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Welcome
to the Bristol Hotrods web site.
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About Bristol Hotrods
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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. |
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About Bristol
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. |
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Clifton Suspension Bridge |
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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. |
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Concorde |
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Why the 'dry lake' theme for these web pages?
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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. |
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Veda Orr racing the Karl Orr
Speed Shop '32 Roadster |
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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. |
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Regg Schlemmer's yellow and black
1927 Model T roadster |
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