Eco Rods?

Eco Rods. Could this be a new term in the Rodding community? We have had Hot Rods, Rat Rods, Street Rods, Resto Rods, Trad Rods and erm well there are probably others but much like in music genres it can all go a bit mental when trying to define a name for something.

I like the sound of Eco Rods though and this year at SEMA, global warming was the hot topic. Quite a strange subject really as Motorist’s, especially of the Hot Rodding kind, are not really known for their eco sensibilities. But yet this year saw the unveiling of a few different Rod’s and Customs that all featured in some way or another (read – engines) climate change friendly modifications.

Some people have complained the ‘eco’ part is simply retrofitting newer more economical engines into the Rods and that this has been going on for years anyway and is one of the main points of Hot Rodding – Putting newer and better engines into older cars in the pursuit of speed. No matter what people think though it is nice to see the car community thinking outside the box and showing that we aren’t just a big group of Neanderthals who take everything Jeremy Clarkson says as gospel.

The first car is one of my favourites, a ’55 Chevy, that used Chevrolets new E-Rod LS3 crate engine. The 6.2 L, V8 monster produces 430 bhp but more importantly it passes the very strict Californian smog tests and is therefore a lot more economical than most big V8′s.

Of course people will always want V8′s so trying to make them as economical as possible is a great idea but scaling down the size and number of cylinders will always be the ideal way of getting a greener car. The 1934 3- window that Ford brought along to the show was fitted with a 3.5L EcoBoost V6 which uses a turbo to still make an impressive 400 bhp and 400 lb ft of torque. Ford claims this new engine which is fitted to a lot of the standard new Ford models has 20% better fuel economy and 15% less CO2 emissions.

The real jewel in the SEMA crown though was the electric powered ’33 that a company called Factory Five came along with. Looks wise it was stunning but because it had no hood on it you are instantly drawn to the lack of a normal engine instead you see a load of batteries and some other electrical trickery (OK, I admit I have no idea what the bits are!).

The company says it will reach 60 in 4 seconds with the amazing 660 lb ft of torque it has but the design is not perfect and is meant mainly as a show piece because the electric motor alone costs about $40,000! Still those looks…