Parts With Appeal

The first year of Hot Rod Magazine was humble. They pretty much published the magazine by the book – taking few risks that would alienate the publication from the dime store news racks. Hot Rodding had yet to garner the 100% clean cut image promoted later by Wally Parks, but they were putting forth an effort knowing that they couldn’t sell what they couldn’t place in front of young impressionable boys. As such, Mr. Petersen and Mr. Lindsay were pretty mindful of the content that did and did not make the pages. There would be no street racing coverage, no filthy words, no swine…

The lone exception and a surprising pass went to “Parts With Appeal” – a monthly column that was actually paid for by the advertisers and featured a scantily clad (by yesterday’s standards) woman and a product of the advertiser’s choice. The imagery was powerful enough to draw in young boys, but subtle enough to keep the conservatives at bay. AND, they got paid for the page… Brilliant!

A sidebar of sorts… I’ve often felt that vintage pin-up art isn’t a genre that should be reproduced. With today’s technology… today’s people… pin-up art comes across more as a weird fetish thing rather than the innocent seduction of yore. As such, the real vintage stuff is all we will really ever have. Enjoy it: