Ed,your two cents' worth was more like a Thousand Dollar Silver Certificate
to me.
I'm one of those geezers that bought my first issue of Hot Rod in
February of 1951,and found it to be,along with some pals,our 'bible'and
chief source of what was going on in Southern California--the Shangri-La of
Fast Cars and Beautiful Women--
or vice versa! The GREAT tech articles--Don Francisco showing us how to
build a flathead---the RIGHT way!---how to put Zephyr gears in a Ford "crash
box"---how to
"zee" your frame---"Nitro -the poor man's Supercharger"---how to build an
"AV8", which is what Model A's with flatheads were called then---and on and
on---these GREAT articles had lotsa details,and helped those of us that were
already working
with the older boys on oval track cars--"jalopies"--before they evolved into
the
"Modifeds"with their finned heads,multi-carbs,strokers,and even fuel at some
tracks.
Hot Rod mag was read by most oval guys then --it gave out good
building,modifying and tuning tips--back East we could'nt just drive over to
consult with Vic Edelbrock--Howard Johanssen--Barney Navarro,or C&T
Automotive.
Hot Rod was our connection,and we read about Bell Auto Parts,and Harmon and
Collins,Honest Charleys' and Jerauld's Speed Shop--places to get the stuff of
our
dreams! This magazine also showed us the goings on at places named Colton--
Santa Ana--Paradise Mesa--Pomona--Kingdon and Santa Maria,and we read about
the exploits of the new heroes of Drag Racing,which was now spreading
eastward---
guys like Art Chrisman,Calvin Rice,Ed Losinski,Ollie Morris Joaquin
Arnett,Mickey
Thompson,Lou Baney,Dawson Hadley,Dick Kraft,Don Yates--and on and on!
We knew,from these well read pages,that sunny So Cal was the Heart of all
this wonderful activity--well before it was called the Left Coast,where I
visit Darrell
nowadays. So Hot Rod mag pointed the way--I sold my third flatmotor coupe,and
my buddy and I left for the Shangri-La of hot rodding--(where else?)--L.A.
We first lived in La Habra ( I read recently on this list that's where
Tom Bryant
landed in California--) (by the way,Tom,I met you at Bonneville in 1987--we
talked briefly--as I recall you said your smallblock had
'expired',unfortunately--and I took a bunch of pics of your coupe ) I later
lived in Bell,just a few blocks from Bell Auto,and
this was in 1956,and weekends found me frequenting Santa Ana,Pomona,Lions and
San Gabriel--thanks to reading Hot Rod--a once great magazine!!!
The 1960's--Drags now coast to coast;border to border;GREAT!!!--but Hot
Rod is
slipping--less in-depth tech--less dry lake coverage--more ads--more show
cars sitting in angel hair--more ads --shorter articles--little tech of
substance --where are
the fabulous Cut-Away drawings by Rex Burnett?? Where are the features on dry
lakes/Bonneville cars--and the Bonneville previews that used to show us what
Chuck
Porter was doing to Belmont Sanchez' bantam coupe,or what Fred Carillo was
welding up to Blast across the Salt?? Some of you long-time salt-rats probably
saw,or worked on Jack Lufkin's fantastically fast and beautiful modified
Corvette
--What a Car!!! I only ever saw it in magazines--but THAT'S what used to be
featured
in HRM--used to be--Anybody remember Bob Rounthwaite's gorgeous red and gold
chopped 34 3 window??? A Lookalike to the better known and more fabulous
Pierson Bros/TomThumb/Bryant coupe we ALL love--I've even heard muscle-car
and
late model only types rave about it! Well,Rounthwaite's hammered bomb was
ON THE COVER !!!!!!! The COVER of HOT ROD--BACK WHEN it was WORTH
READING!!!!!!! I know TIME changes ALL Things----cars--racing--technology--
people--everything. But that mag changed --all VANS and nonsense by the
70's--
TOO MUCH TOO SOON
Yes,Ed,your comments are RIGHT ON It's all for THE BUCK now---they
cannot
envision enough PROFIT by promoting CARS WITH ENGINEERING AND
ORIGINALTY that run several times a year somewhere in --is it up in Utah--or
Nevada??? I wonder if even HALF their staff knows--we know they don't
care---
Bruce D.Ferguson--The RASCAL'S DAD--939 B/BFALT Black Radon
On The Connecticut Shoreline
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