Years ago I had most all his books, read and enjoyed them. Our school librarian asked if I had any recommendations for books that the "shop" kids might read. I suggested H.G.F. and she bought some. She tells me she can't keep them on the shelves. They have been a "life saver" for these kids who are required to read a book who other wise might not do it just for fun. That was neat to hear, glad it's been successful. Gonna look up a list of his works and forward it to her, she wants to buy the rest. Just thought this was a "feel good" bit of information and thought some others may enjoy hearing it.
It wasn't just cars with Felson, his stories also have a human element to them. I'm glad I still have my H.G.F. Collection and it's good to hear kids are still enjoying the books.
I read Hot Rod for the first time in the 7th grade, about 1962. Over the years I have collected at least one copy of each of his car related books. Trying to put together a complete set of hardbacks.
If your librarian has a new print of Hot Rod, it has my car, my daughter, and my brother modelling in it. We all spent a fun afternoon/evening with Holly doing a photo shoot on the back roads of Central Iowa. We drove down the exact same roads her father wrote about in the book (names changed to protect the innocent).
Hank will forever be an integral part of hot rod history. His books put the fire in a lot of teenage bellies to build a hot rod, including mine. I got to know him quite well in later years and found him to be a warm and truly genuine man. Amazingly, he had no idea how much effect his books had had on teenagers until be started touring the hot rod car shows and meeting the throngs of boys-now-turned-men whom his books had influenced over so many years. I have my "original" dog-eared copies of all his books plus the signed boxed set he and his wife Karen represented at car shows one year. I also have a few letters he wrote of encouragement through the few years between seeing him and his passing. While the content of his wonderful books is certainly dated, the "fire" will never die. Thanks, Hank, for giving so much to so many.
I have that set that moriarity posted. I had read all of them when in junior high school. I can't remember how many years ago I bought this collection maybe 15 years ago. They are just as good as I rememberd them.
William Campbell Gault also wrote some great books for kids who loved hot rods around the same time as Felsen. Ask your librarian to buy these also. They are available used on the internet. Not expensive.
"Boy gets car", ruined me. Had to be in the 6th grade that I read it, and like the Navy, I still haven't recovered. No desire to either.
I read as many of his books as I could find in the school library in jr high back in the late 60s. Only reason I would go to the library! lol The funny thing is I read an interview with him years later and the reason he wrote the books to begin with was to deter kids from Hot rods. If you read any of them they always ended in a tragedy of some kind that was car and speed related. Funny that they had the reverse effect on anyone I have ever met that read them. But I guess even though they made hot rods cool to me I did learn that you had to respect the dangers of those high speed hijinks! So I guess the message did get across in one way or another. Larry
Another car themed book that I remember reading in school is "The Red Car". This one is not by Felsen. Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have the signed box set too, got it on eBay when I was recovering from heart surgery in 2016. I have a few of the old paperbacks too, a couple from when I was a kid.
I read The Red Car in middle school and still use the shifting technique the old master mechanic taught the "young protagonist" who rebuilt the MG. Do your slowdown and downshift before the start of the corner, and accelerate through the curve. I also think about the way he kept his tools in a fancy box whenever I'm throwing mine into an old tool drawer.
The Red Car was written by Don Stanford, not Henry Gregor Felsen. While Hank did write under a couple of noms de plume, I don't think this was one of them. Still, a good book!
I just passed my Set of Felson books to my 14 year old son. My dad gave them to me when I was 14, and it surely set the hook for old cars.
Yup. Read Goldmountain's post above. We were just trying to make other positive reviews of old "car" books for the librarian to buy next. I sure hope Holly finds this thread and she can tell us any pen names her father used.
If you liked books by Felson or Gault, you will thoroughly enjoy these 2 books written by my pal Jim Lindsay. Book 1, the Little Bastards has been out for a few years, and Swerve was released this Summer. They capture life in America in the 50's and beyond, from a hot rodder's viewpoint. For those of us who lived it, it rekindles old memories, for others it describes those times perfectly. Bastards is 281 pages, and Swerve is 359. Rave reviews by icons of our hobby.
I had completely forgotten about Hot Rod until this thread! I’ll bet I read that book 5 times in High School. Great Read! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
One of the few highlights of school, I read all the ones the library had and still buy them to read when I find them. My Uncle Charlie gave me a couple that he had as a youth, one of them about a young fellow called Red Pepper Burns. Thanks for the memories, Carp.
Yes, I had forgotten that part -it's been a lot of years. Hank was a struggling writer at that time and wrote a series of anti-hot rod-slanted articles for the Des Moine Register. As I remember him telling me that led to a grant offered by the American Safety Council for books or articles promoting teen driving safety. The ASC also sponsored short films about driver safety among teens, and if I'm not mistaken they also teamed up with Wally Parks' NHRA to promote safety among hot rodders. I think this led to him penning "Hot Rod" in 1950. "Street Rod" didn't appear until 1953 but was along the same lines. "Fever Heat" was published in 1954 and was a complete departure from the ASC-sponsored tomes, and was along the lines of the sex/adventure books which were beginning to emerge at that time. It was such a departure that he used a pen name as author instead of his own. As Hank often said, his writing wasn't driven so much by art as by hunger. He was somewhat prolific but was never even comfortable financially. He had hopes that the reprinting of his teen novels as a boxed set would make his life easier in his elder years, but for a number of reasons (not of his own doing) that didn't happen. He remained a humble man of humble means until his passing.
I have a few copies of HGF's books! My dad gave me his copy of Hot rod when I was a kid and I started looking for copies of his other books. I became friends with Henry's daughter Holly when she was looking for a 32 Ford coupe to use on the cover of her reprint of Hot Rod. I hooked her up with my buddy Matt (keystonekid on the HAMB) and we spent a day with Holly as she shot hundreds of photos around the Des Moines area of Matt's coupe for the cover .
I remember reading HGF's books in Jr High also, there's a couple in the boxed set that our library must not have had, as I don't recall reading them. We're planning a trip with a long plane ride in a couple of months, so maybe I'll look them up as I like to read on the plane. His titles also bring up the subject of when and who coined the term Hot Rod, which has been discussed in great length, but 1953 release of Street Rod might be the earliest appearance of this term. What say you?
I, too have read all of HGF's books many years ago. I am now 78 years old, and I know they helped to shape my hot rodding life since then. The only character that I remember was Luke, in the back of the bus. He was a bad boy.