#Hot Rods And Racing Cars

[browsethestacks]

5 Random Comics

[gentlemanmotorslifestyle]

[stanjames-world-3]

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1955 Chevrolet

The cool 1955 Chevy in "TWO-LANE BLACKTOP" with Laurie Bird and Dennis Wilson

1955 Chevrolet 210 and 1970 Pontiac GTO

[numberonetribble]

I got bit by the Sparkling bug and really wanted to give Bumblebee and Breakdown a child for my unnamed AU I'm working on but then I remembered I can't draw children :( big shout out to that post floating around here that's like "imagine a Sparkling but they come out full sized then what." traffic tickets and impound fees that's what

(pssst look at their knees)

[texnass]

1969 - 1970 continued the saga of a national legend!.

Ford Mustang Mach 1

https://www.motortrend.com/features/ford-mustang-mach-1-visual-history-photos-details/

[dallasgallant]

Time period post: Car culture 2 - Hot rods and racing

Not going to lie, this one was hard for me as I don’t have that much existing background knowledge on the topic. I had to do a lot more digging than usual so they’ll be some more links at the end of this. But I figure it’s an important thing to learn especially when thinking about the Curtis gang, as they are “car” Greasers, if you want to subcategorize them. Pony does mention supped up cars and it’s established several of the guys race or like to watch them— at the very least they all speed and enjoy it. While they might not be full on Hot rodders themselves it could simply be useful to flesh out the world/understanding of the corner of car culture.

Also please if you do know more about cars and car history please do add on! These are intended to be informative and helpful so all help is appreciated lol.

Hot rodding-

It started by necessity, post war lack of cars being made or perhaps not affording a brand new car you go around to shops and yards and you get parts and modify till you have a nicer working machine. Then it starts being picked up in racing and the youth and a hobby within itself.

At its core all a “Hot rod” is, is a souped up car. Modified usually for the sake of performance- primarily speed. Parts are taken out or added, the fronts lowered, the engine is bigger and so on. The culture started in the 20s-30s and a lot of the real examples of these kinds of cars are older, it’d be done with modern cars (40s-60s) but hardcore fans stuck with classics. Also mind you a lot of these unique modifications were not street legal or just barely skirting the line.

These modifications are to show off. Not just in performance but also looks. Really a lot of the time it’s hanging around showing off your work to each other and putting it to the test, major mods are still in car shows today. Mainly show than racing— as far as I’m aware. Things things need constant attention and tweaking too, not just as a way to improve the next time you race but because it’s not a standard car. All these little things add up.

The hobby of making and racing these cars really ramped up in the 40s-50s but by the mid 60s there was a craze. It was featured in a lot of media, there were industries catering now and magazines! Car craft, hot rod, etc.

Drag racing-

Now here it gets alrighty complicated as there is a split off into drag racing becoming somewhat of a legitimate sport — which let’s be real the kind any of the guys on the East side were engaging in was not “official” or completely legal. Also not to be confused with street racing fast and furious baby driver type— though it could be on a street/public street that’s not the same thing necessarily. Too many turns and hindrance and a totally other type of reckless. Really frustrating to look up as you get more of the regulated sport than the actual thing.

Their type of drag race is a street race, set out on a short, straight stretch of road side by side. Usually on the edge of town or a start of a highway or route- a long straight stretch out of the way. In movies at least there’s always a dramatic local name for it too like “Thunder road” or “dead man’s curve” something like that. It gives you a notable location besides “uh you know that one place out uh by uh.” Lol “Burn out” / “burn rubber” is essentially burning off a part of the wheel onto the road at the start- it helps with traction. Don’t ask me how. Straight forward, first to cross the finish line wins (in this case probably a land-marker or a set point than literal)

Why race? Largest sited -> Community, excitement, bets 

You do not need a hot rod to race, it’s not a requirement mind you but it’d certainly help. Added to, not all cars were extremely tricked out deconstructed art pieces, you could’ve had a lot of not visible work done on the car etc.

A good character to look to in regard to Hot rodding and racing is John Milner in American Graffiti (1973).

Club car v hot rod-

A club car is basically the main car of a Social club, as say many members don’t have a car or just it fits the most members to go riding around with. (Remember, bench seats you could fit so many more people in a car). It could be a hot rod, more likely it’s just a car.

Social club v gang-

A social club is a pretty broad term that’s just a group of people brought together by a common interest. By definition a book club is a social club, technically. Now, there were a lot of Juvenile delinquent aligned social club types- based around cars or just the general lifestyle. Sometimes there was little difference at all and it just gave a gang more legitimacy/threw police off as it made them seem more reputable.

So really the big difference between a Greaser gang and a Greaser social club is police and public scrutiny. Clubs had a - I wouldn’t say easier time but slightly more trust? However, this also isn’t to say that all social clubs are fronts for a gang as it can just be tough looking kids but chill and mostly law abiding.

Clothing too, before the internet identity was built and shown in person. How you dressed, worn literally on your sleeve. Not like the remnants of today but fully living and showing yourself and your affiliations through appearance. Having a group look, or group jackets- the conformity in a way was individuality. It’s a bit paradoxical. But club jackets, the hair, the jeans etc are a great example of this.

(Really funny aside but looking up social clubs and it’s Rockstar telling me how to join a gang in GTA)

Junkyards-

Still very much in existence but a great place to scavenge for just about anything but especially car parts. Same goes for salvage yards, wrecking yards, second hand parts shops etc. Greasers, and other car culture staples would be overflowing in shop classes and mechanic shops (stereotypically anyway) so there’s the knowledge and the access there already. Sometimes a part or two might go missing… who knows.

Really I’ve started thinking about yards like this more as I visit the country more and someone’s yards filled with rusted cars and a bunch of parts and stuff like this. Like part of it might just be someone leaving it to rot but another part is— yeah they’re pretty valuable communitively. Not just to car loving teenagers! Hell the Curtis’s have a few dead cars in their yard (and a bunch of boards ??? And supplies for some reason???) and the lot appears to have at some point been a dumping ground.

[gameraboy2]

Speed Crazy (1959)

[stone-cold-groove]

Popular Hot Rodding magazine - January 1970.

[d16megatron]

You already know what timing we are on right now. Hot Rod? In Transformers One??? You bet your ass. This has taken a while to get done, because a certain someone contains every single colour I am colourblind to. Shoutout to the goats for making sure I got the palette right, though. Life savers fr fr.🗣️<3

He's just some silly, goofy ahh, racer for this design. Flashy for the fans, and ready to hit the track. Maybe I'll find the time to design Blurr? Who knows. Alls I knows is that my wrists need a break for a bit. Persnapple I will get silly again.

The artistic (autistic) piece of my brain wants to design Rodimus Prime for whenever this idiot gets picked by Optimus later down the line. But dear Lord above, that's gonna be a future, and I mean future, project.

ALSO HELLO NEW PEOPLE!!! Did not expect a slight influx with Bee's upload. I'm just a guy who draws sometimes, so it means a lot to get so much support.

[indeedgoodman]

[gentlemanmotorslifestyle]

[stanjames-world-3]

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Jungle Pam Hardy - New England Dragway (1973)

[cuzikan]

This is the Mosler Consulier GTP,built in Riviera Beach FL, it’s a car that was so quick it went on to dominate IMSA racing for six years before being banned. It would later dominate the Longest Day of Nelson 24-Hour Race before being banned, and would then be banned for being too successful in Car and Driver magazine’s One Lap of America series.

[missmeltycat]

TW: Loss

Some of you may know what's been going on, but yeah... I suffered a m*scarriage and needed s*rgery and everything last month. It's been hard going, but I've been trying to keep my mind on other things.

Here's one of them. From yesterday.

Getting ready for Race The Waves!

We are also trying our best to get this done, as one of the crew has stage 4 c*ncer and this is a sort of final hurrah/great memory for them.