The history of Hot Rods Unlimited
A big thanks goes out to Dave Lindsay with So Cal Car Culture http://www.socalcarculture.com/index.htm
for the treasure of fantastic pictures which chronicle many of the great
moments of the car culture in Southern California and helped us bring our story
to life.
Hot Rods Unlimited is a friendly, social car
club based in south Orange County, California with members from
all over Orange County and beyond. We share a love of great cars, great
friends, and having fun by going to car shows, cruises, and parades
with special events that focus on helping our community and participating
in events centered around the enjoyment of the car culture in Southern
California. Most
of our club members own and enjoy many types of cars that may be known as Hot
Rods, Street Rods, Classic Cars, Specialty Cars, Muscle Cars, Sports Cars, or Collector
Cars. Several members own more than one.
Founded in 1999, Hot Rods Unlimited has had
many great club members over the years. In fact, we still do! Our members have
included a race driver for the Carroll Shelby race team, a famous actor, a stuntman, professional athletes, auto
mechanics and other members of the automotive industry, teachers, tradesmen, first
responders with the police and fire departments, entrepreneurs, architects, real
estate professionals, engineers, banking & finance professionals and more. Many of our
members are also military veterans. We’re very proud of our members and we’re
thankful for the love of cars that brought us all together.
A few members have had their cars appear in national
publications such as Hemming’s and Hot Rod Magazine, including a few covers.
Check out our photo albums and see just some of the events we’ve done over
the years: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hot_rods_unlimited/sets/
Original and founding members of Hot Rods Unlimited
include: Jim Poetker & Debbie Baker, Gary & Jane Yapp, Terry & Kathy Beezley, Bill & Nancy
Gleason, Eddie & Judy Paskey, Jim & Marlies Maring, Don & Kelley
Yegan, Tom & Penny Pawloski, Dave Lindsley, Frank & Sally Dalton, Ted
& Susie D’Orazi, Les & Louise Bent, Mike Watson, Roger & Esther Myers,
Roger & Gerri Gibb, Dick & Sally McMullen, John & Janice Cruella, Ross & Jody Kroenert, Al & Maxine Gandall, and Ted &
Peggy Fleetwood. Please forgive me if I have neglected to include anyone on
this list.
We remember and honor the club members who are no longer
with us but their legacy lives on and we’re grateful for the profound influence
they’ve had and continue to have on our lives.
https://www.hotrodsunlimited.com/inmemoriam.html
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Charitable endeavors of Hot Rods Unlimited
Hot Rods Unlimited supports our local community and has worked with many wonderful charitable causes every year by hosting events and raising money and awareness for specially selected charities. These have included City of Hope, Ronald McDonald House, Warrior Foundation Freedom Station, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Orangewood Foundation, the Rotary Club, Team Darkhorse, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and many others. Each year, our members come together and provide new, unwrapped toys to brighten the holidays for local kids. There’s no better feeling than giving back and providing smiles to someone in need.
In 2022 we raised over $6,500 and were able to purchase a wheelchair for a wounded veteran named Dana. We were able to do this through a variety of events throughout the year including our first-ever Hot Rods Unlimited garage sale, where club members donated their items and their time to make this an outstanding success.
In 2023, we raised over $5,000 thanks to our friends at Innova Electronics, fellow car club members with South Orange County Rods & Customs, The Old Cranks, Cool Runnin' Camaros, and Just Having Fun, along with Glenn Huggins with the National Street Rod Association at our first "Invitation-Only Car Show", all to support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Again in 2023, and for the 24th year in a row, Hot Rods Unlimited members proudly volunteered in support of Cruisin' for a Cure, the west coast's largest one-day cars show and event held every September at the OC Fair & Event center in Costa Mesa, to raise awareness and support for prostate cancer research. This amazing event literally saves lives.
In January 2024, wonderful and long-time club members Dick & Vicki Varela read a story in the newspaper about Lina Esquela, a great lady who, just after opening a new restaurant, the green Chile Cantina in Mission Viejo, found out she had lymphoma. Most folks would just turn the page, but not Dick, he hopped in this '64 Nova and went to the restaurant to meet Lina and her husband Tony. He set-up a car display fundraising event for 2 weeks away. We were all set with 20 cars with a week to go, when the restaurant caught fire rendering it closed. Did this stop us? Heck NO! We doubled our efforts and, with the help of the TV news, city of Mission Viejo, the MV Chamber of Commerce, lots of local residents and businesses, and our friends in the car community, we held a fundraising event on Jan 27, 2024 with tremendous success! Here's a video from Alerts SoCal about the event.
Check out these photos too Jan 27, 2024 Green Chile Cantina Fundraiser PICS
On May 18th, 2024, Hot Rods Unlimited hosted our 3rd annual "Invitation-Only" car show charity event at Innova Electronics in Irvine, along with our local car club friends from South Orange County Rods & Customs, The Old Cranks and The Mercifuls. This year our chosen charity was One Step Ministry, who provides assistance to single-parent families in south county.
For the past three years, One Step Ministry held their own "Car Show for a Cause" at Floor & Decor in Mission Viejo. A Friday evening was usually selected for their 3-hour event, and though that event was local favorite, it just didn't provide the donations to overcome the cost of putting on the event. Sometime around January, we had heard that One Step Ministry had decided to cancel the 2024 "Car Show for a Cause". Shortly thereafter, we approached One Step Ministry and asked if we could work together. We knew we had a great car event, and we knew lots of generous people would be there. They could simply focus on the charity aspect of the event and HRU will take care of everything else.
The Saturday event from 10:am - 3:pm featured a live band, carnival games & prizes, Xclusive food truck, Carmen's Coffee Co, and some great vendors like Segerstrom Shelby Event Center, Pinstripes by Snick, LabTech Supply Co, Michael Douglas Photography and more. Almost 100 beautiful classic and specialty cars were there (the event was full). Participants again had the opportunity to have their car inspected by the National Street Rod Association (NSRA) and have their cars photographed in front of a green screen, allowing the final image(s) have a background of their choice (ie: race track, dessert scene, beach scene, etc.....18 backgrounds to choose from). Each driver arrived to a goodie bag full with excellent items courtesy of Innova. Activities were available throughout the day culminating and the trophy presentation and auction & raffle winner announcements.
Over $9,950 was raised and donated to One Step Ministry, all in a single day. Check out the pics of this incredible day: 2024 "Invite-Only" Car Show charity event
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Cruisin’ for a Cure
The first Cruisin’ for a Cure was held at the Irvine Meadows
parking lot in September of 1999. Here are photos from the 2nd
annual event held on September 23, 2000. https://www.flickr.com/photos/socalcarculture/sets/72157686214662163/
Cruisin' for a Cure is now held every year at the OC Fair & Event Center
in Costa Mesa.
Cruisin’
for a Cure was started in 1999 by Debbie Baker whose husband was
diagnosed with prostate cancer and lost his life in 2009 from this illness. It
became and continues to be Debbie’s passion to do something for our men by
bringing awareness of prostate cancer to help save their lives through the
offering of free prostate screening at the event. Over the past 20+
years they have tested well over 15,000 men and saved more than 4,000+ men
who would have never known they had a suspicious lump or prostate cancer. As
Debbie tells the men: “you take care of your cars, you need to take care of
your body.” “We are very grateful to continue offering our free prostate
screening to men 40 years and older through a simple blood test.”
Cruisin’
for a Cure is the world’s largest one-day charity car show with over 3,000
vehicles on display and over 150+vendors and exhibitors. Owners of the vehicles
can cruise through the OCFair & Event Center for 1.5 miles and/or park to
just display their vehicles. The logistics, marketing, and organization of the
show is all handled by volunteers dedicated to our cause of saving our men from
prostate cancer. Be assured that your participation in the event and any
donations go directly to prostate cancer research at the KSK Cancer Center of
Irvine to help find a cure!
Hot Rods Unlimited is very proud to be the
original host club for this amazing event and our members continue to volunteer
every year to help save lives.
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Car safety program for kids
Hot Rods Unlimited is proud to work in cooperation with James Weicherding and his marvelous car safety awareness campaign for kids. "Jimmy" promotes many different aspects of car safety awareness for kids through his friendly creation Buckleupallofus, the cars safety dinosaur, and his pals the Itty Bitty Super Dupers.
By making kids aware of the dangerous situations cars can present, Jimmy has surely saved countless lives! From reminding kids to always buckle up; to never play in or around cars; about the dangers of cars in hot weather, and many more safety tips, his tireless efforts have educated kids all across the country.
Hot Rods Unlimited is committed to the Buckleupallofus safety campaign and is proud to hand out "Bucky's" great coloring pages, literature and give-away items at almost every event we do to help promote this amazing safety campaign.
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Hot Rods Unlimited was founded in 1999 but our
glorious history goes back much farther, with roots going all the way back to
the Saddleback Knights car club.
The Saddleback Knights began as most car clubs do, with a
few guys who love cars meeting up on Tuesday nights at Fuddruckers on El Toro
road. As the story goes, after meeting and seeing the same folks there often, a
few of them decided to form a car club.
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The first Fuddruckers opened its doors in San Antonio, Texas
in 1980. Within three years, there were more than 20 Fuddruckers locations all
over the Lone Star State. Then, in 1983, the company went public and expanded
throughout the U.S. during the '80s and '90s.
I’m unable to find out when the Fuddruckers on El Toro road first
opened, but it’s agreed it was there for about 30 years, eventually closing in
2020. It may have opened in 1989.
Hot Rods Unlimited held our monthly club
meetings here for many years on the second Thursday of the month. The food was
great and so was the staff. We always enjoyed the rock-n-roll decor starting
with the Elvis statue greeting you near the front door and all the Automobilia throughout.
The tradition of the Tuesday night car show at Fuddruckers
on El Toro road was a staple of the south Orange County classic car scene. Chip Foose, John Force, and Barry McGuire have all been to the
Tuesday night cruise-in at Fuddruckers.
There is a wealth of pictures from many Fuddruckers Tuesday
night cruise-ins thanks to Dave Lindsay at SoCalCarCulture going all the way back
to July, 2001. The last photo album Dave has posted is from January, 2013.
http://www.socalcarculture.com/photos.html
07/10/2001 https://www.flickr.com/photos/socalcarculture/sets/72157662525587558/
01/01/2013 https://www.flickr.com/photos/socalcarculture/sets/72157632554716774/
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In-N-Out Tuesday night Cruise-Ins
Launched in April of 2022, Hot Rods Unlimited brought
back the good old car days at Fudd’s by hosting a weekly cruise-in at In-N-Out
Burger on El Toro Rd at the former Laguna Hills Mall. All cars are welcome at this
event held from 5:pm – 7:pm every Tuesday night and the response and attendance
are often tremendous. You never know what amazing cars you’ll see arrive and wonderful
car owners you’ll meet. Stop by sometime. We hope to see you there.
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Saddleback Knights & Jack Gottfried
The little info I could find on-line about the Saddleback
Knights car club is an O.C. Register story from July 13, 2010 titled: A
man of humor, hot rods and Hawaiian shirts
Jack “Action Jack” Gottfried
passed away in July, 2010 at 66.
When he wasn’t working on his seven cars at
Dickey’s Hot Rods in San Juan Capistrano, Gottfried was drag racing in Pomona
until the very end, wearing his treasured Mickey Mouse watch. He also led south
Orange County’s Saddleback Knight’s car club.
Gottfried, born in
Yonkers, N.Y. in 1944, moved to California in 1952 with his family. His mother
was one of the first women to sell cars in Los Angeles, and influenced her
son’s love of cars. His latest purchase – a 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air Bubbletop
with black exterior, red interior and lots of vroom.
Gottfried, known in San
Juan Capistrano for getting a playground and dog trail at San Juan Creek Park
named after his beloved golden retriever, Honey, was a giving man, friends
said. He donated $5,000 to the city to help build the park and often
volunteered at the Mission.
He had recently spent time in Maui to celebrate
his and his fiancée’s birthdays, like they have every year for almost a decade. “He had such a big heart and we’d be laughing all
the time”. Gottfried loved the casualness and good times of island life.
You could find him sipping
a gin and tonic with two limes or a fancy drink with an umbrella as he joked
with friends. He joked so much that friends and family coined a term for his
one-liners: Jackisms. Before he died, he turned to his priest and said: “Will
you say something nice about me at the funeral? Because all these people are
going to lie.”
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Again a big thanks goes out to Dave Lindsay of SoCalCarCulture http://www.socalcarculture.com/index.htm
for the treasure of fantastic pictures which chronicle many of the great
moments of the car culture in Southern California and helped us bring our story
to life.
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Check out Hot Rods Unlimited Past 3 Events Click the links to view our videos and pics from our events
July 4, 2023 Lake Forest 4th Parade & Club BBQ PICS March 4, 2023 Dana Point Festival of Whales Video
Aug 7, 2022 Laguna Hills Chamber Car Show PICS
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Club Photo Albums Click on the Picture Below to view the Hot Rods Unlimited photo album collection.
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In Memory of our past club members
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