aka: Drag racing, funny cars, custom cars, hot rod shows,
dry lakes racing, low riders, antique drag racing.

Hot Rods are eyeball food.

All cars are interesting because if you look closely enough they’ll all tell tales about social or individual effort. Some cars in particular are very appealing because they stand out in stark contrast to their times. Hot Rods, either factory or custom built, are cars of extreme contrast.

What is the appeal of fifty-year-old cars?

If you look at the popular media images of people back in the forties & fifties they were all scrubbed clean and happy to be conforming. Remember the people in Batman’s Gotham City or Superman’s Metropolis, even the villains didn’t have a hair out of place or a spot on their gray suits. Everyone was bred for social & economic efficiency. The pressure was on to be normal.

So how could this button-downed culture turn out such a wild profusion of outrageously styled and impractical automobiles? Maybe the spirits of the times were working in the motor trade.

The old cars parade style, invention and plain old in-your-face assertion. They are not like many modern cars, cautiously worried about the future judgments of the trendy style police.They used deep compound curves of glass and steel, welded-on interplanetary-travel stabilizing fins covered with enough chrome trim to terrify any Martian invader and the drivers used the grill to show the world the facial expressions that they were too modest and refined to use themselves.

Maybe today the people themselves are more individualistic, but boy oh boy the cars are sure boring.

Hot Rods 3#
Antique drag racing, dry lakes racing,
hints from the top show cars,
the hot rod reproduction world.

Hot Rods 1#
Drag racing, funny cars,
Melbourne hot rod show,
swap meets & custom cars.

Hot Rods 2#
Victor Bray, wild bunch racing,
Rod Hadfield - low rider,
dry lake racing, show and shine.

What follows in the next four pages are descriptions of three video magazine programs that were made with the assistance of Larry O’Toole. Larry is the publisher of Australian Street Rodding Magazine and he’s a bit like air, been around forever and been involved in everything. He loves cars and I love taking pictures and these shows are about our little journey together through the amazing world of Australian Hot Rods.

Series Introduction.
Hot Rods 1.
Hot Rods 2.
Hot Rods 3.
Arthurs Seat Hill Climb ( Doctor's Hot Rods )

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bushtelegraph@ausbushcraft.com.au

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