Innehållsförteckning för Fall 2024 från Hot Rod

Hey everyone! I just got home from a weekend attending the Goodguys show in Columbus, Ohio, and it was great. I’ve been trying to recall when I last attended that show, and my best guess is that it’s been at least eight years, and probably more like 10. Despite nearly a decade’s absence, the Ohio Expo Center felt instantly familiar, and it was nice to be back in a familiar place reconnecting with old friends, while also making new connections. There’s a lot to be excited about in our industry right now. First, I must compliment our automotive community for the quality of work being turned out. The cars I’ve seen in the various big shows I’ve been to in the last few years are incredible and have been built…

Think for a moment about the early 1950s custom car scene. A large number of American automobiles manufactured back then proved ripe material for customization, as they featured voluptuous shapes. Some might even argue that they were visually on the heavy side. These vehicles practically begged for a chopped top and, on occasion, a sectioned body. Yet, Detroit’s designers exhibited increasing audacity as the years progressed, crafting sleeker automobiles, particularly from 1957 onwards. The models rolling off the assembly lines during this period were wider and visually lower, with rear fenders sometimes adopting bold shapes. Certain offerings, such as the 1958 Chevy coupe, appeared almost like factory customs. There’s a reason why you rarely encounter ’58 Chevys with a chopped top: they simply don’t require one. The second-generation…

Though the name may be unfamiliar to some, the Greening Auto Company has been turning out great cars for 25 years. Jesse Greening co-owns the business with his father, Jeff, and the two operate out of a 13-man shop in Cullman, Alabama. Jeff Greening is a self-taught automotive enthusiast who sold a dairy business to found Greening Auto Company with his son, while Jesse was still in college pursuing a business administration degree. Jesse wisely left college to join his dad, and the two have never looked back. Their focus tends to be on building muscle cars, and Jesse describes his style as one that’s clean and simple without being over stylized. He stressed that he likes to stay true to the car’s original design and doesn’t mix…

If you’ve been reading HOT ROD for any length of time, you will be very familiar with the name Troy Trepanier (pronounced Tre-pan-yer). I first met Troy when he arrived at the HOT ROD Supernationals in the late ’80s driving his pink ’66 Chevelle, as a teenager accompanied by his mom Judy and dad Jack. The 30-plus years since he began this automotive adventure have been filled with a lifetime of achievements, and Troy has probably not yet built his signature car. Most custom car builders tend to focus on a particular genre, like ’32 Fords, muscle cars, or trucks, but this interview will reveal just how wonderfully varied the types of vehicles are that Rad Rides by Troy has cranked out of its Manteno, Illinois, facility. This…

Founded in 1964, the Ridler award has become the top prize for custom car builders, and the battle for this yearly prize has morphed from building hot rods into creating works of art. Yeah, the cars built are functioning hot rods, but these days they are something more, and that’s an important thing to keep in mind. The Ridler is an exercise in what’s possible if builders have unlimited budgets and unbridled creativity. But, like all hot rod project cars, Ridler builds start with an idea. Don Ridler, who passed away in 1963, was known for his creativity when it came to custom car building, so naming this award for him is very appropriate, since it’s all about creativity. These days, the Ridler is sponsored by Meguiar’s, and…

Larry Stanley looks at his 1966 Mustang convertible, transfixed, as if he’s seeing it for the first time. He doesn’t say much; he’s still trying to wrap his head around the notion that he actually owns it. The 78-year-old retiree from Indian Wells, California, ran a moving business for more than 50 years. Now, after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice, he contemplates what it will be like to drive off into the proverbial sunset in his dream car. To arrive at this moment, Larry has put incredible faith in one man: Eric Bishop, the owner of Bishop Custom Cars in Palm Desert, California. Like many successful retirees, Larry spent much of his life focused on building a business and supporting a family, not on building hot…

Back in 1998, Steve Strope started Pure Vision Design, and right away, the company set out to bring Dodge and Plymouth heavy-hitters into the Pro Touring world with his 1966 Charger, “Skully.” Since then, Pure Vision has been creating some of the most recognizable Mopars in the hobby. This time around, Pure Vision is gearing-up to create another groundbreaking Mopar in the form of this 1970 Road Runner that Steve calls “Haraka,” which will be unveiled at the 2024 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course, there will be the usual attention to detail we’ve come to expect from Pure Vision, but in addition, they will add a healthy dose of modifications to the car, all done with the goal of keeping this iconic Plymouth’s design instantly…

DRIVEN BY CONTINENTAL TIRE In 1995, the HOT ROD staff issued an invitation to their readers for a road tour they wouldn’t soon forget. They said to meet the staff in the garage of the then-new Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and join them for a cruise to Summit Motorsport Park in Norwalk, Ohio, the location of the season-opening HOT ROD Power Festival. The staff dusted off an assortment of project cars, loaded up their cameras and boxes of 35mm film, tossed a pile of clean clothes in their backpacks, and off they went on a near-cross-country drive with a small group of readers. Over the last three decades, Power Tour has grown from that original casual and impromptu cruise into an event that includes over 6,000…

It’s great to see a husband-and-wife team who share a passion for hot rods like Beth and Ross Meyers. The couple has amassed a collection of iconic hot rods from the past, and they continue to have amazing hot rods built and thoroughly enjoy driving and sharing their cars with the hot-rodding community. Their latest car is Beth’s ’32 Ford Phaeton, built in true hot rod form by Roy Brizio Street Rods. The phaeton body design, which, as a rule of thumb, featured four doors, a folding top, no side windows and a removable windshield, was not exclusive to Ford, as Chevrolet and others also produced phaetons. They were designed as a touring sedan for people to enjoy the latest trend: driving. The couple already have a full-fendered…

The craft of hot rod building has gone through a technological transformation over the past 30 years. A new generation of young builders has been unafraid to embrace high-tech tools and materials in order to gratify a clientele that is not only younger but also less influenced by the history and culture of traditional hot-rodding. But even as this new generation of customers and builders create a style and feel all their own, more traditional builders are preserving the old ways and maintaining a loyal customer base for those who desire to preserve the historical narrative and techniques of traditional hot rod building. Bobby Alloway of Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop in Louisville, Tennessee, is one of those builders fighting the good fight to preserve traditional hot-rodding ways with…

Technology is a funny thing. What seems cutting-edge today will eventually be outdated and replaced by the “next big thing,” or a better version of the now-outdated thing. Vinyl records gave way to eight-track tapes, which moved aside for cassette tapes that were replaced by compact discs, media players, and finally streaming. At every point along that progression, the technology du jour seemed like the ultimate progression—until it wasn’t. Building hot rods remained basically the same for decades, with tried-and-true “old school” methods being used to create increasingly complex builds. Computers really changed the game, allowing things to be seen visually on a computer screen, where changes were easily made compared to traditional pen-and-ink sketches. As technology progressed, entire projects could be imagined—virtually—using software such as Solid-Works and…

Horsepower fanatics come in all shapes and sizes, and their automotive preferences tend to run an even wider gamut. We’re not just talking Chevy vs. Mopar vs. Ford. Think bigger. We’re talking about American iron, European sports cars, and buzz-bomb imports. No matter how you like to burn your gasoline, it seems just about everybody loves the look—and sound—of individual-runner throttle bodies on an engine. Old-school Weber DCOE carbs and others like them have been on everything from Ferraris to Datsuns to Fords, and they look fantastic on practically anything you bolt ’em to. Not only do they look good, but there is a performance advantage, too. When you mount a single carburetor on an intake manifold, different runner lengths or angles can tend to cause certain cylinders…