I ran across this and thought I would share,I'm sure it's been seen in the past but it is interesting to see what the cars looked like at the very first street rod nationals...93 photos,enjoy. Click on the link below. HRP http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/eventcoverage/0710rc_1st_street_rod_nationals/photo_02.html
That was enjoyable. Some wild rides and forward thinking for the times. Some have the "look" for sure.
I have a friend that actually went to Peoria and he told me he thought he had died and went to heaven. He said he has a lot of photos and would make me a dvd later this summer,I have seen his dash plaque and he still owns the same 32 5-window he drove to the show. I believe John lived in Indiana at that time,I met him when he moved to South Carolina. HRP
Thanks HRP. We lived just south of Peoria in Pekin, Ill. So many memories of that event. My wife was eight months pregnant with our third child but she walked those Peoria parking lots and the hay field of Timberline Farms for hours. We had two boys in the back seat of our 1939 Ford deluxe coupe I'd recently painted bright red. Yes it is a 1939 Ford coupe but has a small back seat and 265 SBC. The car still sits in my garage today just as it was. At that time in 1970 it was the largest car show we'd ever seen. I saw few cars I recognized and no red 1939 Ford coupe. But we were there 44 years ago! Thanks for the memories.
I cant read the plate to see where he's from but I took a picture of it at the Tulsa nats. He got around.
Thanks Danny, I enjoyed that. I take away two impressions from those photos. One is all those radial tires sticking too far out were not as good looking as we once thought they were. Two.......hey, where are all the fat people? Were we all that skinny back then?
You heard right. That's why we evacuated in 1994. The only fat people I remember back then were my wife and other pregnant women. Fat wasn't cool!
Peoria In 1990. Everyone here is old. HA Someday, when life decides to give me something good, i will be very, very far from Peoria.
Those pics bring back memories. I was there. Growing up in Peoria, I live a mile from where the show was held. I was just a kid, but knew what a great thing that was happening. I looked up to the Saterfields and the Slow Pokes. 1975 Peoria 2006 Texas---Different car and no hair---what are ya going to do?
I a man could have bought all the cars at that show, today he would be the richest man on earth. And probably still want to keep every car.
Great pictures. I saw my 2 tone blue 32 sedan next to Kurt McCormick's orange 32 3 window. About the second half are from Memphis 1971.
It was great to see the style of cars I grew up on. But I also noticed that, other than a few wheel and tire choices, a lot of those cars could fit the latest trends of today. Hell, I even spotted a flathead in there. Oh, no "patina" either.
I was going to flip you shit until I saw you are in Peoria! It's not the greatest but there are a few HAMB'ers here! We should have a Peoria HAMB club...we might get 6-7 people!!!
I was there too and felt the same way. I came with a friend and we both thought,600 hot rods in one place, what next? I remember a '40 Merc tub that was flawless. A time I will never forget!
Very Cool...Thanks for posting. I grew up in Canton ILL, (which is about 30 miles west of Peoria) and was 7 years old at the time. I was into cars already, but didn't know much about street rods and pre-war hot rods. My family was driving over to Peoria while this was going on, and I remember seeing all of these really cool old cars driving on Route 9, between Banner and Canton. They must have been out on a cruise. This really made a big impression on me. A few years ago there was talk about bringing a National meet back to Peoria???
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