The British and Scandinavian nostalgia hot rod scenes have been going strong for over two decades now, with Europe fast catching up, but apart from the A Bombers show in Sweden and numerous smaller reliability runs, there strangely has not been a show solely dedicated to traditional rods and kustoms. That is, until three years ago, when the Executioners car club staged its first weekend event after numerous one-dayers at the famed Ace Caf in London.
Dubbed the Hot Rod Hayride and promoted in association with rockin' DJ Jerry Chatabox, the event has quickly established itself, this year attracting clubs and participants from Belgium, Germany, France, and Sweden, as well as from across England and the rest of the United Kingdom. The flyers for the event, promising "a weekend of sunshine and Sun [Records] sound, of beer and burlesque," weren't wrong; the event followed the established format of making full use of your hot rod or kustom during the day and watching bands or dancing to rockabilly at night.
Hot Rod Hayride one and two saw fenderless rods allowed onto the hallowed Test Hill hillclimb at Brooklands (the world's first banked racetrack, a 2.7-mile circuit opened in June 1907), but this year the Executioners went one better, finding not only a new venue for the show at Bisley Pavilion (the national shooting range that comprises Victorian buildings and private lodges owned by organizations such as the Bentley Owners Club and national banks), but also arranging for the hot rods to use a private oval dirt track, as well as a display of vintage stock cars. The club's vision for the event is to keep it as pure as possible, and while it is not invitation only, there's a strict door policy when it comes to the build style of the cars that make it in. You either get it or you don't. Visiting journalists such as Per Webb from Sweden, and Laurent Bagnard from France-who authored "Electro-line Diaries," the book we reviewed last month-were blown away, Laurent describing it as the best event he's ever attended.
The format was so successful that both venues have been booked again for next year, though in an effort to keep it fresh, there'll be the added attraction of a Wall of Death. So remember to take your vintage Indian if you intend to go!