Commander Cody & His lost Planet Airmen - Hot Rod Lincoln 1974, and Earlier Versions by Arkie Shibley and Johnny Bond

The hot rod was  the subject of songs – actually many of them by the early 1950s. The seminal lyrics of many versions that followed was that written by George Wilson and performed by Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys in 1950. 

Now me and my wife and my brother Joe,
took off in my Ford from San Pedro.
We hadn't much gas 'n' the tires was low,
but the doggone Ford could barely go.
Now along about the middle of the night,
we were rippin' along like white folks might,
when a Mercury behind he blinked his lights,
and he honked his horn and he flew outside.

We had twin pipes and a Columbia b***,
you people may think that I'm in a rut,
but to you folks who don't dig the jive,
that's two carburetors and an overdrive.

We made grease spots outta many good town,
and left the cops heads spinnin' round 'n' round.
They wouldn't chase, they'd run and hide,
but me and that Mercury stayed side by side.

Now we were Ford men and we likely knew,
that we would race until somethin' blew,
and we thought it over,
now, wouldn't you?

I looked down at my lovely bride,
her face was blue, I thought she'd died.
We left streaks through towns about forty feet wide,
but me and that Mercury stayed side by side.

My brother was pale, he said he was sick,
he said he was just a nervous wreck.
But why should I worry, for what the heck,
me and that Mercury was still neck-and-neck.
Now on through the deserts we did glide,
a-flyin' low and a-flyin' wide,
me an' that Mercury was a-takin' a ride,
and we stayed exactly side by side.

Now I looked in my mirror and I saw somethin' comin',
I thought it was a plane by the way it was a-runnin'.
It was a-hummin' along at a terrible pace,
and I knew right then it was the end of the race.

When it flew by us, I turned the other way,
the guy in the Mercury had nothin' to say,

for it was a kid, in a hopped up Model-A.

“Hot Rod Race” proved to be the precursor of many future songs, including “Hot Rod Lincoln,” the best-known version of which was performed by Johnny Bond in 1960 and Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen in 1972. 

Johnny Bond Lyrics:

My papa said, "Son, you're gonna' drive me to drinkin'
If you don't stop drivin' that hot rod Lincoln."
Have you heard this story of the Hot Rod Race;
When Fords and Lincolns was 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 Model A body makes it look like a pup.
It's got eight cylinders and uses them all
It's got overdrive, just won't stall.
With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust
With 4.11 gears you can really get lost
It's got safety tubes, but I ain't scared
The brakes are good, the tires fair.
Pulled out of San Pedro late one night
The moon and the stars was shinin' bright
We was drivin' up Grapevine Hill
Passing cars like they was standing still
All of a sudden in a wink of an eye
A Cadillac sedan passed us by
I said, "Boys, that's a mark for me"
By then the tail light was all you could see
Now the fellas was ribbin' me for bein' behind

Initially, the song told the story of a family trip from San Pedro in a Ford that turned into a race with a Mercury. Surprisingly, at the end both the Ford and the Mercury are blown off the road by “a kid, in a hopped up Model A.” Later, the Ford and Mercury were replaced by a Cadillac and a Lincoln but the continuity in common among the long chain of version is obvious.