Made a couple of recent purchases I think I should share, aand a re-issue of one of my favourites...
#1
What: Smokin Shutdown Special DVD Issue 1
How Much: £19.99
From: www.americanautomags.com
Akku Rating: ***
Whats the story: Smokin Shutdown, for those who don't know, is a German small scale traditional hot rod/ rat rod magazine. They have recently been producing their magazine with a special DVD giveaway on the cover which is what I thought I was buying this time, but actually what you are getting is a DVD with a small booklet. The booklet is small enough to fit in a standard DVD box. Many of the photos in there are postage stamp sized and are all either stills from the DVD or are photos included in the "Bonus photo slide show" anyway. So the booklet is of limited value really. It is at least in English as well as German.
Whatabout the DVD? The DVD contains two shows, the longer of the "movies" being the infamous Headbanger's meet, and its good to see a lot of European built trad rods and kustoms (mostly German or Scandanavians) and the soundtrack is great (assuming you like modern rockabilly and psychobilly sounds!). This includes artists like Mad Sin and P. Paul Fenech (former front man of The Meteors). However the editing of the video action is decidedly ammateur in places, although some may think this gives it an "authentic charm", and the soundtrack means you can't hear the REAL soundtrack - cracklin' headers, boomin lake pipes, barking tyres... also too much time spent on static vehicles, not enough vehicles in action! - Again IMO....
Then theres two slide shows of a total of 550 or so photos taken at the two events. Some well wild cars to make you flip here!
The other movie on the disc is sort of a tutorial on laying flake from the guys behind the Lil Daddy Roth flake product. Always nice to get some tips from the horses mouth, and I just love watching people paint stuff!
Verdict: Overall, I'd have been happier paying a tenner for this. If you're expecting a cross between Rides and Mad Fabricators with a copy of Ol Skool Rodz thrown in for good measure then you will be a little dissappointed. If you want some down home style roddin' video coverage of events you're unlikely to visit or see covered much elsewhere then have a pop.
#2
What: Hot Rods and Custom Cars: Vintage Speed Graphics
How Much: a mere fiver (or buy used from £2.40)
From: Amazon.co.uk
Akku Rating: *****
Whats the story: A picture is worth a thousand words:
This book is creditted as being by Tony Thacker (If you don't know him think of him as the Ernie Wise to Jimmy Shine's Eric Morcombe) but he actually only wrote the forward (which is in English, German and French). However those are about the only words in the book except for the acknowledgments at the back... In between some 190 pages are just crammed with pictures which need no words! These have been put together by Coco Shinomaya and appear to be drawn from the archives of Primedia or some such publisher, lots and lots of top quality original period photos which appear to cover about 1957 - 1963 kind of era of hot rodding and customizing. But its not just car photos in delightful period "Eastman Color" (impossibly blue skies, reds that burn your retina, etc), although that would be cool enough in itself. The book also crams in every kind of artifact and objet d'art of the period and scene so there are adverts for Edelbrock, Cragar etc, stickers, tee-shirts, record covers, event flyers, even the covers of trash pulp fiction novels like "Hot rod gang rumble" and the like. Also you get odd pages fro the JC Whitney or Almquist catalogues, or the covers of magazines like "Rodding and Restyling", "Honk!", Car Craft, "Custom Rodder", "Speed Mechanic" etc.
my only gripes (and for a fiver, STFU Akku!) are that some of the cars are spread over two pages but the tight spine means you can't see them properly like you would in a magazine and also I'd have liked a larger format page (although the page size mimics that of the old A6 format car magazines back in the day so I can live with that).
Verdict: Its like being there, but in a paperback! A must buy.
Also worth a look, is '32 Ford - The Deuce, by Tony Thacker. I have the original and long out of print edition of this book which would be well worth buying on its own. However what is on offer now is a special 75th Aniversary edition:
All 75 of the "Milestone" cars getting a couple of pages eachand a Thacker write up is worth buyig on its own, let alone the rest of the material you get for the money. I bought my copy back in the 80s and a lot of the refferences (and prices!) are well out of date now but its still a well thumbed tome and a cracking read if you are interested in Ford's iconic hot rod, even down to a reprint of the famous letter from Clyde Barlow to Henry Ford congratulating him on such a fast car, "we always steals a Ford V8 when we can get the chance to"
I'm tempted to buy the 75th Edition for the additional content even though I have the original...
#1
What: Smokin Shutdown Special DVD Issue 1
How Much: £19.99
From: www.americanautomags.com
Akku Rating: ***
Whats the story: Smokin Shutdown, for those who don't know, is a German small scale traditional hot rod/ rat rod magazine. They have recently been producing their magazine with a special DVD giveaway on the cover which is what I thought I was buying this time, but actually what you are getting is a DVD with a small booklet. The booklet is small enough to fit in a standard DVD box. Many of the photos in there are postage stamp sized and are all either stills from the DVD or are photos included in the "Bonus photo slide show" anyway. So the booklet is of limited value really. It is at least in English as well as German.
Whatabout the DVD? The DVD contains two shows, the longer of the "movies" being the infamous Headbanger's meet, and its good to see a lot of European built trad rods and kustoms (mostly German or Scandanavians) and the soundtrack is great (assuming you like modern rockabilly and psychobilly sounds!). This includes artists like Mad Sin and P. Paul Fenech (former front man of The Meteors). However the editing of the video action is decidedly ammateur in places, although some may think this gives it an "authentic charm", and the soundtrack means you can't hear the REAL soundtrack - cracklin' headers, boomin lake pipes, barking tyres... also too much time spent on static vehicles, not enough vehicles in action! - Again IMO....
Then theres two slide shows of a total of 550 or so photos taken at the two events. Some well wild cars to make you flip here!
The other movie on the disc is sort of a tutorial on laying flake from the guys behind the Lil Daddy Roth flake product. Always nice to get some tips from the horses mouth, and I just love watching people paint stuff!
Verdict: Overall, I'd have been happier paying a tenner for this. If you're expecting a cross between Rides and Mad Fabricators with a copy of Ol Skool Rodz thrown in for good measure then you will be a little dissappointed. If you want some down home style roddin' video coverage of events you're unlikely to visit or see covered much elsewhere then have a pop.
#2
What: Hot Rods and Custom Cars: Vintage Speed Graphics
How Much: a mere fiver (or buy used from £2.40)
From: Amazon.co.uk
Akku Rating: *****
Whats the story: A picture is worth a thousand words:
This book is creditted as being by Tony Thacker (If you don't know him think of him as the Ernie Wise to Jimmy Shine's Eric Morcombe) but he actually only wrote the forward (which is in English, German and French). However those are about the only words in the book except for the acknowledgments at the back... In between some 190 pages are just crammed with pictures which need no words! These have been put together by Coco Shinomaya and appear to be drawn from the archives of Primedia or some such publisher, lots and lots of top quality original period photos which appear to cover about 1957 - 1963 kind of era of hot rodding and customizing. But its not just car photos in delightful period "Eastman Color" (impossibly blue skies, reds that burn your retina, etc), although that would be cool enough in itself. The book also crams in every kind of artifact and objet d'art of the period and scene so there are adverts for Edelbrock, Cragar etc, stickers, tee-shirts, record covers, event flyers, even the covers of trash pulp fiction novels like "Hot rod gang rumble" and the like. Also you get odd pages fro the JC Whitney or Almquist catalogues, or the covers of magazines like "Rodding and Restyling", "Honk!", Car Craft, "Custom Rodder", "Speed Mechanic" etc.
my only gripes (and for a fiver, STFU Akku!) are that some of the cars are spread over two pages but the tight spine means you can't see them properly like you would in a magazine and also I'd have liked a larger format page (although the page size mimics that of the old A6 format car magazines back in the day so I can live with that).
Verdict: Its like being there, but in a paperback! A must buy.
Also worth a look, is '32 Ford - The Deuce, by Tony Thacker. I have the original and long out of print edition of this book which would be well worth buying on its own. However what is on offer now is a special 75th Aniversary edition:
In 1932, Ford produced the world's first 8-cylinder car, the "Deuce" - a design and technological milestone that would become the quintessential Hot Rod and V-8 engine car. Produced especially to celebrate 75 years of this remarkable machine, 32 Ford Deuce is a complete and authoritative history, lavishly illustrated, covering every factor of the Deuce's story: design, how it was manufactured and sold, the marketing, and racetrack success leading to it's near-mythical status. The book also lists the top 75 Hot Rod cars, in lavish color detail, with full technical specs: the Doanne Spence roadster, Lil' Deuce Coupe, American Graffiti, Coup...a two-page spread for each car, making this a must for every Hot Rod enthusiast, vintage car fan, and racing historian.
All 75 of the "Milestone" cars getting a couple of pages eachand a Thacker write up is worth buyig on its own, let alone the rest of the material you get for the money. I bought my copy back in the 80s and a lot of the refferences (and prices!) are well out of date now but its still a well thumbed tome and a cracking read if you are interested in Ford's iconic hot rod, even down to a reprint of the famous letter from Clyde Barlow to Henry Ford congratulating him on such a fast car, "we always steals a Ford V8 when we can get the chance to"
I'm tempted to buy the 75th Edition for the additional content even though I have the original...
