Never published anywhere until now, here’s a big gallery of original hot rods from the early days—just as they were. Check this out.
First, Mac’s Motor City Garage would like to thank Gordon Nunemaker and Mike Evanoff for this great collection of photos. These guys were there back in the ’50s when it all began, and they’re still active on the hot rodding scene today. If we are following correctly, Gordon originally took the photos and Mike digitally scanned them. Thank you, gentlemen.
As told to us, the photos were taken in three venues around Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan in the mid-to-late 1950s:
+ Toledo Municipal Airport, today known as Toledo Executive Airport, which hosted Sunday drag racing under various names, including Greater Toledo Dragway and Vettes-Ville. Concrete and exceptionally wide, the Toledo strip often featured four-wide racing. Note the crowds in the photos—in the thousands.
+ The airport in Tecumseh, Michigan, around 25 miles southwest of Ann Arbor and 35 miles northwest of Toledo, which also hosted drag racing.
+ An actual public road in Oregon, Ohio known as the Starr Avenue extension. A notorious street racing venue, on at least one occasion it was blocked off by the local police for semi-official legal drag racing.
It’s a funny thing. Try as they might, the retro rodding crowd has never quite captured the special, almost magical look and feel of the early days. Needless to say, if you have any info to share on the cars and people in the images, shout out. Enjoy the photos.
