Hot Rods & High Stakes: The Unforgettable Thrills of Street Rod.

Darious Madoc
Madoc Creative Works
3 min readAug 20, 2024

In todays world of Forza, Gran Turismo, and games like car mechanic simulator. It’s easy to forget about the little games that pioneered the way for the modern era of simulation racing.

In 1989 a game called street rod came out. In street rod your tasked with buying your first car to turn into a hot rod. when the game starts your greeted with a newspaper.

You have 3 sections to click on, just move your hand over to Parts, Cars, or the garage.

The first thing you want to do is go to the Car section and buy your first car. with only 750 in cash, its going to be a clunker.

isn’t she a beauty? a 1940 Chevrolet 2 — coupe. The best 750 dollars can buy. Now lets take this thing back to the shop and get started.

Back at the garage she’s ready to get a tune up. Move the mouse over the various icons to go to the stations you need to work on your car. Be sure to hit that Radio on the top right on the shelf to turn off that loud music.

image edited by Darious to show icons nomenclature

When your ready to go out for a challenge hit the streets and head over to the local diner.

After a brief cutscene you will arrive at the diner.

From here you can challenge the local racers for fun or for pink slips. Be careful risking that sweet ride you have. The controls for street rod are as follows.

Keyboard Controls
Up key: Gas
Down key: Brake
Left key: Steer left
Right key: Steer right
Space Bar: Gear shift

Mouse Controls
Right button: Gas
Left button: Gear shift
Move left: Steer left
Move right: Steer right

If your interested in trying Street Rod or its sequels. The IP to Street Rod was purchased in 2012 by MK Consultancy and is available for download on their site StreetRodOnline.com. Be Sure to run it in DOSBox. A tutorial on using DOSBox is on their website.

To go Fullscreen while Running Street Rod in DOSBox press ALT+Enter on the game window.

Happy Racing.

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Darious Madoc
Madoc Creative Works

Darious Madoc blends storytelling with sharp insights on gaming, film, and culture. Explore his work and join his adventures.