Street Rods!

Growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania there was an oft repeated saying " If it ain't Dutch it ain't much".  I think that hot rodders must have a similar expression along the lines of "If it ain't Street it ain't neat" because this past Saturday the annual street rod gathering came to my home town and I think that just about every street rod for miles around descended on the local strip mall parking lot where the event is usually held.  This same venue hosts a Hot Rod "hang out" on most rain-free Monday evenings during the summer months but the Monday night hang-outs draw a small, local group of mostly, but not exclusively American cars--I've even taken Xenopus over to a Monday night gathering and didn't get tarred, feathered and run out of town, so the Hot Rodders are an accommodating crowd.  As is my usual trend, I took too many pix for one post so check back in a few days if you're inclined to look at stuff like this.

First up was this very pretty '69 Z/28 Camaro.  Back when these cars were new they were the main competition for the 302 engined Ford Mustangs in the Trans-Am racing series.  Why exactly 302 cubic inches for the engine displacement?  It was because that size came closest to the 5 liter maximum engine size permitted by the racing rules governing those races.  The 302 v8 was a specially designed engine.  The more common Chevy engines from this era were the 307 and the 350.  Chevrolet made just enough of the Z/28 with the expensive to build 302 v8 to satisfy the homologation rule: the Trans-Am series was supposedly for "production" cars rather than high priced racers but both GM and Ford built cars to win no matter what--so much for rules keeping down the cost of racing.  Back in '69 I almost bought a Z28.  The local dealer had a beautiful dark green one with the white stripes on the show room floor.  We came to within $60.00 on the purchase price but neither of us would budge further.  I walked out the door and kept my '66 Mustang for another year.

This '59 Buick Electra was nicely turned out.  Note the art work on the inside of the hood.

Next up was this '36 Ford pick-up.

This was one of only a handful of rods to retain a flat head v8.

This blog spot has become wonky for some reason so I'll stop here and continue later.