SO-CAL Speed Shop

by Mark Christensen

The ability of U.S. car enthusiasts to satisfy their need for speed changed dramatically in the late 1940s as car-crazy veterans returned home from World War II with formal mechanical training, courtesy of Uncle Sam. This is the story of how one such veteran, an ex-B-17 airman named Alex Xydias, established the SO-CAL Speed Shop and helped transform hot rodding from a scruffy, underground, outlaw sport into a defining part of postwar American culture.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2005

About the author

Mark Christensen, a native of Oregon, is a journalist and author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction. His published works include THE SWEEPS: Behind the Scenes of Network TV, BUILD THE PERFECT BEAST, and most recently THE SO-CAL SPEED SHOP, winner of the Dean Bachelor Award for Best Automobile Book of 2006. A former editor of Oregon Magazine, his freelance writing has appeared in numerous publications, among them Wired, Playboy, TV Guide, Rolling Stone and the LA Times Sunday Magazine. In 1994, The Oregonian named his novel, ALOHA, as the best written by a northwest writer that year. A father of two children, Mark lives with his wife in Laguna Beach, California.

Reviews

[Stesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book while searching for information about hot rods and racing in the 1950s. It tells the story of the Alex Xydias who, with a bunch of speed obsessed fellas, opened the So-Cal Speed Shop and broke speed record after speed record on the salt flats at Bonneville. For someone like me who knows next to nothing about the inner-workings of a car, the technical aspects kind of went over my head, but the stories about the hard work and passion that went in to making hunks of metal go go go! was interesting and gave me a definite sense of what it was like in the late 40s/early 50s world of time-trials.