Hot rod is a specific type of vehicle. Car fans mainly from the United States began this type of modification. It is usually a specially designed engine mounted onto a cheap old car body, which has durable and strong chassis. The front hood is not assembled on purpose to expose and point out the most important element of great power, which is the engine.
Real counterpart
The engine makes specific sounds that the ear of the moto fan likes the most. I managed to find a picture of a real hot rod, which is the closest in appearance to the vehicle constructed in this set. The roof is white though, but the design is very similar. You can see how the real engine in hot rod style looks like.
Hot Rod Club from 6561 set
Looking at all the vehicles available in Town theme, you will find that Lego liked to experiment with different concepts. Most of the racing cars are bolids such as 6503-1: Sprint-Racer, but there are others like 6510-1: Mud-Runner for races in the mud. One position is quite similar to the hot rod, which is 6646-1: Screaming-Patriot. Exposed engine is one of the main thing distinguishing hot rods and this feature is present in patriot too. In this case, Lego has gone a step further and released the club for hot rod in the same year included in LEGO-6561-1 set.
Hot Rod from Model Team theme
The driver from reviewed set has a place to go and visit colleagues with similar vehicles. Having both sets and three cars we can think about racing. Hot rods have engines with great power, which are common for short-distance competition. Race for several hundred meters (or half mile) in a straight line, just like dragsters. It is worth mentioning about the equivalent from the Model Team. This is the theme, where you can find vehicles and other mechanical structures on a scale several times larger than of Town theme. Typically, attempts were made to replicate the existing machines using Lego bricks and usually the effect was very interesting. Blue hot rod with the roof down we can find in LEGO-5541-1 set released in 1995. The similarity can be noticed. First of all the engine is exposed and old car body from 50s has been used.
Rebel in red speed daemon can be seen in the presentation from the catalog published in 1994, where he fired into space from the bridge to escape from the police probably. However, upon closer look you can see that this is not the daemon of the reviewed set, but it is one from the hot rod club included in LEGO-6561-1 set. Nevertheless, it is the only presentation that I've found where hot rods are present and on the foreground, so I think it is good to mention about it. The designers imagination grown each year and extraordinary flying vehicles began to appear often in catalogs.
The most important element in this vehicle as I mentioned before is four-cylinder
engine, which has been adequately exposed at the front. Another specific feature is low windshield through which a driver has rather limited visibility. Two special yellow lamps are mounted at the front, which gives the vehicle the old-fashioned character of the 50s. The wheels on the back as you can see are thicker and larger, so the back is raised. Black roof was suppose to imitate a foldable version, which can be found in real vehicles of this type.
Back view
However, nothing is folding in reviewed car made of Lego bricks, only the roof is openable up so you can get into the cabin. Rebel is wearing a black jacket with white cap on his head.
The driver
The small trunk can be found at the back of the vehicle, but it is not secured and you have to watch out while driving. In summary, this is definitely an interesting racing alternative to dragsters or common bolides. The
fact that the hot rod club is additionally available makes this set even cooler, because having both sets you can make an interesting short-distance competition among the rebels. Nevertheless, the vehicle is still suitable for city driving, as it has headlights. Unfortunately the rear lights are missing, so some accident is possible to happen.
Alternative constructions
Three alternatives have been proposed, as it used to be in small sets. The first vehicle is a dragster. Two further are surprisingly not racing vehicles, but farming ones! The first is the tractor, and the second is combine-harvester!