El Mirage In Color – 1947

A good number of our hot rodding heroes fought for our freedom in WWII. They found themselves in strange exotic places and away from the hot rods they inevitably thought so much about. Many of our guys found a way to occupy their minds during the spites of boredom that often occur between life fighting in war. Just as an example, Wally Parks spent much of his time in Luzon hot rodding a military Jeep – the ultimate car guy.

And then the war ended… and just as quickly, our boys found themselves back stateside with new skills and a stomach that seemed to thrive on adrenalin. El Mirage was a good place to feed the addiction and the images below capture that spirit as taken on May 25, 1947.

Some of these fellas came back from the war with the skills to build world class race cars. Others came back with the drive to learn. It’s a drive I can relate to as I bought my first ’32 5-window around the same period for $50. A buddy and I broke the engine free and drove it around with a constant smoke screen for almost a year.

These images capture that spirit in full color. They’ve rarely been seen before today and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. These guys really are our heroes. God bless them all.

Editor’s Note: If you wish to see the speeds these cars obtained on May 25, 1947, check out KelloggAutoArchives.com.

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