CARtoons from 1967.

American comic book publication.

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It was while mooching around a local car boot sale that I found these 2 old US comics, both dating to 1967, called CAR TOONS.

They are a bit creased, but I'd not seen these before so snapped them up for 50p or something like that. The original cover price was 35 cents, or 3/- (3 shillings) for copies sold in the UK.

Both are full of stories with a motoring angle to them, and both sing the praises of American iron and seem the have a less-than-favourable view of VW Beetles, judging by how often they appear in less-than-glowing light.

Contributors (artists and story writers) mentioned inside include Mike Arens, Jim Mueller, Nelson Dewey, Jim Grube, Dennis Ellefson, Carl Kohler, Jerry Barnett, Jim Willoughby, Herb Cadin, Jim Warren, Jim Gies and Jared Lee.

Hot rods feature regularly, in comic strip stories such as 'One Mess too Mini' and 'Esprit de Car', in fact performance cars feature throughout. In Haulin' Harvester a Pontiac GTO appears, and other tales often include various custom cars and dragsters (eg 'Home Sweet Chrome'). A Stutz Bearcat gets demolished by King Kong in the June issue, and VWs are subjected to the attentions of a hammer in 'Vernon Wimple in Swap Top Bug', before he gets sucked into the appeal of a VW powered Buggy, without realising the VW link.

In the distant days before political-correctness crept in to every aspect of life, you could get away with a photos section like 'Pix with Chix', that show clueless women trying to fathom the intricate workings of the skateboard, and investigating a non-running Austin Metropolitan by use of a hand saw and peering within the glovebox in search of a cure. The two models are Tina Torquewrench and Cathy Camshaft.

If 60s hot rod culture is your 'thing' I recommend hunting down some copies of these comics, as they are obviously created by 'petrol heads' and many of the stories will strike a chord with old-car fans even now.

Esprit de Car

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