Which is THE Quintessential "Hot Rod" Song?

[Greg Myers]

There are many hot rod car songs out there that may or may not get your juices going. Which one is it that most represents the old time hot rods? Here's an interesting article : http://www.internetmodeler.com/scalemodels/automotive/1-24-Hot-Rod-Lincoln_printer.php

[Greg Myers]

This outta get ya good and confused : http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/h/hotrodrace.shtml

[Greg Myers]

And from the '60's

"Little Deuce Coupe"

Little deuce Coupe
You don't know what I got
Little deuce Coupe
You don't know what I got

Well I'm not braggin' babe so don't put me down
But I've got the fastest set of wheels in town
When something comes up to me he don't even try
Cause if I had a set of wings man I know she could fly
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
(My little deuce coupe)
(You don't know what I got)

Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she'll walk a Thunderbird like (she's) it's standin' still
She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored.
She'll do a hundred and forty with the top end floored
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
(My little deuce coupe)
(You don't know what I got)

She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor
And she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar
And if that aint enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing, I got the pink slip daddy

And comin' off the line when the light turns green
Well she blows 'em outta the water like you never seen
I get pushed out of shape and it's hard to steer
When I get rubber in all four gears

She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
(My little deuce coupe)
(You don't know what I got)
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
(My little deuce coupe)
(You don't know what I got)
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got

Edited September 4, 2014 by Greg Myers

[Ace-Garageguy]

Like 'em or not, the '32 Ford "Deuce" is the A-number 1 American hot-rod icon, so my vote goes for the obvious choice.

[cobraman]

Spring Little Cobra ? Ok, maybe not so much but you know I had to say that didn't you ? : )

[Brett Barrow]

My favorite? "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston & Ike Turner. But out of the choices given I'll take Little Deuce Coupe.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Spring Little Cobra ? Ok, maybe not so much but you know I had to say that didn't you ? : )

Naturally, and I love that song. Then there's "409", and "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" (Superstock Dodge), "Little GTO", "Drag City", the Beach Boys "Shut Down" and "No-Go Showboat" and on and on and on. Man, I'm going to listen to this stuff on Utube....

Edited September 4, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Bernard Kron]

Even 'though Little Deuce Coupe is most likely the best known of the choices, I'll argue on behalf of Jesse Lee "Arkie" Shibley whose "Hot Rod Race (No.1)" (he did no less that 4 sequels about the various characters in the song), this was the original Hot Rod song and the lyrics set the model for all Hot Rod songs to come. The drop dead period atmosphere this Arkansas transplant establishes is remarkable and a veritable time capsule, right down to the "kid in a hopped up Model-A" who beats them both. Hot Rod Lincoln was an "answer song" to Shibley's series of releases.

Shibley garnered a No.5 on the C&W charts in 1951 while Tiny Hill eventually crossed over with his cover to No. 29 on the Pop charts. Hill also covered Hot Rod Race No. 2.

For convenience, here are the lyrics from the link above:

HOT ROD RACE
(written by George Wilson - thought to be Arkie Shibley under pseudonym)
Arkie Shibley & His Mountain Dew Boys

First released in 1950 on Sibley's own Mountain Dew Records

Now me and my wife and my brother Joe,
took off in my Ford from San Pedro.
We hadn't much gas 'n' the tires was low,
but the doggone Ford could really go.

Now along about the middle of the night,
we were rippin' along like white folks might,
when a Mercury behind he blinked his lights,
and he honked his horn and he flew outside.

We had twin pipes and a Columbia butt,
you people may think that I'm in a rut,
but to you folks who don't dig the jive,
that's two carburetors and an overdrive.

We made grease spots outta many good town,
and left the cops heads spinnin' round 'n' round.
They wouldn't chase, they'd run and hide,
but me and that Mercury stayed side by side.

Now we were Ford men and we likely knew,
that we would race until somethin' blew,
and we thought it over,
now, wouldn't you?

I looked down at my lovely bride,
her face was blue, I thought she'd died.
We left streaks through towns about forty feet wide,
but me and that Mercury stayed side by side.

My brother was pale, he said he was sick,
he said he was just a nervous wreck.
But why should I worry, for what the heck,
me and that Mercury was still neck-and-neck.

Now on through the deserts we did glide,
a-flyin' low and a-flyin' wide,
me an' that Mercury was a-takin' a ride,
and we stayed exactly side by side.

Now I looked in my mirror and I saw somethin' comin',
I thought it was a plane by the way it was a-runnin'.
It was a-hummin' along at a terrible pace,
and I knew right then it was the end of the race.

When it flew by us, I turned the other way,
the guy in the Mercury had nothin' to say,
for it was a kid, in a hopped up Model-A.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Bernard Kron

[GLMFAA1]

'She's real fine my 409'

[Jon Haigwood]

I love all three but I have to go with Hot Rod Lincoln it was based on a real car (currently in a museum in Washington State). I am not sure which one had the most covers but would put my money Hot Rod Lincoln by Charlie Ryan

The real Hot Rod Lincoln . Originally it was black but Charlie updated it a few years before he passed.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Jon Haigwood

[Quick GMC]

Hot Rod Lincoln.

[Bernard Kron]

Succinctly put courtesy of Wikipedia, here's the scoop about Charlie Ryan's "Hot Rod Lincoln":

"Hot Rod Lincoln" was recorded in 1955 as an answer song to "Hot Rod Race", a 1951 hit for Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys. Hot Rod Race tells the story of a late-model Ford and Mercury who end up racing along the highway, neither driver gaining an advantage, and staying "neck and neck" until they are both overtaken (to their amazement) by a kid in "a hopped-up Model A". ... "Hot Rod Lincoln" was written by Charlie Ryan, who had also recorded a version of "Hot Rod Race". It begins with a direct reference to Shibley's earlier ballad, stating "You heard the story of the hot rod race that fatal day, when the Ford and the Mercury went out to play. Well, this is the inside story and I'm here to say, I'm the kid that was a-drivin' that Model A." ... Ryan owned a real hot rod that was built from a 1948 12-cylinder Lincoln chassis shortened two feet and with a 1930 Ford Model A body fitted to it. Thus the song explains how in "Hot Rod Race" a kid in a Model A could have outrun late-model Ford and Mercury sedans....

In the interests of equal time, here are the lyrics:

HOT ROD LINCOLN

(written by Charlie Ryan)

Charlie Ryan and The Livingston Brothers

First released in 1955 on Souvenir Records

My pappy said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln"

Have you heard this story of the Hot Rod Race
When Fords and Lincolns was settin' the pace
That story is true, I'm here to say
I was drivin' that Model A

It's got a Lincoln motor and it's really souped up
That Model A body makes it look like a pup
It's got eight cylinders, uses them all
It's got overdrive, just won't stall

With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust
With 4.11 gears you can really get lost
It's got safety tubes, but I ain't scared
The brakes are good, tires fair

Pulled out of San Pedro late one night
The moon and the stars was shinin' bright
We was drivin' up Grapevine Hill
Passing cars like they was standing still

All of a sudden in a wink of an eye
A Cadillac sedan passed us by
I said, "Boys, that's a mark for me"
By then the tail light was all you could see

Now the fellas was ribbin' me for bein' behind
So I thought I'd make the Lincoln unwind
Took my foot off the gas and man alive
I shoved it on down into overdrive

Wound it up to a hundred-and-ten
My speedometer said that I hit top end
My foot was glued like lead to the floor
That's all there is and there ain't no more

Now the boys all thought I'd lost my sense
And telephone poles looked like a picket fence
They said, "Slow down! I see spots!
The lines on the road just look like dots"

Took a corner, sideswiped a truck
Crossed my fingers just for luck
My fenders was clickin' the guardrail posts
The guy beside me was white as a ghost

Smoke was comin' from out of the back
When I started to gain on that Cadillac
Knew I could catch him, I thought I could pass
Don't you know by then we'd be low on gas

We had flames comin' from out of the side
Feel the tension, man, what a ride!
I said, "Look out, boys, I've got a license to fly"
And that Caddy pulled over and let us by

Now all of a sudden she started to knockin'
And down in the dips she started to rockin'
I looked in my mirror; a red light was blinkin'
The cops was after my Hot Rod Lincoln

They arrested me and they put me in jail
And called my pappy to throw my bail
And he said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln!"

Edited September 5, 2014 by Bernard Kron

[Snake45]

Put me down for "409" and "Shut Down." Two other favorites are Springsteen's "Racing in the Streets" (even though he's got "fuelie heads" on a 396) and Warren Zevon's "Roll with the Punches," even with a "429" in a '57 Chevy. For those who've never heard it, Zevon wrote the song just to score this scene from HBO's Tales from the Crypt. Now that's a hot rod!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZPZgQouDE

Edited September 5, 2014 by Snake45

[Ace-Garageguy]

Which is the quintessential ice-cream flavor? Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?

[Bernard Kron]

Which is the quintessential ice-cream flavor? Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?

In that case put me down for Rhubarb...

[clovis]

I love all three but I have to go with Hot Rod Lincoln it was based on a real car (currently in a museum in Washington State). I am not sure which one had the most covers but would put my money Hot Rod Lincoln by Charlie Ryan

The Beach Boys' Little Deuce Coupe was based on a real car too. IIRC, Brian Wilson wrote the lyrics after seeing the car on the cover of a magazine.

The car on the cover of the Beach Boys album is the actual car, which was hunted down for a photo shoot after the song was written.

That Little Deuce Coupe is still in existence, and I believe it is owned by the son of the guy who built it. The son loans it out for museums.

[Ace-Garageguy]

In that case put me down for Rhubarb...

Make mine watermelon-pistachio.

[cobraman]

Dead Mans Curve ?

[GLMFAA1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enqNl7tdLR4

[Craig Irwin]

Any Plymouth Belevdere wagon fans here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IPwOx5xTH8

Edited September 5, 2014 by Craig Irwin

[southpier]

what? no "Tell Laura I Love Her".

whippersnappers .......

[unclescott58]

Be cause of American Graffiti, one of my quintessential Hot Rod songs will always be Green Onions, by Booker T. & The MG's.

Scott

[AC Norton]

jan and deans.....MY MIGHTY GTO...is my favorite, although lesser known.....the ace............

[Dale W. Verts]

Grew up loving the Beach Boys, mostly beacause of the car songs. Can you imagine songs being written about kids' cars today?

Dale

[Ace-Garageguy]

Grew up loving the Beach Boys, mostly beacause of the car songs. Can you imagine songs being written about kids' cars today?

Dale

Yeah, how great my touchy-feely old Prius is at letting me stay connected with all my unemployable little friends who can't make change from a dollar, and who don't have a clue how to fix it when "it won't go, mommy"...

Or how thrilling the sound of the blatt-can muffler is on my Honda running on 3 cylinders, with an automatic trans 'cause I don't know how to shift...

Edited September 5, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy