American Icon: The Hot Rod

The birth of hot rodding is explored through the introduction of the Ford Model T in 1908 and the seminal 1932 Ford V-8.

The end of the Second World War saw thousands of young men take to the streets to apply the mechanical skills they had learned in the military in adapting their home-built cars.

Publisher Robert E. Petersen launches Hot Rod Magazine in 1948.

People turn to drag racing as the popularity for hot rodding grows.

Wally Parks leads hot rodders to the salt flats of northwest Utah in 1949.

You can't have hot rods without the gear to make them go faster. Here we look at how today the speed equipment industry is a multi-billion-dollar business.

In the 50s the look of the car became just as important as its performance, leading to the rise of cruising culture which pushed car design in bold new directions.

As the golden age of hot rodding came to a close, the impending muscle car craze and fuel embargoes of the 1970s nearly killed off the culture entirely.

Bruce Meyer hired Pete Chapouris to restore some of the finest hot rods ever built and lobbied for their inclusion in the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Alex Xydias teamed up with Pete Chapouris to reopen the So-Cal Speed Shop as a high-end restoration and fabrication destination, bringing it into a new century.

Older hot rod enthusiasts began wanting more comfort and reliability from their cars, giving rise to new types of customizing, such as the smooth billet look.

Young builders look to make their mark on the world of hot rodding while revering the culture's past.

Hot rodding's evocative past remains powerful as the speed equipment industry shows no signs of slowing down.