Hot Rod Pin-ups II; Gearhead Girls and Dragstrip Dolls
This is another of those fantastic David Perry books by Motorbooks. If you are not familiar with his photography you should be. It is PIN-UP images at its best. It isn’t art deco; not a Gypsy Rose Lee striptease or even a Vargas painting. It is old school but with an up to date twist. Think of an authentic 50s hot rod compared to a modern day rat rod. There are similarities but they are different. The rat rod less practical and more “in your face”. David Perry is a rat rod of pin-up photographers.
I never remember hot rods of the 50s being decked out with cartoon like mechanical and ornamental additions that grace today’s rat rods. Like wise, I do not remember the pin-ups of that time being as decorated with tattoos as the today girls luckily blessed by David Perry’s camera.
I have to admit a certain guilty pleasure in reading (not much to read but lots to look at) this book. No where between the covers is there one innocent little girl you would want to take home to Mom and Dad but it is full of memorable Saturday Night Specials!
Every chapter is authored by a different writer and each is able to reach out in very few words and capture moments any gearhead can relate to nostalgically. However, this book is not just about the words or the girls it is also about the cars.
There are some excellent old school hot rods and customs to drool over once you get past the long legs and skimpy tops. There is everything from junkyards, to body shops, to liquor stores and desert drag strips.
Table of Contents
Forward: Nothin”…”Cept for Cars and Girls, By COOP
Chapter 1: Garages and Boneyards; The Exception to the Rule, By Jim Nisbet
Chapter 2: Dragstrips, Dry Lakes and Dirt Tracks: Flash to Pink, By Tony Thacker
Chapter 3: Down of the Street: The Salvation of Frances, By Kevin Thomson
Chapter 4: Custom Cuties: The Rat Race, by Charles Verne
Chapter 5: Afterword: Somewhere West of Laramie, By Chris Shelton