Hooniverse Asks: What will the hot rod of the future look like?

Jeff Glucker

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The term “hot rod” conjures up images of t-buckets and chopped down Ford coupes from the ’30s. There’s likely a Flat Head V8 in the nose or some manner of Mopar power at play. For younger folks, a hot rod could refer to an LS-swapped Nissan 240SX drift missile. Maybe when you say hot rod today you’re throwing out a blanket statement covering all manner of muscled up machinery, which was tinkered upon by the owner of the car in question. What will it all mean in the future though?

I believe there will be an eventual era of electric car hot roddery at play. Yes, I know EV West is already doing this in some form. But I’m referring to a time when anyone can grab some electric bits and cobble together a wicked ratty sled. And for short money too. I’m also curious to see what is capable with respect to “by wire” technology. Theoretically, a skilled coder could write up programs to make the steering feel for electronic power steering systems mimic some of the all-time greatest older-school hits.

What’s in store for the future of the hot rod? Feel free to talk in timelines as wide-ranging as 15 to 150 years down the road. Let’s have fun with this one!

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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21 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What will the hot rod of the future look like?”

  1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
    Peter Tanshanomi

    I think hotrodding will look more like today’s 3D printing hobbyists and overclockers than the greasy garage rat of yore. Hot rodding might eventually be more about hacking the traffic management computers than your individual vehicle.

    Reply
  2. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    It should look suspiciously like Lee Majors because it is Lee Majors. I know that movie. It was an anti-ecoweenie movie that came out after the gas crisis’s of the seventies. MST3k did it during their KTMA years.

    Reply
  3. ghosty Avatar
    ghosty

    I assume we’ll end up with ‘that one engine’ that gets mass produced and ripped out of it’s home for garage-builds. I’m thinking like the LS or a windsor, but electric. I hadn’t thought about the point of configuring steering feel or other sorts of systems in a purely software-based environment.

    Reply
  4. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
    Peter Tanshanomi

    I think hotrodding will look more like today’s 3D printing hobbyists and overclockers than the greasy garage rat of yore. Hot rodding might eventually be more about hacking the traffic management computers than your individual vehicle.

    Reply
  5. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Nuclear fuel rods, for when electric vehicles can’t fit any additional capacity into current (get it?) battery technology.
    https://static1.ozap.com/articles/2/40/70/32/@/4117248–les-simpson-diapo-1.jpg

    Reply
  6. Christopher Tracy Avatar
    Christopher Tracy

    “A wicked ratty sled” will probably be some type of composite or carbon fiber too. I’m here for it.

    Reply
  7. Victor~~ Avatar
    Victor~~

    Tesla is the hot rod of the future .

    Reply
    1. Victor~~ Avatar
      Victor~~

      Reply
  8. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    It should look suspiciously like Lee Majors because it is Lee Majors. I know that movie. It was an anti-ecoweenie movie that came out after the gas crisis’s of the seventies. MST3k did it during their KTMA years.

    Reply
    1. Number_Six Avatar
      Number_Six

      This (The Last Chase) and Damnation Alley are my go-to for 70s coke-fuelled misapprehension of what a future/post-apocalyptic world might look like

      Reply
  9. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    In the next twenty years it’s going to be nineties Civics and Accords. The elder Millenials will be getting rid of their kids first and will get the itch to have the cars they had in high school. So it will be nineties ricer heaven at the auctions once they get into their late forties and early fifties. At first they will be pure to the original form and then the retromods will appear.
    So think slammed to the ground with airbags but they will be there for comfort. Oh and the wastegates will be tuned to be quieter. Sheep’s in wolfs clothing.

    Reply
    1. kogashiwa Avatar
      kogashiwa

      I think this is already starting to happen. Look at the skyrocketing price of Integra Type Rs and the like. That’s more the collector market but the “retromodded” DSMs and such are only a matter of time.

      Reply
  10. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    I have been hanging out on EV forums a bit after we bought the Leaf. There is an amazing choice of aftermarket batteries, extension batteries and such to give those things eternal life. It’s not exactly hot rodding, I guess, as these cars neither go faster nor get “hotter”, but it is a tinkering trend that is pretty cool. Battery steering and controls for more power or different power delivery is just around the corner, I believe.

    Reply
  11. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    Since the “rod” referred to in ‘Hot-Rod’ was the camshaft (as far as I remember) and EVs don’t have camshafts, I’m in favor of calling modded electric vehicles ‘Lightning Rods’ instead. I don’t imagine that phrase will gather any traction, but I thought I’d run it up the flagpole.

    Lightning rodding will still follow the same format. Factory parts that were designed to maximize durability and minimize cost will be replaced with more costly, more fun parts.
    Adding a regenerative braking system, better brakes, better bearings, more powerful motivators, converting from a single or double motivator to a 4-motor system, bigger batteries (or whatever is new in the progression from lead-acid to lithium ion to lithium ferrous phosphate, etc.)

    Don’t you know that there’s fun to be had?

    Reply
    1. ghosty Avatar
      ghosty

      “Lightning Rod’ is brilliant.

      Reply
      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        If I had this thing Beetle, I’d call it “The Lightning Bug!”

        Reply
  12. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    I expect to see the eclipse of Boyd Coddington style 32 Fords with SBC swaps and lots of billet in favor of a mix of “traditional” rods for the HAMB crowd and more modern cars for the mainstream with a trend towards tuner cars. In the greater scheme of things expect both electric conversions and hacked firmware.

    Reply
  13. kogashiwa Avatar
    kogashiwa

    One vector I think could become a major factor is hacking hybrids. Endurance racing has shown the way for years now, as have hypercars, soon it will be time for the garage tinkerers to figure out how to hop up hybrids, like they did with electronic fuel injection – that was a mystery for a long time too, and now its ubiquitous and everyone runs a piggyback or an aftermarket EFI computer, or even a MegaSquirt. Imagine the guy a few years from now with his hybrid Mustang, a light tune on the engine, but replace the 40kW stock motor with a custom wound job putting out 100kW* … just program in a little first gear torque limiting unless you have a really big tire budget. If this catches on enough, motor power density increases and parts are made etc., the CR-Z or Ioniq could be the next EG Civic CX hatchback …

    *numbers in this program are fictional, and bear no resemblance to actual numbers past or present. Terms and conditions may apply

    Reply
  14. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    People getting around ever more restrictive rules on cars by building a “heavy quadricycle” (or whatever the US legal equivalent is) with Hayabusa engines.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadricycle_(EU_vehicle_classification)

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      There isn’t really a legal equivalent in the US except for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, although in some states ATVs are street-legal within limitations that vary from state to state.

      Reply
  15. Victor~~ Avatar
    Victor~~

    CAUTION !!! This may appear to be an open forum … In truth it is a small clique that only responds to each other .

    Reply