HotRod MotorTel brings nostalgia to car lovers in Butler County

BUTLER CO., Ky.-Walk through the doors of the HotRod MotorTel in Butler County, and you’re instantly transported back to the 1960s.

“All the guys my age we all grew up with this,” said HotRodder Albert Paschal. 

Dennis Ingram has created what he calls a bed and breakfast for HotRod fanatics-the walls adorned with vintage neon light signage, the shelves filled with 5 cent bubblegum and cans of old gasoline. 

“That’s the key, we want when you walk in to say oh I used to see that when I was a kid, I remember the cigarette machine, and the coke box where you get a cold bottled drink. Which most of these kids these days don’t even know how to open,” laughed Ingram.

He grew up in the automotive industry, his grandfather and father in the trucking business. Later on his family owned body shops across the area. 

“It came out of an inception, we’re retired and wanted something to do. I’ve always loved cars, I’ve been around cars since I was a kid, my dad and papaw took me to NASCAR races when I was five years old, so I got infatuated with cars at an early age,” said Ingram. 

Three main parts of the MotorTel building center around the biggest attractions in Bowling Green: Corvette, Holley and Beech Bend. 

“We’re 14 miles from Bowling Green and the car attraction in Bowling Green is huge. It draws thousands and tens of thousands of people to that area every year,” said Ingram. 

Ingram says once they finish the rooms this summer, travelers going to car events can stay overnight.

“We’re gonna have the rooms where people can come and stay and keep their cars inside, work on it, we have lifts, you can do anything you want to, and then the car stays inside all night, you stay in a nice room, get up the next day,” said Ingram. 

“It’ll bring back memories of when they were younger and driving their old cars,” said Paschal. 

Right now, the MotorTel is open to events. It’s located in the Little Muddy community between Morgantown and Bowling Green.