SUCH is man’s competitive spirit it did not take long after the first motor car was built before the need for speed became a passion. Ever since the first motor race in 1894 (see footnote), motorists have sought to make their machines go faster, handle better and/or stop quicker. Arguably the earliest pioneers of performance enhancement still recognisable today are the American hot-rodders, enthusiasts who as far back as the 1920s took to the dry lake beds and deserted roads of southern California in a quest for speed, driving mainly roadsters made to look like racers by stripping-off fenders and running boards. World War Two interrupted progress but once hostilities had ceased Ford Model Ts, As and Bs were popular project bases and the flat-head V8-engined 1932 Ford – the “Deuce” – really kick-started many a rodder’s involvement. Generally speaking, hot rods are pre-1949 models and street rods thereafter.
Zero tolerance law enforcement forced the speed-freaks to first turn to less-obvious saloons and coupés to convert, then to seek places to legally enjoy themselves, which led to the emergence of drag strips, often on then-disused airfields. So by 1950, rodding was well and truly established, not only in terms of horsepower – the small-block Chevy had arrived, and THAT is a story in itself – but in style, too, creating its own Kustom Kulture
However, in the mid-1960s the American scene took a dip when Ford introduced the Mustang, which created the muscle car era that meant people could buy performance “off the shelf” rather than having to strip and build their own. GM, Dodge and Chrysler soon joined-in on the movement. But salvation was in hand when “green” legislation came into being, muscle cars got fat, and rodding became the way to go once more…
In South Africa, despite then having relatively limited access to expertise and equipment the movement steadily began to grow in the 1960s and from 1972 dedicated clubs began to emerge in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, almost all of which survive to this day.
If you have never taken rodders and rodding seriously then I respectfully suggest you take a second look… The Cape Town Street Rod Club is holding a Hot Rod, Muscle Car and Bike Show at the Parow High School on Saturday October 9 to help raise funds for hosting next year’s SA Nationals. More than 200 machines will be on display in the Mother City including hot/street/rat rods, dragsters, drift cars, Luminas, Mustangs and other marque cars as well as bikes. Music, rides, trade stalls, a flea market, a swop-meet/autojumble will also be part of the day’s proceedings, as well as a chance to win a model street rod. Gates open at 10h00, close at 17h00. Admission prices are R20 adults, R10 under-16s.
Footnote: the first motor race took place on July 22, 1894 between Paris and Rouen, a distance of 128 km. It was won by Jules-Albert de Dion in de Dion steam car but he was disqualified (sound familiar?) because used a stoker to ‘keep the fires burning’, which was considered outside of the rules of the event. So victory was handed to Georges Lemâitre in a Peugeot, who completed the distance in 6hrs51min30 secs.
