The terms hot rod and street rod are used interchangeably by many, but there is a subtle difference between the two. To understand the difference, we need to go back to the beginning of the history of the hot rod. The hot rod began in the 1920’s when the automobile was first being sold by the millions due to new assembly line techniques. Many young California drivers wanted to race their cars, so they got together in the salt flats East of the cities and raced. These first cars built and sold in the 1920’s were mostly model T’s, and the engines only produced around 20 horsepower. Car owners removed all non essential components including running boards, panels, hoods, and ornaments to raise the acceleration and top speed,. Gow Jobs are what these first cars were called, not hot rods as they are now.
By the early 1930’s, the Model A was available powered by a new flathead V8 engine producing around 80 horsepower. Drivers quickly learned they could double the horsepower by adding more carburetors, straightening the exhaust, and removing the muffler. Hot rodding did not expand until after World War II when it took off all over the United States, made popular by returning servicemen with newfound mechanical abilities, extra time and money, and the craving for speed and adrenaline. By the early 1950’s technology had made the engine such a potent machine that it was getting too dangerous to drive these on the roads, or race them as many did.
Hot rods were getting bad press at this time, so the NHRA was created and in 1953 there was the first official hot rod racing. The idea was to move racing off the street and require stricter safety regulations. The NHRA became a wild success, and within a few short years the hot rod had split off into a few paths. The term hot rod was now being used for racing cars, and street rods deemed a model driven on the street and not in sanctioned races
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