The site design pays homage to the originators of hot rodding on the dry lakes or salt flats of the USA. As early as the 1920s, Muroc dry lake in California was used by the American Automobile Association for speed events, where souped-up and stripped-down cars would strive to achieve the fastest straight line speeds.

The number of participating cars and car clubs continued to grow, and in 1937 the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) was formed to organise and control the racing, using their own timing equipment. The SCTA events continued until the onset of World War II, when many racers put their cars on blocks to join the war effort.
Veda Orr racing the Karl Orr ’32 Roadster
Veda Orr racing the Karl Orr Speed Shop ’32 Roadster

During the war, Veda Orr, the first woman salt flats racer, mailed SCTA Newsletters to servicemen overseas. When the young men returned, many had gained additional mechanical skills, and they picked up where they had left off, building cars from whatever was available, for use on the street as well as the lakes.

In 1948, Regg Schlemmers yellow and black 1927 Model T Ford clocked a speed of 148.27 mph. The roadster featured on the cover of the very first issue of Hot Rod magazine, published the same year.

Hot Rodding has since grown in many different directions, but here were the true origins.

Bristol is a city in the South West of England, about 115 miles west of London.

From its earliest days, its prosperity has been linked to the Port of Bristol, the commercial port which was in the city centre, but has now moved to the Bristol Channel coast at Avonmouth and Portbury.

Bristol was particularly associated with the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London, two pioneering Bristol-built steamships, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton Suspension Bridge

In the 1960s Filton played a key role in the Concorde supersonic airliner project. Concorde components were manufactured in British and French factories and shipped to the two final assembly plants, in Toulouse and Filton.

The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight.

In more recent years the economy has been built on the aerospace industry, and the city centre docks have been regenerated as a centre of heritage and culture.

Although the web site was launched in early 2007, Bristol Hotrods has a history dating back over thirty years, and a tradition for producing some of the U.K’s finest and most influential Hot Rods and Street Rods.

Bristol Hotrods is an informal group, originating in and based around Bristol, England. We invite new people in when they show an interest in the way we are; it is not a free for all ‘club’, but certainly not elite. We have serious ‘members’ (for want of a better word) in Swansea, Newport Pagnell, Yeovil, Frome, Falmouth and Florida!

There is no committee, no money involved, and hopefully no politics. We have a definite leaning towards certain vehicles – pre ’49 glass or steel, post ’49 Chevy trucks, Tri-Chevys and the like.

However ‘club’ nights are open to anybody in the spirit of having fun with cars, and we usually get a large cross section of vehicles on our Tuesday meets – including vintage, classics, bikes and scooters.