The up-and-down economy has changed a lot of things for a lot of people.

In order to be more cost-efficient, cars are becoming smaller leaving the days of those large muscle cars behind.

"I don't care if you're young or old, horsepower is a magical thing,"says the first woman to receive a license to drag race, Barbara Hamilton-Advey.

Its a love affair between man and his car that has gone on for decades.

So despite an economy that is driving for smaller vehicles with less power, Hamilton-Advey doesn't see the "hot rod" fading away.

"I think you'll find more and more people in their everyday driving will drive the smaller cars that they need to. But we're still gonna need engines that make horsepower," she says.

Smithfield, Pennsylvania native Larry Leach has been a "hot rod enthusiast" for nearly 50 years.

He says now you can see a renaissance of people who are also joining the "hot rod" community.

"A lot of people have come on board that back then liked them but couldn't afford to do them and now that they are at the retirement age, they have the money to do it and they want to do it," Leach says.

But its not only the life-long car followers that are keeping the "hot rod" alive.

"We now see the kids that are 20, 25, 30 bringing out the Chevelles and Camaros, the cars of the era and I think that'll continue," says Hamilton-Advey.

"Parents were handing kids the cars they used to drive. Only they weren't getting Camaros and 'Cudas. They were getting Civics and Nissans, so that's what they had to fix up and they went with it," says product manager for Mr. Casket, Bill Pasco.

To Leach, its not about the money spent to build these "demons of the road".

Its about something priceless.

"It's just us living our dream throughout our life."

Pasco says now, technology and computer-programming are becoming major players in upgrading ordinary cars into "hot rods".

He also points out that many car companies are re-visiting some of the classic styles of car-making.