Gear Head Slang: List Your Favorites

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"Quadrabog" was what I always heard a Rochester "Quadrajet" carb described as. For anyone whose ever had one, it's an accurate description.

"Stab it and Steer It" could mean stabbing the ignition with a key, jamming the gearshift into first, or (from what my grandfather told me) pushing the starter button. Either way it meant "hurry up and go".
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"Craftsman Cleaner" - a lot of older mechanics refer to WD-40 as this because that's what everybody used to use to clean their tools.

All the old slang terms for the Model T and Model A - Tin Lizzie, Flivver, Tin Can, Jalopy, T-Bucket (or Bucket T), Black Beauty, Farmer's Cadillac etc.

Racial slur alert: always heard Pontiac stood for "Poor Old N-word Thinks It's A Cadillac".

FIAT: Fix It Again Tony

FORD: Found On Road Dead, Fix Or Repair Daily

Also don't hear "Heap" much anymore when referring to a junk car. Or "bucket of bolts".

Volkswagon known variably as a pregnant roller skate or a Hitlermobile, disturbingly as a Concentration Camper.

"Mom and Pop Car" being turned into a "Sleeper": Taking an old big-blocked family sedan and turning it into a high-performance street rod that passes unassumingly under its boring exterior.

"Shoebox" Ford's: the 49,50,51, and 52 Ford sedans.

"liquor-cicle" : when you lose your license from a DUI and have to drive a moped.

"Caker State": Quaker State oil .

"Sh**ting in the gas tank" used to mean someone that accidentally ran Leaded gas in an Unleaded tank, I've heard it also refer to someone that accidentally runs diesel in a gas tank.

"City Kitties, County Mounties" : cops. "Pink Slip" was a speeding ticket. "Hall Pass" was when your lawyer got you out of it.

"Throw a redline on the street" meant either pulling out quickly or braking quickly. Redline being the type of tire, not the upper register of the tachometer.

"Catalytic Converter" is almost unanimously called a "Cadillac Converter" in NC. This has always intrigued me. I don't think it's slang, I just think people are ignorant. I always have this picture of someone hooking up a box under their hood and their old clunker turns into a new Cadillac. Presto!

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There is another one for FORD: "First On Race Day." Also "Fouled Out Rebuilt Dodge."

CHEVROLET: "Can Hear Every Valve Rattle On Long Extended Trips."

I always thought T-bucket was for hot rod Model T's.

I always thought "Pink Slip" was the registration as in racing for pink slips (A Beach Boys song references pink slip this way).
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL

-Rat (built big block)
-Mouse (built small block)
-Deuce (two barrel carb)


Rat and Mouse are strictly used for Chevy big and small blocks.

The 32 Ford is also called a Deuce.

Then there are "Pizza Cutters" (the narrow front wheels on drag cars).
 
Originally Posted By: TallPaul


I always thought T-bucket was for hot rod Model T's.

I always thought "Pink Slip" was the registration as in racing for pink slips (A Beach Boys song references pink slip this way).


Correct on both. I've heard T-Bucket go both ways. When hot-rodders started using it for their souped-up T's older folks said it in reference to their old Model T bucket of bolts, which is where the confusion set in.

Pink Slip here was used mainly in reference to a speeding ticket. But I guess generally it's used more in reference to the title.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: tom slick


"small block" gets used generically when it really only applies to certain chevy engines.


That is incorrect. There are Small Block Ford and Chrysler engines as well.


I should have wrote it better, the whole statement was a chevy gearhead speaking (incorrectly, but you know how those guys are
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)
 
Oh I forgot the '49 Mercury: The "Lead Sled".

Model A: "A-Bone". Or the frame off of a model A, used in a bunch of old kit cars.

Hodad: Someone into hot rods (ie HOt rod DADdy) OR somebody who hangs out at the beach but can't surf. My cousin went to Myrtle Beach years back with a surfboard on the top of his Capri, though he could neither surf nor swim. He was dismissed as a "Hodad" by the "gremmies" (young punk surf enthusiasts).

A car with high torque was an "asphault eater" (also used to describe tires) or a high-rev hauler.

Six-pack configuration was three 2bbl carbs. Eight barrel "Oppie's" were Oppenhauser carbs.

Also, when I was coming up nobody EVER referred to it as an engine or motor, it was a "Mill". And if you had a mill that could haul @$$ then your mill could "stir the soup".
 
Yeah, "Mill" is a good one. Ought to make those who hate calling an engine a motor, cringe even more, for "mill" evokes images of a flour processing plant.

Various expressions for opening the throttle wide have showed up in the enthusiast magazines. "Mat the pedal" is one of my favorites.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
throw a rod
throw a piston
suck a valve
spin a bearing
blow a gasket
tweak (adjust)
short block
long block
monkey wrench
smoke wrench
hot wrench

one I learned from BITOG "poison a cat"

"small block" gets used generically when it really only applies to certain chevy engines.


Ha ha. That reminds me of the NASCAR radio announcer I overheard. In a discussion about engines he kept mixing up "small block" with "short block". He was trying to sound intelligent but just showed himself the fool instead. It's bad enough to be chained to old tech but even worse when you don't even understand that. :-)

Calvin
 
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Almost forgot (and I had a couple of these back in the 70s):

Find-em-and-grind-em, three on the tree.


We always said, "If you can't find 'em, grind 'em."
 
- Doing a "V" burnout (roll back down hill in a standard and drop the clutch).
- neutral drop (high rev in neutral, drop into Drive). Sometimes result in broken U-joint.
- hard on the binders (brakes).
- fast enough to get out of its own way.
 
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL

-Rat (built big block)
-Mouse (built small block)
-Deuce (two barrel carb)


Rat and Mouse are strictly used for Chevy big and small blocks.

The 32 Ford is also called a Deuce.

Then there are "Pizza Cutters" (the narrow front wheels on drag cars).


I think GM blocks in general? I remember back when I had my Olds that they built a rat from a 455? I know it normally just applied to the Chevy blocks though.....
 
Originally Posted By: paulo57509
The term I never understood is, "3/4 race cam"
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It's slang for a cam designed for 75% track use, and 25% street use. There were also full-race and 50/50 cams as well.

These terms were used to describe the streetability (or lack thereof) of the cam in question; how aggressive it was.
 
The 50/50 cam reminds me of the 30-30 cam, which was the solid lifter cam in the 365 horse 327 'vette motor.

...which had "double hump", or "camel hump" (shape of the identifying casting mark), "2.02" (intake valve size), or "fuelie" heads.

The cam name came from the .030 lash on intake and exhaust.

As Mori says, this is more jargon than slang, but since this stuff is fading into obscurity I thought it deserved a mention.

Speaking of valves, there was the nailhead Buick engine series and the Porcupine (Chevy Big Block), both named because of the looks of the valve arrangement when viewed from above the engine.
 
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We always said, "If you can't find 'em, grind 'em."
And the more worn they got, the more you had to fenagle the lever, doing a sort of shift lever dance, to get it into the right gear. Then when it got really badly worn, it would jam between gears and you'd have to roll to the side of the road, go under the hood and un-jam them. A lot of guys converted to floor shifters.

Quote:
- Doing a "V" burnout (roll back down hill in a standard and drop the clutch).
Did this at age 18 (1970s) with my dad's garden tractor on the sloping driveway. Ended up on my back with tractor standing on end and rear tires pawing a the ground. Wonder I didn't kill myself.

Quote:
I think GM blocks in general? I remember back when I had my Olds that they built a rat from a 455? I know it normally just applied to the Chevy blocks though.....
I believe you are right.

Quote:
there was the nailhead Buick engine series
I once read it was because of the small diameter of the valve heads made the valves look sort of like nails.
 
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