The Hot Rod Reader

by Peter Schletty (Editor), Melinda Keefe (Editor)

This anthology of hot rod writings and excerpts chronicles the joys of hot rodding, the historical circumstances of its creation, and the major events, people, cars, and builders who brought hot rods to the national stage. From popular writers of the era to those covering today’s cutting edge innovators, this collection explores various themes within hot rodding through news articles, essays, fiction, interviews, and more, with more than 60 color and black-and-white illustrations and photographs to illuminate each excerpt and story. Writers include Gray Baskerville, Ed Roth, Wally Parks, Dean Batchelor, Robert E. Petersen, Tom Wolfe, LeRoi "Tex" Smith, and many more.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2011

Reviews

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book talks about everything from the history of hot rodding to the philosophy on why people start becoming hot rodders. It uses a variety of sources such as Hot Rod Magazine or the stories of people who were on the cutting edge of rodding. The book has interviews from many of the big names in hot rodding such as Ed Roth, Barney Navarro, and Gray Baskerville.

This book is very interesting to read when you are mechanically minded and grew up hot rodding. The chapter division makes it very easy to pick up and read about the topic because each chapter is an individual story. The book also has very good quotes, many describing how hot rodders think. I would recommend this book to anybody who has any interest in cars and how the ever popular sport of racing became to be.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, but there are a lot of editing errors, and most of the stories are just parts of a longer article, always feeling like you are missing something.