Outstanding writer your Dad! Besides comic books, Hot Rod was the first book I ever read and Street Rod the second. Like the other guys here, I found them in the school library in 1958 when I was 12 years old. These books had a profound effect on my life. I could barely think of anything else but hot rods and adventure with them. I have been trying for years to find orignal hard cover copies of these books with no luck. If anyone reading this knows of any for sale I am more than interested. So nice of you HJ Felsen to make this post. I hope you make additional posts soon!
Read all of his car books as a kid, in the eighth grade I did a book report on Hot Rod with a model of a channeled deuce coupe glued to the cover. Teacher wasn't impressed. Bought a set of his reprints at Oklahoma City some years ago and had the pleasure of meeting your dad at the time. He seemed genuinely surprised that his books had such an effect on so many guys. Nice guy!
It was 1961...7th grade for me when I discovered Hot Rod & Street Rod in our School library.Read them over and over. Those books took me to a place that helped me in later life. They should make a Movie to show Kids now, why they call it "the good old days"..
Where I was raised in Montana we had the Book Mobile, which came out into the country. Library on wheels. Read all his books as I was a teenager in the 60s. Checked some of them out numerous times, never forgot them. Bought all of them of E-bay years ago. Great Stuff.
I am a big fan!I read them in the late 60's and again about 5 years ago.I'm about due again.I also always got the Charlton Hot Rod comics all the time.
I may not be the age your after at 23, but I bought Street Rod at a Swap Meet a few years back. Im a slow reader, but through 2 moves it always ends up next to my bed for when I can find time to get a little further along in the story. Its really a great read.
i first read hie book hot rod when i was in high school in the60s. if i remember correctly it was hardback and in the school library. it was some 20 or 25 years later i met mr. felson at the nationals and bought his whole collection, which he autographed for me. i still read them over and over. he was a very nice man. sorry to hear he is gone.
My high school library had a few HGF books but by the late 80's/ear;y 90's I was the only one checking them out. The librarian gave them to me on graduation day. Looking back, that was probably the best graduation present I got. JH
HJ, Hi and welcome to the HAMB. I also discovered your dad's books in High School. I have read a couple of them and sure wished I could have bought the box set back in 90. They are a true treasure and inspiration the all gearheads ! 41 Dave
Add my name to the list of people who were introduced to the hot rod world through these books. I was a library assistant my senior year and checked out Hot Rod just because I liked the cover art. From that moment on I checked it out every couple of weeks or so for the rest of the school year. I went back later to see if I could buy the book and it was gone. Congrats on obtaining the copyrights!!!
Greetings from NJ.Welcome aboard.I have one of your Dads books.Actually my Dad it from the 50's.The title is "Rag Top".
Maybe, at almost 66, I'm a little older than most of you guys, or maybe I started reading at at an earlier age. What I remember of these books, "Hot Rod" and "Street Rod", is that the adults involved in our lives (the teachers, principals, librarians, and our parents) did everything they could to keep these books out of our hands. It had to be in about 1958 or thereabouts that one of my buddies came into the possession of "Hot Rod". We passed it around secretly and really tried to keep the teachers from finding out. Hell, you would have been in worse trouble if you had a copy of Playboy (we had a few of those too). I agree with everyone else about the quality and influence on the novels, but ya' have to remember, this was the fifties. I think it was in Chicago, (at either Comisky Park or Wrigley Field) that some ministers had a rally where all the kids were supposed to bring their Rock 'n Roll records and pitch 'em on a big bonfire. To find one of these in the school library or the bookmobile would have been absouluely impossible. I think you younger guys were lucky that you could get them from those sources. The world has changed, and is better for it. I for one, am glad to see that the spirit of Henry Gregor Felsen is still with us. Oh, and that reminds me, one of the knocks on this book was that the author had a "communist" middle name. Wow! Anyone else remember it this way?
Welcome to the HAMB. I'm 65 and I read Hot Rod and Street Rod at the age of 13 or 14, maybe even younger. I think it was in Street Rod where HGF described the copper colored wire wheels, still rotating as the car sank into the river. I wish I still had those books. I see several copies listed on Amazon.com. Maybe I'll have to get out the credit card.
I read your dads book along time ago,I only read it once, but I remember it profoundly. The book had a big effect on my life since reading it in the 50's. I'm 63 now, raced the hot rods all my life, built up a speed shop business when I was in my 30's. Raced Top Fuel Dragsters, and Nitro Funnycars and am still racing them. My children are into Hot Rodding and they are older than I was when I read HOT ROD, You should be real proud of your dad. Not many of us have parents that have shaped so many lives for so many years. Read this thread with pride and share it with the rest of your family, you all deserve the pride. GOLDY p.s. I still have my copy
Wow, Welcome H.J. Read "Boy Gets Car" back in '59, I credit it for getting out of remedial reading in the 6th grade. Well , at least now I can retain some of what I read. Best of luck on the web site' OLY The cancer car lives Give to cancer research
I'm 54. I read Hot Rod in the library at junior high. I was building model cars and reading Hot Rod and Rod and Custom magazines in the drug store magazine racks since age 5, saving money from paper routes and mowing lawns till I got enough $$$ to get my first car. Bud Crayne became part of my life. To this day Hot Rod gives me inspiration and captures my imagination. I have the first printing, hard bound, EP Dutton, 1950. It is a prized posession. It is great you are on the HAMB. It is a pleasure to be able to share my thoughts with you after all these years and cars.
Your dad's books were my favorites when I was a kid. My imagination was always filled with images of the characters and their cars. I think these books were some of my best "friends" during the difficult years of changing from childhood to growing up. Henry Gregor Felsen made a huge difference for a number of us who loved to read and wanted to live in those stories.
I found 'em (Hot Rod and Street Rod) in the library in my junior high school in 1959. I had to do a book report and found Hot Rod on the shelf. It was the first book I ever read cover to cover so I wrote the report on it. Don't remember how the report came off, but I haven't ever forgotten those books!
Sounding like a broken record, I am 65, found HotRod in grade school library and was forever inspired by it.
I found Hot Rod on the shelves in our middle school library and i wish i could find more books by felson because that was the only book i actually enjoyed reading, im only 18 now and i read that book when i was 12 and loved it.
WOW! You have all made my day....maybe my year! I had no idea there would be so many readers out there who felt the way you do! I was going to check back on the site in a week or two to see if anyone had made a comment. Thanks to those of you who emailed me to let me know there were so many comments! I actually was embarrassed by my dad. I thought he didn't have a job. Everyone else's dad in the neighborhood worked for a company. They went to work at a real place. My dad went to his "office" that he rented in downtown Des Moines. What is funny is that I just realized this about 6 months ago! I was always mad at him, because he wrote car books, and I was a girl, and wanted him to write books for me. The closest I got was that he dedicated "Boy Gets Car" to me. You have all made me realize there are still fans out there, and I should investigate the possibility of publishing another set. I'll get started on it! Last summer was my 40th high school reunion, and several of the guys in my class talked to me about my dad's books. I had absolutely no idea that my classmates read his books. I was sure they didn't. We never even spoke about it back then. One of them said he found that "Hot Rod" is on display at the Smithsonian right now, as part of an exhibition about the 50's. Thanks again for all of your great comments! I will keep you updated, and will try to respond to those of you who had questions, in the next week. HJ (Holly)
Hi, and welcome to the HAMB. Your father had a big influence on me. It was 1961, and I was in the seventh grade, and "too cool for school". One day the teacher took us to the library and told us we all had to take out a book and read it. I wasn't into books, I was into car magazines, and I thought the library was pretty lame. I just wondered around kinda lost for a while like a fish out of water till the librarian ask me what my interests were, I said "hot rods" and low and behold she took me to a shelf on which sat a book called "Hot Rod". I was a little suspicious, I figured nothing cool could come out of a jr. high school library, but boy was I wrong. I read that book cover to cover, over and over, and felt like I was living it every time. It will always remain the book that was a turning point in my life, after that I realized that the library wasn't so lame after all, and that books could take you into places that you never even dreamed of. I never met your dad, but he must have been a pretty cool dude.
WOW! I started reading them in Junior High and they left a wonderful impression on me! I was trying to be a rebel in Jr High and not read or study-then the school librarian showed me your Dad's books. I wish I had bought them back then!
You know what else is cool... your mom and dad named you "Holly" - one of the few names a car guy can get his wife to agree on! (aka Holley carbs, if ya didnt know) That's awesome! Please keep us updated~~~
You were correct Holly, your father didn't have a "job", he had a very special gift and made a living doing something he obviously loved. We are all very lucky that he shared it with us. Go to eBay if you haven't already and type in your father's name. There is still a lot of interest in his work. I for one would be thrilled to be able to buy a "set" of his car related books. I'd say from the response you've received here there is definitely a market, you better strike while the iron is hot. Also keep in mind people that might not buy otherwise will probably be more inclined to buy knowing they are being re-released by his family and not some speculator that snatched up the rights cheap. I know it would make a difference to me. Keep us posted!
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