Just came across this on FB. Never heard or seen of such a thing, but seems a bit before my time. Thought it was pretty cool.
Love those have to ***ume they were part of the touring car show circuit at the time. Marcy from HOPUP always has a bunch for sale when I see her vending. Neat stuff
There were hot rod race car and custom car trading cards just like there were baseball cards. Some were part of a set and some were sold in vending machines, those are called “arcade cards”
There were a lot of different sets of cards printed over the years,,,Spec Sheet,Drag Nationals,Race USA,Drag Champs,Hot Rod,IHRA and the list goes on and on,,even Don Garlits did a set of cards. I have several different cards from different sets and some duplicates, I'll post some later. I even have #8 Spec Sheet card of our own Dean Lowe. HRP
(expletive!), @Moriarity , of course you have a wide collection! Some of those awakened memories of some I had as a kid I had forgot about until now! Thanks!
We had the "monster in a hot rod" cartoon cards here in the late 60's. They came with a couple of sticks of bubble gum. Shell petroleum used to have cards with new cars on them, around the same time. The cards were free when you got a full tank, but they hit you for the album, (probably about 50 cents) which had the full description of the car.
Nice collection Mark, and we never expected anything less! My HR cards are long gone, gave the last two I had to members here.
Guess I led a sheltered life as I don't remember seeing any of these! Thanks to Mark and a few others I can now see what I missed.
i have some of the "arcade" cards, with everything from rolls royce to detroit "dream cars." also, AMT used to include cards in model kits...
Hello, In the throes of 1959-60, we started a small hot rod business. It was my brother’s idea to get the parts we needed for more performance, yet not have to pay for retail prices. We bought a ton of local speed shop parts over the years and the costs were rising fast. His first idea was to take a photo of his Impala and glue it to a postcard size board. Trim it up and add information about the Impala on it. He was already thinking of this move as his stock car cl*** racing was getting to the end. So, he would start doing some modifying the Impala and then move into the Gas Coupe and Sedan cl***es. If we gave out the cards to the respective big time speed shops and actual manufacturers it would help to sell the idea of sponsorship and modifications for the popular Gas Coupe and Sedan cl***. We lived near Venolia Pistons, Clay Smith Cams, Mickey Thompson, Speed Engineering and several other shops. If we ventured closer to our high school, then the Joe Mailliard Shop that used to be several blocks from our house was now, near our school. Then there was the mother ship, Reath Automotive. A card with a photo of the Impala racing as well as information would go far as remembering who and what the card meant. Now, as the advertisers wanted more exposure at the drags, what better than a stock car anyone could want or buy locally racing in popular races all over So Cal, with racing modifications, of course. not our 1958 Impala, but one that did similar modifications… We showed our version of a card with the photo and showed it to several shops. They thought it was a good way to showcase any hot rod or sedan. The idea of one that could be used daily driver to work or school doing double duty as a race car was creating what market those shops would be striving for anyway. We did not get the card printed officially, but it was one of the first cards around with a photo and information. So, we designed a card to introduce our selves as hot rod/drag race engine builders and a parts shop. The card allowed us to get in contact directly with manufacturers and other local warehouses for discounts, not normally available to the general public. But, we did have to have a business license. We couldn’t decide what name to put on the card or who we would be handing out the cards to at hot rod gatherings or car shows. So, instead of printing our names, we decided to just put J. Nakamura. That also saved us printing costs for fewer lines. They were good items to trade with other folks as we toured the shows and gatherings. At first, it was funny to hand out the cards. Then as we were able to get the discounts for our friends, word spread. So, the cards actually got good use. No, we were not in it for the money. What little money in profit we earned was put back into the parts we needed to finish our projects. We still went to the established places, Reath Automotive, Joe Mailliard and Mickey Thompson’s shops. It was closer than the longer drives to Los Angeles City areas+ the growing area of the big OC. Jnaki But, the real hot rod cards came later on in our 20 something days. As we expanded our photo business, we also had printed cards made to trade with others we met along the way. Car shows in Northern California, all over So Cal and ones we saw anywhere our El Camino was visiting at the time or our long road trips up/down the coast.
The Jalopy Journal
