Hot Rod Reunion - Reunited

There were not one, but two, "Jungle Jim" Liberman '69 Novas on hand, one on display and this one that saw track action. If you dig drag racing from the '60s, you need to be at the Reunion this year.

Nick Ozanne's '48 Plymouth coupe runs a straight axle and a twin AFB-fed tunnel-rammed 327 with a four-speed. A Lakewood scattershield and Ansen pedals are just a couple of the period parts on this new build.

From 1960-62, the Perrenot family ran a AA/Fuel Comp Coupe until it met its demise on the strip. This is a re-creation of that car, the Gizzle Hopper, and Brian and Vicky Perrenot chose this of all the family's ex-race cars to re-create, as it was Perrenot's late-brother Travis' favorite. A much-altered '31 bantam body sits aft of the blown 430ci Lincoln engine.

Too often coupes-turned-roadsters can look out of proportion, especially when stuffed with a huge engine, but this example sits right and looks right and always draws us in whenever we see it.

Shorty bed pickup looked like an older build with coil springs supporting the rearend. If we asked you to picture a '32 cab on a '34 frame with a Model A bed, would you envision it looking this good?

With Mexican blanket upholstery to match the orange paint, and a tooth grille in the stock surround, this smoothed '58 four-door longroof was proof that mild customs-even wagons-can be eye catching. Or is it simply that Loco Banditos Bakersfield style again?

Though local Bakersfield car club Loco Banditos have become known for '50s and '60s brightly painted in-yer-face customs, there are a few hot rods amongst their number, including this sweet A roadster on Radirs.

The Cackle Fest is one of the Reunion's biggest experiences, and this year all the "push start" cars were pushed down track by period vehicles and then fired up, driven back up the return road in front of the bleachers, and parked one by one diagonally across the strip. There were always two or three running at one time, and as another pulled up, the first would kill the engine. That's a lot of nitro in the air, believe us!

Tri-powered A-V8 with raked windshield and louvered decklid was out of Oregon. Sitting very low the split 'bones mount through the frame, while there's a quick-change under the kicked up rear.

This survivor '34 coupe features an aluminum headed tri-power Flathead, '40 Ford steering wheel, and a white tuck 'n' roll interior that had seen better days. Offered at $38,000, it was snapped up by an English buyer and is headed across the pond.

Joaquin Arnett was the mastermind behind the original Bean Bandits, designing, building, and driving various cars and taking many records under the club colors. Sadly Arnett passed away a couple of weeks before the Reunion, and the club made an exhibition pass in his honor in his recreation of his old nitro-burning Flathead dragster.

Looking for all the world like a full-size Muscle Machine with that blown Hemi poking through the hood, heads 'n' all, we'll bet this '65 Valiant wagon corners like a pregnant elephant on ice, but what a blast in a straight line!

It could be mistaken for Keith Weesner's roadster with a coat of paint, but this milk truck rear-wheel shod A drove down to Bakersfield from the Pacific Northwest.