Folks Of Interest Rex Burnett Roughs printed book - what did I buy?

Hey Folks

Haven't posted in a while but this past weekend I picked up a printed home made booklet of Rex Burnett rough drawings. Found it at Shupp's Grove in Adamstown PA.

I asked the seller what they knew about it and all she knew was it came in bunch of "paper" she purchased. She looked up the name Rex Burnett and said he was the Cutaway King. Other than some old automotive ads there was no other "Hot Rod" related papers.

Looks like the booklet was personalize for someone named Pete. Front and rear cover are card stock and the pages are green paper. There are 19 pages, front and back cover and 18 pages of rough drawing, some better than others

I didn't pay a lot and I found it interesting so I grabbed it, I recognized a few of the drawings.

Curious if anyone knew anything about this, maybe it was a give away at an auction of artwork. If there's anyplace to ask its the HAMB.

Attached are a couple of pictures. Sorry if they are upside down or sideways I thought I edited them and saved them in the correct direction.




Thanks
Tom

 

Cool! Never heard of him, would like to see the rest of the pictures.

 

Early Hot Rod Magazine artwork?

 

He was a good friend of Tex Smith and did a lot of cut away drawings for HOT ROD magazine. He did one of the XR-6 GNRS winner Tex built and it was a center spread in HRM.

 

What a great find. I've got a 6-print set of his work hanging on my garage wall.

 

The Rodder's Journal had a limited edition set of his drawings for sale some time ago, is this what you found? https://www.ebay.com/itm/395195358536

 

He drew the cutaway pictures of some real significant HotRods for Hot Hod magazine in the 1950’s.
He is the father of Brian Burnett. Brian was the owner of the Ferrari dealership in Los Gatos California. Brian commissioned Dick Magoo to build the 32 Ford roadster known as the Deucarri. Rex did a cutaway of this car too.
Brian was also the guy responsible behind the “Nostalgia drags” in Fremont California in the early 1980’s which opened the door for the nostalgic drag racing reunions and resurgence that we still enjoy today. It was at these early Fremont events that Fat Jack and Project 40 and others gained their drag racing fame

 

It is Hot Rod art work but is it proofs or something someone made up ?
It's better than laser jet quality so maybe mimeograph or some other form of printing, so maybe from 60's 70's?

Could Pete be "Pete" Peterson of Peterson Publishing?

 

Definitely not those.

 

A couple more

 

That was a fantastic find, sometimes the stars align and you get lucky!

 

WOW! Put me in line if you should decide to part with it.

 

Keep it in a safe place, wear rubber gloves when you handle it. You may have something special?

 

Couple more

 

Those cutaways are Special, Handle With Care! Someone in the hot rod world should be able to help you, maybe contact Steve Coonan at The Rodder's Journal ( I have the set of cutaways that they offered). Good Luck, Carp.

 

That book is gold. What a cool find! The TRJ article referenced above was in issue #49. It explains that many of those initial sketches were thrown away but that the Burnett family still had some, and it mentioned that his youngest son John was digitizing some of them and would be making prints available. I have a vague memory of a booklet being made available at some point during that time as well, but I can't be sure. Either way, what you've got there is awesome.

 

I'm no historical documents expert but I've always seen old fragile documents being handled by a person wearing what appears to be white cotton gloves. Maybe check with a local museum or vintage book dealer for the best way to handle? Just a thought.

 

Yuup that cutaway art is like magic

 

Looks like something the ol boss man, @Ryan would be interested to see.
Great find !

 

My favorite cut/away Rex did was this. I studied every detail and built a copy.

 

thanks, just went to that auction site everyone loves/hates and grabbed a copy

 

Here’s another one to keep the thread going to see if someone recognizes this booklet.

This drawings can be found in the January 1953 edition of Hot Rod magazine.

 

I would guess this was something produced by Brian Burnett, he did have a website 10-15+ years ago. He would be the best person to contact, he has a profile on FB. Book looks to be size of A4 (Letter)? The original drawings were quite large. Either way the book is an ultra cool piece to see process of the rough and finished artwork that were published.

 

The booklet is great but what I find phenomenal are those gifted individuals that can create technical illustrations like that. Their brain doesn’t work like the average person’s.

 

Looks like he did a Jocko Streamliner cutaway also....

 

Amazing find.
Thank you for sharing.

 

Couldn't resist complimenting you on your grille...looks like an Oliver tractor shell, I like the grille insert you made!

 

Yes A4 size, definitely copies not originals.

I did find Brian on FB and sent a message request with some attachments , I see there is also a Rex Burnett Gallery group on FB but it hasn't been active in years.