Throttle Merchants: Volume 4

There are some things nobody needs in this world and another traditional Hot Rod publication is one of them. Go to any Barnes and Noble newsstand and you’ll see a rack of shit ten feet long and five feet high. It’s enough to make me want to lie down in my closet and roll up into the fetal position. I can’t all together tell you why my reaction is so dramatic and violent… Maybe my folks didn’t quite drive home the idea that “sharing is caring” when I was a kid or maybe I’m just overly protective of what I consider my life’s passion. Hell, I don’t know. But every time someone sends me another book they want me to review, I get a sick feeling in my stomach.

“Not this shit again.”

A rare exception is Throttle Merchants put together by Aileen Aquino and Matt Porter. I believe they are on their fourth volume with this latest book. And like the first three, Volume four is a casual look into our world using only photographs to tell the story. It’s clean, simple, and captures our pals as they are – Guys like Chris Casny, John Mearns, Lucky Burton, and Bobby Green photographed in their element and with their cars.

I’m not sure if I’m so taken by Throttle Merchants because I know most of the subjects within and can see the brilliance of their personalities (as I know them) on the pages or if the book is REALLY just that captivating. But I can tell you that I’m not writing this from my closet and I don’t have a sick feeling in my stomach after flipping through the pages. That has got to be worth something, right?

Anyway, you can give it the old stomach test yourself by getting your own copy here. Tell em’ I sent ya…