As long as the car has existed, there have been famous people who love them just like you and I. The fact that the well known usually have healthy bank accounts allows that love of cars to blossom. In the early days, circa 1900, it was only the wealthy and connected that owned and drove cars.

It was also easy for those same people to start their own automotive companies. By 1920, there were hundreds of manufactures all across the country. There was even a car manufacturer in New Kensington, PA. Sears sold cars through the catalog, too.

Some of the earliest supporters of the car were doctors who needed the quickest and most comfortable form of transportation. It's common to hear stories of local doctors driving through bad weather to save a life or bring a new one into the world.

Marx Brothers

I have read stories about the fun that Henry Ford and his buddies like Thomas Edison had with their cars.The Marx brothers would street race for money and Clark Gable always had the first and the finest when it came to cars. Clyde Barrow sang the praises of the Ford V-8. The Keystone cops were the first stunt drivers and did amazing things with cars. So did Laurel and Hardy. They did speed up the film but that practice continued until "Bullit" when real time car stunts came to the big screen.

Clark Gable with one of his hot rods.

Big screen creators like Walt Disney and George Lucas made the car bigger than life. Mickey Mouse had cars. The tires always had patches on them. "American Grafitti" has some of the best cars and car scenes ever. Harrison Ford in his black "55 Chevy is only bettered by the yellow '32 Ford of character John Milner played by Paul Lemat. I love the scene when you see the '32 in a gas station having the headers uncapped. How can you not love that sound!

Do you remember Popeye's roadster? He arrives at Olive's house to pick her up for a date.The car is shaking so bad Popeye is forced to use a funnel to insert the key in the door to get Olive in the car. Popeye must have had a big cam in his hot rod.

If you want to go way back, we will use Prof. Peabody's "Way Back" machine, do you remember the Our Gang episodes that involved dog and cat powered vehicles? They were mind bending for someone like me. They had taxis, police cars, fire trucks, and racecars that were all animal powered. They were true hot rod geniuses! I miss Alfalfa singing to Darla.

Cheech and Chong loved hot rods. How about Cheech's low rider. Later in his career Cheech rode around with Nash Bridges in his Hemi Cuda convertible.

James Cagney, James Dean, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, James Garner, Nicolas Cage and Patrick Dempsey are true hot rodders: on the screen and on the track.

Famous guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Ted Nugent are all hot rodders. I was lucky enough to interview Stevie Ray and he told me about his mystery motored Chevy he was working on. Stevie's drummer Chris Layton told us about his early Mustang that was in the works. Ted Nugent said on the air at DVE that his cars, trucks and guitars all had at least 300 hp. See The Clarks are Hot Rodders!. And we certainly can't leave out Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. One of my all-time favorite songs is "GTO" by Dharma Sons. Guitarist/singer Rob Bayne is a hot rodder.

Comedians Jay Leno, David Letterman, Tim Allen and Christopher Titus are all hot rodders. We have all seen and heard stories about Jay Leno's garage. He is one of my biggest hot rod heroes. Jay buys them and keeps them. He drives them too! To me, the ultimate job would be helping Jay to maintain his collection.

David Letterman doesn't want us to know how much he is into cars, but he can't fool talkhotrods.com.

Tim Allen and Christopher Titus worked their love of cars into their shows. Some of those cars from Tim's show will end up going for big money at Barret Jackson.

Some of my local radio heroes here in Pittsburgh are hot rodders. Jack Bogut, from KDKA and WJAS, has been into Porsche 911s for many years.

Scott Paulsen from WDVE and ESPN, was, according to local legend, conceived in a car. We will confirm that in a future interview with Scott here at talkhotrods.com. Scott's love of cars is well known. There's a photo of Scott's '65 Corvair in the Hersch History section of the Garage.

Russ Rose (The Whipping Boy) from WXDX 105.9 FM is into rally racing (and television announcing) and has raced his GTI on some really cool courses. Russ is also an instructor at Beaverun and when I grow up I want to be just like Russ.

Please add to this post with your list of other famous hot rodders.

Thanks Doc. I feel better already.

Be careful in the hot rod.

Hersch
Automotive Opinionist.

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