'That hot rod Lincoln'

Charlie Ryan was racing a beer distributor up Lewiston's Spiral Highway back in the early 1950s when he says he got the inspiration to write his signature song, "Hot Rod Lincoln."

Today, more than half a century after the catchy car tune topped the pop charts,

Ryan, 87, of Spokane, is still singing the unforgettable lyrics --

Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin'

If you don't stop drivin' that hot rod Lincoln.

-- and piloting a cherry red facsimile of the original car.

"I've had to rebuild it twice."

Ryan, the Lincoln and the song will be in Kooskia today and Saturday, and in Craigmont Sunday.

"I like to sing the song because people like to hear it. It gets the crowd goin'."

Ryan and his wife of 65 years, Ruthie, were scheduled to arrive in Kooskia Wednesday night and spend three days at the ninth annual Frontier Music Festival in the city park.

On Sunday, he and his wife will tow the Lincoln to Craigmont, where Ryan and Priest River singer-yodeler Rod Erickson will share the stage beginning at 3 p.m. That concert is free but donations will be accepted for a planned renovation of the park.

"Hot Rod Lincoln" has been recorded by so many artists and sung around the world for so long that Ryan's lost track of all the lore surrounding the recording.

One thing for sure, he says, is the song stems from a race he had one night with a friend who worked as a beer distributor after a gig in Lewiston.

Better slow down,

The telephone poles look like picket fences ...

Ryan recites the lyrics as he recalls the race. The friend drove a Cadillac and Ryan was behind the wheel of a 1941 four-door Lincoln sedan with a 12-cylinder engine.

I said, 'Look out boys, I've got a license to fly,'

And the Caddy pulled over to let us by.

The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces, says Ryan, and he finally recorded the song in 1953. "That's when they had vinyl and they scratched a groove with a needle."

The original version mentioned Lewiston. But he figured a more universally known city might work better.

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.

By the time the record captured music attention throughout America, several singers had recorded it.

"My version hit the national pop chart in May of 1959."

And to this day, says Ryan, he continues to collect royalty checks as the song, like the Lincoln, continues to live.

"It has to drive fast," Ryan says of the hot rod Lincoln, "otherwise it heats up. I don't

drive it in parades anymore."

The car sports a 1930 Ford Model A coupe body on a Lincoln chassis with a 1939 flathead Lincoln V-8 engine, a four-barrel carburetor and a 1948 transmission with overdrive.

Some of the parts on the car came from that original 1941 sedan, says Ryan.

"Had to have the rings replaced last year and we just torqued the heads yesterday. I got it on the trailer right now and we're ready to take off."

The car is scheduled to be retired to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., perhaps later this year. Meanwhile, the song will continue as long as people keep recording and singing it.

Wound it up to a hundred and ten,

My speedometer said that I hit top end.

My foot was glued like lead to the floor,

That's all there is and there ain't no more.

------

Johnson may be contacted at deveryone@potlatch.com