Hotrod

“

That's what it was made for. Click to listen — The Engineer on the purpose of the Hotrod

”

The Hotrod is a community-created headwear item for the Engineer. It appears as a gray Template:W with a team-colored fire pattern on the front.

The hat description was written by Shapechanger.

Trivia

• The name and fiery flame design may be a reference to American cars with large engines, which are also called Hot rods, and often sport a fiery paintjob.
• The Hotrod flips down over the Engineer's face when he is holding a building's blueprints or hauling a building, currently making it the only hat to possess its own unique animation.
  • Additionally, a Spy disguised as an Engineer currently wearing a Hotrod can have the hat flip down on his face by equipping the Electro Sapper.
• The Engineer wears the Hotrod in addition to his goggles. In reality, the smoked glass of both the welding hood and his goggles would make it impossible to see. This may be why he normally wears the Hotrod in the raised position.
• This hat is the very first community hat to ever appear in an official Valve short film; in this case, the Hotrod appears in the Engie Update teaser.
• "Hot Rod" is also the title of a 1979 movie, in which Grant Goodeve, voice of the Engineer, starred.
  • It is interesting to note that the late Template:W, the voice of Dr. Breen from Half-Life 2, also co-starred in this film.
• The Engineer is seen using a welding mask in the teaser video for the Engineer update, though it is not the Hotrod. The Hotrod, however, can be seen sticking out of a tool chest at the very beginning of the video, above the Engineer's acoustic guitar.
• Given the appearance of the mask and the time period TF2 is set in, the Hotrod is most likely not an auto-darkening welding mask, but uses a standard visor that is constantly dark.
  • Most of these older masks do however have the ability to flip up the visor. It is unknown if the Engineer does not wish to use this feature or if the Hotrod is simply incapable of it.