By Robert Emslie
Elvis can be most identified with driving a Caddy, and as his last act, the big porcelain bus, but you wouldn’t call either of those Rock & Roll rides, would you? There’ve been tons of rock songs written about cars – from Mercurys to little GTOs and a few deuces thrown in just to be wild. BUt is there one car that, more than any other, embodies the Rock & Roll mythology?
American Graffiti was an ode to both cruisin’ cars and the music coming from their radios. Tinny, single speaker AM, that was still sounds that shaped the way a generation grew up. Milner’s Ford coupe, itself an ode to the fabled Deuce Coupe of the Beach Boys hit song is a good example of a Rockin’ car but of only one era. Do you think that cars, like music, can only represent a certain time and mindset, or is there one that represents, above all others, Rock & Roll at its most primal?
So what do you think, is there one car that’s more Rock & Roll than any other? Or, are you more of a polka person?
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Jeff Glucker
The Rocket 88.
The ZZ Top Eliminator, end of story.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/bd2Zm.jpg">
"It is extremely fast, street legal, something you can work on in your own driveway, and an established chick magnet."
You must have gotten dressed in a hurry this morning. Your stripe is on backwards. I bet you don't feel so sharp-dressed now.
<img src="http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/zz-top-eliminator-hot-rod-2.jpg">
hell of sassy!
It was good enough for Elvis, and every rock and roll star in the '50s dreamed of cruising in one of these.
<img src="http://files.myopera.com/NghiaTAKESHI/albums/655015/1957%20Cadillac%20De%20Ville%20Convertible.jpg" width="500/">
And you can trace its rock-and-roll legacy all the way up through Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac." That covers a lot of ground.
Actually, Cadillac's Roack and Roll legacy goes even further than that.
[youtube SDe23UM6kjY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDe23UM6kjY youtube]
rescue attempt Hoonibbles hates trains.
Easy answer: Bitchin' Camaro. Actual answer: Ford Econoline nine passenger window van with an equipment trailer behind it. My own personal answer:The Road Condo (see avatar). The thing would hold all of the equipment used by a six piece blues band, including the PA, and double as the "green room" during gigs. Handy as hell.
My pappy said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln"
<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/3987475373_5a7775802e.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="54 carrera panamericana de rosa bustos lincoln capri" />
The song refers to a Model A-based hot rod with Lincoln engine, not a real Lincoln.
"Have you heard the story of the hot rod race
Where the Fords and Lincolns were settin' the pace?
That story is true I'm here to say
I was drivin' that model A.
It's got a Lincoln motor and it's really souped up
That a Model A body makes it look like a pup
It's got eight cylinders and uses 'em all
Got overdrive, just won't stall"
A V12 Lincoln no less! Unless its the cover then it has a V8…
I know, tonyola. Bit of artistic license on my part.
<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Pk7gG3EqUfA/SQ_bqYnc_sI/AAAAAAAAB8o/t8qAIWC4K4s/CRW_2043.jpg" width=400>
For me, it has to be the above, especially in orange.
Something about the blue-collar credentials of that Ford engine and the way the Pantera was marketed, and of course it did have some notable supporters.
<img src="http://www.ninebullets.net/wp-images/pantera_vulgar-display-of-power_front.jpg">
Couldn't be more apt if it tried
Yeah just go ask Vince Neil…
Ouch!
Elvis shot his Pantera. That's rock and roll.
A few years ago I went to the Rock Stars Cars & Guitars display at the Henry Ford museum. They had a bunch of cars from various musical acts along with their guitars. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and had to use the crappy on on my phone, which didn't do well in low light. Oh well.
There were a bunch of '30s Ford hot rods, including the ZZ Top Eliminator. Of any particular model, that is probably the most "rock star" simply by popularity. Here's Kirk Hammtt's, including a custom trunk to hold his guitar:
<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/3691834685_18830036f9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Kirk Hammett's 1936 Ford Custom" />
However, I have a feeling that this is what the majority of rock bands in the US are driving.
<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2447/3696196840_cf61a691f9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Soundgarden's Chevy van" />
The most rock and roll car is the one that gets the band to the gigs, gives you a place to
smoke up beforeprep for the show, and somewhere tofondle groupies then pass outsleep afterwards.In my day they looked like this:
<img src="http://www.neaca.com/images/Chevy_G20_Conversion_Van_1992_.jpg">
The best real Rock & Roll is dangerous, antisocial, deliberately in your face, awe-inspiring, attention-getting, irresistible, cool, showy, over-the-top, and unlike anything you've experienced before.
Thus, Megacycle.
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i_AovfzNXgQ/S1APSt7_jfI/AAAAAAABClA/IYOxDgM0TQs/s400/mega+finished.jpg">
Rescue attempt. Hoonibbles apparently is still upset with Hagar for that whole Van Halen thing.
British Rock and the Rolls:
<img src="http://jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/03/Jaguar-E-Type.jpg">
4 Speed, Dual Quad, Positraction, 409
1961 Impala SS
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6iDM59yCBk8/SZf4Yg25z_I/AAAAAAAAD4U/QodlkKbUFFk/s400/46_397_1961_CHEVROLET_IMPALA+SS+409_1.jpg">
Good reference, good song, saddly not rock and roll
If you don't think "409" was rock and roll in 1962, then you simply don't know what rock and roll is.
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/FordHolden.jpg" width="500">
First I was torn between the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon and the TVR Sagaris. But then I decided it's hard to top the still-boiling Ford/Holden feud. They've used the same basic ingredients for decades, always changing, yet always the same, with little in the way of electronic influence. And turning things up to eleven on storied racetracks is the pinnacle of something that anyone can play around with in their garage.
The Ford Econoline, because Rock and Roll wouldn't happen without a way to get to gigs. The Econoline is even immortalized in the opening lines of Neil Young's Tonight's the Night (a tribute to former CSN roadie Bruce Berry).
He also sings about an Aerostar and Cutlass Supreme in 'I'm the Ocean'. And let's not forget 'Sedan Delivery'. Hell he even mentions Datsuns and an army jeep in 'Motor City'.
My favorite artist, man. I really gotta see him live.
Represent!
What, no '55 Chevys? When I think of the classic image of early rock and roll, a '55 just goes hand in hand. This 2 Lane Blacktop example probably represents the later grunge genre even though James Taylor certainly doesn't.
<img src="http://2loose.chevytalk.org/2LaneBlacktop55%2001.jpg">
Wheel a Daihatsu ROCKy AND ROLLover is imminent.
<img src="http://image.4wheeloffroad.com/f/9309492+w750+st0/131_0612_05_z+1990_daihatsu_rocky+passenger_side_view.jpg" width=500>
C3 Corvette Stingray a la rick allen
<img src="http://2011-corvette.net/images/corvette_stingray_2.jpg">
Nah if it's a Vette I'm thinking older, a la 'Heavy Metal'. Felder is the Goddamn man….. 0:52
[youtube WuIZNwpL3cU&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuIZNwpL3cU&feature=related youtube]
Off-topic tangent here, but BritishV8.org is somewhere in the realm of "space-ape" awesome.
<img src="http://www.britishv8.org/Other/NormanRest/NormanRest-AK.JPG" width="500">
Indeed. It's one of the places I visit to regain some perspective, whenever I get to thinking that I might be a "car guy".
rescue attempt
Just for the record, that Mercury is "Panama." Many levels of rock there.
I think it's impossible to pick one. The dream of the automobile is the same as the message of R&R – freedom. Sure, a Camry may not seem so rock on the surface, but it's what that Camry enables that makes it rock. Anything that can get you down the road either away from or closer to where you are or want to be qualifies as rock in my book. Especially if your parents are against it.
How about the Monkeemobile?
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Monkeemobile2.jpg/320px-Monkeemobile2.jpg"/>
GM F-bodies.
Cars that are rock and roll aren't owned by performers, they are owned by the guys blaring the music in every city around the country. And during my lifetime, that means F-bodies. Laugh at the cars or their owners all you want, they still rock.
Don't forget the G-Body also (especially the Monte Carlo SS), preferably with T-Tops.
I have a limo. I ride in the back. I lock the doors, in case of attack.
<img src="http://www.mcsmk8.com/80-LIMO/HR/LIMO-02-HR.JPG"width=600>
My Maserati does 185.
I lost my license, now I don't drive.
<img src="http://www.carprices24.com/cars/maserati/bora/bora-4.jpg" width=400>
My Maserati does 185. I lost my license, now I don't drive.
Shit, totally forgot about this until now. What do you get when you mix Keith Moon, a Rolls* and a swimming pool?… Rock and Roll.
<img src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/images/episodes/episodearchive_060301.jpg">
*NOTE- in some versions this is a Caddy or even Lincoln Continental, but dunking a Rolls is so much more awesome.
"Your metal is weak"
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/20…
Without a doubt, "The Wullet".