Contents
Hop Up 2002 May Cover VLV T n' A Auburn Mort's Shorts
Contact Us Magazine Info Previous Issues Cool T-Shirts

MAGAZINE

May 2002

19th NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

Saw an old film clip of the Stones doing "19th Nervous Breakdown" and flashed on a cold, foggy night in about '65. A Buddy and I had to go WAY out to Riverside (River City?) to do something like return to a reserve meeting or something. We'd gone back home earlier that day because we didn't want to miss out on anything like a home town partyin' and cruisin' weekend. Usta burn pretty good in those days.

But we had to go back. I'm not certain, but I think we had been drinkin' around town. And the party continued. We were in a slammed '56 Chev hardtop. Black tuck and roll throughout, silver outside and Buick war wheels...and the highest tech sound system of the time. Musta been 8 track and I don't know if we were over Vibrasonic by that time or not............

We were leggin' it eastbound on hiway 60 about 90 M.P.H. and, Man, it was in the country back then; winders were cranked down all around, no kinda lights anywhere, 250 foot visibility, west and east lanes separated by a dirt median and I remember we had "19th" cranked up even louder than those rappin' Bellflowers. And we wuz probably talkin' 90 MPH, too.

Nobody, but no-frickin' body, on the hiway.........when a spotlight from across the road hit the hardtop in the windshield and we blasted through the beam......."Whaaaa..was that?" What it was, was a cop across the road in the westbound lanes writing some other fool for something... and heard us coming, music, pipes and obviously haulin' ass, shot a beam of light at us...........and damn if we didn't become good citizens........ right NOW! Typical fire drill: empties out both sides of the car, bind 'er down to about 60, turn down the music, roll up the back quarter glass, and grab some Air Force paraphenalia so's we'd look like Defenders of Freedom when he got a look at our youthful asses.

He apparently didn't call anybody, and definitely didn't chase us; but if he had, Ma would have, in fact, had a nervous breakdown. We'd been known to cause 'em.

Anywho, we skated, and I think of that lucky break every time I hear the song.

DRIP PAN

DID YOU SEE THIS BUFORD AT THE HARLEY STORE IN OAKLAND?WITH ALLIGATOR DASH AND ALL??????

LOOK FOR STUBBY'S A IN HOP UP 2003

This is just a tease. The A Bone came from the original rodder who was in a club in Watts. Yeah, that Watts. A feature will turn up in Hop Up 2003. Whoa, Daddy!

AARON VON MINDEN IS IN THE SHINE, ROGUE MOLD WITH THIS

SAMIYAM WILL 'SQUALL 'EM FER DOLLARS'

HOWARD STEWART '54 IN '58 LOOKS LIKE OL' TIMES

THIS STOCKER IS GOING TO GET FIXED BY SOMEONE FROM A REAL MAGAZINE; AND WE WANT THE CORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHERE IN THE HELL IS OMAHA? REALLY.

POISON PEN LETTER?

THE RODD COUPLE (copyright 2002)

Yeh, Dougie and R.Dub qualify. But so do the cats what ran out o' high test last month. It just seems like two guys that rod and run a long time together can kind of become, well, Felix and Oscar. It can even be a pair of brothers. One is always one way and the other is always the other and they tend to get kinda bitchy sometimes and they don't really mean it -but they do- and they usually got wives, too, so maybe just havin' somebody you can get away with tellin' to 'get fucked' is a healthy thing; makes for harmony at home where it really counts. Now the ones what you gotta watch are the ones who DON'T have wives at home. That' might be another kettle o' mackeral. But you know the ones; and we don't mean the ones who chance to pal around together when it's convenient, but the ones who are always there, together, generally doin' what it is we say you oughta be doin', with like-minded hot rod hodads right here, but sometimes it flat gets comical watchin' the competitiveness and the frustration with each other's cliche habits. (You can hear 'em call each other a bitch now an' again, too," Hey Morty, where's yer bitch?" Lucky might say. 'Seems like he did. It's about as funny as dialogue can be, when two of 'em light off. It's like, a little taunting comes from one...the mellowest one....and the excitable one....takes it for a while.....and then uncorks a tapestry of swear words (that's plagiarized) that'll hang over the meet, or races, or drive-in, or fairgrounds, or shop or barn ....for days after it's all forgotten. And in that rant - dirty but good-natured- exaggerated but founded in a smidgeon of truth- he will get in his excited licks. They will strike the target. And, absorbing this (it was precisely the desired result) the methodical one will feign victory; lookers-on will see his self-satisfaction in sparking the fuel that is the others bitch's thin skin. But he will smart; he's the more polished, the more manipulative, but the more sensitive, too. So he will disect the diatribe word for word over the next couple days. The Excitable one will hear more about it later when the other mugs aren't around. "Ya know, ya fucker, yo u? That was chicken shit when you said..blah..blah.." "Well ya shouldn't-a said 'blah, blah'. You know that pisses me off! Wanna drive?" If you have a little tale to tell about yer 'bitch' or some RODD COUPLE that hangs where you do, send us a note and we'll share the tale with the 19 other hairy-legged hot rod bitches we know. Hell, we might give an annual award.

POSSON SCULPTURE "RUNNING AT THE LAKES" NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH HOP UP

Just after WWII, hot rodding got a start when young men took their cars out to the dry lake beds to see what they would do.

They began a whole new industry right there on the dry mud.

"Running at the Lakes", a new bronze sculpture by Steve Posson, captures the spirit of the early lakes meets.

The car has Kelsey-Hayes wheels, a dropped axle and a race car steering wheel, but everything else is pretty much stock.....and well used.

The '29 body has the cowl gas cap and the '32 grill still has its original trim and cap. The interior is tired, the door handles sag, but you know all the work is in the motor!

The racers are in blue denims with rolled up cuffs, t-shirts and boots.

"Running at the Lakes" is 26" long, carefully made by hand in lost-wax silicone bronze on a marble base. There will only be 15 made. $6,500.00

For more details contact Morty at (909) 788-2500.

Miss Information's Automotive Calendar of Events

Monthly listings of all things automotive in Cal, Nevada, Arizona
$15.00 per year:

A.C.E.
6475 East Pacific Coast Hwy. #375
Long Beach, Ca. 90803

Reciprocal links

Want to link your site to ours? Use one of our banners, located here.

Hot Rod Hell - where the Bad Cars go. 877-7HOTROD

MAGAZINE

19th NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

DRIP PAN

THE RODD COUPLE (copyright 2002)

Reciprocal links

Copyright © 1998 Hop Up Products Web site design, maintenance and hosting by Idyll Mountain Internet

Copyright © 1998 Hop Up Products
Web site design, maintenance and hosting by Idyll Mountain Internet