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Ad for the Shelby Series 1. I've seen this car in the flesh a number of times (the Shelby Museum is 20 minutes away for me), and it never fails to impress. Both beautiful and purposeful.

I have also built the Revell 1:25 scale model of this car, and found it to be a fun build

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by ea0863

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Article on the Chip Foose "Shockwave" AMBR winner

Stunning car, with shades of "Hemisfear" incorporated in the design.

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'64 Barracuda with attitude

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Article on the Hot Wheels offerings coming for the new millennium...

 

There were a bunch of cool designs, but the one that totally captivated me was the 1:64 "Bizarro" collectible. I'm going to look for it in scale, but definitely would love to do one as a scratch build at some point.

The rib up the middle notwithstanding, I think it is a spectacular design!

Edited January 1, 2023 by ea0863

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Just the prettiest '27 T Track Roadster

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With HRM December 1999, we were reaching the end of a millennium, and thus this issue was largely devoted to forecasting the future of the automobile. One article suggested that the major manufacturers would be trading on their respective heritages by reinterpreting popular and defining designs from their past. 

It seems this article was equal parts intuitiveness and observation, since car concepts of the time were suggesting this was the direction of the car industry anyway. But, in any event, it made for fun reading and included some inspirational sketches as well.

Edited January 1, 2023 by ea0863

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It's also funny that the word "apocalypse" was interspersed numerous times throughout this issue - none less prominently than in a really cool article on what a future flathead might look like.

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With that, we reached Y2K. Petersen Publishing now had over 80 monthly publications, and had come under new ownership with the retirement of Robert Petersen in 1996. The Petersen Automotive Museum had been established, and was becoming a premier custodian of the very cars featured in its magazines over the years. Hot Rod Magazine had only gone up a buck in ten years, and was now at $3.95 an issue. Their coverage remained focused on the hot rod scene, with a three year flirtation at the beginning of the decade involving Harley Davidson. This included monthly feature articles on HD motorcycles as "two wheeled hot rods", as well as technical segments on HD motors, etc.

As always, I encourage those following along in this thread to post any articles or photos you may find of interest in the pages of Hot Rod Magazine. I am thoroughly enjoying what I believe is a communal effort on our part to bring enthusiasm, inspiration, and education to our hobby.

Happy New Year to all! 

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A little shout-out to the upcoming "Diva Roadster" - described as part Cobra and part Caterham Seven. HRM February 2000

When pulling up other photos, you can see the references to the aforementioned cars, although it really did have a look all its own - a cool one at that!

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Here the famous Gene Winfield still going strong in HRM May 2000 (BTW; he's still going strong today!)

'61 Cadillac Coupe De Ville "Maybelline" article

In more recent photos:

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Seriously modified '71 Javelin SST called "Thumper". HRM June 2000

By the year 2000, what we used to call "cool" was now "hot". This Thumper is Hot!  

 

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Who would've thunk it? - An awesome looking Cadillac Northstar engine or two!

Which automatically begged the question - did anybody drop these into a Roadster? The answer was yes, at least one company named Cadillac Hot Rod Fabricators specialized in them...

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Black on black on black always looks good, but it looks downright sinister on this lowered '67 Buick Riviera. More photos of it in HRM July 2000

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I love seeing the hot rod scene in other parts of the world: '72 Challenger in Lebanon, '70 Camaro in Turkey, '72 Australian Valiant, and '78 Argentinian Nova. HRM July 2000

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On 12/18/2022 at 3:12 PM, ea0863 said:

It so happened that HRM April 1990 was also the annual Swimsuit Issue. Why do I mention this? Because there were not one, but two cool cars used as backdrops to the fairer sex. The first one was called the Ermie Immerso track roadster. I had not noticed it before in previous issues, but sure loved that engine!

 

It wasn't till HRM July 2000 when this car got a feature story all its own - - - and the photos were gorgeous. For anyone looking to replicate this car in scale, there are wonderful close-ups of the engine, interior, and even undercarriage.

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Chip Foose designed and Steve Frisbie built custom Nomad called "Realmad". HRM August 2000

Edited January 3, 2023 by ea0863

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Two articles about automotive designer Ed Newton in HRM November and December 2000. 

It seems this gentleman penned many of the krazy kustoms of the previous millennia! This is just a small sampling:

Li'l Redd Wrecker

Mega Cycle

Sand Draggin'

Vigilante

Edited January 3, 2023 by ea0863

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HRM December 2000 did an article on the demise of the Plymouth (isn't it incredible how many brands have come and gone in our lifetimes?). One part of the article was devoted to recent concepts under the Plymouth brand, and had a small shot of the 1989 Plymouth Speedster.

A better photo

I found the photo of the Speedster interesting, but it also made me a little sad. While Plymouth had been developing the "Pronto" series of concepts in the late 90's, they had done another speedster in 1998 that I was totally captivated by. It was called the Pronto Spyder, and was to be a mid-engine, plastic body panels over sheet metal, affordable car. Sadly, this car never reached production.

It would have been such a fun response to the Toyota MR-2, and perhaps even some other roadsters of the time.

As far as I know, only Maisto made a 1:24 scale diecast of this car (which I have), and no other diecasts or kits have been made of it. 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by ea0863

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How many of us remember the "Yugo" (for that matter, how many of us remember "Yugoslavia"?) I barely remember them, and here an article in HRM January 2001 about a Yugo turned into a racer! At first it seems incongruous, but upon further reflection - - - a cheap and light car tuned to its owner's best ability for the joy of going fast might very well be the definition of what a "hot rod" is all about. I think I'm going to have to see if I can find a Yugo scale model, and maybe an old map of where Yugoslavia was...

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by ea0863

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The cover of HRM February 2001 just begs to be a poster! The car is a '40 Ford Deluxe Business Coupe called "Sherry Lou"

Just stunning photos in the article

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HRM June 2001 was all about muscle station wagons:

'57 Mercury Montclair Voyager

'59 Chevy Kingswood

'65 Chevelle two door

'65 Plymouth Belvedere

'65 Pontiac Tempest custom (my favorite)

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This was one of those moments where I remember exactly where I was when it happened. 

Some time afterwards, I bought the Revell 1:18 diecast of Dale Earnhardt's last ride - with the distinctive air dams, etc. I am not a NASCAR aficionado, but the car seemed like an accurate representation. Here is a photo of mine:

This car still seems to be fairly accessible on the used market. I also noted that at least one model builder on this forum built his own scale model, although I couldn't see pictures of his work as the links did not work for me.

I would think a good starting point for such a tribute build would be the Revell 2001 Monte Carlo kit.

Edited January 4, 2023 by ea0863

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Two part coverage of the Ford Forty-Nine Concept car. HRM July and August 2001

BTW; AutoArt made a beautiful 1:18 scale diecast of this car!

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Has anyone seen Lil' John Buttera's sketches of how he modified the body of his roadster, I think they were featured in HRM in the 80's.
I remember as a teenager being shocked at the work he put into modifying the body, it was already finished as it was in my eyes...

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This little article about Tom Gale and his roadster was intriguing. HRM September 2001

Turns out Tom Gale was responsible for a lot of the great concept coming out of Chrysler and Plymouth during the 90's and 2000's - including the Viper and Prowler. And his personal roadster was no slouch either!