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Hot Rodding Time Machine Photos: More 1980s Car Show Images From Oklahoma!


Hot Rodding Time Machine Photos: More 1980s Car Show Images From Oklahoma!

(Words and photos by Doug Gregory) – You might have noticed I didn’t take many pictures of things newer than about 1972 during this time period.  It wasn’t a conscious thing.  There weren’t a lot of cars newer than that showing up to these events and when they did I really didn’t notice.  I was all about old stuff back then and newer cars didn’t hold that much interest for me.  Might be some things don’t change as I am still slow to accept the newer cars and sometimes don’t bother trying.

I like the technology of today, but so prefer the styling of older days when there was way more personality in a car.  In my opinion, governmental regulations (all of which are not bad) and sameness has lent itself to more bland styling or odd creations which just don’t work.  In here you’ll see tri-fives, muscle cars, and some other things that caught my fancy.  I was a big El Camino fan (duh – I’ve owned three) back then and long-time resident, Dexter Oldham had a pair of the sweetest around .  His black ’69 had been local for as long as I could remember and sometime in the 80s he picked up the red ’68.  The ’68 was a real head-turner and looked nice setting next to his ’34 Ford pickup that he’d owned forever.  The truck is featured in its completed form in another of these galleries.  A truck I saw often at cruises, parades, rod runs, and even at the big shows in Wichita and OKC was the IH pickup ‘Sooner Spy’.  Yeah, it’s dated today, but it was full-blown show back then and was even featured in Truckin’ magazine.

It had won multiple shows and awards yet I can’t seem to find any information about it.  We will question taste and style, but the craftsmanship was good stuff back then.  I don’t know for sure when it was completed, but I can remember first laying eyes on it sometime around 1980.  It could have been a much older build.  Regardless, it was the most-modified vehicle I’d ever been around and I spent a lot of time looking over the numerous alterations and details.

Enjoy this near 30-year step back in time.

 


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2 thoughts on “Hot Rodding Time Machine Photos: More 1980s Car Show Images From Oklahoma!

  1. joe

    would be cool to know where these are today and what they look like now
    i dunno, but they just look so much cooler then the new cars, but then again i’ve always been a fan of the older rides myself

    nice photos
    wish i kept my photos from back in the days…..

    1. doug gregory

      I am still scanning photos and have a bunch done that I’ve not prepped for articles yet. I haven’t even started looking at the negatives…

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