Welcome to the Hooniverse Classic Captions Post. Yes, it’s that time of the week in which this feature appears, so once again it’s time to review the premise of this feature; I search for images that were used by the car companies (or in this case, Car Equipment Providers) in their print advertising or brochures, and it is your job to provide a humorous caption that is some how tied in with the image. This week we have an arresting image of a bunch of Los Angeles Street Racers from back in the day…

Last time, we had an image of a Mustang II at a Skeet Range, and we had the most participation from our fans in quite a while (Thanks everyone!). The runner-up comment was from one of our more frequent guests, P161911. His caption went like this: “After only 6 months of driving it was time to put the Mustang down.” This was followed-up by a very snappy come-back from dwbf11: “I was wondering how they glued the vinyl top on…now it all makes sense!” This one-two punch was very funny, but there was one just a bit better, and it came with a photo-shopped image.

This week, the winning caption came from Irishzombieman☆, who submitted the work you see on the left, but I think it requires a bit of an explanation. The image was an homage to Raymond Pettibon, a California artist who is known for his comic-like drawings with disturbing, ironic or ambiguous text. Pettibon’s subject matter is sometimes violent and anti-authoritarian.

From the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, he was closely associated with the punk rock band Black Flag. In addition, Pettibon has designed the cover of the 1991 Sonic Youth album, “Goo”. (You can see an image of Pettibon’s work to the right) So, Mr, Zombieman simply used this particular Album Cover as inspiration, and the results speak for itself… This was very well done, so congratulations Irishzombieman☆ on winning the Caption Contest.

It’s now time to take a look at this weeks entry, and this has to be one of the most unusual advertising images I have run on this feature. This ad was for American Racing Equipment, and their main product line was aftermarket rims. I am not sure as to when this ad was first published, but my guess would be the early 70’s, as the Dodge Daytona that appears dates from 1969. However, this particular print ad centers around the big man in the middle who seems to go by the name “Big Willie”. He is a mighty big man, with arm muscles that are thicker than my waist, sporting striped flared jeans, an impressive medallion, and a Bowler! Now that’s what I call Stylin’! His Posse of Street Racers are all gathered around his Valiant Dodge (Gee, I thought it was a Plymouth Valiant… yuk, yuk, yuk) Sporting their own good looks. So, do you think this is the proper way to advertise Racing Rims during the early to mid 70’s? Who was this Big Willie Anyway? And would you give anything to live during this time period? (You can click here to see the full size image)

You have the next five days to come up with a great caption. The editors will deliberate on the merits of each entry, and after contemplating our own caption (right now, I’m just speachless…), we will pronounce a winner. So, get to work and create you’re own caption for this provocative image.

Photo Credit: Just a Car Guy Blog