Here are the hot rodders we'll worship tomorrow. Kevin Thomson and David Perry venture into the shops of all-steel apostles Cole Foster, Gary Howard, Keith Tardel, the Kennedy Brothers, Jimmy White, Mike Smith, Rudy Rodriguez, Scott Mugford, and Mercury Charlie and offer profiles of todays top hot rod and custom builders. Hot rodders themselves, Thomson and Perry get to the heart of what makes todays hot rodders go, how they think, who they are, and what makes them builders worth watching.

Hot rods have made legends, taking the spotlight in all aspects of the beach culture, in movies, and in music. They represent youth, rebellion, and a drive to do things a little differently. The hot rod movement has always been a grassroots, groundswell movement, an underground art form that defies a straightforward chronicle succinctly tied up with a bow. The All-American Hot Rod is a history by those who lived it, the numerous voices and images of people who know and love the hot rod like nothing else. It's truly an all-American tale with an exhaust note heard 'round the world. If you're still in awe of that first hot rod, still driving and tuning hot rods, or still dreaming of hot rods, then this book is for you.

Get the full history of the American muscle car in The All-American Muscle Car, from it's origin as an act of descent, to where it sits now.

Moorhouse (sociology, U.of Glasgow) interprets the post-war American passion for hot rods and drag racing as an extreme example of the country's attitude toward automobiles. Of interest to social scientists and to teenagers who want to see what they missed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

For American teenagers, getting a driver’s license has long been a watershed moment, separating teens from their childish pasts as they accelerate toward the sweet, sweet freedom of their futures. With driver’s license in hand, teens are on the road to buying and driving(and maybe even crashing) their first car, a machine which is home to many a teenage ritual—being picked up for a first date, “parking” at a scenic overlook, or blasting the radio with a gaggle of friends in tow. So important is this car ride into adulthood that automobile culture has become a stand-in, a shortcut to what millions of Americans remember about their coming of age. Machines of Youth traces the rise, and more recently the fall, of car culture among American teens. In this book, Gary S. Cross details how an automobile obsession drove teen peer culture from the 1920s to the 1980s, seducing budding adults with privacy, freedom, mobility, and spontaneity. Cross shows how the automobile redefined relationships between parents and teenage children, becoming a rite of passage, producing new courtship rituals, and fueling the growth of numerous car subcultures. Yet for teenagers today the lure of the automobile as a transition to adulthood is in decline.Tinkerers are now sidelined by the advent of digital engine technology and premolded body construction, while the attention of teenagers has been captured by iPhones, video games, and other digital technology. And adults have become less tolerant of teens on the road, restricting both cruising and access to drivers’ licenses. Cars are certainly not going out of style, Cross acknowledges, but how upcoming generations use them may be changing. He finds that while vibrant enthusiasm for them lives on, cars may no longer be at the center of how American youth define themselves. But, for generations of Americans, the modern teen experience was inextricably linked to this particularly American icon.