History Yikes!!! Gotta give a presentation on Rods & Customs

What the heck have I gotten myself into here?

When I'm not at my day job or messing with old cars, I'm taking photos of women. Some of my models decided to host a "pinup" convention (which is October 6th) so they turned to me as they don't really live in the Gearhead world that everyone on this forum knows so well. First they wanted me to take photos of the convention. OK no sweat. Then they wanted me to get them a couple of cars for out front. OK no prob. Just this week they asked me to host an hour long panel on Classic cars - which I quickly twisted into a presentation on Hot Rods and Customs. OK n- Oh Cr#p! what am I going to talk about and show people for an hour?

I've thrown together a really loose outline thus far and would like to discuss Hot Rods and Customs from right around the late 30's to '64 - since that's an easy year to end on when you include the Mustang, Beatles, etc. What I'm hoping is that there are some folks on here that can either steer me in the right direction as to where I can quickly find some good generalized info and some pictures that I can use in a Powerpoint (yes I said Powerpoint) presentation without getting sued. I was going to talk about early speed seekers, the post WWII era, the 50's (of course) and end with Ed Roth's customs and the start of the Gasser era.

I'm open to any public domain photos, personal photos, articles, etc. etc. that I can use to make this happen. I just want to hit the high points - think of it as Hot Rods and Customs 101. I totally appreciate any info anyone can send my way.

Thanks!

 

Maybe a PM to Rikster to start. Just a thought.

 

I think it looks like you already know what you are going to do and all you have to do is put it together.
A guy could do a chronological order thing from T and other early GoJobs up through the T bucket era and beyond or take one specific era and expand on it.
Customs could be done the same way.

The main thing is make it factual and interesting, guys can spot a bull shit artist a mile away.

 

I'm keeping it REALLY generalized.
I'm just going to hit the high points. Just kind of a: it started like this, then this happened, then these came along, and right around here the Golden Age ended. It's aimed at people that really know nothing about Hot Rods or Customs at all. I just want to make it a quick overview.

 

Just a little BTT to keep this in play.