Hot Rodding In The UK
Filed under: Folks
Welcome to the first edition of the “Maternity Leave Guest Editorial” series. Surf Monkey has been around this community for a long time and is someone I’ve always really liked. On top of being an incredible artist, he’s also just a smart guy. I was really hoping he would do a little something for me while I was off and away. He did… And it’s a great read. Enjoy:
I don’t want this to come across as a “History of UK Rodding” type article. It’s not that. Instead, it’s a pictorial of cars from the 1970’s to now in the UK and through my eyes. Simple as that.
I first came into contact with hot rodding in the early seventies when I randomly bought a copy of Hot Rod Magazine and although I didn’t know it at the time, there was already a healthy interest in the sport in the UK. By the late 1970’s me and a few like-minded friends started attending rod runs and shows. The first big one was the National Custom Car Show held annually in London at the Alexandra Palace. It was our first change to see “American Hot Rods.”
The Summer months led to outdoor shows and I lived quite close to the venue of the “The Nats” as its known over here. Seeing cars inside at a show is great, but doesn’t compare to hearing them and seeing them drive.
Moving onto the mid eighties… I’d always been interested in the “traditional” side of Hot Rodding, especially Bonneville and the Dry Lakes and early Drag Racing and had managed to find quite a few books on the subject over the years. The problem was there just weren’t a great deal of “Trad” style cars at the shows I went to. That is, until we went to the Nats at a place called Bruntingthorpe…
I don’t think there are many people who are into this style of rods that hasn’t heard of the infamous UK car club – The Low Flyers. They are often credited with starting the interest in the new phase of Trad rodding although I would imagine there are thousands of Rodders across the States that have never really built anything other than Traditional style Rods…
From a personal perspective I was totally blown away by the cars they built.
The scene over here is more than that nowadays – its a lifestyle to many people. Fantastic cars are being built on a regular basis along with others that are imported into the country. Weekend events solely for traditional cars are springing up and we’ve all seen the pictures from the numerous Reliability runs held around the country in all manner of weather. People just simply aren’t afraid to drive the hell out of their cars over here.
So there you have it… As I said, this wasn’t a History lesson. Just a glipse of hot rodding through one Englishman’s eyes.
If you’ve got a few hours to spare checkout www.timetraveldvds.co.uk – you wont be disappointed. A special thanks to them for allowing us to use some of their images.
