Hot Rod Imagery? What are its origins... Educate me

[Chebby]

As for fuzzy dice............................

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Fuzzy dice, known in the British Isles as furry dice or fluffy dice, are an automotive decoration consisting of two oversized plush dice which hang from the rear-view mirror. The classic style of fuzzy dice is white dice with black dots, roughly 3 inches on a side, although a wide variety of colors and sizes are now available in automotive supply and novelty stores. Fuzzy dice became popular in the United States for a brief period in the 1950s. Thereafter, they went through a number of cycles of popularity, but have not remained popular since the 1970s. Today, many people consider them tacky or camp.

Fuzzy dice are the precursor to a number of other mirror-hanging automotive accessories. The modern automobile owner is likely familiar with dangling pine tree air fresheners (Little Trees), as well as less common hanging disco balls, 8 balls, skeletons, and a bride's garter. An interesting variation is the hanging dice air freshener; such an item is generally not fuzzy but otherwise resembles fuzzy dice

Also, alot of fad things were regional.  East Coast was different than West Coast on many things, like channelling.

Don

Don't forget the ubiquitous "shrunken heads".

Chebby

[Chebby]

I have a question for all you ...errrr...... experienced people..... nice way of saying OLD!  

Hot Rodding has a lot or imagery (for lack of a better term), things that are general accepted as COOL, or items that you would find on or near a car to make it a Hot Rod... what are the origins of these things....

For example... hood louvers are cool....... I get this one... it helps release heat from the motor... practical... now seen as cool.

Fuzzy Dice  :?:

Red Wheels  :?:

Wide White Walls  :?:

Dice  :?:  Assuming this is a Shooting dice, bad boy activity  :?:

The number 13  :?:

Eight Balls  :?:  Flying Eight Balls  :?:

Tiki Stuff  :?:

No Fenders... to fit bigger tires  :?:    Yes or no  :?:

Naked Woman... I get this one...    

Car Slammed down low  :?:

Fender Skirts  :?:

Cars jacked up :?:  Assuming tire issues...

Pin Striping  :?:

Cars that are rusty and/or in primer.... wait.. don't go there        

Most of the Hot Rodding lore came from World War II vets coming back to civilian life. Racing at Bonneville with belly (fuel) tanks converted to race cars. Decorating their racers with drawings like on the noses of their B-24 Liberator bombers, flames and gnashing teeth, etc. Lady Luck was often painted on the fighter planes noses along with other drawings poking fun at luck itself...  8 balls, lucky 7 dice, etc..

Red wheels probably came from someone painting the rims red to see a nice red line between the hubcap and the black rubber then the wide white wall. Then another person took of the hubcap and liked the look.

For a time, the width of white walls varied like the length of skirts in the fashion world. Tire manufacturers experimented with different widths, multiple stripes, colored stripes, big block letters that looked like white walls when they revolved... Now black wall seems to be the norm but nostalgia keeps bringing old fads back.

Dice, 8 balls, number 13, see my comment on laughing at lady luck above.

Tiki stuff can have many sources, as stated from artist of the time but also from the surfing crowd and possibly Korean war vets.

Removing fenders was a fast way to reduce weight and reduce drag, those big fenders were like reverse air foils wanting to lift the front of the car in the air. Removing them became instant and cheap way to improve the aerodinamics.

Naked women... See Lady Luck (or other mascots) again.

Cars jacked up, slammed down low... See my comments on mini skirts but jacked up cars were mostly jacked up for weight transfer to the rear wheels.  Then there was also the rivalry between racers/hot rodders and Kustomizers. Hot rodders exaggerated the height while Kustomizers went as low as they could.

Fender skirts I assume came from aircraft wheel pants (before retractable landing gear). To reduce drag in both cases but also to enhance the looks of both the aircraft and the car.

Pin striping was a common decorations on horse drawn carriages and carried over to early motor cars. Just another for artists to practice their art on vehicles.

Rusty cars in primer used to be in primer when hot rodders couldn't afford the final paint right away but could drive their cars because they were (somewhat) roadworthy. Now with the nostalgic rat rod movement (some more ratty than others) rodders will leave their cars with the unfinished look on purpose, you'll see all levels of unfinished cars, some more irreverant than others.

That's how I remember it... What say you?

Chebby

[msuguydon]

I read an explanation for "Fuzzy Dice" one time in a car magazine (probably written by Pat Gunalh) that stated that the "Fuzzy Dice" trend florished in the "fifties" in high school home economics classes. When the girls were in sewing classes they were asked to come up with some little project to show their dexterity with a needle and thread and they produced them. They then gave them to their boyfriends as presents with the alterior motive that the boys would hang them on the rear view mirror of their cars. This was supposed to be a marker for "hands-off, he's mine" and the color, size and style was supposed to be recognized by the rest of the girls in that school that had taken that class.  GPster

I love this explanation, this just makes too much sense not to be true.