Hot Rod Dictionary

When you go to the Drag Strip, Cruise or to a Car Show you may here a lot of terms and slang you haven’t heard before like the term “Big Block” or “Rock crusher”  or “Rat Rod” or “Nailhead” and you may be unsure of what these terms actually mean. So I decided to make a list for all of the Hot Rod Slang you will probably hear.

Antique- Can mean a car 25 years or older. Now usually used when talking about really old cars from the 1930s and older.

Appletons- Fender mounted side lights, usually seen on older cars. Named after there manufacture.

 Balanced- An engine with a balanced rotating assembly (crankshaft, pistons, connecting rods, bearings, etc).

Blower- Mechanically Driven Super Charger, usually a roots type Super Charger.

Blueprinted- The Documented assembly of a race or performance engine.

Blue Oval- The Ford Logo.

Bondo- Putty used for Body Filler

Bored- To increase the diameter of the Cylinders to increase displacement

Bottle- Nitrous

Bowtie- Chevy Logo

Bullets- Bullet-shaped extensions used on bumpers, grilles, and wheels.

Business Coupe- A Simple Two-Door coupe with out a rumble seat, built between the 30s to the early 60s. Usually referring to the 32 Ford Business Coupe.

Cam or Cammed- Cam is a camshaft and cammed referrers to a car that has a performance camshaft.

Carson Top- A solid, removable roof that is covered with a soft material.

Channeled- Cutting the floor so the body rests around the frame rails rather than sitting on top of the frame, to lower the car.

Chopped- To lower a hard top roof on a car, since you have to chop the roof.

Cherry Bomb- Glasspack Mufflers, made by the company Cherry Bomb.

Classic- A car 25 years or older.

Crank- crankshaft

Crate Engine- A Ready to run Engine straight from the Factory.

Cubes- Cubic Inches of Displacement

Deuce -32 Ford, usually referring to the Coupe or Roadster.

Dragster- Type of Drag Car made just for the strip

Dropped- A lowered car

Dual quads- Two Four Barrel Carbs

Dutchman Panel- The metal body piece between the rear window and the trunk

Elephant- Chrysler 426 Hemi Engine

Fat Fendered- Really Wide Fender cars, usually referring to 35 to 48 Fords.

Fender Skirts- Body panels that cover the rear wheel wells.

Flatty- flathead engine, usually refers to a Ford Flathead

Frame-off Restoration- A restoration project in which the entire vehicle is completely disassembled.

Frenched- headlight slightly sunken into fender

Gasser- Type of Car used gasoline-only drag racing classes from the late 50s to the early 70s.

Glass packs- Loud, free flowing Mufflers usually Cherry Bombs or Porters

Goat- Pontiac GTO

Headers- A performance exhaust manifold

Hemi- A type of engine that has hemispherical combustion chambers in its cylinder head. Popularized by Chrysler, usually the 426 Hemi is referred to as just a Hemi.

Highboy- Customized Model A Ford (sometimes now referrers to Model Bs as well)  that sits at stock height.

Hot Rod-  Traditionally, an older vehicle with "low-buck" performance modifications. However the term has come to mean any American car modified for performance, usually street and strip performance. However there are exceptions to this.

Hopped up- An engine that has been built for performance.

Lakes Pipes- Side-exit exhaust pipes located under the rocker panels. Named for first being used on the Dry Lake Beds.

Land Yacht- A Large Luxary Car, usually referring to a large 60s car like a Cadillac De Ville, or a Chevy Caprice.

Leadsled- A lowered, late-forties car with molded body seams, named because the molded body seams was usually done with lead filler.

Lowboy- Customized Model A or Model B Ford that has been channeled.

Lowered- A vehicle that sits lower than stock height through suspension or frame modifications.

Lowrider- A vehicle that has been lowered by a hydraulic suspension system that can bring the ride height up in order to drive it.

Louvers- Slots or Vents punched in Body Pannels. Usually referring to the vents in a custom Hood for the 32 Ford.

Mag- Magnesium Wheel or a Magazine (usually Hot Rod, Ol Skool Rodz, Car Craft, etc)

Matching Numbers or Numbers Matching- Meaning the VIN numbers for the Engine, transmission and the body match. Now sometimes just means the VIN for the Engine and Body Match. In simple terms meaning that block can with that ody from the Factory.

Mill- The Engine

Moons or MOON Disc- Type of solid wheel or wheel cover made by MOONEyes. Used for top speed.

Mouse- An older term for a Small Block Chevy

Mountain motor- large Displacement Engine. Named for there size and for being used by Moonshiners in the Mountains of Appalachia.

Muscle Car- A North American intermediate or mid-sized low cost car produced between 1964 and 1972 (with a few exceptions) with a large displacement V8 engine. They were typical meant for Drag Racing.

Nailhead- Buick Motors made from 1953 – 1966 named for their small valve sizes, where the size of nails.

Nitro- Nitromethane fuel which is used in Drag Cars.

Nitrous- N2O aka Nitrous Oxide a gas used to increase performance in a car. IT IS NOT FLAMABLE! It is laughing gas.

NOS- Nitrous Oxide System, a brand of Nitrous made by Holley. Also stands for New Old Stock, meaning  Parts purchased from the manufacturer that were made at the time of the original vehicle but never sold. Also an abbreviation for Nitrous Oxide System.

Pancaked- An older term meaning hood modified to a lower profile, meaning its flat.

Pink Slip- Before the days of modern Auto Titles, the ownership titles in California where colored pink. Races would bet pink slips to win each others car. Where the show PINKS got its name.

Post- The pillar located between the front and rear doors of a four-door sedan.

Pro Street- Street legal car that is meant to look like an NHRA Pro Stock car or even a Pro Mod Car. They have large rear drag tires. Can also refer to the NMCA’s class of 7 Second street legal cars.

Project Car- The car you are restoring or building as a drag car.

Q-jet- Quadrajet Carburetor

Raked- The front end has been lowered more than the back.

Replicar- A completed reproduction of an existing automotive design, usually sold only as a turn-key, or 100% complete, car. Usually is a 32 Ford.

Resto Rod- An original looking car with modified for performance

Roadster- A convertible without side windows.

Rockcrusher- Muncie M22 4-speed transmission. Named for the loud sound it makes when shifting. “It sounds like its full of rocks!”

Rocket 88- 50s Oldsmobile Engine

Rolled- Bumper or gas tank removed and replaced with custom panel that "rolls" under.

Rumble Seat- An open, fold up rear seat located where the trunk would be. Usually in 30s Cars.

Running Board- The metal strip running between the fenders and below the doors of early autos and trucks used as a step or to wipe one's feet before entering the vehicle.

Sectioned- Removing a horizontal section of the body to lower the overall height of the body.

Sedan Delivery- A two-door station wagon with solid body panels instead of windows on the sides at the back of the car. Was usually used as a delivery vehicle.

Shaved- Door handles and body trim that have been removed and smoothed over.

Shoebox- A name for a car made from 49-57 usually referring to the Fords and Chevy’s. Named for the slab-sided appearance.

Six-Pack- Three two-barrel carburetors.

Sleeper- A car that doesn’t look fast but it is.

Split Window- Usually referring to the rear window - one that has two planes of glass with bodywork in between.

Street Machine- dual-purpose car, capable of being a daily driver and a weekend drag car. Also known as Street and Strip.

Street Rod- A type of Hot Rod meant more for cruising rather then performance.

Stroked-  Increased stroke, to increase displacement; usually by adding a longer-stroke crankshaft.

T-Bucket- Fenderless, topless, highly-modified, Ford Model T.

Triple Deuce- 3 two-barrel carburetors.

Tunneled- Lights deeply sunken into fender.

Turn-Key Engine- A ready to run engine, usually referring to a crate motor.

VIN- Vehicle Identification Number, the vehicles serial number that is stamped onto it, usually under the windshield post, the driver's door post, or on the firewall.

Wheelie Bars- Rods used in drag racing that extend from the back of a car and are connected to wheels that help keep the car from flipping backwards during sudden acceleration.

Wombat - Nickname for Chevy’s W series engine 348-409 cubic inch, made 1958-1964.

Woody- A vehicle that incorporates natural finished wood for structure of exposed body panels.

Zoomies- Short, straight pipe exhaust headers that do not merge into a collector.