Hot Rodding’s Future: ‘We’ll Adapt’
People ask me about the future of hot rodding. To many people, a “1941 Guy” (me), driving a 1932 Ford roadster, is something of a dinosaur, especially where I live in northern Virginia. So, it’s not wrong to wonder how long this interest in hot rods (universally, not just my interest), will continue.
Looking back, the reasons that spawned hot rodding’s explosive growth in the late 1940s included a dearth of affordable, cool and fast cars; an influx of well-trained, ex-World War II GIs with mechanical talent and money; crazily affordable 20-cent gasoline; uncrowded roads; and, for a time, rather loose vehicle regulations (other than excessive exhaust noise and headlamp height).
Some people truly wonder if hot rodding is on its way out in today’s era of affordable 500-, 600-bhp (and more powerful) high-performance cars. Add to this increasingly encroaching government regulations, dire environmental forecasts and an aging population.
I don’t think hot rodding is on its way out. I think hot rodding is making another one of its chameleon-like moves. Bear with me and I’ll explain.
Before the coronavirus knocked us for a loop, events that celebrated old cars were more popular than ever. The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Monterey Historic Races and Hilton Head, to name just a few domestic-headlining concours events, have been mobbed to capacity each year. Where hot
