Härskein rodi?

juu kyllä sinne purple:een sisälle mahtuu ainakin kuvien perusteella. http://www.mhl.janis.or.jp/~br-oja/hrcs01_2.htm

 

Tämä ei tosin ole rodi mutta aika hurja kuitenkin: vanha Bentley Napierin lentokonemyllyllä, 24 litraa ja silleen:
http://www.ssij.nu/bilder/eiffel/napier-bentley.jpg
Oli meinaan aika hurja näky (ja möly) kun tuota poljettiin brittien nostalgiakisoissa!

 

The Shifters
Doin’ The Time Warp With Orange County, California’s Rat Rodders

By Steve Kedrowski
Photography: Todd Westover

"I’ve got the perfect place for the shoot,” Axle Shifter told me. “This turn-of-the-century park where we hold the Anti-Blessing every year. It looks kind of like the old L.A. River bed. In the winter it serves as flood control. One of the channels eventually ends up in the ocean.”

So on a hot Sunday afternoon, I headed south out of L.A. and ventured past the Orange Curtain to meet the Shifters—the self-proclaimed “very first nostalgia Hot Rod club for the younger guys.” It had been a rough month for counter-culture: Joey Ramone and Big Daddy Roth had died little more than a week apart. There’s always been a certain “live for today” ethos imbedded in the underground, and it was getting hard not to wonder if “today” was just about over.

I arrived early. The first thing to catch my eye was a sign reading “This park is dedicated to the preservation of the concept of home and family.” I’m not quite sure what to make of this, a message that practically beats you over the head with its wholesomeness. Is it a recent addition, a by-product of the conservative climate of Orange County, or is it a relic from an earlier era of the park’s long history? One by one the Shifters trickle in and B.S. about their latest diamond-in-the-rough finds, drunken parties at their clubhouse in Fullerton, and hassles with the cops in certain parts of the county—perplexed youngsters unaccustomed to the scene, who make threats like “You’re lucky I’m not a rookie, or I would’ve popped a cap in your @$#.”

There’s no trouble today, though. One patrol car slows to a crawl, the officer inside rubbernecks like Linda Blair, then graciously moves along without a word. Each time one of the old engines lets out a vicious growl, kids come from out of the woodwork and sit along the ledges of either parking lot wall. Old guys come in close to get a flashback fix. Without any planning or promotion, the club—by its mere presence—transforms an ordinary day into an Event.

A Brief History of the Shifters

You’ll recognize some of these cars from our April 2001 pinup issue. Or you might recognize them if you’ve attended either one of the events the club organizes: Viva Las Vegas is held every Easter, and The Anti-Blessing of the Cars (the result of a falling out with the Blessing of the Cars promoters) takes place in the summer. Or you might just recognize the style—once an almost-lost-art, now a hot new trend thanks to the Shifters’ mushrooming influence. A lot of the new groups, incidentally, get a sudden attack of political correctness when they hear their hobby described as “rat rodding”—a term they take to be derogatory. It might interest these folks to know that a Shifter claims to have originally coined the term. “Anthony,” says Axle, “is the one that invented that name. That name has caught on so much, there are toys like this in black primer, and it says ‘Rat Rod’ on the package. He should’ve patented that name.”


I don’t recall if Axle ever described himself as the leader, but it’s clear that’s what he is. He started off in the early ’80s with an interest in musclecars, buying and selling Pontiac GTOs. “My brother and I are partial to Pontiac because of our dad’s influence. He used to race musclecars.” Axle got into the rockabilly scene in ’82-’83, when bands like the Stray Cats came along. The ’50s culture appealed to him, but ’60s musclecars seemed more attainable. Gradually, though, by talking to old-timers, doing plenty of research, and compiling a swelling library of Hot Rod books, his goal seemed more within reach. In the late ’80s, he started getting into ’55-’57 Chevys. “Now we wouldn’t be caught dead in a ’57 Chevy, unless it had a straight axle and no front bumper.” Steadily, the group was evolving into its present incarnation: Hot Rods as they would’ve been done by kids in the ’50s, using entirely period-correct parts.

The Shifters officially began in 1992. They settled on a name (“Cam Jammers” was a rejected early choice) so they’d have something to put on plaques, jackets, and such. There are currently eight members, almost all of whom have been with the group since its inception. Many have known each other for most of their lives. “Some,” says Axle, “have known each other since fourth or fifth grade. I think that’s the reason we’ve been around for ten years. So many car clubs have come and gone because there’s so much politics within the group…. We’ll be around 30 or 40 years from now, without a doubt.” The newest member is Squeak Bell, initiated earlier this year. (The initiations typically seem to involve nudity and beer-dousings.) But even this recent addition is someone who’s been part of the group’s inner circle for most of the decade. How would an outsider go about becoming part of the club?

As Axle puts it, “You don’t!”

The Best Decade

When most people think of the ’50s, images of “I Like Ike” buttons and Leave It to Beaver scenes spring to mind. It stands as the quintessentially conservative decade—even more so than the ’80s, which at least had coke-binging yuppies to serve as a lame excuse for decadence. So it’s obvious why some people might wax nostalgic for it, in the same way that people are attracted to Disneyland, or any other such world that can maintain that facade of perfection. But more intriguing are those who yearn for it, not as an era of cardigan sweaters and picket fences, but an age of drag racing and tatoos and carefree chainsmoking. If contemporary moralists decry today’s gray moral relativism… well, the rebels are equally confused as to who the enemy is. After all, we’re living in a time in which any new underground movement is moments away from being co-opted into an advertising slogan. The ’50s were an era when, whether one was pro- or anti-establishment, a solid, genuine identity was possible.

I asked Axle and Anthony what it was about the ’50s the group—mostly in their late 20s/early 30s—so strongly identified with.





Sponsored Links



VW Hot Rod/ Rat Rod
Parts and information to build your own dropped axle hot rod VW
http://www.socalook.com





Axle: “To me, I like everything. The clothes, the music, the furniture, the cars. His [Anthony’s] house is a right-after-the-war-built house. We just dig it all.”

Anthony: “A lot of it is that it’s so easy, so natural.”

Axle: “It’s just such a good time. The best decade.”

Anthony: “Trying to keep up with today’s standards is so hard. You’ve got to have your new car, keep up with the Joneses. This way is a much easier life. A lot of things come and go. The ones that stay are the ones that matter.”

Axle: “Plus, it’s just nice to be different.”

The Purple People Eater

Marky is the youngest Shifter, and the one with the most controversial car. When Rod & Custom featured it in the Feb. ’01 issue, the angry mob all but showed up at the doors with torches and pitchforks. Hate mail flooded in, with comments like “He says he plans to race it—the man might as well plan to kill himself.” It’s easy to see where this reaction comes from. This is as threatening-looking a piece of machinery as you’re ever likely to see—the gargantuan motor with eight carbs bursting from the diminutive purple body like that grossout scene from Alien. I ask him if he’s even able to see in that thing.

“I can see pretty good. When you sit that low in it, you get pretty good visuals.”

Brother Axle adds, “In Riverside, [there’s] an airport where they have Run What You Brung. You sign a release of liability. In Palmdale once a year—the antique drags—and then at Rialto… so there’ll probably be three times a year we’ll get a chance to run it. He’ll be the Don Garlits of 2025.”


It should be pointed out that there’s still work to be done before the People Eater sees any action. A rollbar, parachute, brakes, and “the whole safety procedure” are coming up. At some point, he even plans to stick a radiator underneath and make it streetable.

The engine is a piece of history. It ran in a ’29 roadster back in 1958-59 and went 149 mph at the Riverside drags on regular pump gas, setting a track record. It was built at the school Alex attended, adding to his sense that this creation was somehow fated to be.

One livid R&C reader wrote “That is the biggest piece of $&%# I have ever seen. This thing sets Hot Rodding back 20 years—make it 50 years!” That last sentence, I’d imagine, might be the nicest compliment you could pay a Shifter.


http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/53221/

ja sieltä vähän vastauksia Purple People Eateriin.

 

No siinä tuli valaisevaa tekstiä ja linkki kuvineen. Myönnän nöyrästi olleeni väärässä.
Tuollaisella kiesillä pärräämisen täytyy olla jo aika lähellä absoluuttista hauskuutta. Ja ah kuinka laitonta se olisi Suomessa.

 

Niin no, ei sillä ilman jäähdytintä pitkälle cruisailla, joten IMO kuuluu "peräkärry" osastolle...

 

Onks tää härski? Hä?
http://www.aeclassic.com/defibulator/7236.JPG

 

Jumalattoman hiano ilimanpultsari!!!!! :smile:

 

---http://www.aeclassic.com/defibulator/7236.JPG---

Aika asiallinen...

 

Jep 58STW, eiköhän leikata sunkin konepeittoos pikku kolo ja muovata tommonen...
http://www.aeclassic.com/defibulator/page2.html

 

"It's hooked
up to the throttle linkage so when you hit the gas the eyes open up and the jaw drops."

 

Snadin kolon siihen joutus leikkaa, jos ton kokosen pulmanitsarin siihen istuttais!!!
Mut on se vaan komee ja sopii kyl hitosti paremmin johku rodii tms, kuin tommoseen farmari jämään... Pääsee meinaan oikeuksiinsa paremmin tommosen rodin konehuoneessa, kuin et tulis jonku konepellin läpi...

 

Voe helevata, kyllä nyt meni tuo Defibulator henkilökohtaisen listan ykköseksi vaikkei ole viedä edes valmis. Mutta kyllähän projektit onkin aina sielukkaampia kuin valmiit. ne ruokkii mielikuvitusta ihan eri tyyliin.

Laittakaas joku vielä kuvia/linkkejä jostain henkevästä Fiat Topolino -pohjaisesta raaserista. pitäsköhän sitä jo pikku hiljaa rekisteröityä tällekin palstalle..

 

Olinkin jo rekisteröitynyt jossain vaiheessa, edellä siis minä.

 

rupesin kyselee et jos jollain ois 32fodin
takaluukun ja konepeiton muottia tai valmiita osia kiinnostas ku pitäis toi offi rodi päivittää uudelleen

 

juuh, uskomattoman härski, meisseliä vaikka muille jakaa. Mistähän tuollaisia pääkalloja saisi, olisi karun näköinen kun tulisi pellistä läpi... :smile:

 

snip
rupesin kyselee et jos jollain ois 32fodin
takaluukun ja konepeiton muottia tai valmiita osia kiinnostas ku pitäis toi offi rodi päivittää uudelleen
snip

On, laita yv.

 

Asiaa! Mä kun luulin jo kaiken nähneeni. Ilahduttavaa nähdä BUICKIN NAILHEAD niiku tos ekas kuvas, Primerin kannes, Autojen nokalla. Eilen yks 28 koitti ostaa mult naulapään hiacen kyydistä.

 

Jeh, nostetaas aihetta ylemmäs.
Härskiyttä ovat pullollaan myös nuo vanhat Fuel Alteredit. Eipä näillä kadulla pyöritä mutta hianoja ovat. Erityisesti Rat Trap, Pure Hell ja Pure Heaven ja vastaavat.

Linkki taitaa olla jo ennestään tuttu:
http://www.mysterion.net/AAFA/links.html
Valitkaapa vasemmasta laidasta vaikka heti tuo eka Pure Helli ja siitä viides kuva, avot!

 

Viime vuoden kalkkuna-ajoissa sain aika hyvät vibat tämmösestä pelistä, ai että housut kastu melkein...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/120 ... 7972sBYwLB

 

Aika hårski tämäkin:
http://drd57.hypermart.net/MarchMeet04/Page10.html