(Photos by Scott Liggett) – It didn’t take long after the 1948 launch of Hot Rod Magazine for readers the country over to crave the day they’d see their ride in print. From the earliest days of the magazine when Bob Petersen and his small staff would pull cars aside at El Mirage, Bonneville, and various shows around the LA-area to feature, it became a big deal to see your car in Hot Rod. The magazine’s greatest influence over the years has probably been over the traditional hot rodding scene where styles and fads have come and gone with how guys build pre-war cars. Today the genre seems to favor the looks of that 1940s and 1950s generation (or their perception of the look of the 1940s and 1950s generation) of hot rods but during the 1980s and 1990s it was flash, dash, chrome, billet, and pastels. Hot Rod has been there the whole time, bringing their readers the scene from all corners of the hobby and expanding what we all know about cars by seeing how “the other guys” are doing it.

This gallery is full of hot rods, customs, and what we’re calling “specials” that have been featured in the magazine and that were displayed in their ow hall at the 2013 Hot Rod Homecoming show at the Pomona Fairplex last weeked. Baskerville’s famous car is in here along with a ton of others that you’ll recognize from your years of reading the magazine like us. Some are famous, some of infamous, and some prove that beauty is only in the eye of the beholder, but they’re all part of the history of this hot rodding world we love.

HIT THE LINK FOR A FULL GALLERY OF PHOTOS FEATURING FAMOUS HOT RODS, CUSTOMS AND SPECIALS AT THE 2013 HOT ROD HOMECOMING!

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