Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959) a review:

Not long ago, Turner Classic Movies released a batch of movies involving formula race cars, ranging from the ‘20s to the ‘40s. Recently, they’ve released a batch of hot rod-themed films. Let’s take a look.

View full collection here. Visit WordPress user The Poster Archive for more vintage poster goodness.

The Zenith hot rod club is doing its best to be a legitimate club that goes against the typical architype of “teens and hot rods” image that soils the sport. Reporter Tom Hendry (Russ Bender) is writing a story and he’s impressed by what he sees and hears. The problem is that they need a new place for the club as making money to pay rent by singing rock ‘n’ roll didn’t yield fruitful results. Aside from that, hot rod girl Lois Cavendish (Jody Fair) got into when she raced against rival Nita (Nancy Anderson). Lois got away unbeknownst that after Nita hit a wall, got arrested, with Lois herself later apprehended and the newspaper making a story out of the incident.

The Cars of Wheeler Dealers (Series 1-13):

I really like Wheeler Dealers, a family-friendly TV show of U.K. origins that showcased modern (and not so modern) classics being bought, fixed up and sold, hopefully, for a profit. It’s a breath of fresh air when compared to cookie-cutter car shows on History Channel and even within Discovery Channel, as well as automotive entertainment shows involving at least three men acting like kids (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the formula has been copied around the world). Each build is cleverly condensed into one hour (or two half-hour episodes as it was sometimes edited), meaning it doesn’t drag on for numerous episodes and the build isn’t forgotten when a new project rolls in. You actually learn things, and it’s delivered (both in narrative and visually) in such a way that it’s easy for beginners to understand, prompting one to tackle some of the things portrayed. Granted, one doesn’t expect to change an entire chassis of a TVR Cerbera unless properly prepared for such a task, but cleaning an intercooler with acetone (regardless if it comes out of a Noble M12GTO supercar or not) seems pretty doable. Also, while the show progressed into far flashier builds, it always went back to its roots.

Usually I write about series that have wrapped up, but given that Edd -who has been an integral part of the show since the beginning and is hugely responsible for its popularity- has left the show, I believe this is a good moment to look back at some of his (and Mike’s) handiwork. I won’t cover every car (not even their IMCDb.com has the full list), and I’ve overlooked some choice candidates for some that are less memorable due to their relative significance in the show, so if you have a favorite that you want to mention, hit the comments section.

Hot Rod Gang (1958), a review:

Not long ago, Turner Classic Movies released a batch of movies involving formula race cars, ranging from the ‘20s to the ‘40s. Recently, they’ve released a batch of hot rod-themed films. Let’s take a look.

The above is a movie lobby card, which contains a scene still from the movie. For more of ‘em, visit tcm.com. BTW, the girl on the left sang only once and became largely irrelevant for the rest of the film. And that custom hot rod on the lower left did appear… as a background vehicle.

John Abernathy III (John Ashley) loves hot rods and rock ‘n’ roll. But driving recklessly almost ruined everything: having given a scare to a man who turned out to be the family’s attorney Dryden Philpott (Lester Dorr), John’s shot at his eccentric grandfather’s inheritance would’ve gone up in smoke since he wasn’t conducting himself as a fine, sensible, smart young man, as per the will. But given that Lois Cavendish (Jody Fair), Philpott’s associate’s daughter that was accompanying them didn’t rat him out, all was good…

Hot Rod (1950), a review:

Not long ago, Turner Classic Movies released a batch of movies involving formula race cars, ranging from the ‘20s to the ‘40s. Recently, they’ve released a batch of hot rod-themed films. Let’s take a look. 

You can almost make out the Ford coupe racer in the background. The best movie poster has a watermark on it, unfortunately.

David Langham (Jimmy Lydon) likes hot rods. His father (Art Baker) doesn’t. But given that he now has a newspaper delivery job, he managed to convince his father in lending him some money to buy a used jalopy. Any thought of motoring moderation would soon disappear when David gets humiliated in front of his crush Janie Evans (Gloria Winters) by his love rival Jack Blodgett (Tommy Bond) when he passes David’s jalopy with his own hot rod as if they were standing still. Soon, the car gets rebuilt inside and out using his buddy Clarence ‘Swifty’ Johnson’s (Gil Stratton) junkyard auto wrecking lot to work on… and the plethora of hot rod parts from all the wrecked hot rods Swifty can get a hold on.

1998-2010 Fiat Multipla

This post was originally published on July 1, 2015 at CarLustBlog.com. Minus one clarification and grammar correction, it’s all the same.

Hi there.

I was waiting at an accountant’s office, so I whipped out my phone proceeded to rot my brain with 9gag, one of those meme-centric websites. And there it was, a reminder of the existence of the infamous Fiat Multipla, in a garish muli-colored/Harlequin-style paint job, and captions stating how ugly it was while trying to be both funny and uplifting at the same time. Due to profanity, I can’t use that pic. Besides, it’s not as if that was the only time 9gag, let alone the Internet, ribbed the Multipla’s looks.