Hot Rod

The writing and acting are deeply cheesy (but in an endearing way- It's actually pretty funny, at times) but the historic cars in the opening 4 minutes alone are worth the price of admission- The McGee Roadster, the Bill Burke Belly-tank, rare footage of the early, Lake Muroc SCTA trials.

The cars in the main storyline aren't show-rods; Really, the modifications are pretty basic- '32 flathead-powered roadsters with fenders removed, dropped front axle, a hot camshaft, a 2x2bbl, or maybe 3x2bbl manifold, and finned aluminium heads- chromed on the fancier cars. But they're realistic for what a teenager with limited skills and limited budget could do in 1950 California- Back when you could pay for a hot rod build, with the earning from a before-school paper-route... before you needed to OWN the newspaper, to afford an A-V8, or Deuce Roadster.

(This movie is so early in the hot rod era, that there isn't even a Deuce Coupe in the whole film- Why would a kid bother with a big, heavy, undesirable 3-window coupe, when you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a 32 roadster, selling for under $100?)