Art & Inspiration 1960's Show Rod Postcards

Thanks for posting the pix, Ryan! I know it's not your bag but you made a lot of us really happy with this one. As a kid at the early 70's shows at the Charlotte Arena and later at the Baltimore Civic Center, the impractical show rods got my young mind dreaming of over the top cars. Wild 'flake jobs, angel hair and chrome are forever burned into my brain.

 

Digging the thread. Especially since the ONLY postcard like this in my collection of automobilia is a copy of the lead photo, the Outlaw.

Saw it in an antique store in the midst of a bunch of postcards of buildings, horses, city parks, etc... And had to have it.

 

..I grew up during the 60's and 70's wild show car era and I dig them. I still remember the big billboards down at the local train station advertising the New York shows. I had boxes of these cards at one time. I even had the Exhibit Supply Corp machine that dispensed these cards at the International Championship Auto Shows of the 50's and 60's....check the bottom photo (why did I sell that?) ...Ha, for two pennies you got a card and they still made money !!

Here's one of NJ's own...







Exhibit Supply Machine.....2 cents only gets you somebody's opinion these days !




.

 

The ridiculous "theme" rods, were just that.

But the sculpted rods, that looked like hot rodded versions of or like the factory experimental cars that could have been, or never were... I think are cool...

 

i love show rods i would to build one some time.

 

huh! hot rod and custom post cards ?

any body ever send or recieve any?

geez whats next hot rods and customs on the internet?

 

show rods rule............

 

I use to show my cars ('54 Ford & '63 Chevy)at the Ram Rods Washington, DC Armory Car Show back in the late 60's. Promotions Inc. always brought their semi full of show cars to these shows. I helped unload a few and will always remember the condition they were in after being hauled around for a year. Roth's Mysterion was in such bad condition that it was just about to break in half. I don't recall any of them actually running, at least I never heard or saw one. I think the Mysterion actually had all of the engine guts removed to cut down on the weight. The chrome plating on everthing caused many problems.
My cars were just mild customs and not really what the majority of the crowd was looking for. I did go the angle hair and tin foil wrap and even had some snap on roll & pleat fender well panels all for show of course. My cars always looked pretty good but I never won a single trophy (which was a big deal back then) because the show cars seemed to win everything, sometimes the same show cars would win 2 or 3 trophys.
I never remember seeing a single car that had any unfinished work or primer at any show and there was no such thing as a Rat Rod ever.
I think the Ram Rods Show went on for 20 years or more, but now I think that is a thing of the past.

 

there were plenty of good show rod out there ,without that late seventies and eighties junk,go back to the sixties,the kass 32,mitchel alazan n,the holden 36 .the 32 coupe from alexander bros the list goes on even the twister t of barris and alakart the emperor lets see them

 

The Star Ship Enterprise wasn't real and didn't run. I think that is the whole Idea behind wild show cars. Functional cars are what we see and use every day. People love to look at and dream of vehicles that would be far removed from the limits of every day life. Kinda the what if factor. Not to mention many people just enjoy art. Some people just don't have an artistic side and don't understand. This world is made up of all kinds. I have a bunch of show car cards in my closet that Daryl Starbird gave me years ago.