The car series, an introduction... - Originally published on 1UP - March 2, 2009

Friends, today is the start of something very important to me. It is something that I've been meaning to share with you for some time. Over the next few weeks I will profess my love of cars on this blog. If you have no interest in the automobile then you might want to move on. If you do that however you will miss plenty of things that you would like. We'll be looking at art, videogames and culture with a special emphasis on our four-wheeled friend. We'll learn how man shaped the car and how the car shaped our world. The racing genre goes back nearly to the first videogame but that is not where we'll begin. Instead we'll go further back and narrow down the topic. Rather than talk about how the horseless carriage became a phenomenon and the origins of racing we'll begin with the advent of hot rod culture.

You could read about the hot rod at Wikipedia but then you would be missing out on why the culture is special. You'd miss out on the psychology of rod enthusiasts, why their passion runs so deep. Most important you would miss out on why rodding might be considered the second original American artistic movement as a part of Rock and Roll.

A long while ago I said that Hip Hop was the second original artistic movement created in the US. The first (and only) according to most is Jazz. In hindsight I was being very disrespectful to Rock and Roll because I could not see how all the components fit together. It should have been considered the second original art form from the US. Like Jazz and Hip Hop it included it's own voice, music, forms of dance and graphical representations. The customized automobile between the 40's through the 60's had become a rolling 3D representation of the culture.

Like rock and roll stripped music down into powerful chords and a driving beat so too did the hot rod deconstruct automobile. Both worked because they broke the idea down to the bare essentials, to the elements that were most important. Both were forms of expression unique to their generation. Taking things familiar to their parents but remaking them in their own image. The hot rod seemed a perpetual work in progress. It began by taking the familiar cars from the 20's and 30's and knocking off the heavy sheet metal components. Making the car lighter and faster was only part of the goal. Mechanics predated "fabricators" and "tuners" by a few generations. The mechanics pushed the envelope on the hot rod. By removing fenders, engine covers, side rails at first. then chopping, stretching, painting, welding, tweaking and discovering that although the hot rod had a beginning, only a lack of imagination could end it.

The music of that generation was too loud and reckless for parents, these cars perfectly embodied that spirit. For those in authority it all seemed too much, too rebellious and too dangerous for society. Right when rock and rod culture were crossing paths World War II broke the momentum. It was the break during the earliest stages that caused me to overlook the culture as a whole. The community wouldn't go full-force into rodding until the 50's. I failed to see that Rock and Roll was every bit as relevant and original an artistic movement as Jazz and Hip Hop ever were. The Hot Rod turned the automotive world on end while it absorbed the language, music and culture of an entire generation. For failing to realize that earlier and share it on the blog I apologize. Allow me to make amends and share how the spirit of hot rod culture helped influence the art and gaming world and turned me into the fine upstanding citizen you see today. Tomorrow we'll look at a defining slice of hot rod culture that is alive and well. I hope to see you back!

If you have a favorite car memory I'd like to hear about it. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!