Hopupland

HOPUPLAND

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THIS MONTH’S COVER

Comes from Sweden via Anders Norman. Car belongs to a cat named Kent. Over there, see, they must not have certain corruptions in their water supply, cuz we see no examples of bad hot rod or custom taste.

(Note that John D’Agostino will be covering a certain custom from Sweden in Hop Up Volume VII.)

There’s a couple more Swedish pics below.

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HOP UP SPECIAL DELAYED-SHIPS NEXT MONTH WITHOUT FAIL

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah;  so we gonna have t’ read somebody else’s doo-doo for a few days. or really read an old Hop Up Annual. Or read all of the web page. We’ll get by, tho’,  because it’s the Bomb. La Bamba (Note: to Sobrino Fabian: that means bomb in Spanish).

So get yer Mom to write a check for one ..7 lousy bucks (how much was that soggy roast beef at the big ‘Nationals’ last weekend?) and send it to :

Hop Up
PO 790
Riverside, Ca. 92502

Or check in Paypal over there>

HOP UP VOLUME VI

 

Order this the same way, send $17, s&h included (US 50 only) or use Paypal. Look in ‘Speedshop over there>

Remember: we can’t ship directly off shore..use one of our pals at American Auto Mags or Kustomink.
Canada takes $25 for Annuals and $12 for Special.

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RATTLE CAN NATIONALS SEPTEMBER 29,30

Usual place, Dudes. HRI on I-5 in Coalinga. Be prepared for a further culling of the unworthy. Outing of the uncool. Dissection of wheat from shaff, fat from meat, and us from them. Not for the poseur, Neatstreeter, or tailrider. Don’t pop in with copies of your self-promoting letters to the editor
(we heard they even send them to National Geographic!).

It’s the next evolutional step in the percolation, refinement and ascension of Hop Up Guy. An’ know what? We get to be there to watch you hairy-legged, pure-hearted, crafty, wrench-wielding nomads in your element; among kinfolk…...and not too many of them.

Snocker Practice starts promptly at 4:00. Don’t be late.

THEN!!! The Friday cruise will go to Hanford (for the usual Mexican Veritas Comida) then to a private tour of a bunch of cool iron a few miles away, on the way to Bako, then, then…...and theeeeeen:

Hop Up Drags at Famoso!!!!! (Some call it the California Hot Rod Reunion!!) September 30, Oct 1, 2.
May be one of the finest parking lot shows on earth (except maybe the Hop Up 100 MPH Awards Banquet).
We’ll be there assisting Sham (Sam Davis) who drives THE FREIGHT TRAIN at Cacklefest.

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WHO THE HELL ARE WE?

We been doin’ this for so long…we thought we should take inventory and talk about who we really are. Back in ‘97 we spent a little time establishing certain ‘credentials’ and attitudes, that caused this to be gettin’ done.
There didn’t seem to be very many of us and…... GLORY BE! There turned out to be 19!

US is guys (and chicks) that get traditional hot rods and customs, live it right up to the obsessive but hopefully, have the maturity to rank it behind things like family and that-there. Oh, there’ll be a little angst now and then when those generous ones around us feel like they slipped in to second place, but they sometimes don’t understand that we do it for their own good. We test ‘em. Develop their character. Ask them to be all they can be; challenge them to make their reach exceed their grasp.

It’s like allowing an eccentric artist to express himself. Givin’ a wild pony a free rein, ya know?

We’re not particularly complex, but we can be misunderstood; we have needs.

We said then that we would spread the gospel of the real deal. (We said it then.) Repeat: then.

We are guys what need to drive our Iron. Everywhere. Country roads (we got ‘em here, Bub, believe it) where we find that buggy springs set down kinda low and tight with good shocks can get ya ‘round decreasing radius turns and sweepers and s’s…pretty flat after all. We gotta drive them to a get together (shop night, gowwow, (ugh)cruise night, club meeting) where people of similar bent may be congregated. We take them to where they figure; where they are appreciated. Sometimes we’ll have to drive them to work (you do got a job, right?) ‘cuz that’s the only respite you’ll figure to get on some particular work day. And we may have to drive them to a Rod Stop (that’s another one that got morphed and plagiarized) that, if small enough or if accidentally populated by enough Brethren of the Hop Up Sect…... may have merit.

Or to visit that Pal that’s been on your mind recently. You know, the guy who has quietly been your mentor; hasn’t sought praise for it, but just knew you could use some nerfing this way or that in your knowledge, assembly skills…or taste..or attitude…ya gotta drive that hole-in-the-muffler, seven cylinder wonder over to his place once in a while to contemplate what’s cool. Yeah, ya gotta drive it over to see that guy.

Or we may have to drive our Hot Iron…or our slammed, too-cool, hammered custom…..away.

Solo.

Cathartic (cartharsis?)

‘On the Road Again’. (I still would love to have been on that bus drinkin’ Tequilla with Willie and Slim) rings in my ringin’ ears most every time I get…on the road again.

And you can drive with music…it can be really meaningful…or without...it can be really meaningful. Listen to the zinging of the tires on the pavement (pretty much a high-boy phenomenon), the drone of the engine, the whine of the gears, the thump of the shock absorbing, and feel the wheel and lean it back and forth a little once in a while for no practical reason…and escape.

Purge.

Get away with somethin’. They don’t know where you are and you turned the phone off.

You may be thinkin’ of nothin’, or your mind may be racin’ with lifes’ dilemma or excitement of another project.

That Daytime Dreamin’ we refer to is best done at the wheel of your Gow.

Wow.

It’s just cool to have/drive/love/work on/study/crave/experience..hot rods.

I guess that’s who the hell we are.

But there’s more, ain’t there? Yup. Stick around. Between you and us and the other 18 guys…it all gets expressed…...... right here…in HOPUPLAND….....the ‘state of mind’ station…...sans smack-talking celebs…..and with veritas. Truth.

You know it, Man.

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Remember that “It’s About the Iron” came from here

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STROKER

Well. Dave lukkari won the Stroker Award at the Goodguise Nationals. A fitting tribute to a deserving guy and car. That’s a small club, they say…...

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GOOK

Slimy excess. Too much doo-dad’n. Too much accessorizin’. Too many features.

Gaudy.

In the day, it was reflectors. Mud flaps. Antennas.

And they still do it today.

No?

Yes. Except it’ll be little scoops or fairings or rivets and covers and chauvinistic excess that’s just as confusing to the eye.

Too much good/cool/nicely executed stuff is still GOOK.

‘Tryin’ too hard’, our mentors call it.

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SPEEDWEEK

Went like this:

On the way there we stop in Austin, NV for the Alviso Roadster Roundup, beer bust and steak-out. Except us. We were getting the new truck re-wired in Sacramento. Worked out all right tho’.

THIS IS SOME OF WHAT WE MISSED IN AUSTIN

WARM, WARM MEMORIES (Photo by Rudy)

GOW-CHOW

We’ll have more on this doins in the Hop Up Specials

 

Then at B’ville ....we got in the Huns. The salt was was lumpy. There was a fatality (pause, meditate, pray or do whatever it is you do). The Hop Up Magazine Hundred Mile Per Hour Club Awards Banquet Beer Bust an’ Weenie Roast was a smashing, rockin’, rollin’ bluesy success. A storm that looked like a disaster movie of the Oklahoma Land Rush ran us (washed and blew us) off the salt Tuesday.

The Boners pulled off the difficult: drove to B’ville in the roadster, changed tires and ran 110 with a ‘warm’ motor….and drove the wind-stopper back to Upstate New York. We’ll be buyin’ when we see you next month, Boys! (That’s leggin’ it, right, Keith????)

Our Faborates have to be the Immortals: Tom Branch, Fabian Valdez and Adam Rogers finished a beautiful rear- engined car that was started on July 4…brought it with the Banger Motor in it…but got rained out before they could get anybody in the Huns.

 

NEW GEN LSR CAR: POBRECITO FABE HAD TO WEAR HIS HOP UP CHONIES

 

Thanks go to Chella and Tony Huntimer, Hugh Coltharp, Mild Mitch, Don Dillard and a bunch of other unpaid extras who help make this Banquet happen. This gig is a Bonneville Institution now and not to be missed. We were rocked enough and rolled just right.

STUPID…SCOW? (Photo by Debbie Dannenfelzer)

 

UNPAID EXTRAS SLAVING; ONE IS BEING FORCED TO TAKE HOP UP INDENTUREMENT POTION

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HOP UP TRAVELIN’ ROAD SHOW and ‘HOT ROD REVIVAL’ (tm) IS GOING TO MASS

This month we’ll be at Tyrods Oldtymers, revisiting old friends and locations and territorializing..yeah: markin’ our territory. Not really ours, but the Northeast is a stronghold of traditionalists and is a major center of Hop Up support. Hell, we may up and move Hop Up World Headquarters over there someday. Really.

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YEAH, BUDDY: THE HOP UP ‘HOT ROD REVIVAL’ IS COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU

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A BOMBERS OLD STYLE WEEKEND

Anders Norman submits these photos that, on reflection,  reflect no disadvantage for those over there. Photos of the get-togethers over there look exactly like our ideal vision of the perfect round up.  How is it they get it so right?

Small numbers, we’ll bet.

ALLARD HEADS GOTTA BE COOL, EH?

TALK ABOUT GETTING SLEDS RIGHT

 

ALSO READ DRIP PAN, T ‘n A, AND MORT’S SHORTS; SCROLL UP TO THE RIGHT