This week’s book review subject is Idea Book: Hot Rods by Dain Gingerelli. It is essentially a collection of more than 500 photos of many hot rods, customs, roadsters and coupes that is intended to give the rod builder some direction or inspiration with their project.
According to Gingerelli’s introduction the book came about when he and legendary rod builder Pete Eastwood were playing a violation game of sorts, watching cars pull in and our of a car show. They were remarking on the various ways guys seemed to be missing the mark with cars that seem impossible to screw up.
Frankly we thought that we were in for it after reading the introduction because it really comes off as kind of preachy and high brow. We were under the impression that the rest of the book would follow the same line, but thankfully, it did not.
The layout of the book gives it lots of visual punch and the captions do a nice job of pointing out some of the finer points of the photos. The book is divided into different sections for various different parts of the car like the motor, interior, exhaust, etc. We think that this could be a good book for anyone looking to see how a lot of cars were built and styled without having to spend the summer at a zillion car shows. You’ll get loads of ideas from all the photos.
While you may be of the camp that no one should be judging someone else’s stuff, we simply don’t think that’s reality. Every car guy out there has looked at something along the way and said, “Yuck!” We fully respect the right for anyone out there to do whatever the hell they want with their car, but we don’t have to like it, nor do we have to “teach” the person how to fix it. It’s theirs, they love it, and that’s a-ok for us.
Our only gripe with this book is that the author Gingerelli seems to go to lengths to point out just how unenlightened the masses are saying stuff like, “Even so, there remains a small army of hot rodders at rod runs, cruise nights, and car shows across the country that hasn’t fully grasped, or doesn’t have a thorough understanding of, the concept that a well-planned theme gives the car unity and, well style.”
Like we said, skip the introduction and you’ll dig the rest of the book. You can score a copy at www.motorbooks.com, amazon.com, or your local book seller.
