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
California Kid. Pierson Coupe. Doane Spencer roadster. Eliminator coupe. HogZZilla Harley. So-Cal lakester. Rides that peg the legend meter and linked by a common thread – the genius of Pete Chapouris. One of hot rodding’s premier talents, Chapouris not only transformed street rod culture, but
A while back the Gazette featured camshaft guru Ed Iskenderian as a Legend of Hot Rodding. Baron of the bumpstick, we called him. Today, Isky is 99 years old, with the century mark coming up fast. So, it seemed appropriate to feature another Isky contribution
Imagine if there was a movement to construct a hot rod version of Mt. Rushmore. A hot debate would surely follow on who is worthy of having their countenance chiseled in stone, say, in the hills overlooking the Bonneville Salt Flats. Wally Parks would be one
As Neil Young once wrote, rust never sleeps. It’s this immutable law of nature that drove a divide in the development of post-WWII hot rodding. The warm, sun-dappled roads of California meant the Model Ts and Deuce coupes of the 1920s and ’30s were waiting, rust
