I was wondering whatever happened to Bud Lang after he left Rod Action Magazine in the early 80's. Haven't kept tabs on magazines all these years nor have i heard of his name popping up anywhere.
Last I heard Bud's publishing a Sicilian travel guide. See note at bottom of post on fiberglass T-Bucket body history. http://yblock.blogspot.com/search?q=bud+lang I'm a big Bud fan. He was an incredibly prolific photographer and writer. Rod & Custom had a special T-Bucket issue in the 70s that he almost single-handedly wrote and photographed. The fact that he was one of the founders of Cal Automotive makes him a real hot rod legend.
Yes he has a long history. Reason for my initial interest was he did a photo shoot of my rpu in Minneapolis back in the early 80's at the nationals. Being my first rod i ever built to that extent and comming from Canada, i was flattered he was going to do an article in Rod Action. Never happened thou. I heard he quit. Can't tell you the disapointment for the young lad i was at the time. But, i do have super 8 of the photo shoot. I'd settle for the pics they took. Oh well, so it goes.
IIRC Bud was the editor of a custom knife magazine for a period of time(Knives Illustrated maybe?).I collect knives and saw his name quite frequently.I'll see if I can find out.
He now lives in Eugene Oregon.A high school buddy of mine use to run around with him in the late 50's & early 60's & just tracked him down in Eugene in the last two weeks.Bud just emailed him some of his old drag racing pictures & those of an old race car he helped build back then.
Bud was in the publishing business more than 40 years and many HAMBers may also wish to note he was editor of "All About Beer" magazine. Hot rods, knives and beer!
That's interesting, All about beer? A friend of mine, a hamb guy,is into making his own beer, have to pass this along.
Bringing up an old thread, I was just about to start a new one asking if he was a member here. I ran into him at the Unfinished Nationals up in Washington in 2006, and he was driving a '36 Ford with a turbo'd 318 dodge if I remember correctly. I always wanted to talk to him a bit more, 'cause as much of an encyclopedia of automotive magazines as I am, that day I couldn't think of one article he'd done, even though I knew who he was... I don't think he bought that I knew of him, either. Little did i think that day I had been using the wiring diagrams he wrote and illistrated for PPC for the better part of 25 years at that point...
Trying to get in touch with Bud Lang. He took some pics years aho of the Smith Bros. 41 Willys with a 409 Chevy out of Bellflower, Cal. I think it was in Car Craft, maybe 64,65.I often wondered what color it was. Thanks for any info.
Bud Lang, that name brings back a good memory. Back in ‘75 when I finished my Comet (the first build) Bud and Gray Baskerville approached me at an event in Iowa, the result was a feature in Hot Rod. One of the pictures they shot when doing the photo session is now my avitar. I hope he is well, Gray has been gone for a few years.
Hello all, I am Bud Lang's daughter. I have been enjoying all of the wonderful stories about my dad. I'm sorry to let you all know that my father passed away Nov 2017. He had moved back to Brea, Ca in 2014. After he left Petersen Publishing in the 70's he freelanced for a while. Then he was hired by McMillan Publishing. He wrote for Street Rodder, other car mags and several survival magazines, All About Beer and Knives Illustrated. In his retirement years he did self publish a book on Sicily and a book about playing little league baseball. He had a lot of different interests and was involved in many different types of magazines during his career.
I’m sorry to hear that Shannon, and I imagine most here did not know of his passing. Your dad had a way with words, always a good, interesting read and full of concise easy to follow tech information. RIP Bud.
You are very welcome. It is so nice to hear how much of an influence my father was and continues to be in the hot rodding community.
Thanks Shannon. I'm also sorry to here about the lost of your dad. I still enjoy his work from all the old mags. I've collected over the years. We been losing so many Hot Rodding greats. Sad. Take care. Ron.....
Thank you for posting and informing the community about Bud. As I mentioned in my previous post your father was the first to compliment me on my then new build. He and Gray were walking the hotel parking lot that night in 1975 when they came upon my Comet. I think they waited for me to return from looking at the other cars just to ask me about shooting some photos. The next day I spent a few hours with Bud and Gray as they shot the feature, it is still a very fond memory 45 years later. Too bad that now almost all of the Automotive Magazines have seized to exist, I’m sure writers like Bud and Gray could not imagine this could happen. Regards Jim
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