Last message was about Robert Williams, and the whole low-brow, trashy pop culture hot rod Americana captured by renowned visionaries like Ed Roth. Now let me explore a new root of an old past time I had in the summer of 1969:

Bubble gum hot rod cards.

They were great in that you had to bicycle (in my banana seat spider bike, natch!) to the candy store to buy the latest shipments. They were colorful, gross, semi-violent in a weird way. The cards were printed on an adhesive board and could be peeled off and stuck on any surface. Usually on a place that would piss off your parents, like your bedroom dresser or headboard on the bed.

Apparently the story behind Odd Rods is that their artist B.K. Taylor had this tremendous offer from the Donruss Company --but a very stringent deadline to get them out. Hence they were kinda rushed in their execution, which only made them all the more interesting.

The first set was from 1 - 66 with titles like 'Ford Killer' or 'Bug Repellent'. Similar to but not related to Roth Studios they showed various hyper-souped up machines with flames spitting out and sometimes monsters at the wheel. The series' number was printed on the card, making every kid who collected them buy card pack after card pack in order to have a complete set. In short time Donruss rolled out a sequel: 'Odder Odd Rods' in 1970 extending the series to 132 images. Several re-renditions and reprints soon followed. 

...a mix-and-match 'Fiends and Machines' idea of having the hot rod on the bottom image, with the monster laid out on top, effectively combining two cards together (they were printed on adhesive vinyl after all). As with most fads it died out soon into the later part of the 1970s but that collectible 'gross' mentality would bleed over into 'Wacky Packages' from Topps parodying everyday household items and 'the garbage pail kids' lampooning the 1980s 'cabbage patch kids' doll mania.

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