Some hot rod enthusiasts want to go fast and some want their cars to be unique, but whichever way you flip the coin, the essence of hot rodding is self-expression. There are a million ways to go fast and a million more to personalize and improve the look of your heap. While digging through the HOT ROD archives, we came across these two cars, shot within a month of each other in 1956. In the same window of time, you see two completely different approaches for personalizing cars back in March 1956. The Caddy is from Florida, though it appears to have been shot just outside of the Indianapolis Speedway, while the smoothed-off 1946 Ford is from California.
One endeavors to improve the aesthetics with add-on accessories—piling on if you will, to draw attention through the abundant use of chrome ornamentation and adding external components. The other does the opposite: removing much of its ornamentation to reveal a simplified form that draws attention due to its starkness. Neither one is right or wrong, although most HOT ROD readers would probably prefer the Ford to the Cadillac. In the end, you’ve got to love the way our passion for modifying cars expresses itself in so many unique and unpredictable ways.
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