Surfing The Channel

Archive for December, 2011

The world of television is a potent reservoir, feeding into the memories of a mainstream culture in particularly effective ways. The way people think about hot rods today may seem to have been almost entirely influenced by shows like American Hot Rod. These popular programs give viewers the chance to find out how the auto fanatics make their vehicles into what they are. Discussions of certain kinds of mods, the reasons why nexen tires are so popular among enthusiasts, and mind-boggling transformations are the topics at hand, and it’s always a beautiful ride. It’s made even more enjoyable by the fact that the people on tv are the ones who have to do the work.

This reality-tv based version of gathering information may be appealing to a number of people. A massive number, too, given the viewership of these shows. There are also other shows that have absolutely influenced the way people think about the cars. Perhaps these other shows play a larger part, because they are fictional, and have that elusive ability and can work their way into the imagination.

It would be very difficult to find a discussion of the best way to polish rims, or the benefits of
nitto tires on classic tv, but that doesn’t make it any less potent. Most people can remember, or have parents who remember Happy Days, and for a lot of people, this was a celebration of the time when hot rods were becoming what they are. For a larger group of people, this was an introduction to it.

On one show, Richie buys a red hot rod from Fonzie, and he begins to suspect that it was stolen. On the earlier shows, Ralph Malph was actually a bit of a thug, was in a gang, and drove a fantastic yellow hot rod. Hot rods were related to danger, and bordered on an outlaw lifestyle. At the same time, they were icons of a time that is simpler, if only in recollection. These are the things that are still in contemporary thought about hot rods. Spark plugs and timing belts are also there, but those details are for the experts. The rest of the public gets to enjoy their outlaw hot rod dreams. These images do have profound effects on the world at large. Although it isn’t because of shows like this that there is a kind of outlaw stance among hot rod owners today, these shows fed into an idea that was already there, and whose origins are perhaps unknowable.