The most-complete look at the evolution of hot-rod and custom culture. Covers the colorful cars and vibrant characters from the phenomenon's teen-rebel roots to today's multimillion-dollar industry. » Lively layout, rare vintage black and white pictures, scores of color photos and incisive text bring to life the key people, trends, and cars. » Hot rods and customs are more popular than ever. Featured are definitive examples of 1949-51 Mercury customs, '32 Ford hot rods, and many others.
Americans were forever changed when the edgy style and power of hot rods exploded onto their highways. This volume details nearly 300 of the most innovative rides to ever own the road. Alongside colour photographs is each car's history, options and top selling points.
Among the hardest core of American automotive enthusiasts there always exists a desire to press styling and performance a step beyond the showroom floor -- to truly craft an automobile of one's own. This photographic and cultural history examines the evolution of American custom cars from the 1930s to present, covering touchstone trends, influential builders (Barris, Roth, Coddington et al), custom shows, enthusiast magazines and regional styles. An expensive collection of rare period photography and exclusive modern shots help illustrate how Detroit informed the styling of customs (and vice versa), the explosion of the custom car scene after World War II and the factors that led to the custom's near-death in the 1960s and its resurgence in the '80s. But most of all, this chronicle is a showcase of the great cars and people who influenced the movement through the years.
Following on the success of his 2005 bestseller Hot Rod Pin-ups, ace photographer David Perry offers an all-new collection of images winningly riffing on the timeless theme of girls ’n’ cars—specifically, girls ‘n’ hot rods. In the garage, on the road, at the race, these sumptuous pictures by the acknowledged master of contemporary hot rod pin-up photography recall classic 1950s illustrators like Vargas and Elvgren. But the beauties in Perry’s photographs have been transported to--and, it seems, transported by--the cluttered chop shops, deafening drag strips, and dusty highways that hot rods call home. Sharing top billing are the cars of many of today’s top builders, as well as painstakingly perfect wardrobes and settings. Essays by male and female stars of the hot rod world round out this delightful book.
Here are the hot rodders we'll worship tomorrow. Kevin Thomson and David Perry venture into the shops of all-steel apostles Cole Foster, Gary Howard, Keith Tardel, the Kennedy Brothers, Jimmy White, Mike Smith, Rudy Rodriguez, Scott Mugford, and Mercury Charlie and offer profiles of todays top hot rod and custom builders. Hot rodders themselves, Thomson and Perry get to the heart of what makes todays hot rodders go, how they think, who they are, and what makes them builders worth watching.
David Perry, Foreword by Robt. Williams. For as long as young men have been channeling, chopping, and hopping up rods and customs, women - whether loyal girlfriends or trouble-seeking "bad girls" - have been an integral to their scene. In this unique portfolio evoking great 1950s pin-up artists like Vargas and Elvgren, talented photographer David Perry depicts models in and out of cherry-picked rods and customs wearing painstakingly chosen period dress and hairstyles. More than 100 photos present these modern-day pin-ups under three themes: Garage, Cruising, and Race. In addition, essays explore each topic and are also accompanied by pulp novel covers, period mags, and ads that place the photography in a historical context. Captions identify the car owners, photo location, and, where appropriate, interesting car specs and histories.
Chopped, slammed, channeled, blown . . . in the late '50s and early '60s all of these features lent themselves nicely to the rise of hot rod art that caricaturized the already severe design traits associated with these cars. Usually, the rods and customs in this art were piloted by slobbering, snaggle-toothed "monsters" with bulging, bloodshot eyes. Thanks to the iron-on T-shirt boom of the '70s and a raft of younger artists working today, hot rod monsters have persevered. Now award-winning car-designer Thom Taylor and legendary kustom culture figure Ed Newton reveal the tricks and techniques used by masters past and present to render these whack rods and their warts-and-all drivers. Beginning with a brief history of the form, the authors examine figures like Stanley Mouse, Ed Roth, and Newton himself, then reveal how those pioneers influenced modern artists like Keith Weesner, John Bell, and Dave Deal, to name a few. In addition to offering chapters covering topics like equipment, perspective, light sources, and other technical considerations, Taylor expands on the cartooning, proportion, and color chapters from his previous works, applying them to the subject at hand. Also includes dozens of examples of the form from many of the above-mentioned artists and more.
The Texas hot rod scene encompasses the exhaust, speed, rust, and chrome beloved not just by greasers and gearheads but also by families and pinup girls, bikers and rockabilly dolls, rockers and regular Joes. The Lonestar Rod & Kustom Round Up, one of America's premier car shows, attracts hot rod and custom car fans from around the world, bringing them to Austin every spring. George Brainard began photographing the Round Up in 2003 on behalf of the show hosts, The Kontinentals Car Club. Finding himself interested as much in the crowd and the culture as in the cars, he began taking pictures of people at the show. All Tore Up presents portraits of these people, who are as distinctive as the cars they love. As Brainard observes, "Hot rods and customized cars are works of art. You take an old car, cut it into pieces, and put it back together following your own vision. You bring something to life that previously existed only in your imagination." The people who do this "are drawn to aesthetic expression, and they materialize it in their own selves, their clothes, and their bodies." Allowing his subjects to pose themselves against a plain white background and write their own captions for their photographs, Brainard cuts through the visual spectacle of the car show and finds the essence of the people who are a part of it, capturing a fascinating pop subculture of American life.
