Hot Rods Help with '60s Hot Rod Lecture

What is their interest in hot rods?

Are they die hard history buffs or just casual fans?

If there are women in the audience people like Shirley Shahan, Shirley Muldowney, and Linda Vaughn should be mentioned.

 

Glad to help, you'll have a lot of talking points, I'm sure!

 

They were then, a part of the rising tide.
The gang known as 'Boomers'

If the plan is a view of culture they were part of the driving force.
As mentioned by @anthony myrick the perception of bad boy was converted by population numbers high enough to make the 'hop-up' business very profitable.
If we, the Boomers' hadn't been there, eager to empty our pockets to find glory on the asphalt,
then the business ( speed equipment industry ) could not have flourished as it did.
Also the drive of Detroit's industry to grab sales with bigger and bigger motors, beginning with the early '50s.
As mishaps filled the junk yards with bent up cars the crew of youthful enthusiasts were supplied with more and more power.

 

Origins……
Model T
Obsolete when introduced in 1909. It is the car of the 20th Century. Produced by name until 1925 and by form through 1927. ( Although “Model Ts, the ‘26-27 cars were called “The Improved Models”.)
The car of the middle class, the ready made Jalopy…

WW I…
Great leaps in industry
Great leaps in the internal combustion engine in primarily aircraft and how this influenced the automotive industry of the 20s and 30s……

1920s -30s……
Improved cars
Improved transmissions
Improved style (super cars , Duesenburg, Packard, Cadillac, Lincoln.
Improved engines Model A, Chevy 6, Straight 8, Flat 6. V8, V12,V16, the venerable low priced Flathead V8 vs GM6 and L8/ Mopar 6
Improved brakes….. hydro (Ford and others reliance on obsolete technology for simplicity. Example…. Ford keeping mechanical brakes through ‘38 and transverse buggy springs through 48. Might want to mention IFS in some cars but straight axle on others……
Depression Cheap cars…., the Jalopy

WW II
Great advances in technology
Massive effort
Massive mobilization
Great numbers of trained mechanics working on B17s that cut their teeth on Model T Jalopys….

Post war……
Post war boom
GI bill
Suburbia is born
1950s……
Early 50s….Simply reskinned ‘30s cars notable exceptions….Rocket 88, Cadillac OHV, Chrysler Hemi, Shoebox Ford (new car with 30s engine)

Mid 50s…..
OHV in Ford and now Chevy
SBC it’s place in history
Emergence of the Automatic Transmission
Car Culure
Rock and Roll
Hot Rod Menace
Factory Performance… Duntov, Harley Earl, Y block, Fuely ‘57, Super charged 312, T Bird, J2, Hemi 392, Nailhead…..
Rise of NASCAR
Legends like “Thunder Road”
Customs

Late 50s
Conservative pushback against the car culture, McNamara….
Big 3 agree to stifle factory sponsored performance
Only Ford really went by this McNamara and really in name only…
. Example….the HP 332 352 390 became the more politically correct Police Interceptor
Late 50s Recession
Rise of the economy car…,Lark,Falcon,Corvair etc etc…..,
1960s………
What we think of as ‘50s car culure today is really 1960s.
Euro influence “Cobra”
Recession ends around ‘62
McNamara becomes Secretary of Defence
Iacocca takes over Ford “ Total Performance”
Cubic inch wars 348-352-390-409-406-410-413-427-396-427-428-ect etc etc……
Car culture becomes mainstream
Flagship models become behemoths
The mid-sized car emerges…
Fairlane
Chevelle
Tempest
Skylark
Big engine in md sized car ( idea behind the Rocket 88)
Muscle car
Car culture is mainstream
Sunset Strip
Munsters
The Golden Age of the NHRA and NASCAR
Customs
Magazines
New Engines SBF Hemis, Mystery Motors
Elvis is respectable
Jet Age becomes the Space Age fins leave by 64 except in Cadillac that keep remnants for decades
Car as Art
Barris, Roth
Beach Culture
Beatnik
Hippie
It all comes to an end with the Oil Embargo…..
That the “Vanishing Point”

A strange thing happens…..
In all the fuss about muscle cars, the era of protest a little car returns
The FadT….
Yep from the Tin Lizzie to the T bucket…..

 

A couple of the guys touched on this. Just how much the decade of the '60s changed. Almost like two separate decades. In fact, I think this wasn't the only time it occurred. It seems on a number of occasions, the first half of one decade was very much like the last half of the previous decade. Not exact science of course, but I was 7 years old in 1964 when The Beach Boys were still filling the airwaves and rumbly old hot rods were still often seen. And then suddenly, the music and cars changed. Starting with the Beatles and the Mustang. There was a definite palpable change. The music sounded more electric. The new cars gained color and persona. And power. At some point, you would no longer yell to the driver of a hot car, "Lay a patch!" You instead yelled, burn 'em off! LOL cuz they could!
No longer was it necessary for a hot rod to be built. You could buy one right off the dealer floor, ready to go. And it might likely beat that old hot rod. In fact through the mid to late 60s, traditional old style hot rods were less frequently seen. They fell out of favor as is sometimes said. But not with everybody. Through the late sixties, I would scour the Sunday classified ads specifically for 1932 Fords. There were always at least a dozen or so for $1,000, $2,000. The most expensive one I remember seeing was for $3,500. I remember thinking, wow that must be a nice one. LOL I just knew I was going to have a three window Deuce Coupe once I got a little older and made enough money. But by the time I graduated from high school in 1975, Pete and Jake had helped to reignite the old style hot rod passion, and that $3,500 1932 Ford was now closer to $35,000. Personally, I was so broadsided by that reality that I basically gave up the dream for a few years. Not to mention that I also got distracted by the muscle cars. Cuz now they were older and more affordable. I bought a 1970 Roadrunner in 1978 for $900.

Good luck with your presentation!
Don't forget to smile! LOL

Since your audience will be seniors, they're going to remember and relate to a lot of what you'll be saying. When we watch a movie, read a book, listen to a song, we naturally put ourselves in the story. Might be pretty easy for you to encourage those kinds of thoughts.
"Some of you might remember... "

 

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That's a LOT of thought, and writing. Thank you.

 

Thanks for your excellent viewpoint.