Hot Rod Car Show Documentary: Ingenuity in Action - California History and Culture (1959)

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001COY8OC/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=d...

http://thefilmarchive.org/

Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Roadsters were the cars of choice because they were light. The term became commonplace in the 1930s or 1940s as the name of a car that had been "hopped up" by modifying the engine in various ways to achieve higher performance.

The term can also apply to other items that are "souped up" for a particular purpose, such as "hot-rodded amplifier".

There is a contemporary movement of traditional hot rod builders, car clubs and artists who have returned to the roots of hot rodding as a lifestyle. This current traditional hot rod culture is exemplified in a whole new breed of traditional hot rod builders, artists and styles, as well as classic style car clubs like The Road Devils, The Deacons, The Shifters, and The Dragoons. Events like Viva Las Vegas, and GreaseOrama showcase this return to traditional hot rods and the greaser lifestyle. Underground magazines like Garage, Smokin Shutdown, Ol' Skool Rodz, Car Kulture Deluxe, Gearhead, Rolls & Pleats and BurnOut showcase this return to traditional hot rods by covering events and people around the world. There are number of independently released DVDs featuring this traditional hot rod revival with names such as Mad Fabricators, Hot Rod Surf, 'All Steel All Real', and Hot Rod Havoc.

Author Tom Wolfe was one of the first to recognize the importance of hot rodding in popular culture and brought it to mainstream attention in his book The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.

There are many magazines that feature real hot rods, including The Rodders Journal, Hot Rod Magazine, Rod and Custom Magazine, Street Rodder, RebelRodz, Amusin' Kruisin', and Popular Hot Rodding. There are also television shows such as My Classic Car, and Horsepower TV.

Street rod builder Boyd Coddington starred in American Hot Rod, a documentary series on Discovery channel until his death in 2008.

The Discovery Channel airs several shows dealing with modern interpretations of Kustom Kulture such as Monster Garage, American Hot Rod, and Overhaulin'.

Juxtapoz Magazine, founded by the artist Robert Williams, has thrived as a recent extrapolation of Kustom Kulture art. It has also begun to garner respect as an exhibitor of contemporary artistic talent that transcends Kustom Kulture's bounds.

The culture is vibrant in Sweden where there are many automobile enthusiasts. Meetings like Power Big Meet and clubs such as Wheels and Wings in Varberg, Sweden have established themselves in Swedish Hot Rod culture. Since there is very little "vintage tin" the hot rods in Sweden are generally made with a home made chassis (usually a Ford model T or A replica), with a Jaguar (or Volvo 240) rear axle, a small block V8, and fiberglass tub, but some have been built using for instance a Volvo Duett chassis. Because the Swedish regulations required a crash test even for custom-built passenger cars between 1969 and 1982 the Duett option was often used since it was considered a rebodied Duett rather than a new vehicle.

Some 1950s and 1960s cars are also hot rodded, like Morris Minor, Ford Anglia, Volvo Amazon, Ford Cortina, '57 Chevy, to name but a few. These are known as Custom cars (sometimes spelled Kustom).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_rod

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[WizardOfChicamunga]

Correction---This event took place in September of 1959. 

[nologorecords]

@WizardOfChicamunga Thanks! I've changed the date

[Pauline1264]

Dix and Sibley, THE place to spend Sundays in Detroit.Thanks sooo much for the memories

[101mikec]

What a great clip!

But, I'm confused. What the hell is a "twisted lifter" and I doubt they 'got after it from the bottom end'. They should've made the narrator change that lifter. : )

I wish Top Fuel still smoked the tires all the way. First time I saw slipper clutches in action, my heart dropped.

Thanks for making this available.

[40HudsonV8]

Ha Ha Ha, like it at 17:27 when Nick throws his trash down.

[slimemeister]

@grantendo It was in DETROIT! Detroit dragway.

[slimemeister]

Why is this titled California? The Nationals had cars from everywhere. California is not the be all and end all of drag racing. Californians can only see themselves.

[IExposeMormonism]

Could the wheel base on that 9 second car be any shorter? Art Arfons in the 1959 Green Monster, I didn't know it had an allison engine.

[9169816056]

They've parked at a No Parking At Any Time area 04:52

[Bgguy64]

Great video, going to my favorite's!

[Moparvanman]

Thank you for sharing this video :-D

[cooldude1836]

What the fuck did I just watch? It was great!