Customer Reviews

How to Build a Hot Rod

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a complete novice to the world of hot rodding, and my actual interest is building electric cars. What makes this book so great in my opinion is that the author starts at the beginning and challenges you to pin down what you really want to build and challenges you to plan it out a little better. The reality check of a price list for all the components of a hot rod is really great.

I love the color pictures. Most other books are black and white, and the cars look crapy. Not here, the paint jobs and interiors are shown in full glory.

The tech sections are great, and show everything in great detail. For example, the "how to install an independent front suspension" section has 17 color pictures, over 5 pages, with generous text under each picture. The whole process is explained very well.

The only thing where coverage is lacking is the engine, but that's good in my opinion. Including it would have made the book much bigger and expensive. There are other books out there that cover just the engine. Here it's pretty much "mount the engine", and that's it. The author does recommend to test it on a stand first, which seems like a good idea. The whole book contains a lot of ideas and methods that only someone that's actually done the work knows. Highly recommended.

One of the things I needed in a book was to know what order(sequence)do you build your rod/custom in.Thats when I discovered this book.This book tells you what you need to know about planning your project,determine what you are going to use the car for(eg:show car/weekender/daily driven),car selection,component selection,purchase of vehicle,build up tips,when to install each item,electrical wiring,painting and so much more.This book sets it out with comprehensive advice from start to finish,even before you think about buying a car.There is a section on how to perform a top chop thats photographed in black & white photos with plenty of information.This book will help you decide what you want first then how to build it and save money too.

For a book thats only got 160 pages this book has plenty of advice suitable for any auto hot rod or custom project so if you are building a hot rod or a custom car or a street machine this book is the best book to start with.Its a bargain at under $14.And,its mostly in colour.This book is an inexpensive investment.

I hope the author and/or publishers decide to write a book specifically on building a street machine based on this book.

Even though this book has a section on painting the author already has a book specifically on painting your car.
I recommend purchasing other books that cater for things like customizing interiors,how to paint your car(and/or)how to custom paint your car,how to rebuild an engine,top chops,etc.You'll need those.
I also recommend these books:
"How to paint your car".By Dennis.W.Parks,
"How to restore and customize auto upholstery & interiors".By Dennis.W.Parks,
"Custom auto interiors",By Don Taylor and Ron Mangus.
"Standard guide to building street rods and custom cars".By Ken Wickham.
If you are building a later model car you should consider a workshop manual for that car too.

Even if you're already pretty knowledgeable about hot rods, this book has lots of good how-to sequences that can make your next project go a lot smoother, or provide you with ideas to apply to your own rod.
If you're just starting your hot rod journey, this book will answer a lot of questions for you and get you started in the right direction.
Overall, a great book!

I'm really glad that I read this book before I started building a hot rod. In addition to all of the technical advice, it prompted me to ask myself some important questions about what I really wanted to build. The layout of the book is very good and is very well written and illustrated. Unlike most magazine articles and other books, it even has a pretty thorough listing of parts and prices for a sample hot rod. That gave me a good place to start when I was trying to figure how much my hot rod would cost to build. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in building or having a hot rod built.

I can't believe that I am only the second 1-star review; this book is a complete waste of your time and money! I expected to receive a book filled with diagrams and instructional pictures and this book has neither. There isn't even a mention of how to install the engine and transmission and important items, like installing your pedals, is limited to TWO paragraphs in the whole book! This book is great for learning about the history of hot rods and seeing some cool cars, but if you're serious about building a hot rod, you need to find another book, this isn't the one you need. I'm just SO disappointed in this book - the 4 & 5 star reviews on this book are completely misleading.

Boyd Coddingtons Hopw to Build a Hot rod" is a 99% word for word copy of of this and you won't notice unless you read the fine print at the top of the page. A few photo's have been changed (same cars in different colours) and some big pictures have been added between chapters. I think this "the original" is better as it has an extra paragraph here and there and also has some costs that are not included in this version. Boyd Coddington had nothing to do with the other book except writing the intro. Although a really good book it is not really that comprehensive, they show you how to build certain types of chassis. As an intro to rods even if you are not building this book is easy to read and a good read at that. I did like "How to Build a Traditional For Hot Rod" by Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel is not as pretty and although at first I didn't like it, after more reading I found it has a lot more detail.

This book has some very good information, but it is also written for those with far deeper pockets than mine. I believe a person could copy what he sees and come out with a decent Hot Rod, however it seems the majority of the work is dropped off with a shop and a blank check with the directions Make it pretty. I can see where the Rat Rod Rebellion comes from, this is a high dollar endeavor where the thickest wallet wins.

This book is well laid out and informative. It's an enjoyable read and it gives some good insight into the steps it takes to build a hot rod. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in rat rods or hot rods.

This is a good introduction to building a street rod. It covers some of the more popular models and gives the reader information on all areas of the build, with recommendations on which parts to do, or have done. The build sheet reminds the novice of all the pieces/parts that are required and their costs.

This book does not show hot to build a hot rod, just differnt types. no real techincal data. pass on this one!