Did his pappy ever stop drinking?

Like most kids that grew up in the seventies, I always thought Commander Cody did the original “Hot Rod Lincoln”. Later on, I knew a guy that thought it was an All original. We were both wrong, Charlie Ryan is the kid that won the race in the Model A.

Ryan’s version is based on a true incident that took place on the Lewiston Grade in Lewiston, Idaho. There are earlier versions of what is essentially the same story.

I always wondered why the song is called “Hot Rod Lincoln” when he’s driving a Model A. Ryan had taken a Lincoln Zephyr frame and put a ’31 Model A body on it. And “Hot Rod Lincoln” sings better than “Hot Rod Model A”

Even though Charlie Ryan has been singing professionally since the early thirties and released a new CD in 2003. He’s remembered mostly for “Hot Rod Lincoln”. Ryan and his band the Timberliners recorded a few more songs along the same lines. The first rock(abilly)opera? I like the last one: “Hot Rod Hades”.