I always liked the song (but by Charlie Ryan, who had the real "Hot Rod Lincoln"), but what do the videos posted have to do with it? No Lincolns, but a lot of "1-800-hotrods". When I was a kid in the mid-fifties, I had a friend whose older brothers had the original :"Hot Rod Race" by Arkie Shibley on a 78, no less.
Sorry to ruin your day, I enjoyed it! By the way, yes, I know all that, early 60's I actually stumbled on a stack of 45's my older brother had left when he moved out and got married, bet I played that record the most out of all of them.
Years ago, we were at a large car show (maybe back to the 50s) and the supposedly original "Hot Rod Lincoln" with the Lincoln motor was on display, in its original, unrestored form. At that display, the song was playing a loop in the background, and the very old guy that wrote the song was there talking with people. As we were progressing through the line to meet the song writer, one of our club members with us had a model "A" coupe at the time, his 1st instinct was to reach inside and grab the steering wheel to see how much play was in the steering. I remember seeing the steering wheel turn back and forth about a 1/2 turn before the wheels moved. That kind of brought a whole new meaning to many of the words in the song! When we got up to the song writer, our club member said something about the steering to the old guy. The old guy had that knowing smile on his face and was nodding his head yes! His only words were, "Man, what a ride!"
We saw the band Asleep At The Wheel a couple years ago at our local venue, The Flying Monkey. They do a great version. I parked my coupe out front of the theater the evening of the show.
The Jalopy Journal
