A Wally Parks Moment

What an excellent question to ask him...very interesting to know.

 

What a interesting entry for JJ today. Very valuable for anyone that loves Hot Rods and especially to those you are interested in the publishing side of things. A lot of info (perhaps a lifetime's worth) could be located in these ten books. I have 3 out of the ten so I better get started on my quest to get the rest.

Thanks Ryan for sharing these with us. Mighty big of ya!

 

I concur, sadly I think I auctioned off some of these.........Guess I best get to gettin, again.

 

That's really something! Just as valuable as a handwritten letter in my book. Glad you shared

 

I have various favorite issues of magazines laying around that I want to put in frames at some point.

I actually have two of those issues he picked.

The So Cal Speed Shop May 54 issue and the Dec. 55 issue with the five window.

Those were good issues with great covers!

 

Interesting, Ryan. This makes me wonder the comparisons of the JJ/H.A.M.B. and its groundbreaking moments. I really wish I could dedicate more energy and time to learning about this field. I know there's so much I am blind to. I guess that could be said about a lot of things in life.

 

Wow...........thats all I got !

 

This is the ONE for me..... What hot rodding is all about! (or should be all about)

 

I suspect the issues that you are still having trouble understanding may have a place in the history of the automotive industry. Look at other things which were happening at the same time throughout the hi-performance world and the OEM side of the industry. You might find connections by looking at the larger picture.

 

Interesting, I would never feign to possess the knowledge as to why Mr. Parks picked those. It sure would be nice to have him around still, to ask a few questions. Did you ever get his answer(s) Ryan? I have five of those issues, might have to pick up the rest.....

 

Interesting, I think the May '54 issue was the first Hot Rod I bought,,I was 15.,,,,,whoops,, in May i was 14

 

Cool and interesting read.

Ryan, would you mind sharing with us what importance you've found in some of those old issues of Hot Rod Magazine? I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts on that subject. Do you think it is the Impact that some of those stories have left on our world of Hot Rodding?



Thanks!
Nick

 

O you lucky DAWG! to have met THE MAN. nobody, and i mean nobody has done more for our sport than MR. PARKS. but i'am truely grateful your carrying on in this tradition RYAN. and i'am dead serious about it...POP.

 

I get what you are saying (or at least I'd like to think I do ).
It sounds like you learned a ton from the great man, Wally Parks.
Finding a good balance of money and p***ion can be a very hard thing to do. It seems as though you have done and are doing a good job at keeping that balance. I think the success and continued growth of The Jalopy Journal / H.A.M.B. can be attributed to that.

 

Stupid like a fox...................

 

I started reading hot rod in a drugstore around 1948/49. That mag, along with a ride in a [well in them daze we called it 'ratty'] hopped up 34 coupe some rodders down the street gave my buddy and I a ride,lit my fire. I was hooked and have been [along with time outs for living life] ever since. The sense that regular guys could afford to improve the performance of an old car was what sold the mag. The lakes and various circle track racing was first, but then drag racing came along and we all could race at a nearby track. I left drag racing when it lost that form. but I think street rodding basically is what it was always about. Wally was a street rodder first.

 

Steve H def,he introduced me to Bill B Bill was always my hero as much as was Steve always friendly,kind and willin to help, miss them both dearly hot rodding needs more like em we are losing the greats at a alarming rate lately up here in mn and around the country I was glad I got to know Steve early on as Pat G , and Gerry B all tresures that I,am proud to have met hotroddin has had so many greats ! including you Ryan!!!

 

Mr. Parks was part of that group of people (Xydias, Isky, Blackie, etc.) that I wish I had known when they were in the 20s. Can you imagine? I asked Mr. Parks one time about the earliest days of lakes racing and he told me about driving up over the mountain range that separates LA from the lakes in the moonlight at night so as to keep the flathead running cool. Now I think about that every time I drive up the G****vine. He was one of a kind: regal, gracious, generous, and sharp as a tack to his very last day. RIP.

 

Ryan, how fortunate you are to have been in a position to meet the man and develop a relationship with him. "Pain in the ****" or not, he obviously liked you.

 

Interesting post today.

I will say that the JJ/HAMB really opened up hot-rodding to me. It was 2004 and I stumbled upon Daniel Strohl's old modified site and found a picture of this car (see attached). It was an "oh ****" moment for sure. At that point I realized that a cool, simple and relatively inexpensive hot rod (that wasn't a T-bucket....no offense) could be built.

After spending my childhood at the West Coast Nats. in Pleasanton, and learning hot-rodding during the neon/pastel and billet-era of the 80's and 90's...it was like a revolution to see what else was out there in the hot rod world. It made sense now as I look back...even as a kid I was always attracted to the cars with painted steelies!

I have often thought about just how instrumental the JJ/HAMB is to the current hot rod scene. Ten years ago, I think hot rods were on the verge of extinction....not due to lack of interest, but to lack of education on the history of hot rods. Had I not found the JJ, I might have spent my whole life thinking that the only way to enjoy the hobby was by having a Brizio built, $100K car; and maybe, just maybe I would have given up and walked away from the hobby. I think this is true for a lot of young people. Looking at the scene now - the GNRS that just concluded is a perfect example - traditional-styled cars are far more prevalent and accepted. I often think about how critical the JJ/HAMB is in ushering in this "new" era of hot rodding.

I guess "tradition" has always been a part of the hobby, people were building "resto-rods" in the 70's and that is a similar build concept to the traditional movement of today. However, the revolution that traditional-styled cars have brought to the hobby is amazing...along with the parallel social culture, tradition has brought the hobby to a younger generation. How many builders under age 40 are building street rods?...few....none that I have seen. All the "kids" are building traditional styled cars. I truly think that the movement saved the hobby.

And of course everything has it's counterpoint. Some will argue that true traditional hot-rodding is not a style, but a mentality of using the best available parts and tools, not obsessing over being absolutely period correct. Thats not to say that I don't go ga-ga over a perfect post-war roadster, but the "tradition police" can be as bad as the gold-chainers if left unchecked.

Anyway, there is no doubting the power of the Jalopy Journal and the HAMB and the impact it has had on the hot rod world.

Thanks Ryan!

 

I think Wally picked 10 issues at random to **** with you, gr***hoppa!

Cool 'Color' on Wally as always. Thanks for sharing.

 

Ryan thanks for sharing . Its amazing how a persons Mentor can still give guidance in spirit and memories . Keep up the great work and thanks for your hard work.

 

Really neat insight into a man behind the man behind the machine.

All BS aside, no *** kissin' here. I figured out a couple of years ago that my best barometer for what's "right" in rodding is a quiet dude down Dripping Springs way and the pals he surrounds himself with. I often look at something unusual and wait for that dude to chime in while forming my opinion.

I don't think it was luck, you hitting it off with Wally. In fact, I saw his roadster at the museum last year. As I stood there looking at it, I heard someone in my head telling me to take note of not so much what I did see, but more of what I didn't. Back in 2006, that would have been lost one me.

Thanks for sharing, Ryan.

 

Great post, thanks! Ran into Wally Parks in '65 (maybe) at Lions...we had run a high 180 with a DeSoto, and he came up to us and said..."never thought that was a small desoto" ... took that as a real compliment from the Man himself, never forgot it...

I wonder if he was really referring to PEOPLE he admired in hot rodding...look at the covers of those HRM's...Art Chrisman, Chet Herbert, Ike Iacano, Alex Xydias...in the end, what really makes hot rodding is its people.........just a thought.

 

A historian that I respect a great deal once said that "context counts". Those issues of HRM may have been notable to Wally because they were major accomplishments at the time. For example, the first issue to sell 50,000 copies or the first with an ad by a major advertiser. Something that was a major accomplishment at the time but was subsequently overshadowed by later accomplishments. But, if you were there and lived it, like Wally did, it was still a big deal and a strong memory. Just a thought.

Cheers,
Kurt O.

 

As I was reading Ryan's post and the list of Hot Rod Magazines suggested to him by the late Mr. Parks, the first thing that came to mind was, "Well there goes a run on those editions".

Great insight into Mr. Parks many years of publishing. Good to know he had favorites.

 

Very interesting. There are a couple things I noticed in the covers. First was the variety. There's cars, trucks, bikes (mentioned, but not shown), customs and racers. Also note the time period. The world was changing and so was the hobby. Then, there is the ever present tech or "how to" article. It seems the emphasis was on the reader aquiring a "hands on" approach to doing things. I get the feeling he was trying to say that the hobby takes all kinds of vehicles and don't limit the audience by appealing to one particular thing or group. As for the tech, it speaks for itself. A successful medium should be able to educate as well as feed dreams and ambitions. That's what I saw and if you take a broad look at the HAMB, this is what it does. Ryan, perhaps you knew what to do, before you even started. Lightning in a bottle and bright as the sun.

Keep up the good work.