History Hot Rodding Hot Beds....But Why?

Every region has their local heroes. Everywhere, the original hot rodders are dying off. I’m in the middle generation at their time coming up next. What will happen to hot rods in the future?

 

I have the baddest ass hot rod in my area. I am the John Milner of my town. When its over, well who knows.

 

New York City is not a friendly place for hot rods, customs, etc. Long Island on the other hand has a ton of cars and plenty of shows and cruise nights. There are still places to get parts and a few excellent shops to help with engine building. The downside for a lot of people is the winters. I have always used them to do updates and maintenance on my cars. When I was younger, I always had a 50's car as a beater which I used all year round.

 

We had our share of Hot Rods and Customs in Stamford Connecticut when I was growing up. Late 50' and 60's. It was enough to make me a hot rod crazy kid and builder.
Like most places Stamford has grown into a metropolis.
I'm still in Connecticut and the traditional hot rod and customs are around the state. It's no SoCall, but it is still good for me.

 

Sure....but it ain't here....

I grew up in Tucson, and they have a reunion at the drag strip every year, I see a few of the old guys, who of course are dying off.

I missed out on the good stuff in the 50s-60s, I'm too young. But there was still some action in the late 70s into the 80s.

 

There was a company, Standard Rate & Data, that compiled info of magazine distribution and subscriptions. All of the car magazines were listed. While the west coast circulation was strong, more car magazines were sold in the mid-west than any other region in the country. I would agree that well paying factory jobs for workers with a high school degree had a lot to do with it. Too, companies like Mr. Gasket, Lakewood, Logge Chassis and major mail order speed shops certainly helped.

 

Hello,

It does not matter where you live, we all adapt to what is around us. most are tied to jobs and family. It is hard to be in So Cal when your whole family is in Tennessee. But, we all make do with what we have. The folks that had grandfathers that were involved in hot rods and drag racing are still a part of those scenes, even though today’s drag racing is not yesterday’s hot rod and racing. Time moved everything forward and now, its full sponsorships for the teams, with the little guys in the stands, watching the million dollar programs racing against each other.

But, despite the lack of the old time drag racing and hot rod building, there are still areas with folks involved in the hectic activity. The one thing So Cal has going for it is the weather. It is relatively nice all year around. It is hard pressed to see the distinct seasons like other parts of the USA. But, give a little and get a lot back. What we lack in seeing the distinct seasons we have plenty of great weather, even in the winters. Spring, summer and fall head into winter everywhere with changes we only see on TV or if one lives in the local mountain communities.

Those folks do get the seasons, but now they are far away from the ocean, warehouse facilities for supplies/parts and the constant mild weather to be able to get things done around the house and garage. No one likes to be locked in the garage, without being able to open the doors for fun weather outside.

Most of the 125k miles on the 1965 El Camino were put on going up and down the west coast ocean influenced coastline and visiting other places we thought we wanted to live. It was nice for us to explore and began the whole journey to the place where we settled in, coastal So Cal.

For us, growing up in So Cal since 1946 and 1950 for my wife, it just happened and we adapted to all of the plus and minus things going on here and there. We did have several properties we were going to buy in Northern California along the coast. But when one sees and feels the warmth of the sun and big blue ocean right in front of us as we cruise by heading for a nice picnic spot... well, it never gets old. YRMV

Jnaki

So, yes, So Cal does have its plus factors, but there are still negatives everywhere. Being nice to your friends and neighbors starts the whole process that hopefully filters to the others that think they deserve better. “You are what you make of yourself.” Wow, I should use that in the “Quotes to live by” section.

 

Minnesota, winters here are 6 months or more which translates to a lot of time spent in the shop…

 

When I was groing up hot rods and customs where practically everywhere in Western NY (Rochester and surrounding areas). This the 80's-90's. Since COVID, the number of and quality of cars has gone down significantly. Lots of cars at cruise nights locally dtill but alot of them are late model cars. Not sure why it's happening or where all the cars went.