From 1950 through 1960, Henry Gregor Felsen wrote a six book series for young hot rodders - Hot Rod, Street Rod, Fever Heat, Crash Club, Rag Top and Road Rocket. A lot of us grew up reading these books. Henry's daughter Holly joined the HAMB back in 2008 and made some posts about her dad. Holly owns the rights to her dad's books and she reprinted them about 15 years ago. Holly and her husband are going through some health issues and Holly had to stop printing the books. Holly still has about 20 full sets of her reprint books that she needs to sell. If you ever thought about buying these books, please consider helping a fellow HAMBer out and buy directly from Holly instead of buying through Amazon or a book dealer. You can contact Holly at holly.welch@gmail.com.
I just emailed Holly. My High School had several of Henry’s books and I read each one about 3 times. Now, I’d love to have this set and give them to Little Truckdoctor. Does anyone know, was Henry from Iowa?
Thanks for posting. I want a set. Loved "Hot Rod' when I was a pre-teen, and read it as a bed time story to my granddaughters who are now 27 and 23. I will email Holly.
I bought the set when I was home after heart surgery. It brought back a ton of memories, great easy reading and a total throwback to the golden age of hot rodding.
My school library had a set, I believe I was in 6th or 7th grade when I got into them. Crash Club was the first one for me.
I bought a full set from Henry himself back in '92 when he reprinted them for the last time before he died. He signed each of them as well as the slip cover. I then bought another set from Holley when she did her run. Besides those I have a bunch of vintage ones including 1st edition 1st printings of Hot Rod and Fever Heat. If you don't have a set already, get them now. You wont regret it.
I sent an email to Holly yesterday, but no response yet. I hope she remembers me and lets me have one of the last sets. My car, daughter, and little brother are models in her reprint of Hot Rod. Seems just like last summer when we were out shooting photos on the same roads that her Dad wrote about.
I just talked to Holly and she has sold six sets since I made this post! Thank you to everyone that has helped her out. Holly told me to pass on that the six book set is $90 and that includes shipping. She can take PayPal, Venmo or a personal check. And she will inscribe something in the book to you if you request it. One of my books is inscribed with "Bud Crayne Lives!" holly.welch@gmail.com
Just sent an email to order a set. I read them in elementary school and can’t wait to read them again. What a cool opportunity!
UPDATE - I talked to Holly this morning and she has sold all of her remaining sets of books. This really helped her out as she had to downsize to a smaller house for health reasons. She thanks everyone on the HAMB that ordered a set from her. She told me how wonderful the hot rod community is and how glad she was to be a part of it even on her limited scale. In 2011 Holly started the Henry Gregor Felson Tribute Car Show in Valley Junction / West Des Moines Iowa. A few years back Holly turned over the operation of the show to her friends at the Iowa Street Rod Association. Holly hopes things are going well enough with her that this year she will be able to make it to the show again. If you attend the show stop by and say hi to her.
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