I saw some very exciting photos from this event last year. A few months later I saw a poster for it on Eric's Historic Engine Company blog and the seed was sown - I just had to visit. I was a little nervous before I left - I know very little about the Hotrod world other than that I like the cars and the art scene which is such a big part of it but I needn't have worried - they were the nicest bunch of people you could ever meet. The atmosphere was terrific with visitors from France, Belgium, Holland, Finland and even Spain. People sat strumming guitars and singing rock and roll songs by their tents, there was a soap box race, wall of death, stalls, drag racing, live bands, good food and drink and a constant stream of awesome cars and bikes cruising past. I spent most of the time sketching and loads of people came up to chat so I left feeling that I'd really taken part in the event. So often when you're a photographer you never really get to interact with anybody and you come away from an event having viewed the whole thing through a viewfinder. Anyway, on to the sketches...
One of the first things I saw was this amazing creation with its huge truck wheels - towing a caravan! I got chatting to Mark the owner who told me he'd made a thumbnail sketch and then built it himself in three months out of the most unlikely collection of parts. He certainly nailed the proportions and stance and it all tied together perfectly. To be able to design and build your own car just blows my socks off...
Here's the first of a string of Model A Fords and perhaps my favourite car - a 34 Coupe with a huge Chrysler V8 in it. I found out that it's quite local to me so I'll be visiting to do some more sketches soon...
This flathead V8 was also in a great looking car - it looked like it would have been right at home at Bonneville. Below is a very smart looking Model A roadster in black with a tan roof...
This Chevrolet Cab-over was finished in bare metal and towered over everything else. It's a great bit of design and I'm not sure I've done it justice here...
I loved the stance of this pickup and the simplicity of the roadster...
Interesting air filter arrangement...
What caught my eye here was the chopped top combined with the powerful looking engine...
These two are dirt track midget racers imported from the US. The top one originally had a V8 but when Niall bought it it came with a Fiat twin-cam. It looks just right and it made it a much more user friendly car - so much so that Niall was happy to drive the 230 miles from Yorkshire in it! The lower car is powered by a high revving 750cc Crossley...
Finally here a page of thumbnails - I think they work particularly well for Hotrods as the shapes and sizes are so varied and interesting...
And that's it. I took loads of photos too - still need to find time to sort through them before adding them to Flickr. Thanks to all the nice people I met for making it such a memorable weekend - and thanks also to the French people I met who gave me a round of applause after I showed them my sketches - never had that before :)
This wonderful flathead was the first thing that caught my eye that I wanted to sketch. Turns out it belonged to Graham - who bought loads of last year's Advent sketches. He very generously gave me a ride up the hill in the parade. (If you'd like to see the rest of the car it's the powder blue one in the flickr gallery)...
This was a stunning car (red flake paint, gold wheels) - and was driven with great speed up the hill. I think the chap who built it also built the other engine I sketched.
