Custom Car - Language

Language

Certain linguistic conventions are followed among rodders and customizers:

• The model year is rarely given in full, except when it might be confused, so a 1934 model is a '34, while a 2005 might be an '05 or not.
  • A '32 is usually a Deuce and most often a roadster, unless coupé is specified, and almost always a Ford.
  • A '55/6/7 is always a Chevy, unless specified.
• A 3- or 5-window is usually a Ford, unless specified.
• A flatty is a flathead V8 (always Ford, unless specified); a late (or late model) flatty is probably a Merc.
• A hemi ("hem ee") is always a 426, unless displacement (331, 354, or 392) is specified; a 426 is a hemi, unless Wedge is specified.
• A 392 is an early hemi.
  • A 331 or 354 is known to be an (early) hemi, but rarely referred to as such
• A 270 "Jimmy" was a 270 cubic inch GMC truck engine often used to replace a smaller displacement Chevrolet six cylinder.
• Units are routinely dropped, unless they are unclear, so a 426 cubic inch (in³) displacement engine is simply referred to as a 426, a 5 liter (litre) displacement engine is a 5.0 ("five point oh"), and a 600 cubic feet per minute (cfm) carburetor is a 600. Engine displacement can be described in cubic inches or liters (for example, a 5.7 liter engine is also known as a 350 {"three fifty"}); this frequently depends on which units the user is most comfortable or familiar with.

The "cutoff year" as originally promoted by the National Street Rod Association (NSRA) is 1949. Many custom car shows will only accept 1948 and earlier models as entries, and many custom car organizations will not admit later model cars or trucks, but this practice is subject to change. The NSRA has announced that starting in 2011 it will switch to a shifting year method where any owner with a car 30 years or older will be allowed membership. So in 2011 the owner of a 1981 model year vehicle will qualify, then in 2012 the owner of a 1982 model year vehicle will quality, and so on. Additionally, the Goodguys car show organization has moved the year limit for its "rod" shows from 1949 to 1954 in recent years.

Some other common terms:

• 3 deuces — arrangement of three 2-barrel (twin-choke) carburetors; distinct from Six Pak and Pontiac and Olds Tri-Power (also 3x2 arrangements)
• 3-window — 2-door coupé; so named for having rear window and one door window on each side
• 3 on the tree — three-speed manual transmission operated by a steering column mounted shifter.
• 4 on the floor — four-speed manual transmission operated by a floor mounted shifter.
• 5-window — 2-door coupé; so named for having rear window plus one door window and one quarter window on each side
• 97s — Stromberg carburetors
• A-bone — Model A coupé
• Appletons (sometimes Appleton spots) — spotlights, mounted in the cowl, similar to those used by police cars
• Barn fresh — a newly discovered vehicle typically found in storage (i.e. a barn, etc.), either long forgotten or abandoned, that is still in its original condition from when it was first stored
• Blue oval — Ford product (for the Ford badge)
• Blue dots —
  • Pontiac tail lights
  • Any taillight equipped with a blue crystal to give it a "purple-ish" appearance when illuminated.
• Bondo — brand name for a body filler putty, often used as a generic term for any such product
• Bowtie — Chevrolet product (for the Chevy badge)
• Bugcatcher intake — large scoop intake protruding through hood opening, or on cars with no hood.
• Bullnosing — Replacing the hood ornament with a "bullnose" chrome strip or filling the mounting hole with lead.
• Cabriolet (or cabrio) — A vehicle with a removable or retractable cloth top, characterized by integrated side windows.
• Cherry — like new
• Channeled or channeling - lowering a vehicle by cutting out the floor and mounting the body lower on the frame rails.
• Chopped — removing a section, usually of the window posts, to lower the roofline of a vehicle.
• Convertible — cabriolet.
• C.I.D. (sometimes Cubic Inches or Inches) — cubic inches displacement
• Crank — crankshaft
• Dagmars — large front bumper "bullets" (after the actress)
• Decked — trunklid trim removed
• Deuce —
  • '32 Ford Model B (most often a roadster); now commonly on A frame rails
    • rarely, 1932 model of any manufacturer.
  • Chevy II Nova
• Duvall windshield — a v-shaped windshield with a center post, as opposed to the typical stock straight-across type.
• Elephant — Chrysler 426 Hemi
• Fat-fender — 1934-48 (U.S.) car
• Flatty — flathead engine (usually refers to a Ford; when specified, the Mercury-built model)
• Fordillac ("for di lack") — Ford with transplanted Cadillac V8 engine
• Frenched —
  • Antenna sunken into the body or fender
  • Headlight slightly sunken into fender
  • Tail lights slightly sunken into body or fendr
• Gennie — genuine
• Hairpins — radius rods
• Hiboy (or highboy) — fenderless, but not lowered Distinct from gasser.
• Hopped up - A stock engine modified to increase performance
• Inches — CID
• Indian (also "Tin Indian") — Pontiac (for the grille badge)
• Jimmy (or Jimmy Six) — GMC straight 6
  • Any GMC product
• Lead sled — customized vehicle where lead has been melted and adhered to a metal body to smooth its surface, as filler. (Lead has since been replaced by Bondo.)
• Lakes pipes — straight exhaust pipes that run along the lower edge of a rod, typically near the rocker panels, without mufflers. The name comes from their original use on cars used on dry lakes by land speed racers.
• Loboy (or low boy, lowboy) — fenderless and lowered
• Mag — magnesium wheel, or steel or aluminum copy resembling one such
• Mill — any internal combustion engine on such a vehicle
• Moons (or Moon discs; incorrectly, moon discs) — Plain flat chrome or aluminum hubcaps, originally adopted by land speed racers. Smaller examples are "baby moons". Named for Dean Moon.
• Mouse — small-block Chevy
• Nailhead — Buick V8
• Nerf bars — bumper horns
• N.O.S. — New Old Stock: original-manufactured part, kept in storage at supplier
• Nosed — hood trim removed
• Phantom — body style never built by the original manufacturer (a term also adopted by model kit builders)
• QJ — Quadrajet (Rochester 4-barrel carburetor)
• Q-jet — Quadrajet
• Ragtop — convertible
• Rat — A Chevrolet Big-block Engine
• Repop — reproduction (not NOS)
• Resto — restoration, or restored
• Rockcrusher — Muncie M22 4-speed transmission
• Rake job - Car with suspension modified to lower the front end
• Rocket — Oldsmobile, in particular their early V8s
• SBC — Chevrolet small-block engine
• SBF — Small-block Ford, usually one of the Ford Windsor engines
• Sectioning — The practice of removing an entire section of the body (front to back or top to bottom). Not to be confused with "chopping".
• Shoebox — '49-'54 Ford or 1955-57 Chevrolet (for the slab-sided appearance)
• Skirts - Covers installed on the openings on rear fenders
• Slantback — sedan with forward-angled but straight rear window and sheetmetal. Distinct from straightback.
• Sombreros — '47-'51 Cadillac hubcaps
• Souped (souped up) — hopped up, performance improved (more common in '40s and '50s)
• Steelies — stock steel rims
• Stock — original equipment
• Stone stock — all-original (usually referring to a project's starting condition)
• Stovebolt — Chevy straight 6
• Straightback — sedan with vertical rear window and sheetmetal. (Known as squareback in the VW community.)
• Street rod - A modified car licensed for use on streets and highways.
• Studillac ("stewed i lack") — Studebaker with transplanted Cadillac V8 engine
• Suicided — changed from front- to rear-hinged ("suicide door")
• Suicide front end — a front axle configuration where it is mounted forward of the front cross member or the end of the frame rails.
• Tin Indian — Pontiac (for the grille badge)
• Toploader — Ford 4-speed manual transmission
• Touring — see Phaeton
• Track T — Model T roadster built in the style of a dirt track race car
• Tuck-and-roll — upholstery technique creating a "pleated" look
• Tunneled — deeply sunken into fender
• V-butted (or vee-butted) — with windshield center post deleted, original panes meeting in the middle (distinct from fitting a one-piece windshield), or to make such a change ("the windshield was vee-butted", "he vee-butted the windshield")
• Vicky — Victoria body style
• Wide whites — wide-stripe whitewall tires, typical of the '50s, as opposed to modern ones
• Woody — Typically a station wagon manufactured by most of the major manufacturers where much of the body behind the firewall was replaced with wood construction.
• Zoomie pipes (or zoomies) — short exhaust pipes with no mufflers, used for racing, or just for show (not street legal)

Some terms have an additional, different meaning among hot rodders than among customizers: NOS, for instance, is a reference to nitrous oxide, rather than new old stock.