Mort's Shorts

Would an association of traditional hot rod/custom folks go over?

We been solicited to participate somehow in one and we will/would, but we’re concerned that there ain’t enough of us, and even if we were there in great enough numbers, traditional people don’t feed at the same trough as ...moderne ones. The praiser has to be pre-qualified by the praisee or the attention, strokes, pats, and bellyrubs is meaningless. There’s a different vibe where you mugs come from.

Call it individualism, I guess. Rugged individualism somebody back in US History usta call it. You cats got it.

Something that seems to come with the other types is the need to show as many unwashed Philistines as possible..what you done bought or got with some underlying need for that acquisition to reflect his ability to buy. Impress the multitudes. Strut their stuff. Cats like you appreciate a pat on the back, but you have a level of standards for the mugs whose praise you appreciate; it’s gotta be somebody in the know.

The absence of the need to be in the middle of a Turkish Bazaar of Street Rods might make ya not too interested in the ol’ street rod cattle-call. Might be different if all the stuff there was trad and ret, ya know?

The HAMB Drags draws the faithfull from far and wide; Reliability Runs for 50-100 cars are are popping up all over; The Rumble, Billetproof and Pileup and some of the other regional events remind us of spirit of the beginning of the street deal, late 60’s, where it was shock and awe that as many as 300-400 like-minded people might drive waaay cross-country to be around the only other ones that think like them. Lonestar Roundup really looks like a street scene from the early 70’s what with actin’ up on South Congress, thrivin’ on the music (an’ we don’t mean Mustang Sally), so since there are in fact places to go with attendance that large….maybe we got what we want already.

We say after most of these events, ” ‘hope is doesn’t get too big..”

The recent Hopupland Corral at LAR Fathers Day Show demo’d our city-within-a-city alternative…Dickweed put up a wall (crime scene tape), our folks were within…the Pagans were without. Easy.
It’s certain that some people came who otherwise would not have chosen to throw in with the ilk of the official population of the event, so LAR enjoyed some attendance in return for the courtesy of giving us the ‘reservation’.

The credenials of the guys thinkin’ this assocation thing up are stellar; we’ll play; we probably all should. If you have a change of heart later because of some behavior or other..you can always ‘not go’ and stay around your own digs with your own Bro’s..kinda the Hop Up Way.

But ya gotta remember that up til now there’s always been a different mentality between the association guys and most of our kind of guys.

We just might be too ‘base’ to go with the crowd. Know what I mean?

But hell: maybe we can learn to ‘make nice’.

READ DRIP PAN, HOPUPLAND, and T ‘n A