12 Car Terms Only the Most Hard-Core Enthusiasts Know! - Tony Angelo's Stay Tuned - Hagerty Media
Picture this. You roll up to the local cruise night in your 4-speed hot rod with that 3/4 race cam choppin’, and all the local dudes are yelling “PUT IT ON THE CHIP!” You whack it against the limiter and weed that thing for 200ft with the tires boiling as you bang shift it through the gears. Your best bud is in the passenger seat with his arms flailing around screaming “LET IT EAT!” as you skate sideways with the tires up in smoke. This is what dreams are made of! Stay Tuned to find out what the hell we’re talking about as we reveal the 12 car-guy terms that will MAKE YOU COOL!
Wow-what a way to open an article. Doing what you stated would be the death of most if not all car shows in my area! Maybe 40 or 50 years ago you could do it but not now!
How about mentioning “Dialed In”? Great term from back in the day.
You used to hear people brag about engines being Balanced and Blueprinted. I knew what the terms meant and also knew most were blowing smoke.
Tony, I’m 67, 2 items you talked about; 3/4 race cam, yes you had the basic concept, back in the 70’s we used to talk about that when referring to a bad ass street car, you did not go ask a speed shop for a 3/4 race cam, but if you were beside a car on the street at a stop light and the car had Thrush mufflers, plus the idle sounded really rough with a good rumble, we would say sounds pretty close to a full race cam, must be a 3/4 race cam, bet that car really moves..
On the Stage 1, vs Stage 11, vs Stage 111 motors think of the 1969-72 Buick GS cars, there was a Factory Stage 1 motor you could order, then you could go to the dealer and buy over the counter components to turn your motor into a Stage 11 version or even a Stage 111 version, basically buying more horsepower over the counter from the dealer. Pontiac had 1967 400 HO, motors, they became the Ram Air 11 motors in 68, then you could order Ram Air 111 in 69/70 as well as Ram Air 1V in 69/70. There was also a Pontiac Ram Air V which was a hemi head Pontiac, they just never got to production, but in the early days the special heads could be found..I’m just giving you the bare basics but I’m surprised you were struggling with that term..
Spooling up originated with jet engines coming up to an rpm where they make usable thrust. A pilot pushes the throttle forward and waits…….
Nailed it! Esp on the pipe.
I’m a little older than you so I think you have some errors. Back in the day if a car was heavily lowered it was in the weeds. Let it eat referred to eating asphalt. Isky and some of the other cam grinders used to list their cams as 3/4 and full race either to keep specs secret or maybe they thought most people wouldn’t understand the specs back then. The stage stuff started when Buick and Pontiac had their stage III and stage IV performance packages, now builders use that to define how modified their products are as in stage 1,2, or 3 4L60E transmission. Other than that, GOOD JOB!
Here is a good explanation of “3/4 race cams”: https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/engine/tech-quickie-what-is-a-34-race-camshaft/.
I also agree with Jim R that “in the weeds” refers to a heavily lowered car, not stomping the gas pedal to the floor.
You’re kidding me right? Please if you’re going to run a piece regarding auto lingo and it’s origins please get some real actual terms that were or are actually used and find some genuine historians that lived the life, talked the talk and walked the walk. Tony A go back to your bedroom and play with hot wheels. See if you can find a definition and origin for wrinkle walls while your there. On the pipe??? In the weeds?? Really. ???? At least 8 of the 12 were loser terms I’d be ashamed to bring up at any race track anywhere.