This 1950s Bonneville video is so spectacular we cannot begin to tell you. The best part about it is that it shows what the scene was on the salt just a few years after Speed Week started in 1948. There are few cars, fewer people, lots of old sedans and pickup trucks, a little timing tower, and lots of hot rodding history. When we consider the vast expanse of what the automotive aftermarket is today we need to consider that it started from a nucleus mostly based in Southern California. The cars you will see in this video were on the bleeding edge of performance and cool for their day. They are still on the bleeding edge of cool today.
When we start shoveling photos at you next week, remember this video and how humble, small, and bare bones it is. No enclosed trailers, no spectators, and you’ll see the shirt of the one major media outlet covering those formative years.
There will be more people this year, more cars, and more technology and “baggage” than those guys could carry back then but the ethos and understanding is still the same. It is about the cars, the motorcycles, and those people who designed them. No big sponsors, no big money, nothing but creativity and innovation in action.
