My dad grew up in Boston in the 50s. The word for auto tuners and hotrodders back then was "hacker". Jay Leno and Tom and Ray Magliozzi are probably the most fa

My dad grew up in Boston in the 50s. The word for auto tuners and hotrodders back then was "hacker". Jay Leno and Tom and Ray Magliozzi are probably the most famous hackers from that time. Maybe there was a general sense of "hacking" in the dialect that predated the hotrodding scene, but if not it seems like a fairly natural extension of the idea.