Pay no attention to the housing developments packed with half-million dollar homes, the fast food restaurants, and the strip malls that have popped up in Palmdale, California, in the last few decades.
We prefer to think of Palmdale the way it was in the days before the L.A. development boom echoed out at the northern end of the county. Before this remote, dusty town on the edge of the Mojave--where neighbors were once separated by miles of desert--became one of the fastest growing cities in America. Before the 14 Freeway replaced Pearblossom Highway as the quickest way around.
For hot rodders, Pearblossom is still the fastest route to the old days. It's the way to Los Angeles County Raceway, where others who think just like us go to relive the past at the Antique Nationals every June.
The Antique Nationals began in 1970 which, according to the promoters, makes it the original nostalgia drag race. The car show area adjacent to the pits is open to everybody, but the racing is restricted to 1954 and earlier cars and '56 and earlier Ford trucks. The event is hosted by the members of the Four Ever Four Cylinder Club, who have been racing in the past since 1954. Some of these club members can still remember the days when drag racing 4-bangers, flatheads, Nailheads, and early small-block mills wasn't nostalgic at all. It was just drag racing.
Most of the races of that era were small events, sponsored by the local hot rod clubs and attended by the local cars that were well-known to the other racers as well as to the spectators. Today, even with hundreds of participants from all over the West, that atmosphere still exists when the Antique Nationals brings the past back to Palmdale.
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Tom and Diana Branch drove their hot rods to the Antique Nats. Diana's A sedan (with a Deuce grille) runs a Studebaker 300 engine, and runs in the low 15s... |
...Husband Tom's bare-metal '32 roadster (on gold-painted rails) is also Stude-powered and has gone 14.20 in the quarter-mile. |
In four years, Tom McErlane has driven his '32 coupe all over the United States, racking up almost 80 thousand miles. On this day, the ZZ4-powered Deuce added a few more quarter miles, with a top speed of 98 miles per hour. |
This isn't the first water box we've seen this '53 Chevy in. Larry Wiggins and "Old Man's Mistress" make the rounds of West Coast nostalgia drags. The car was his daily transportation before he purpose-built it as a drag car. Engine is a stroked 383. |
Kade Gates and his friend Josh Morningstar are students at Camarillo High School, and drove down to Palmdale to race Kade's '31 Model A coupe. The top was chopped four inches, and a Chevy 350 was dropped between the rails. |
With a couple bottles of beverage to keep the door open, and Jake Krotje to push, this flamed and 'striped Stude makes it's way up the staging lanes. |
This flathead-powered channeled roadster is suspended with front and rear split wishbones and a suicide front end. It looks like it was built to replicate a '50s hot rod, but in fact, it is a genuine survivor from rodding's early days, and has been on the road for 48 years. |
Nineteen-year-old Matt Prell's '54 Ford has been mildly modified on the outside with a '58 Chevy bumper, '55 rear wheel wells, and some nice flames. Under the hood, it's got a Linoln 460 engine backed by a C6 trans, and a 9-inch rear. Matt was running low 15s and hoping to get into the 14s. He blew past us later that evening on the 405 freeway. |
The Early Riders club makes it to LACR every spring to race the club-owned '27 T turtledeck at the Antique Nationals. The so-low coupe sits on custom steel rails. A Powerglide backs up the 350 Chevy. The car was built by the club for an estimated $6,000. |
A lot of work went into this chopped and severely channeled '32 five-window. We always heard that "you can't take it with you," but the owner of this "hellbound" '32 added a bamboo roof rack, just in case you can. |
The gold basecoat and raspberry flames on Steve Anderson's full-fendered, unchopped top '31 five-window is 16 years old, but still looks great. The small-block was hot rodded for drag racing and A arms were added to the front. |
If you were in Paso Robles the week before, you were one of the first people to see this ragtop Merc. The just-finished finish is some beautiful fade paint applied by Gene Winfield, who also happened to be in attendance at the Antique Nats. |
The elaborate 'striping and super low posture of this '60 Caddy called us over for a closer look. The cracked windshield must've hurt; fresh glass is probably on the "to do" list. |
Don Dillard's '32 fendered roadster has been running around since the '50s. The weather-beaten body rides on new rails. Running a stock 283, this hairblower has a long history on the dry lakes and on the street. That history is going to get a lot longer. |