Hot Rods

     A special realm of the car world that many see, but few understand is that of hot rodding.  The hot rodding community is filled with many different types of people with one main goal in mind.  To make the coolest looking, lightest, fastest and loudest car possible from a pre-1960's car body.  The formula for a hot rod is simple.

Step 1- Motor.
      Like all major realms of the car world, the motor is a major part of the car, and none more so than hot rodding. The car's motor is what the people seeing the car drive by see, and hear first.  Since the hoods at that time ran along a hinge along the middle of the hood, the entire hood must be removed in order for the blower to operate at maximum efficiency.  A way that the owners improve the aesthetics of the motor and all of its components is to put chrome on every visible part, that way it does not give off a dirty metallic reflection and instead, it gives off a shiny, clean appearance.  The motor and it's appearance are crucial to the success of the car to viewers.  Along with it having to be very appealing in appearance, but it also had to sound and be powerful.  The most common ways to make a good sound from these cars is to run either side pipes on the car, or have the pipes just angle outwards from the cylinder exhaust valve with no muffler.  Trust me, these sound freaking amazing.  The other key part to a good motor is the power.  Almost every hot rod out there has either a blower or supercharger when running off of gasoline.  This is for two main reasons.  Superchargers on hot rods look like they fit together than anything else in the world, and that superchargers are great for drag racing.  Since all hot rods are only good for straight line speed, why not make it be really good at that one thing?

Step 2- Stance
       Next to the motor, stance will make or break a hot rod.  These monsters have to be able to not only handle the stresses of high horsepower and torque, but to look good and be safe at the same time.  That it why all hot rods' stances are lowered considerably, and the bodies are always "chopped".  Chopping is when you take a given amount of the window pillars and then put the top of the roof back on.  During this process, many drivers also install roll cages in case the unthinkable happens in a race.

Step 3-  Paint
       What gives these cars the final amount of uniqueness, is the many custom paint jobs available. Options ranging from metal flake neon paint to flames, to lightning, there are literally too many options to list in the time you have to read this blog.  The paint job is the ultimate expression of the driver to the world.  Many are the driver's way of flipping 99% of the world the bird, telling it to stuff it and go about it's business.  This expression is what so uniquely categorizes hot rodders in the car world.