tie rod bearings, his suspension pivots on brass struts, showing that he has the experience to design suspension as well as crack nuts. 
For rear suspension, he used a different set of coilovers and triangulated the four links to install the axle. The key here is how everything works in tandem. A cross member ties the sides of the chassis together, as well as a radiator that only leaves room for upper mounts coilover. 
We're back inside where the frame integrates with the old truck's sheetmetal but also blends nicely with the bottom of the dash. 
I barely mentioned the cut-out roof, which is usually an important part of a Hot Rod, but with everything else going on here, it's an easy detail to miss. Looking through the shortened rear window opening, you can see another attached racing part something you don't usually see on a Hot Rod: a Momo suede-wrapped steering wheel. 
This is the same mixing of styles that I mentioned at the beginning of this story. And it works, doesn't it? 
Since he built everything else from aluminum and welding rods, Jared went ahead and styled the seats. 
For all the wildness of this amazing work, I may have missed something that I don't think anyone would have noticed. Of course, those are eight-bolt, three-piece Humvee wheels with small street tires mounted on them. But did you know that Hummer wheels came in 16.5-inch diameters, and you'd never be able to find street tires that fit? That’s where Jared shrugged and went to work: he cut the wheels, removed a couple of inches from the circumference, resulting in 16”. 
What kind of confidence do you need to have to take on building a Hot Rod for the first time... And fearlessness to look at a piece of metal and see something more in it. In this case, nothing will stand in the way of its creation. When talking with Jared, I noticed that he was a little shy that we wanted to talk about his car. He sees everything he could do better in his own thoughts. But I'm standing next to this hot rod with my mouth open.
I was already telling Jared that I would be very happy to see this thing in action, and suddenly it occurred to me to ask if this car was even finished. It turns out this little Hot Rod pickup is only half finished. Jared plans to completely disassemble the car into parts for painting. Now he enjoys and enjoys the car in motion, looking at his work in bare metal.
Keith Charvonia
Instagram: SpeedhuntersKeith
[email protected]
Photos by Sean Klingelhoefer
Instagram: seeklingelhoefer
[email protected]
Jared Seganti's 1937 Dodge Pickup
Engine
1968 Chevrolet inline six cylinder, 250ci, fabricated engine mounts, custom black braided fuel hoses, custom fabricated exhaust system, two Optima six volt batteries wired in series, two Spal 14″ radiator fans, remote mounted radiator, inline Meziere thermostat housing, scratch built wiring harness, small forklift alternator, marine grade battery kill switch
Driveline
Chevrolet TH350 transmission, 14 bolt eight lug rear differential from a motorhome, 4:10 gearing, custom driveshaft from Driveline Service of San Diego, B&M Quarter Stick shifter
Suspension/Brakes
All front suspension links except toe are non-adjustable, front suspension bushings are brass, rear chromoly four link with 5/8″ heim joints, adjustable aluminum shocks, BRT sprint car steering box, four piston Wilwood front calipers with 13″ GT-48 slotted rotors, two piston rear calipers, CNC master cylinder, custom routed 3/16″ copper nickle brake lines, custom pedal box, scratch built black brake hoses
Wheels/Tires
Hummer H1 wheels, changed from 16.5″ to 16″ diameter, front wheels narrowed from 9″ to 7″, rear wheels widened from 9″ to 11″, cheap 205/55/16 front tires, Mickey Thompson 315/45/16 rear tires
Exterior
1937 Dodge truck cab, hand formed aluminum body panels by Jared Seganti, 4 1/2″ chop, shaved door handles, LED tail lights
Interior
Hand formed aluminum interior panels by Jared Seganti, aluminum seats, chromoly roll cage integrated into chassis, Momo steering wheel with Sweet Manufacturing quick release, sprint car gas pedal, Mil-spec switches
Original article on the team website SpeedHunters- #chapter -built-to-drive" >www.speedhunters.com
Hot rodding is a traditionally popular activity in America. According to Hot Rod Magazine, more than 5 million Americans are engaged in it - a truly national hobby, but it’s also worth considering that collecting stamps or cutting out with a jigsaw require much less skill, time and effort.
Apparently, such popularity of hot rods is explained by the huge all-consuming love of Americans for powerful, fast and beautiful cars, and the fact that most of them simply cannot afford to shell out a hundred or two thousand dollars for a real supercar. When a potential hot rodder decides to build himself a “cool car,” he has a clear idea of what he’s getting into: after all, it takes a lot of time—up to several years—to realize his idea in metal.
Where to start making a hot rod with your own hands? If you don’t have an old Mustang or Camaro sitting forgotten in your grandfather’s garage, from the mid-60s, which you can make the object of your experiments at no extra cost, then you have to go to a junkyard or a used car store and buy a junk car that you like. It can be almost any (but preferably American) passenger car; the year of manufacture has practically no significance. The history of hot rodding knows examples of making very “cool cars” from both Ford cars T, produced from 1909 to 1927, and from the 1992 Ford Probe. Following the purchase and development of the project for the future hot rod, the actual transformation begins.
The process of building your first hot rod is much the same as how prototype cars are built. The idea is the same - in the standard (at least in general outline) the body is stuffed with a heavy-duty engine, special transmission and suspension, in a word, hide the wolf in sheep skin. The heart of a classic hot rod is a V-shaped, 6- or 8-cylinder long-stroke engine with a very large displacement. An engine with a volume of less than five liters is considered simply frivolous to install on a hot rod, and some examples are equipped with 10-12-liter engines. Cool? And how! After all, the power of “cool cars” is calculated from three hundred “horses” and above. How high? It’s hard to say with confidence: for the most part, hot rodders prefer not to particularly advertise the technical characteristics of their cars. Including because they have an ongoing war with traffic police, and federal laws do not favor “gas guzzlers.” However, according to data leaked to the pages of Hot Rod Magazine, it can be assumed that the power of the most monstrous hot rods exceeds 1000 hp. s., and speeds over 400 km/h.
Arises reasonable question: where do they get such engines? A simple private, so to speak. A hot rodder does not have to grind out pistons himself and carry scarce gears out of the factory, hiding them in his underpants. In the States there is a whole industry of several hundred private firms that are quite affordable prices They offer builders of “cool cars” everything their heart desires. From anatomical seats, sports steering wheels, cast wheels and such super-powerful engines to baseball caps with hot rod symbols. All the main components of the future hot rod - engine, transmission, suspension - are usually purchased, so the hot rodder just has to put it all together and work on the appearance. This is where he will give free rein to his hard work, patience and imagination!
It is impossible to describe this riot of paint, varnish and chrome when several hundred hot rods come to a competition or competition. The cars are truly finished with highly artistic taste and no wonder: after all, professional artists and designers are usually involved in the design of the exterior.
Hot rodders take their aesthetic refinements even further - under the hood. A strong shock should await the mechanic who, wearing dirty gloves, climbs into the engine... and instead of soot-covered parts he sees a fully chrome-plated engine sparkling in the sun. Everything sparkles: carburetors, block, heads, intake and exhaust manifolds, even suspension and steering parts. Numerous hoses and wires match the body color. And all this is clean, beautiful, as if the car had never been driven. No, there are, of course, hot rods that are just for the sake of appearance and are made and only travel on special trailers from exhibition to exhibition. But there are few of them. Most of the “cool cars” are made with soul and for the soul - to have fun somewhere on the highway at the full power of a multi-hundred-horsepower engine and show off the owners of fashionable “supers”, whose fate is to swallow dust. Again, you can’t go shopping and to work in a hot rod: too much money, not even money, has been invested so that some teapot, who got behind the wheel yesterday, drove into his beloved brainchild and let it all go down the drain.
