For a good half century, the hobby of hot rodding usually meant taking a cheap car, removing any body parts that didn’t matter (i.e. roofs, hoods, bumpers, fenders, seats and other such nonsense), modifying the engine and/or or by fitting a bigger one for more performance (often sticking up above the hood), and fattering the tires for extra traction.

The term remains as accurate as ever. In fact, not even the cars in question have necessarily changed: a very typical image of a hot rod is a muscle car from the 1960s (the so-called golden age of muscle cars), restored to its full glory and then some. . It’s not uncommon to take the great ancestors of cars we know today (Mustang, GTO) or the ones forgotten by all but a few (Plymouth Barracuda), and send their V8 output to 600 horsepower and beyond. Hot rods can be as much about customization as they are about saving weight (think flaming paint jobs), and price isn’t necessarily an object: a remarkable Barracuda (“Hemi Cuda” in hot rod parlance). ) on the cover of a major name hot rod magazine had all body panels and interior items customized to its owner’s wish. For $340,000.

As for the relationship of hot rods to American culture, the link is pretty strong. Almost all hot rods are American and almost always rear-wheel drive. In our culture, quarter-mile times make the man. Enthusiasts who spend as much time in the present as in the past also pay close attention to modern production cars like the new Mustang, and the upcoming 2009 Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger are headline news.

Of course, no rule said it had to be a car, per se. Muscle + American seems to add up enough; Jeep’s Grand Cherokee SRT-8 seems to be a hot commodity, no doubt due to the street credibility of its modern 425-horsepower Hemi V8. Even the new Chevy Tahoe turns heads.

But some define the genre on their own terms, creating the occasional aberration. An individual dropped a NOSed turbocharged Buick V6 right under the hood of a Geo Metro, for yelling loudly. If he can burn the quarter mile in 9.3 seconds at 147 MPH, who cares how he gets there?

If hot rods are defined as speed on the cheap, count on it being a part of our culture for as long as Planet Earth has fuel.