The Hot Rod Race...

saftey tubes was just another name for innertubes

as the lyrics say we have saftey tubes ,but i aint scared, the brakes are good , and the tires are fair

 

Safety tubes were made by Goodyear. They had a second inner tube inside the main inner tube. If you had a blow out the car would settle slowly on the inner tube that still had air and you could control the car. They were harder to mount than regular inner tubes. You had to put a lot of pressure on them if you were mounting new tires to squeeze the air out of them. Guys who worked at gas stations hated them.

 

I don't know diddley **** about safety tubes, g****vine or Lewiston grade.... But I sure enjoyed the songs and all of these posts. Nice piece of music history.

 

A little more history....

 

I've always wondered about those songs,now I know.Another informative post.

 

Strange timing! The day after Christmas I was sitting at my desk listening to Pandora when Arkie Shibley's Hot Rod Race came on. I'd never heard it before so I started exploring. Like Lanny Haas shows, I read the exact same page.

It would seem that Hot Rod Lincoln is "part 7" of Arkie's series, whether Arkie knew/approved it or not. The similarities are obvious, but in Hot Rod Lincoln there's no mention of the Ford and Mercury... which I think would have underscored the cool factor of the song that much more! Just my .02, shoot me! LOL

 

thanks all....allways was the odd ball when I played these songs on the juke box....but my buddies "409"...got kinda old....

 

I don't remember "Hot Rod Race" but I was only 6 when it was recorded. I am surprised it is not as popular as "Hot Rod Lincoln" on the oldies stations. I don't believe it can be disputed it was the first hot rod song and at the end was more or less telling those who listened to the words about the power of a hopped up Model A

 

That is a Canadian Monarch.

 

You guys are awesome. I came looking for what the heck "safety tubes" were -- since I have 7 versions of Hot Rod Lincoln in the MP3 player -- and now I know. I also know that I'm going to have to find "Hot Rod Race" and add it to the play list.

Thanks. Don

 

just think I might still have a safety tube layin' around.....and you know I love that song....what ever version.....