Hot Rods

"Hot rods," souped-up racers built from jalopies, have been an American phenomenon since the '20s, when used cars first became available in big supply. After World War II, which choked off the sport during gasoline rationing, it came back stronger than ever.

Hot-rod buffs, known as "hop-ups," strip the bodies from junkyard cars, replace them with low-slung, homemade roadster bodies. On the engine they install a high-compression cylinder head, a dual manifold and a special camshaft. After months of work and $800 to $1,200 spent for parts, they have a racer that will turn up 140 h.p., capable of speeds over 100 miles per hour. They have been clocked at better than 140 m.p.h. at the Southern California Timing Association's Muroc Dry Lake track, a center of U.S. "hot-rod" racing.

Last week, Cincinnati's Powel Crosley Jr. became the first postwar U.S. auto manufacturer to make a deliberate play for the hot-rod market. He introduced a two-seater "Hotshot" Crosley roadster, looking like a dime-store version of the once-famed Stutz Bearcat (see cut). Although Crosley estimates that not more than one out of 100 owners will use the Hotshot as a racer, he has made it easy for them to do so. Windshield, lights, bumpers and top can be stripped off in a few minutes, readying the car for road or track racing. Its overhead-valve engine, already built for a 7.8 compression ratio (the highest for any U.S. passenger car), can easily be souped up to 14-to-1 compression requiring a very high-octane fuel.

Factory-priced at $849, the Crosley roadster will deliver anywhere in the U.S. for less than $1,000.

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