00:00 This time on Hot Rod Unlimited, the most mind-blowing car show anywhere.
00:05 300 former Hot Rod Magazine feature cars dating all the way back to 1948.
00:10 Hot Rod Magazine was founded by Robert E. Peterson in 1948, so 2013 is the 65th anniversary.
00:25 To celebrate that, the staff decided to throw a show like none other.
00:30 We are going to gather together as many former magazine feature and cover cars as we possibly can,
00:36 and the challenge is going to be getting them all in the same place at the same time.
00:41 The thing that was going to make this show really cool is how there's a range of cars dating all the way back to 1948
00:47 and the very first issue, and stretching into our most recent issue.
00:52 We are going to have a little bit over 300 feature cars indoors at this show,
00:57 and that has got to be the only time ever that this many historic Hot Rods have been in the same place.
01:05 This is the Hot Rod Homecoming.
01:17 The greatest thing about this event is guys like me that really care about what happens to these cars after they're photographed,
01:24 we get to find out the story, you know, since then.
01:27 This thing was in the magazine years ago.
01:29 It goes even quicker than it did when it was in the magazine, which means if I was in love with it then,
01:33 I'm in lust with it now, so thoroughly enjoying myself today.
01:37 Some of the cars are absolutely untouched since they were featured in the magazine, and they've been neglected.
01:43 So we're seeing some real patina like cracked paint and oxidized mags and things like that,
01:48 but we really like those cars because they represent unaltered history.
01:52 That is exactly the way they were when they were in the magazine.
01:56 So what's really cool about the event for me is that I get to see guys' cars that I had only read about
02:03 or were in the magazine before I was born, and to see them in real life, I've learned so much more about them.
02:08 I got to meet the owner of the Penske Sunoco Camaro that was driven by Mark Donohue in 1968.
02:14 To be able to talk to him and learn that he still races that thing today,
02:17 it was in the magazine 20 years ago, that's just amazing.
02:20 It gave me goosebumps when he first told me about the car.
02:22 Hot Rod magazine used this car in June of 1988.
02:27 It was the first centerfold that they did where they actually folded out the cover like Playboy magazine did.
02:34 Seeing the cars that you read about and seeing the cars that you learned about and lusted after,
02:40 it was very interesting to walk around and see all the variety of cars that have been in the magazine over the years.
02:46 My name is Philippe Dain. I worked at Hot Rod from September 1986 to February 1989.
02:51 This is a complete surprise. I came here expecting to see Scott Sullivan.
02:55 He's right around the corner, and I walked past and I see Guy Rouchanet's car.
02:59 I featured this car back in 1989, and it was just such a surprise to see it.
03:04 That the car still exists and it's here. My story is posted right next to the car. I'm blown away.
03:10 This show wasn't just about the cars, but also the people.
03:14 We had some of the biggest names in the history of hot rodding, like Don Perdome and Tommy Ivo and people like that.
03:19 But there were also some little guys whose name you would never know.
03:22 But they're impressive because they've owned the same car for 50 years.
03:26 They've built a whole bunch of cars, and they give that perspective,
03:29 which they were able to sort of translate to the younger generation.
03:33 I have this magazine hanging up in my bedroom at home.
03:37 And so this is pretty rad to see this car.
03:39 Obviously it's been fixed, and to see that the car is back together and it's still racing is pretty cool.
03:44 It's great being here because these are the true enthusiasts.
03:47 These are the folks that sleep, eat and breathe performance.
03:51 And Chevrolet just loves being a part of that.
03:54 We've got Courtney Hanson and Linda Vaughn here signing autographs.
03:57 And we just love being a part of Hot Rod magazine.
04:00 And to be able to come out here and celebrate 65 years is an incredible honor.
04:05 All these cars are together under the same roof.
04:09 It's huge because I've got cars from customers from around the country here.
04:13 It's neat to have them all in the same room hanging out, and all of us are one big family.
04:17 And it is because of Hot Rod magazine.
04:20 This kind of event is pretty exciting.
04:22 It's a little hard on the legs and I'm working all those crouching muscles
04:25 because I just sort of walk two feet and get down and take another photo.
04:29 But it's well worth it because you get to see all kinds of cool stuff.
04:32 Like this car, Keats Kaiser.
04:33 He built it himself.
04:35 A lot of the people that I've talked to have told me about how the scene used to be a lot about guys
04:40 getting together, having a couple of beers and working on the cars.
04:44 If you had a friend and he knew how to paint, he'd help you paint your car.
04:47 But if you knew how to weld, you'd help him put floor pans in his
04:49 and that was sort of how it all worked out.
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04:58 Many people said that the amazing thing about this show was not just that these were feature cars,
05:04 but that they were real cars.
05:06 Cars that were built by guys with their own hands, whether it was last week or 40, 50 years ago.
05:12 It's impossible to even convey on video how cool this was.
05:15 But we can look at a few of the specific cars that were just legendary.
05:19 Here's Stuart Hilborn's Lakester that he built as a teenager.
05:23 And in fact, it appeared on the April 48 cover photographed in his parents' driveway.
05:28 Hilborn was the inventor of Hilborn fuel injection and this Lakester was the first car to run
05:33 more than 150 miles an hour on the SoCal Dry Lakes.
05:37 This is Tom "The Mongoose" McEwan's ramp truck that he used to haul his funny car around
05:42 back in the days when he and Don Perdomo were running under the Hot Wheels banner on the Wildlife Tour.
05:47 It was on the August 70 cover of the magazine along with his funny car, which is also here.
05:52 This thing was originally built by Chrysler for Sox and Martin's race team,
05:55 but then became Mongoose's truck and now it's owned by Don Perdomo, who also restored it.
06:01 Steve Strope built this fastback Mustang for a really nice guy from Texas.
06:05 And what makes this car special is it's got an authentic Ford Indy overhead cam V8.
06:11 There's maybe 15, 20 of them in the world and I don't know how he got his hands on one,
06:16 but somehow he talked Ed Pink into putting one together for this car.
06:20 And this is Steve's interpretation of what would happen if a European rally car team
06:26 called up Ford in the 60s and said, "Hey, we want to race a Mustang."
06:29 This is probably what it would look like and it's amazing.
06:34 This is Eddie Miller's Lakester that appeared on the August 1950 cover of the magazine.
06:39 And in addition to the weird body work, it was unusual in that it was powered by a
06:43 Pontiac Flathead 6 that was laid over 30 degrees.
06:47 It's currently owned by the Ferguson family, who's still active in SCTA racing on the SoCal Dry Lakes.
06:52 And also Jim Miller is still active and he happens to be Eddie Miller's son.
06:57 TV Tommy Ivo has been a big name in drag racing forever.
07:01 And this car is significant because it was his first dragster where he ran nitromethane.
07:06 He always ran gasoline before that.
07:08 He built this in about 1962 with Dave Zuchel and eventually added this really swoopy body work.
07:15 And the car became the first to run 190 in the quarter mile and also the first in the 8s.
07:20 It was the January '64 cover car.
07:23 I like race cars. I like all race cars, but I especially like old race cars.
07:27 This is an extremely unusual car, something I've never seen before.
07:31 It's a Buick-powered Buick Funny car.
07:33 There were only two ever made and this is the only one that survives.
07:37 It was splash pulled off of an actual Buick that was taken off a dealership floor,
07:41 made to run to represent Buick dealers.
07:44 It's been rescued. It's back with the original owner's son.
07:47 And that's a story we're hearing a lot here at the Hot Rod Homecoming is,
07:51 "My dad had a car like this. I learned to drive in a car just like this."
07:54 And it really brings back a lot of memories for them.
07:56 Chevrolet Performance is the title sponsor of the show and our co-sponsor is Edelbrock,
08:00 which is celebrating its 75th anniversary here at the show.
08:04 Edelbrock brought out his '67 Camaro, which was the original Hot Rod magazine test car.
08:09 This was the first Camaro on the West Coast and the first one to have a big block in it.
08:13 We also had a bunch of cars from the '70s and '80s,
08:16 and it was interesting to see how those street machine era cars have fared over the years.
08:21 Some of them were changed. This one happens to be untouched.
08:25 It's David Cohen's Vette from the May '81 issue.
08:28 And the candy paint is all wrinkled on it. It's still got the side pipes.
08:32 It was just a cool representation of exactly what we were looking at in 1981.
08:37 The most amazing experience at the Homecoming was the autograph session that we had one evening.
08:44 We had all sorts of heroes there signing books and posters.
08:48 One of the most impressive was Bob DiLivo, who was the photo director for Hot Rod for decades.
08:54 But we also had racers like Don Perdomo and Roland Leong,
08:58 engine builder Ed Pink, George Barris was there, Gail Banks, Linda Vaughn, Courtney Hanson.
09:04 It was really amazing. It just went on and on.
09:07 And the autograph line did not slow down for two and a half hours.
09:12 Seeing all these cars that a lot of people, you know, been on covers of magazines and all that,
09:18 it's overwhelming, overwhelming.
09:21 We had so much fun running together with all these things.
09:24 And to have it all gathered in one place like this is just,
09:29 well, it's something you're just not going to see again, basically.
09:32 The truly amazing part about this event is that we're seeing generations of cars
09:36 that guys like myself have really never seen before.
09:39 This is a pretty amazing once-in-a-lifetime event we're being part of here.
09:44 It's very cool to come here. I mean, I think this is the first time show of its kind.
09:50 And to see all these cars that we've dreamed about.
09:52 I mean, there's cars that I saw in the magazine before I worked for the magazine.
09:56 And to see that they're still around, and to see them here gathered in one hall and outside,
10:02 it's a wonderful idea and it's fantastic because everybody wonders what happened to those cars.
10:07 And to see them here, it's fantastic.
10:09 It's memory lane. Every aisle I'm going down.
10:12 Stuff that I grew up looking at in the magazines before I ever moved out here,
10:16 before I ever had a shop. Ooh, I remember that one. Ooh, I remember that one.
10:19 And that is incredible. That is such an opportunity.
10:23 And it's amazing that they were able to put this together and have such a phenomenal grouping of cars.
10:29 We may not be around the next time something like this happens, but I'm very honored to be part of it.
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