SEMA Heritage

In May 1963, Petersen Publishing Company’s Dick Day shot an entire roll of film as Dean Jeffries crawled around—and over—a horseless carriage, pinstriping brush in hand. As far as we know, none of these photos ever made it into any of Petersen’s magazines, but they captured the prolific Jeffries at a pivotal point in his career.

Gene Winfield was having a big year in 1963 when Petersen Publishing Company photographer Eric Rickman took this photo at Winfield’s car customizing shop in Modesto, California. Rickman was chronicling the progress of several cars being prepped for land speed record attempts at the Bonneville Salt Flats, and he captured Winfield as he was laying out “a super streamlined street roadster over an early Ford frame and running gear.”

Given the importance of wheels in today’s automotive aftermarket, it’s hard to imagine a time when they weren’t a driving force (no pun intended) in vehicle modification and personalization. But that’s exactly what LeRoi “Tex” Smith said to open his November 1963 Hot Rod magazine article about custom and racing wheels.

In January 1963, Tom McMullen posed in his flamed Deuce highboy for Hot Rod magazine’s Eric Rickman in front of Beckman Instruments, where McMullen worked as an electronics technician. The photos Rickman shot became the cover feature for Hot Rod’s April 1963 issue. This view of the car is an unpublished outtake, showing the rear of the ’32 and the pinstriping done by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Roth also laid out the car’s flames, which McMullen painted.

Yes, that is Honest Charley Card, Hisself, parked in front of his brand-new, 30,000-sq.-ft. speed parts store on Honest Street in Chattanooga. Hot Rod’s Ralph Guldahl traveled to Tennessee in late 1970 to profile the legendary retailer, who had recently become the second inductee into SEMA’s Hall of Fame.

Dean Moon’s legacy lives on at car events all over the world. Those in the know recognize the spun-aluminum disc wheels that land speed racers prized or the pressurized fuel tanks that rode on the noses of so many dragsters. But for most, the enduring symbol of Moon’s contribution to the speed parts industry is a pair of eyes—those googly Mooneyes that stare out from countless T-shirts and decals found from Bakersfield to Yokohama.

How do you get your share of attention at the SEMA Show when foot traffic is shoulder-to-shoulder thick? Some gimmicks these days have gotten pretty outrageous but—as you can see in this photo from the 1971 Show—SEMA showmanship is a decades-long tradition.

The man at the mill is John McWhirter, one of the founders of Racing Head Service (RHS). On the other side of the camera is Hot Rod magazine staffer Bud Lang, who photographed McWhirter cc’ing a Chevy cylinder head for a February 1971 profile of the Memphis-based shop. At the time, Lang wrote, the NHRA’s rules for Junior and Super Stock drag racers were so restrictive that “the few shops or engine builders specializing in high-performance work on such engines have, over the years, turned otherwise standard valve jobs into a science.” Lang then spent the next four pages explaining in thorough detail how RHS prepped small-block Chevy heads, with McWhirter—“the gentleman in charge of head production”—as his guide.

Which George Barris are you most familiar with? The King of the Kustomizers who built the Batmobile, the Munster’s Koach and other outrageous vehicles for movies and TV? Or are you better acquainted with the Barris Brothers, George and Sam, who set custom car trends for decades with Sam’s heavily chopped ’49 Mercury and the later Hirohata Merc? Maybe you know Barris for his own custom creations, such as the Ala Kart roadster pickup, which won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award two years running.