After World War II, young returned servicemen and others who had been employed in wartime production factories turned their attention and engineering talents building and racing “hot rods” on the streets and dry lakes of Southern California.
American Cars in the late 1940s and early 1950s tended to be very large, extremely heavy, and were certainly not designed for speed or to be raced.
It wasn’t until the mid-1950s when Chevrolet introduced the Corvette and Ford made the Thunderbird that smaller, faster sports cars started to appear on American roads.
With so many young people wanting fast, exciting sports cars in the 1950s, a number of specialist ‘racing focused’ mechanics started opening Car Garages that specialised in Car Racing. These specialist Car Garages started appearing all over California in the 1950s…they soon became known as 'Speed Shops'!
A ’Speed Shop’ is a garage that specialises in hotting up cars and converting old, slow, heavy cars into lean mean racing machines with high performance engines, suspension, wheels and tyres.
A new exciting culture started to emerge around ’Speed Shops’, Hot Rods, and Car Racing! This included new hairstyles, new terminology, and of course some very exciting fashion trends. Cool ‘Baseball’ Shirts, jackets and jeans became the favourite ‘go to’ fashion for the ‘cool’ Speed Shop fanatics.
’Speed Shop 55’ was born in 1955 on the corner of Figueroa Street and Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Speed Shop 55 was one of the most popular and successful Speed Shops in California and this is where many well known film and Rock n' Roll stars would go to have their Hot Rods serviced and tuned. Celebrities such as James Dean, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Kirk Douglas would often be seen ‘hanging out at Speed Shop 55 to show off their new Corvettes, Thunderbirds, and Hot Rods!
You can now experience the original shirt and jean designs that were made so popular in the United States in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s….just as they did at Speed Shop 55!
Each ’Speed Shop 55’ design is authentic in every way. Created to the same specifications as the original shirts, jackets, and jeans made famous in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s….each Speed Shop 55 design is made to the highest quality.
Unlike so many other Baseball / Hawaiian shirts that are made from man-made fibres such as polyester, Speed Shop 55 designs are made from cool, breathable, 100% Cotton.
Now you too can experience the wonderful styles and designs made famous at Speed Shop 55.