The early, post-World War II hot rod culture of Southern California was awash in talent, innovators such as Ed Iskenderian, visionaries like Wally Parks, journalists like Dean Batchelor, to name but a few. Leroi "Tex" Smith would be a first-ballot member of this exclusive club. Tex
One could argue that street rodding’s popularity after the first Street Rod Nationals was propelled not by ’glass bodies, aftermarket suspension bits, or crate motors. Rather, that growth was driven by something far simpler – cool air. Air conditioning made driving a hot rod in
Every month, Goodguys Gazette editor Damon Lee and I kick around ideas on who will be our next Legend of Hot Rodding. This month, we agreed: Don Garlits. We were both flabbergasted that to date he had eluded our attention. It would be like a
In the quest for speed, aerodynamics has proven just as important as horsepower. The machines that hurdled across the dusty dry lakes of SoCal and the salty flats of Bonneville caught on early that reducing aero drag resulted in a boost in top speed. While the
Over the course of hot rod history, journalists have played an equally important role to that of car designers, engine maestros, and metal craftsmen. And no scribe was as influential as Dean Batchelor, whose given name was prescient: He was widely recognized as the dean
Some outstanding hot rods look the part. Their brilliance is immediately apparent. Others are more muted. Parked on a fairground these rides barely merit a head-turn. But if you did peer underneath or squint under the hood, a dazzling display of style and ingenuity would
To this point in our exploration of Legends of Hot Rodding, our heroes have been powered by internal combustion engines, all those warmed-over Flatheads, tweaked small-blocks, and nitro-gulping Hemis. But this month’s subject – Craig Breedlove – took another tack. He eschewed petrol-driven piston power
Hot rods and rock ’n’ roll have been symbiotic forces in American pop culture since the 1950s. They go together like wide whites and steelies, guitars and wah-wah pedals. The most famous guitar is even named after a car part — Fender. And the songs? Who
The lowly Model T, Henry Ford’s gift to mass-produced transportation, launched millions of affordable automobiles, but it didn’t take long for hotted-up versions to appear. The early prewar days of motor racing were populated with all manner of modified Ts – lakes runners and dirt
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth had a flair for the dramatic. Perhaps best known for his rascally rodent, Rat Fink, which served as the unofficial mascot of early-’60s hot rodding, Roth crafted a series of edgy and over-the-top customs that shook the hot rod world to
