’d say that for the past 30 years, the definition of what a hot rod is—or, for that matter, anything in our “car” world—has gone through a “fluid” period. Definitions, or what I thought a word meant, past or present, have or will change. In other words, “What car language do you speak?”

For starters, for me a hot rod can be any car or truck that is modified to reflect the owner’s wishes to enhance performance. Now, what’s “performance”? It’s true, especially in the early days of hot rodding, that performance meant how one goes faster. In those earliest days, the easiest and quickest means of going faster was to remove weight—hence the removal of fenders, running boards, and so on. This led to pumping out more horsepower. Now, those who really understand how mass is moved realize that while more horsepower is good, more torque is better. Yet, final gear ratio, the transfer of this power to the ground, a better suspension, and, lastly, traction, were equally or more important. My favorite is always reserved for braking, and one should never go faster than one can stop. You do see the inherent problem should this fundamental truth be ignored?

Now, I will be the first to admit it was my generation who really got into using the term “hot rod,” and that was a morph of the term “gow job.” The term “hot rod” came about in the late ’40s while “gow job” began in the late ’20s. Heck, even the term “street rod” appeared in print in the ’50s. (Think of Henry Gregor Felsen, a writer who was once coined the “Granddaddy of Street Rodding.”) I’m sure many of you will immediately disagree with me, but you would be wrong. I have done my homework and have the proof. So, maybe our language naturally changes over the course of time.

I must admit I am confused when I see or hear how many hot rod terms are used today and what the words now mean. There are times when I cannot figure out how the author or speaker arrived at their definition or what he meant. Who’s to blame? I suppose the list is long, and I will also admit writers, such as myself, who apply our craft and are cavalier with our word usage/definitions. Change is natural. The beginning of the “highboy” hot rod, for example. Think about this for a minute: How many times have you seen the terms “hot rod,” “highboy,” and even “roadster” used incorrectly?

There is one area of word usage where definition misuse is OK because certain words had different definitions simply because the “word” just fit the aspect of the hot rod world differently. Let me give you an example of the “misuse” of a term that’s acceptable. In my world of hot rods, a Deuce is a ’32 Ford. However, in my later rodding years of muscle cars, a “Deuce” would easily be identified as a Chevy Nova. They were also called “shoebox,” but I remember a shoebox to be a ’49-51 Ford. In both worlds, these terms were being used correctly. I guess the world of hot rodding has grown to such proportions that maybe our own words need to change.

I’m reminded of what one of many individuals with whom I’ve had the good fortune to work once said to me. “A car will always tell you what it is.” (Many thanks to Debra Starbird Vogele for enlightening me.) I don’t worry anymore about whether a car is a hot rod, custom, muscle car, street cruiser, or anything else, for that matter. If I take the time to look, it will tell me. As for the descriptive words that are used to describe a build, they may change with time, but it doesn’t change my feelings for the hot rods that make up my life.