The Karb Kings CC: Back at the shop reminiscing

In 1957 a handful of guys from Baltimore, Maryland put together a car club called The Karb Kings. Back then a "car club" meant a group of friends that hung out and worked on their cars together. Those guys drove both kustom cars and "stockers". For the uninitiated, stockers are cars as they came from the show room floor with no special modifications. KUSTOMS on the other hand, were cars made from daydreams-- modified to look and perform how the owner thought the car should have been built to being with. Examples of popular customizations were things like lowering the stance, changing wheel/tire combinations, hopping-up engines, chopping the roof, frenching head lights, wild custom paints jobs, etc. The Karb Kings were informal, but there was one very important rule: the guy with the fastest car got to be President. In 1961 the fastest car belonged to Bill "Whitey" Sneed who was one of the founders of the original Karb Kings. Over the years, Karb Kings members drifted apart and the club slid into neutral until 1995. That's when Tim Sneed, Bill's son, decided to revive the former club and return to the old traditions. Today the cars are still traditional-style hot rods and kustoms and are still worked on and owned by club members. The Karb Kings promote the cars & the culture that goes with them. What that means is that Karb Kings members are out enjoying their cars and not just parking them at shows and finding the nearest lawn chair. They DO NOT trailer their cars, they DRIVE them! The Karb Kings don't care if you have a shiny paint job or no paint at all. They don't care if your car has 2 or 4 doors and certainly do not care if you are male or female as long as you own your car and it is younger than 1970. Of course, the ability to wrench is a big plus as they love it when members can help members. In general they all share the same passion for hot-rodding and having a good time doing what they love. Some of The Karb Kings have already been called "rowdy and loud". They can handle that, but they can not handle cry-babies, bitchin, trophy chasers or people who think they have the "best" car because they spent the most money on it. Any idiot can build a car with a MasterCard, but the soul of a car can only come from the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into building it yourself. Currently we have 3 Chapters and over 30 members.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Back at the shop reminiscing

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