Rum Runners of Riverside Car Club

Members of the Rum Runners of Riverside gathered for a club meeting in March of 1958. The hand-painted banner hanging behind them features the club’s signature rum-keg hot rod emblem. In the back row, centered beneath the “R” in the banner, stands member Chuck Davenport. Photo courtesy of Kelly Galeazzi.

Chuck Davenport singing with a girl during the club meeting. Photo courtesy of Kelly Galeazzi.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Galeazzi.

The Rum Runners of Riverside was an active Southern California car club during the late 1950s. Based in Riverside, California, the club represented the grassroots hot rod and custom car culture that thrived across the Inland Empire during the postwar years. Known for its distinctive light-blue letterman-style jackets featuring a back patch of a keg of rum transformed into a hot rod, the Rum Runners attracted mechanically minded young men who were passionate about speed, style, and the growing Southern California car scene.

Help Kelly Find a Rum Runners of Riverside Jacket

Kustomrama is helping Kelly Galeazzi track down a piece of his family history, an original Rum Runners of Riverside club jacket from the late 1950s. Kelly recently shared rare photos from a March 1958 Rum Runners meeting, where his stepdad, Chuck Davenport, appears standing beneath the club’s hand-painted banner. In the same set of photos, the distinctive club jacket can be seen hanging on the wall.

“When he passed away, that was the only thing I wanted,” Kelly told Kustomrama. “It was light blue, letterman-style, with a rum keg hot rod patch on the back and his name on the front. I check eBay all the time, but no luck.”

If you were part of this club, remember someone who was, or know of a surviving Rum Runners jacket, Kelly would love to hear from you. Please contact us at: mail@kustomrama.com.

Members

Chuck Davenport