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Impressionable Youth
Courtesy of:
Hawaii Motorbeat Monthly
By
Paul Maddox
My fascination with hot rods and
custom cars goes waaaay back to the fifties when I was an
impressionable teenage pup. As I recalled in my column last
November, I was sitting in the back of Mrs. Castendykes math class
doodling cars in my workbook when the snap, crackle and pop of a
barely muffled flathead engine came drifting through the open
windows that faced Main Street of our tiny town. I looked out to see
a stripped down, primered Model A roadster go rumbling by the
school. It was rough, raw and exciting. The sound was the sound of
freedom and anarchy, and I was hooked.
But my budding aesthetic senses also
loved the sleek, candy apple customs that I saw in the California
hot rod magazines. It was 1957 and I wanted to be a part of it all,
so I bought pinstriping and lettering brushes and decided to earn
some money at the fledgling 'car shows' that were popping up all
over New England during the summer months.
There was a semi-famous local
'striper' in the big city of Worchester who had business cards with
"Have Brush, Will Travel" ~ copped from the popular Paladin TV
series of the day. So I had cards made with "The Restless Brush" on
'em ~ copped from Steve McQueen's The Restless Gun series ~ and
started learning the trade by trial and error. There were free
parking lot car shows going on just about every weekend somewhere in
those days. I packed up my overly pinstriped fishing tackle paint
box and hit the road. hitchhiking and bumming rides from big kids.
Ten bucks would get you a design on
the trunk or nose. For twenty-five you got both, plus swoops around
the door handles or baby spots. Just about every rod or custom had a
nickname on the back fender in script lettering; "Hot 2 Trot",
"Showboat" and worse. Guys that didn't belong to a car club, but
probably wished they did, went for "Lone Wolf" in Olde English
lettering. Can't tell you how many times I painted that one.
Becoming a car show regular means you
see a lot of cool cars... and some really bad ones. Quad headlights
were the big, new thing in '58 and the customizers embraced that
idea to the point of ugly. I never thought canted quads on a 1940
Ford coupe made it look better, but somehow they worked on a shoebox
custom. My hot rod/custom tastes were formed back in the actual Happy Days.
And car shows go on, thriving to this
day in Hawai'i where there are events year-round; from this summer's
Big Island-wide "Cruise Paradise" to Ed Douglas' "Super Show" in
Hilo and parking lot shows on all the Islands. Luckily, I have
cohorts out there that love to send me photos of these neat local
events and I often feature them here. This month we have beautiful
shots of some of Maui's sweetest rides at "Peggy Sue's Classic Car
Show" put on by the Maui Classic Cruisers, courtesy of ex-top fueler
Bruce "Wheeler Dealer" Wheeler. And click the button on the left to
check out the best show ever ~ last year's Ron's Performance "Hot
Rod Picnic & Parades". Hundreds of O'ahu's greatest cars, bikes and
trucks in the tree-shaded Aloha Stadium parking lot. Yes, each class
actually fired-up and took turns rumblin' and rappin' in ongoing
parades around the show.
But it's always best to see 'em in
person and discover the ingenuity and passion that goes into each
hot rod or custom. So, grab the kids, or grand kids, and take 'em to
the next car show you hear about. May as well start planting some of
those hot rodding roots while they're young and impressionable. They
might see, or hear, something they like.
Also in your November Motorbeat...
More great ol' drag racing photos from Hawaii Raceway Park in 1968 -
including the South Pacific Championships match race between Earl
'Safari' Char and Roland Leong's 'Hawaiian', Mel Pestana's Top
Eliminator win and Ricky Ogata versus Shirley 'Drag-on-Lady' Shahan.
Three pages of pure nostalgia.
Plus, some outrageous street-legal bumper cars, a factory-built 1937
Ford camper and the wild Chevy 789 custom. Plenny good stuff... and
all for free!
Happy Turkey Day! ~ Paul Maddox,
Hawaii Motorbeat Monthly
More from Paul Maddox at:
www.hawaiimotorbeat.com
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