3 posts tagged “hot rod”

Here's a suh-wheet video by the Sadies, animating great caricatures of the band with "Rat Fink" and other hot rod monsters from customizer/artist, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. It's like GorillaZ on homemade hooch - Friggin' RAD!!

The Horseshoe
The Sadies ~ 'Tales of the Rat Fink' DVD

Mike Roberts' drawings and animation in this video are quite masterful, capturing the raw irreverence of Kustom Kar Kulture. The jalopies are period correct, right down to the raised stance, transverse springs and dry-lakes tall-n-skinny rubber.

The echoing rockabilly sound complimented by the sweet honky-tonk piano fits the vibe perfectly. The whole thing put together gives new meaning to rock n' roll road show.

Just about any kid growing up in the 60s/70s will remember the Roth's Hot Rod Monsters from carnival airbrush/iron-on t-shirts and hobby shop models. KRAZY, MAN!

400 Bucks
Reverend Horton Heat ~ Holy Roller

 I had a great childhood. Growing up in the OH10 ruled, but we didn't realize it at the time. Our family was tight, my parents very benevolent, and hard working. They always and encouraged us, instilling a work ethic and providing the opportunity to work ourselves through college.

My grandparents had some land in the country and a "farm" that routinely lost money, leaving them to rely on their industrial day jobs and pensions. They had little money, but a few horses, a couple of cows, chickens, and a new litter of dogs every spring. Helluva fun hobby, if you didn't mind outdoor plumbing clear through the 1980s. For us kids, this regular exposure to animals and untamed nature (much of the land was untillable) was truly a great gift. We were richer than any city kid.

Ohioans, (like denizens of other states, I'm sure) had the uncanny ability to be AWARE of the rest of the world, inspiring most of its spawn to flee, due in a large part to industrial prosperity coupled with union benefits and (hard-earned) wages to fund college educations and subsequent exodus.

I'm sure I'm not the only kid who SURELY knew where the action was...California. I mean, we learned about it on TV. All the old car magazines. Where do you think that Hot Rod cover shot was taken? We guessed Glendale or somewhere with lots of talented aerospace fabricators with union wages and disposable income. We thought this normal in California!

My aunt lived in L.A. and we used to visit every five years. For us kids, this was THE BEST. She lived on Sycamore St. a few blocks from CBS and the Farmer's Market. She grew up sweet as pie in Ohio, arriving in L.A. the day before JFK was assassinated. A decade later, she was hard-drinkin', foul mouthed, jaded as hell and drove a sleek, metallic gun-metal grey Studebaker Hawk. In short, the coolest aunt in the world!

Curse words, racial epithets, diner discourse on gang wars, freeway etiquette and a deep distain for religious fervor were polite dinner conversation. Not P.C., by any stretch of the imagination, but some entertainment!

One group she never criticized were gays. She had tons of friends who were gay and she loved them like her own family. She once described this amnesty from cynical condemnation, "It's none of my fucking business what you do in your personal life. What matters is whether you're a good person, not like all these 'Me first!' types we've got out here."

Besides, when we were 15, she'd let us have beer, or Kalua if we hadn't the taste for bitter resentment yet. In the decades that followed, her door was always open and any friend of ours was a friend of hers, subjected to force feeding ham sandwiches or freshly-grilled ribeye steaks at midnight and emptying half a refrigerator shelf of Michelob Pure class.

She's irreverent, profane, and outspoken...with a heart of gold.

You know the ones. With the music in the back, the singer is talking the lyrics. As a kid, I loved them. They were like rap, except in the 60s and 70s were usually of the country genre. HA! Take that, Akon!

Hot Rod Race 2
Jim and Jesse Reynolds ~ The Essential Collection

Yes, many were of an odd or novelty variety like the crap song, Convoy*. On the flip side,  whenever the talking part starts in a George Jones song, you know it's going to hit the fan in that narrative. Also, it provided an acceptable outlet for those too repressed or tone-deaf to sing, even while driving alone.

I wonder how many racist peckerwoods can make the connection between country 'talk songs' and rap? Or gankstas for that matter. Bite me, haters.

*WUAB Lorain-Cleveland RULED Saturday mornings when the house was buried in snow!