Not-So-Old Hot Rod Shirts

New Years is about a fresh start, right? Out with the old and in with the new. In the spirit of ‘de-accumulating’ I was digging through some forgotten clothing boxes, and discovered a treasure trove of my old hot rod shirts, with many being 10 to 20 years old now! I thought these few prints in particular were worth sharing for a number of reasons: First we have a shirt I got at Century Motorcycles at San Pedro, purchased around 1994. Only after wearing it for a few years did I realize that Von Dutch had done the motorcycle artwork and actually signed it at the bottom of the bike frame. Looking at that script ‘Century’ logo, it’s definitely his work. Next up is a 1991 dated design from Gearhead magazine when the car subculture magazine was in it’s infancy. I went to the 1st or 2nd issue release party and they gave me the shirt as a prize for having the longest car there (my old Buick Electra 225 convertible). The Billet Proof print is from the second year we did the event in 1998. Notice that the show name was still 2 words back then, and we wrote out what kind of cars we wanted on the back of the shirt! My Lucky Devils club shirt was drawn by Von Franco around 1991 or ’92, when Southern California traditional car clubs like the Black Top Bombers and the Shifters were still the cat’s meow. And speaking of cats, check out the Black Kat Kustoms shirt from the birth of Mike Ness’ clothing line in 2003. Next we have a great Keith Weesner shirt drawn for So Cal Speed shop around the same time. I love the simplicity of the black line artwork on an olive green shirt; Bold, simple, and graphic. Last shirt is from the second year of the Asphalt Invitational with artwork by Colby Martin and Fred Hidalgo.

I hope this hasn’t been too ‘off topic’ for anyone, and hopefully it’s inspirational to see some ‘not-so-old’ hot rod art from time to time…