Johannesburg - Among the many hundreds of wild and wonderful classics, muscle-cars, customised pick-ups and modified street-racing machines at the Classic Car Show at Nasrec this Sunday will be a category of cars called, simply, “Hot Rods”.
Gauteng’s biggest classic-car show is again being run in association with Rolling Thunder, the premier hot rod and muscle-car restoration outfit in the Gauteng area, located just down the road from Nasrec in Robertsham.
These hot rods stand out because they are created from older cars, generally of American origin, although not always, and almost certainly run a big-bore American V8. A definition of a classic hot rod is probably that it is created out of a car that you wouldn’t at first assume to be an ideal bare canvass for a potent, fast-and-furious, mobile art-form.
At the birth of the movement, your classic hot rod was in fact based on the earliest mass-produced car of all time, the Ford Model T, and the trend came about purely because youngsters buying their first car in the late 1920s and early 1930s couldn’t afford anything fancier than an old T-bucket. And once they’d acquired it, of course they wanted it to go faster.
There were thus many hot rods running around the US before World War Two and generally these cars are known as hi-boys by rodding insiders. But post-war the trend caught on in wild-fire fashion, spawning a whole sub-culture of American youth that incorporated drag racing, a massive go-faster engine-tuning industry, and accessories to make your old clunker at least cooler than the other young guy next door who was also strapped for the necessary cash to buy a new Ford, Chevy or Chrysler.
There is a whole sub-category of hot-rods today, called T-Buckets, and these almost always employ a fibre-glass replica of the basic Model T passenger cell.
The T-bucket look is completed by a big, chrome-laden V8, mag wheels, and a wild paint-job.
A later category of classic hot rods is based on the American cars of the 1930s. These are usually the Ford Model A or the later V8-engined Fords from the mid-1930s. Other hot rods you will see at the show from this era are spilling over into the 1940s.
Other strong brands in this category include Chevrolet, Willys, and to some degree Plymouth.
The cars of the 1950s can be categorised as hot rods, but they are more commonly referred to as Custom Cruisers or Street Machines.
But remember, there are no real hard-and-fast rules as to what defines a classic hot rod.
In the end, whether it’s a British classic such as an Austin-Healey or Jaguar, a European sports car such as a Porsche, a hot rod or street machine, or a wild motorcycle that you lust after, get yourself to Nasrec on Sunday. Gates open at 8am, there will be food and drink a-plenty on sale, stands selling all manner of petrolhead-related stuff, and the fun will last all Sunday, with plenty to do for the kids as well, including helicopter rides at R150 a pop.
For more information visit www.classiccars.co.za, or call organiser Paul Calisto on 082-497-7218.
Star Motoring