A friend found this and some other old automotive stuff in the loft of a pole barn he recently bought. He asked if I wanted it and I said yes......yes I do! I know it's been discussed on here before and it was cool to get a 1958 copy.
Felsen books seem a little outdated by today's standards but I have always been a big fan of his writings. I have read and re-read his books for years. HRP
I read that book when I was like 8 or 9 at my grand parents house. My uncle left it and some others by Felsen when he moved out to go to tech school back in the early 70s. I have always wanted to read all of them again. Just haven't been able to find them except on ebay for more money than I am willing to spend.
The new ones are available and not too expensive: https://www.amazon.com/Crash-Club-H...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=V7B2KN778XS4FZ1D1F50
I read Felsen's "Hot Rod" in the mid '50s ........I was about 10 or 11 eleven at the time. Found the book in the Public Library as I recall. Never knew until many years later that he wrote a series of books, or how iconic they were. I do remember being totally engrossed in Hot Rod. Ray
That may be true, but I have a complete set and I love them. I read them growing up and I still read them occasionally now. I think they are a postcard of a simpler time, a time that was less cluttered with the scourge of electronic everything, social media and all of the other modern stuff. My own childhood was a lot simpler too, we didn't have video games and cellphones, heck I remember my dad buying one of the first available color TVs. We were the hit of the neighborhood Felsen's books are a blast from the past and invoke a feeling of nostalgia for me. I grew up in the time when all the high school kids were building hot rods of some sort and raced up and down in front of the school Larry
That's the same edition I picked up from the Glenview Public Library decades ago. I remember the David Galt character as a charismatic psycho; it was very creepy/cynical at the end... SPOILER ALERT, OK? ...when his rich father announced the high school would be renamed in his memory... I've asked Holly here a couple times here about why the ending of Rag Top/Cup of Fury was changed from the original edition, but never got an answer. Anyone know?
I was at SEMA a reward months before Henry Gregor Felson passed away. He had a small booth set up in the concourse between north and center hall. People were just shuffling by as though he didn't exist. I had to stop and thank the man that brought so much joy to a young teenager that wouldn't read a soup label much less a book if a gun was held to my head. Then I was introduced to his work and I ravaged every book he wrote. We talked for quite a while and I found out that he was a young Steven King's idol. Felson was selling the book sets pictured a few posts back. I had to have a set. He was kind enough to autograph and write a personal note to me on the book sleeve and on the title page of all the books inside. Sadly he passed shorty after and I assure you that those books and autographs are one of my best treasures. I also went home and read each one and thoroughly enjoyed each one.
I bought them around 4th grade in the early 70ties when they were offered in the book club. Always wanted to read them again, but the prices seem a bit much now. I think they went for around $1.25 or so back then.
I started reading his books in junior high school (1968?). I have a couple of old paperback copies of some of his books around the house. I just picked up the box set on eBay, signed by Felsen. I had never read Fever Heat or Ragtop before. The books are a definite throwback to a simpler post WWII era.
I also bought a set from Mr Felsen himself. he was at the kkoa leadsled show I think in Holland Mich in the early 90's. he autographed them for me. It was a thrill talking to him, I had read his books starting in Jr high. I have a couple of old library issues of hot rod and street rod too. wonderful stories.....
I never met HGF, but when I was about 12 and totally obsessed by pretty much anything with wheels he certainly was a good friend! I believe my favorite Felsen character was Link Aller.
Hot Rod has to be the first book I ever read that wasn't an assignment (remember book reports?) somewhere around 6th-7th grade, '66 or so. I was totally enthralled.
My little Bro bought a box set at the Nationals in Louisville (might have been the year of the flood, 92?) and had them autographed by Mr. Felsen. Decades later we hear here on the HAMB that Holly is looking to reprint her father's books, and she lives in Des Moines. My brother and I had the privilege of spending an afternoon with Holly and her friend (husband?) shooting our cars along the original Lincoln Highway in central Iowa, probably where Mr. Felsen based his stories. The photo in Hot Rod showing the inside of the '32 is actually my other little Bro and my daughter as models of Bud and LaVerne.
Rag Top did it for me. JD driving a Chevvy ragtop with a 270 GMC ? A chick that could tell what it was by the sound ? It don't get much better ...
One of his books, don't remember which, was the first book I read cover to cover. I remember it being a cold night in our apartment in the Bronx, NY. So it was before '63. I was in the kitchen reading at the table and my mother came in to tell me it was time for bed. She let me stay up to finish the book. Another fond memory of that simpler time is watching the 63 Corvette Sting Ray being delivered to the Chevrolet dealer across the street. We had a birds eye view from our apartment. Remember back in the day new models were covered on the auto transport so you couldn't see what they looked like? I vowed to my brother I would own one someday. I'm looking at my 63 Corvette right now. I've owned it since 78. Time flies. Sent from my SM-T377V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Tom, Terry that works for me has all the Felsen books and i have a couple he has given me etc...He spent the day with Holley his daughter at a show somewhere ......small world....
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