My friend found this book at a flea market and bought it for me. It is The Complete Book of Hot Rodding by Robert E. Petersen and the Editors of Hot Rod Magazine April 1959. I have never seen this book before and it is pretty cool. As you can see by the table of content, it covers engines, electrical, transmissions and racing tires. These are photos I took of the pages. Most of the photos are from Chapter 14 “Building Your Own Hot Rod” as those pages show complete cars. I apologize in advance for the photos but I did not want to flatten the book and break the binding. You can still read the text and it gives us a visual snapshot of what hot rods looked like in 1959.
I too bought the same book in great shape ata swap meet in Texas.I think I paid $15 for the book. Robert Peterson(Hot Rod Magazine and multiple other magazines) was alive so I wrote him a nice letter asking if he owned a copy of the book—-he said he did NOT have a copy so I offered him the book for $25(book was in great shape). The millionaire cheap Executive wanted me to donate the book to his foundation.I said NO WAY and asked him to autograph the book—-he said NO so we were at an impasse. He passed away later on and I sold the book elsewhere. Somebody who made millions in the publishing industry, but refused to pay $25 for a 300 page hardbound book that he authored seemed very odd to me.
I've had a similar book for years. Not as many photos as yours but still lots of vintage info. 336 pages, published 1960.
Willys36, I remember reading that book in middle school. I now have the copy I first read back then that I ended up having to pay for when my baby brother scribbled in it and pulled the cover off. I also have another copy in great shape. It's a pretty good book. I read it many times back then, as well as The New How To Build Hot Rods by Eugene Jaderquist.
Cool! Thanks for sharing. Mine is from 1963. My high school librarian gave it to me when they cleared the shelves in '85 because I continually checked it out.
This is a wonderful discovery, I did not even expect to find this book here. My friend and I are preparing a small project, so we started our research paper on the development of cars in the first half of the twentieth century. We could not find all the information on our own, so we took help from https://ca.edubirdie.com/buy-research-papers, but now we can boast of materials from this book. This is very useful because there is about engines, electrical, transmissions, and racing tires.
Looking through my stash, I found "Hot Rod Handbook" by Griffith Borgeson 1960. The cover is water stained and on the inside back cover is a library card pocket from some unknown high school.
Fantastic! Thanks for the photos I’ll have to squint and read them Later. @cactus1 coulda been twins!
I have a copy of it too; came by it similar to StudeJoe when my Golden Retriever "dog-eared" the cover when it was almost new in '59. Librarian told me I could purchase it for a couple bucks more than the fine, since it was not proving popular, so I parted w/ some more lawn mowing cash and I was the proud owner..... Little did I know, that book would be responsible for fueling my fire for far too many years.... Dig your Cabriolet!