MAGAZINE

HOP UP 2000

The envelopes are labeled, posted and ready to stuff with the coolest, most focused book of the year. If you are a gearhead; if you are a Hop Up Guy, and if you want to be current on the state of traditional rods and customs in the millenium....pony up. The price goes up to cover price of $12.95 on December 1.

128 pages, 16 color, regional reports, T's, A's, rods, customs, racecars, only a tiny bit of lifestyle stuff (OK, Bud?), 6 1/2"x 9 1/2" format (remember the old "Hot Rod Annuals" of the 50's?); not a bowser in the lot; no chopped fat-fendered Chevy's with graphics and fuzzy dice, simply the best of what's happpening now. A limited number is being run (there are only 17 of us anyway, huh?) and they probably won't be reprinted, so, after they're gone......oh yeah.

Did we say it'll be worth suffering a little delay? Oh yeah. Besides, a whole bunch of folks are getting theirs FREE because they lost their money to somebody else.

Hop is back, Boys. Hop Up is back, it's world wide. And it has honor. Hop Up Honor. Stay Honor.

e hopup verita

The Order Form (click here).

HOP UP 2000 LOOKS LIKE THIS

WHAT'S HAPPENING

HOT ROD REUNION

WHAT YEAR WAS THIS, ANYWAY?

The Fence Crows hang there in a kinda anti-social, territorial thumbing of their noses at the rest of 'em. But the space is shared with The Shifters (Neuvo Crows?), who have the same attitude. Different look....but same attitude. Hot Rodders have always had attitudes. We don't mean the other-directed, gold-chain, billetized attitude of the you-know-who, but an attitude born of style. Hop Up style. The edge. An edge that is filed by years of just bein' cool because you knew what you were doin'. Do you guys know how really cool you are? Probably don't care, do you? Didn't think so.........

Well, the place was (a little too crowded) littered with cool guys, and alot of cool iron, and a few morons but, hey! It's a free country ain't it? How's a moron gonna know how to apply his wallet if he doesn't eavesdrop the act of a real car guy now an' then?

Our 'Stringer' this time was Swell Tom, the Sure-Fit Seatcover cat from somewhere like - where is it? Calistoga? Starts with a C. (A stringer is an underpaid-or unpaid- reporter in a remote area that a poverty-stricken publisher can't afford to get to); we reckon he walked all the way over there, chewin' on a piece of straw, flashin' his Brownie here and there, sayin' "Golly, wudja look at that 'un!". He says there were lots of runs made, so a dude could watch races, get up and go kick tires for a while, and then go back and watch drags at almost any time. That's good doin's, NHRA. Entertainment value. Nice, also, that the deal is put on in October now, because we used to freeze our asses off when they had it in November. Took the fun right out of it.

ROARING ROADSTER, RACECAR, GREYBEARDS LOOKING MORE LIKE GALOOTS

The look of the event is gratifying. For as long as they've had it, it has been our kinda cars and car people (mainly) but, if you had a need to be in a nostalgic setting, get a load of the cars in the parking area. Jeez, man! We know it's redundant, but it really coulda been then.

R/P HAS A WEDGE GOIN' ON

EASTERN LOOK HAS GOT ALL THE WAY TO CALI!

THIS GOW WAS AT THE SIDEBURN CIRCUS

"FULL HAL" MEANS HAL BLOCK, TOO. WHOA!

F.A.S.T. HILLCLIMB

Dougie, Bellman. Cyclone Kev and Mild Mitch were on hand as crew. Each had his own specialty, which made for a balanced attack: Mildness brought the snacks. Gotta have some eats. Kev brought his T roadster along for a pitmate and general good vibrations in the Hop Up pit. Ya gotta look like a racing 'team', doncha? Bellman brought years of tuning and magneto technology. "Is this advance, or is that?", and Dougie, well.......Dougie brought the brew. Did you know Dougie's lookin' for an A Bone? He wants to go racin', too. We think all of 'em wanna go racin' (Rust Man has one in progress), so maybe we'll go out there and have some fun. With our guys. Strength in numbers. Class people. Not everyone is. Had ya noticed? Yeah, you noticed.

There were a couple of T's, and it was kinda interesting to watch the A guys snicker when the T chugged up the hill, relatively slowly, as if the A's were big the guns (they all do run so good), but it was just a role-reversal wherein this time the A guys weren't being mocked by the SBC guys or flathead V-8 guys. Big frogs? It's all relative, ain't it?

But, HEY! We were at the "Big end" (if there is one on a 1/10th mile hill), and listening to those bangers hittin' it at the flag was a treat. Ear candy. Lots of different sounds; it isn't Sissy-Mon stuff. One D.O. Hal was there, a Cook (same guy), lots of Cragars and Rileys and.....Whoa, Daddy! Don't sniff at the flat heads. A good Winfield or other flat head with two jugs is a runnin' Jesse. These cats have got four barrels figured out......not a slug in the bunch....bangin' shifts, slidin' sideways, r's climbin' all the way to the flag...this is racin', pure and simple, it's seemingly affordable, tech and other race rules are pretty forgiving and, well....we're on it.

We met one of these old-time Model A guys when we were visiting Rust Man one time. Rusty says, "My Buddy, here, is interested in four bangers."

"Yeah?" the coot says.

"He wants to bring a banger up here to your hillclimb."

"Come on up an' we'll blow your doors off." I guess that's one way to say Y'all come.

So we went up there with the Cragar fresh out of the purchase-contract, and screwed with it all day and didn't really do much but scare wildlife with all the backfirin', spittin', sputterin', gaggin' and coughin'. He blew our doors off.

This time he only blew one of 'em open a little bit. He's not that much faster. Ya know, this farmer has got dual quads on his banger?!!! We're in the same class at Auburn, so we gonna take up the challenge. Kit found us a Cyclone quick-change for the Cragar and, among the other changes that have made it "The Hop Up Cragar", 'positraction' oughta trim that other 1/3 second we want.

We've already put lots of energy into clearing the cobwebs, and with the rest of the personalizing , well, Boys............a new life for some old iron. Yesterday is .........well, it's yesterday, Man.

Hop Up Honor