Top 100 Old Beauties in the world of Cars

To narrow the scope, we also limited the picks to hot rods (a catchall that includes customs, race cars, and more) built in 1948 or later, the date that coincided with this magazine's first issue. So there will be no early Henry Ford speedsters or the like, and just one very famous stock production car. That leaves out Hemi Super Stockers, Shelby Mustangs, and COPO Camaros. Get over it. You'll also think of at least another 100 famous or popular cars that are not on the list-there's nothing here from Tony Nancy, the Alexander Brothers, Dean Jeffries, Bill Cushenberry, or another several dozen builders on your mind. Why? Remember the dividing line: influence. We couldn't name a car by any of those guys that changed the world more significantly than the 100 cars in these pages. For the same reason, don't look for legendary rods as the Pierson coupe or the Niekamp roadster, because we couldn't argue that they changed more lives than such clods as the General Lee, the Bandit Trans Am, or even the American Graffiti coupe. Fame trumps grace every time, and if fads had anything to do with style, then there'd be thousands of CadZZilla kits and just one Meyers Manx dune buggy.100 ROBERT WILLIAMS '32 FORD There are plenty of precedents for the "done in primer," bea99 MAGAN/WILLIAMS GOLDEN THINGS Hot rods don't have to have wheels. Ski and drag boats wi98 STEVE LISK'S HEMI CHALLENGER Even today it's rare to see a Lenco transmission in a reaSince we didn't care to shoulder this responsibility alone, we called on some friends-though none can be blamed for our final selections or our ranking order. Pat Ganahl, former editor of HOT ROD, Street Rodder, Rod & Custom, and Rodder's Journal, helped us with the significant rods and customs. Dave Wallace is a former staffer of Drag News and HOT ROD and editor of Petersen's Drag Racing who enters the Drag Racing Hall of Fame at the Garlits Museum this year, and he helped with the top drag cars of the past 60 years. Our eldest staffer, Detroit Editor Bill McGuire, focused on the icons of his generation, while 40-somethings Kinnan and Freiburger meddled with the street-machine era. Once our list was compiled, we adjusted it based on comments from Pete Chapouris, Larry Erickson, and Dave Ross (Design Manager, GM Performance Division).So it's not a perfect list, but it's pretty freakin' close. Your flames will be given due attention if you send them to HOTROD@sourceinterlink.com. Meanwhile, enjoy HOT ROD's 60th anniversary celebration of the 100 most influential cars of our time. -David Freiburger97 RUGIRELLO/ROUCH MUSTANG II Before Cactus Jack became "Jack Roush," Baskerville venture96 ROD SABOURY'S '63 CORVETTE As the Pro Street genre was gaining steam in the early '80s95 MAX BALCHOWSKY'S OLD YELLER I Max Balchowsky and his wife Ina were the proprietors of94 JACK STEWART'S '50 OLDSMOBILE It wasn't the first-that would be the '50 Ford done for93 RON COURTNEY'S X-51 FORD When this red, sectioned, large-finned ex-shoebox Ford hit sm92 LARRY ERNST'S '51 CHEVROLET BEL AIR The chopped Bel Air that George and Sam Barris bui91 THE CHEAP THRILLS DART Like Jeff Smith's '65 Chevelle that follows it, choosing David90 JEFF SMITH'S '65 CHEVY MALIBU Jeff Smith has been editor of Car Craft, HOT ROD, and Ch89 JIM LYTLE'S RACE CAR A cool combination of homebuilt hot rod and race car, the quickes88 THOM TAYLOR/GREG FLUERY FRANKENSTUDE Originating from the mind of designer Thom Taylor87 CHARLES CARPENTER'S '55 CHEVY In 1984, when word got around that some kid's old Chevy86 THE CORTOPASSI BROTHERS' GLASS SLIPPER HOT ROD's Aug. '55 cover car was significant as85 JUNGLE JIM LIBERMAN'S VEGA FUNNY CAR There's no business like show business. The cover84 THE DODGE CHARGERS Drag racing's biggest deal ever (reportedly a quarter-million 196483 COOK & BEDWELL/BANEY, FENN & ARNOLD DRAGSTER Never has one lap changed a motorsport li82 JACK CHRISMAN'S '29 SEDAN This heavily chopped, full-fendered, beautiful maroon, wicke81 CRAIG BREEDLOVE'S SPIRIT OF AMERICA When Craig Breedlove's J47-powered land speed race80 SADD-TEAGUE-BENTLEY ROADSTER Al Teague is perhaps best known for his 400-mph streamlin79 KENNY BERNSTEIN'S 300-MPH TOP FUEL DRAGSTER It's a simple truth that e.t. wins drag ra78 DON HARDY'S V-8 VEGA The early '70s were bleak times, with magazines pushing vans, Pin77 AK MILLER'S CABALLO DE HIERRO It means "The Iron Horse." Ak Miller's road-racing hot r76 PHIL COOL'S '32 ROADSTERYou just have to scan a photographic list of Oakland's America's Most Beautiful Roadster winners to see the total paradigm shift when this straight orange, blown big-block-powered, mag-wheel-and-slick-shod, traditional highboy hot rod stepped up in 1978. It had the same effect when new editor Lee Kelley plastered it on our cover (in place of vans and V-6s) that July. Need we say more? -Pat Ganahl76 PHIL COOL'S '32 ROADSTER You just have to scan a photographic list of Oakland's Ameri75 & 74 PETE CHAPOURIS' AND JIM JACOBS' '34 COUPES Roadsters-only-were the first hot rods73 THE FUTURESHOCK VAN Hate them all you want, but vans were a huge part of the scene in72 & 71 CALVIN RICE'S AND MICKEY THOMPSON'S SLINGSHOTSPrevious pioneers had sat behind rear axles and Chryslers, but the world waited for Calvin Rice and Mickey Thompson to convincingly demonstrate the superiority of Hemi-powered slingshots. The two tangled at the inaugural NHRA Nationals (1954, pictured), which Rice opened with a flathead, then won with a Chrysler. Thompson's rail-the first single-engined car to run 150 mph-introduced the rollcage and the narrowed rearend to rails, while stimulating interest in streamlining. -Dave Wallace72 & 71 CALVIN RICE'S AND MICKEY THOMPSON'S SLINGSHOTS Previous pioneers had sat behind r70 THE NO. 88 CHARGER DAYTONA MULE CAR In considering the Chrysler winged Daytona and Sup69 BOB CHANDLER'S BIG FOOT This '74 F-250 (with a '79 body) began as a promotional stunt68 GEORGE MONTGOMERY'S '33 WILLYS As everyone knows, Ohio was Gasser country in the '60s,67 THE RAM CHARGERS' HIGH AND MIGHTY '49 PLYMOUTH There is a reason that in the early '6066 MARCELLUS & BORSCH'S '23 FORD AA/FUEL ALTERED First Fuel Altered in the 8s. First Fuel65 & 64 STONE-WOODS-COOK'S SWINDLER A AND BIG JOHN MAZMANIAN'S WILLYS While Ohio George h63 MOONEYHAM & SHARP'S '34 FORD Here it is, the working prototype for both the Fuel Alter62 DENNIS VARNI'S AMBR '29 Many hot rods have multiple lives, some good, some bad, often61 DARRYL STARBIRD'S PREDICTA '57 T-BIRDDarryl Starbird was already making a name for himself as a groundbreaking customizer in Wichita, Kansas. But when his candy-blue, injected, Hemi-powered, big-finned, and bubbletopped Predicta '57 T-bird hit the Car Craft cover in 1960, it launched his rise to the deserved title of Bubble Top King. Outfitted with a TV, instrument pods, air conditioning, and joystick steering, this car epitomized '60s jet-age customizing. Starbird is still building wild show cars and staging some of the country's largest car shows. Best of all, he still has this one, in original candy-blue, running condition. -Pat Ganahl61 DARRYL STARBIRD'S PREDICTA '57 T-BIRD Darryl Starbird was already making a name for hi60 THE ALA KART What started as Dick Peters' '29 roadster pickup was totally reformed in59 SMOKEY YUNICK'S '66 NASCAR CHEVELLE Yunick's slippery Chevelle never won a race, but i58 DICK SCRITCHFIELD'S (BOB MCGEE'S) '32 ROADSTER When it appeared on the Oct. '48 cover57 MICKEY THOMPSON'S CHALLENGER I Bonneville, Friday morning, September 9, 1960: Mickey T56 PETE CHAPOURIS' LIMEFIRE '32 ROADSTER There's more story to this car than will ever be55 BILLY GIBBONS' CADZZILLA Billy Gibbons might not be the only person to make this list54 THE SO-CAL STREAMLINER When hot rodders asked to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 153 THE EMPI INCH PINCHER This is the car that made hot rodders take Volkswagens seriously52 TROY TREPANIER'S '60 CHEVY Trepanier's first car was a raspberry Chevelle that Gray Ba51 EASTWOOD & BARAKAT'S '32 FORD SEDAN While no one had used the term "rat rod" by 1982,50 VERN LUCE'S '33 COUPE We had a spate of red rods before this, but this one, designed b49 JOHN BUTTERA'S '26 MODEL T SEDANBefore billet there was John Buttera's '26 Ford. Better known then as a top Funny Car builder, Little John raised the bar in street rod construction to new heights with scratch-built independent suspension on all four corners and full creature comforts adapted from a '72 Cadillac, all crammed into a Model T sedan. Art Chrisman, Steve Davis, Tony Nancy, and Willie Desatoff joined in on what was arguably the first all-star rod build covered in HOT ROD. -Bill McGuire49 JOHN BUTTERA'S '26 MODEL T SEDAN Before billet there was John Buttera's '26 Ford. Bett48 BOYD/FOOSE/WARREN SMOOTHSTER There was a time when no hot rodder had any interest in a47 BILL JENKINS' '72 PRO STOCKER As if discriminatory weight breaks weren't sufficient to46 SOX & MARTIN'S PRO STOCK PLYMOUTHSRonnie Sox won so many AHRA, IHRA, NHRA, and independent races during Pro Stock's first two seasons that 426 Hemis have been unfairly handicapped ever since. A new Pro category that promised fair, heads-up, weight-to-cubic-inch competition among GM, Ford, and Chrysler became compromised instead by rules requiring Hemi cars to add weight and/or destroke displacement. In protest, Chrysler pulled its top teams for 1972, sending Sox and Martin back to Sportsman racing. -Dave Wallace46 SOX & MARTIN'S PRO STOCK PLYMOUTHS Ronnie Sox won so many AHRA, IHRA, NHRA, and indepe45 DAN AND R.J. GOTTLIEB'S BIG RED CAMARO Dan and R.J. Gottlieb's wicked '69 Camaro was n44 MARK STIELOW'S '69 CAMARO GM engineer Mark Stielow is a hero among the Pro Touring fai43 STAN SHAW/TONY CHRISTIAN'S '57 CHEVYStan Shaw showed up at the very first HOT ROD Fastest Street Car Shootout in 1992 with a '57 that had the parts to run fast, but we doubted its ability due to its show-car roots. He ran 11-something in the quarter, but caught the bug and showed up the next year with a purpose-built, tube-chassis car that ran the number and paved the way for the current wave of radical Pro Street cars we have today. When he sold it to former Pro Stock racer Tony Christian, the car destroyed not only the competition but also the "street car" pretense of that type of racing. -Rob Kinnan43 STAN SHAW/TONY CHRISTIAN'S '57 CHEVY Stan Shaw showed up at the very first HOT ROD Fas42 C.A.R.S. INC. CAMAROS (DYER, SCOTT, KIMMEN, CARRIER, TREPPA) The C.A.R.S. Inc. Camaros41 RICK DOBBERTIN'S PONTIAC J-2000 PONTIAC PRO FAIRGROUNDS The J-2000 was stupid, really.40 SCOTT SULLIVAN'S '55 CHEVY You're familiar with Power Tour(r), our cross-country roadt39 FAT JACK'S '46 COUPE We'll have to admit our Fat Attack "new trend" announced on the J38 GARY KOLLOFSKI'S '55 CHEVY Dzus-fastened sheetmetal is de rigueur today, but in 1977 i37 LARRY WATSON'S '58 THUNDERBIRD From his shop in Long Beach, California, Larry Watson w36 ED ROTH'S BEATNIK BANDIT A little-known fact: The Beatnik Bandit was not designed by E35 HEMI VERSUS BUICK SHOOTOUT CARS In 1985, Car Review (now Muscle Car Review) magazine s34 ANDY'S INSTANT TWe can't have an All-Time Hot Rod anything list without one fiberglass T-bucket kit car on it, can we? With all the other replica and repro 'glass or steel bodies available today, we tend to forget the trail blazed by these inexpensive, easy-to-build, yet totally fun "fad cars." Andy Brizio sold plenty of his Instant T kits, but his own, painted in psychedelic ribbons by Himsl, won Oakland's AMBR trophy in 1970. -Pat Ganahl34 ANDY'S INSTANT T We can't have an All-Time Hot Rod anything list without one fiberglas33 NORM GRABOWSKI'S KOOKIE KART When it made HRM's cover in Oct. '55 in basic black, Norm32 THE MERCURY FACTORY TEAM With no formal NHRA category or accompanying rules on the hor31 SACHS & CHRISMAN'S COMET When FoMoCo commissioned Jack Chrisman and Bill Stroppe to be30 THE ROD & CUSTOM DREAM TRUCK No other magazine has done this. In 1954, first R&C Edito29 GRAY BASKERVILLE'S '32 FORD ROADSTER Aside from the driver, there was nothing particul28 THE HIROHATA MERC Before Sam and George Barris built this full custom for Bob Hirohata27 DOANE SPENCER'S '32 ROADSTER Begun as a rod in the '30s and fitted with the sleek DuVa26 SAM BARRIS' '50 BUICK SEDANETTE George Barris was the rainmaker and front man. His bro25 DICK LANDY'S '64 AWB DODGE Altering a car's wheelbase for traction advantage has been24 DICK KRAFT'S BUG The first commercial, weekly-repeating dragstrip had been officially23 STUART HILBORN'S CLASS B STREAMLINER Stu Hilborn's Class B streamliner was influential22 BILL BURKE'S BELLY TANK Bill Burke saw a stack of teardrop-shaped P-51 auxiliary fuel21 SNAKE AND MONGOOSE HOT WHEELS FUNNY CAR Team In the early '70s Don Prudhomme and Tom M20 SCOTT SULLIVAN'S PRO STREET '67 NOVA It's often been said that this is the first Pro S19 THE GONE IN 60 SECONDS ELEANOR MUSTANG The original Eleanor was a plenty ugly '73 Must18 THE BANDIT TRANS AM This is the single bone-stock production car on our list, but we c17 STEVE COLLISON'S MEAN MR. MUSTANG Originally a Cars Illustrated project car, Steve Col16 SHIRLEY MULDOWNEY'S FIRST DRAGSTERWhile Shirley's first dragster, built by Jack Muldowney, is perhaps her least-known car, we selected it based on the influence it had on Muldowney herself and the subsequent impact she had on drag racing overall. She was an ambassador for all women in proving they could compete, and her gender led to huge promotional impact on the sport itself, including the lasting effects of Heart Like a Wheel, her life story on film. This rare photo of that first dragster is from Englishtown, New Jersey, in 1968. -David Freiburger16 SHIRLEY MULDOWNEY'S FIRST DRAGSTER While Shirley's first dragster, built by Jack Muldo15 HOT ROD'S '67 CAMARO The popularity of the early Camaro is inarguable, and the HOT ROD14 PROJECT X '57 CHEVY We can't say that Popular Hot Rodding's Project X was the first en13 THE LITTLE RED WAGON Bill "Maverick" Golden's very successful Stock and Super Stock ca12 THE FIRST MEYERS MANX Bruce Meyers will never argue that he invented the dune buggy. G11 ZZ TOP'S ELIMINATOR COUPE With MTV videos, the album cover, and worldwide appearances10 TWO-LANE BLACKTOP/AMERICAN GRAFFITI '55 CHEVY As with most movie cars, the '55 seen in9 THE BATMOBILE The car and the 1965 TV show it starred in are stereotypical examples of8 TOM McMULLEN'S '32 ROADSTER It's very hard today to understand this car's impact on the7 CHRISMAN BROTHERS & CANNON'S HUSTLER I More than any earlier dragster, Hustler I proved6 CARROLL SHELBY'S FIRST COBRA While the Cobra is a sports car, arguably the greatest on5 DON GARLTIS' REAR-ENGINE DRAGSTER A crippling two-speed explosion inspired Big Daddy t4 RICHARD PETTY'S '64 PLYMOUTH When Richard Petty won the '64 Daytona 500 with a new-desi3 '64 PONTIAC GTO PRESS CAR It is said that with his infamous road-test comparison of the2 THE AMERICAN GRAFFITI COUPE With its chopped grille, bobbed fenders, and black framerai1 THE GENERAL LEE Influence. That's what this list is all about. Love it or hate it, but