Hot Rod Builder Mugs

Last thing you what to do is let the ol' flathead run dry during a speed run, so give it some love with a little old school hot rod lube!

Yes, I build hot rods. No, you can't drive it.

Like other performance pioneers, Ed Iskenderian was a Southern California hot rodder in the years leading up to World War II, learning speed secrets in an effort to make his own T roadster go faster. Grinding camshafts came after the war when a sudden demand for parts - fueled by returning GIs eager to get back to hot rodding - was so great that Iskenderian was faced with a long wait for a cam he wanted for his own car. Figuring he could do as just as good himself, he bought a surplus cylindrical grinder, converted it into a cam-grinding machine, and went to work. He wasn't just making a similar cam to those available at the time - he made them better, rightfully earning him the nickname of 'The Camfather.'

The Judson Research and Manufacturing Company of Pennsylvania got their start way back in 1880. Specializing in mechanical and electrical engineering, Judson developed products for farm equipment to improve performance.In the early '50s, the sons of the latest generation of Judsons were hot rod enthusiasts and began toying with sliding vane style superchargers. First created for the British sports cars and the venerable flathead V8, these bolt on supercharger kits quickly became popular with hobbyists and sold steadily. In 1956, the brothers designed a new kit for an increasingly popular German import that took the stock air cooled engine and doubled the horsepower. This is the product that changed the trajectory of Judson forever.

I'll Be In The Garage features a classic hot rod car distressed design. Great for the vintage car fan, mechanic, builder and driver.

First established in 1965, VHS started out by porting cylinder heads for local racers in an old barn and has since evolved into one of the most complete engine shops in Southern California.

Weber Speed Equipment started out in 1945 as Weber Tool Company, making some of the first aluminum performance fly wheels. As the company continued to expand their speed parts catalog with cams, clutches, and heads, becoming increasingly popular with hot rodders and racers alike, they changed their name to Weber Speed Equipment. Aside from making high quality, extreme high-performance parts, one of their biggest claims to fame was their 'blow up proof' guarantee on their flywheels, something that was a big draw to those pushing higher horsepower and revs in the early days of drag racing.

Dempsey Wilson was an accomplished race car driver in the '50s and '60s who competed in the USAC Championship Car Series. He had over 30 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in '58, '60, '61, and '63. Outside of racing, Wilson was a master machinist who custom-milled his own cams and ran a business called Dempsey Wilson Racing Cams in Hawthorne, California, which both made new camshafts and refurbished old ones. His primary clients were hot rodders and street racers, but he also did work for his fellow open-wheel racers, even providing some of his secret grinds to those he really liked.

Perfect for the Aunt that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

Perfect for the uncle that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

LM & P Motor Parts was an auto parts supplier serving the great Los Angeles area for decades. This design comes from a thrifted tee that carried a date of 1974 which had seen better days, so it was redrawn and made new again before being elegantly destroyed by hand.

Founded in 1925, Mallory initially developed OEM ignition systems for many early cars, but by the '50s, they were known for their aftermarket systems for hot rods and drag racers who needed more oomph to get their high-compression engines to light and for those needing more adjustability for fine-tuning and keeping their monster motors humming along. Mighty Mallory was a fun superhero inspired character introduced in 1962 and was most commonly found on decals handed out at drag racing events.

Perfect for the brother that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

The only way to get big stroke in the early decades of hot rodding was taking an existing crank, building up the journals through welding, and then machine finishing it, and that is what Alex Alexander had a knack for. As a welder, machinist, and avid hot rodder, Alex started making his own welded strokers in the '50s. As orders stacked up from word of mouth, he eventually had to admit that he had a business and formalized his operation as the less than creatively named 'Crankshaft Company' in 1965. From mild to wild, Crankshaft Company could build it and build it right, whether it was a street driven small block or a top fuel big block, the originator of the welded stroker could be counted on to go the distance.

With the post-war auto racing boom in full swing, the custom ignition business Chuck Potvin started in high school quickly outgrew his parent's garage. In 1948 Chuck purchased a corner shop and decked it out with cam grinders, a homemade master cam generator, a dynamometer, and several lathes and began crafting his own cam grinds that, like his ignition systems, found a sweet spot in the market. While he made countless models over the years, the most popular was the 425 Eliminator, the cam that the first car to break the 160 mph barrier was running.

C&T Automotive was started in 1951 in Sherman Oaks, California by Don Clark and Clem Tebo, hence the C and the T in the name. While they did a little bit of everything as far as making parts for racing engines, turning out competition grade stroker crankshafts was their bread and butter. Whether you were drag racing, burning up the dirt oval, or swapping paint on the stock car circuit, there was a good stretch there when it was safe to say that the fastest guys were running C&T crankshafts.

When you’re building a V8 engine and looking for a camshaft, you may as well pick one that’s a beast to give it just the right amount of thump.

Boneyard Build Hot Rod Illustration for Halloween

Quincy's Auto Supply sat on the south side of Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica and started out as a muffler shop, but evolved into a comprehensive speed shop. They had lifts for muffler work, a speed equipment showroom, and even offered machining services such as boring and porting. Ray Alley was the muffler guy and did the porting work; he later became fairly famous as a top fuel wrench. The proprietor of the place was Bill Quincy Cox, hence the name of the business, and Quincy's had considerable credibility in the hot rod and racing scene through his sponsorships of some of the top drag racers and Bonneville competitors, most of whom set numerous records while flying the Quincy flag.

Rotonda's Speed Shop was founded in 1963 in Bloomfield, New Jersey and while they originally started out selling off the shelf go fast goodies, they added bays for service and installation and ended up building some rather infamous racing engines that broke quite a few records throughout the '60s.

Hot Rods Make Me Happy design features a custom hot rod vintage vehicle with a big motor. Distressed design. Great for the hot rod loving mechanic, builder, mom, dad and car show.

Perfect for the Aunt that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

Perfect for the Mom that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

Back in the late '50s, hot rodders were increasingly attracted to newer cars making their way into junkyards, or more specifically, the OHV V8 engines they brought with them. An engine that made more power than their flathead V8's, was all too enticing, though the swap wasn't exactly straight forward. Of course, hot rodders were an ingenious bunch, and came up with all kinds of mounting solutions, but none of them were exactly great (or safe). Seeing a need, Hurst came out with their Adjusta-Torque engine conversion mount in 1960, promising a true bolt on solution for OHV engine swaps.

Depending on whom you ask, ‘street racing’ used to simply mean drag racing, as in on a drag strip in the early days. Decades later, it literally means racing in the streets, but whatever your take is, be careful out there and give ’em absolute hell!

The year was 1946 when a small hot rod shop opened up on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit and by 1960, they had expanded to half a dozen stores throughout Michigan and were known as the 'world's largest hot rod shops.' Unlike a lot of speed shops, Gratiot Auto Supply locations weren't just fronts for mail order dealers - they had hardware on the shelves, so no waiting for that new set of headers for your small block to come in from Los Angeles - they were in stock and ready to rock. From cross members and frame rails to cheater slicks and crate motors, they stocked literally everything a guy would need to build a car from the ground up, something no other retail store could come close to pulling off.

Perfect for the Sister that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

Founded as Charles Auto Supply in 1934, Charles would go on to open a dozen locations throughout the greater Washington Metro area, subsequently changing their name to Charles Auto Supply Stores. The retailer's initial offerings were basic repair parts and supplies, but by the time the boys began coming home from WWII and began hot rodding their cars, the Charles stores began adding speed parts and go fast goodies. By the late '70s, dedicated speed shops and national auto parts supply stores were putting the squeeze on Charles Auto Supply Stores, and they struggled throughout the '80s before closing up shop some time in the '90s.

Perfect for the Grandpa that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

Perfect for the Grandma that loves hot rods and classic cars. Low rider hot rod with powerful engine. Great for birthday or just expressing love for custom built cars and trucks.

Dempsey Wilson was an accomplished race car driver in the ’50s and ’60s who competed in the USAC Championship Car Series. He had over 30 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in ’58, ’60, ’61, and ’63. Outside of racing, Wilson was a master machinist who custom-milled his own cams and ran a business called Dempsey Wilson Racing Cams in Hawthorne, California, which both made new camshafts and refurbished old ones. His primary clients were hot rodders and street racers, but he also did work for his fellow open-wheel racers, even providing some of his secret grinds to those he really liked.

Founded in 1964 in Columbus, Ohio, Nationwise was a chain of auto parts stores in the United States with a loveable mascot known as 'Motor Earl.' In 1974, Nationwise partnered with Columbus-based engine builders, The Rod Shop, sponsoring a series of highly successful drag racecars. In stores, a Rod Shop section was created as kind of a speed shop inside of a parts store. In addition to go fast goodies from all the big names, Nationwise also sold Rod Shop branded performance parts. These parts were typically embossed with NRS (Nationwise Rod Shop), making them easy to identify by collectors, even decades later. The partnership ended in 1987, and less than a decade later, Nationwise became insolvent, and closed all stores on October 15, 1995.

Founded in 1924,Echlin was a leading manufacturer of automotive replacement parts, steadily growing through a series of acquisitions of smaller companies that could provide instant access to expansion areas of interest. One such company was Ace Electric, a manufacturer of components for alternators, generators, and starters acquired in 1970. Echlin leveraged Ace Electric to get into the high-performance ignition system market in 1972. These racing quality ignition parts were marketed under the name ACCEL which, despite fierce competition, soon became the leading name in the field and a popular upgrade among hot rod, muscle car, and drag racing enthusiasts.