Keith's Hot Rod Blog

First post of 2012 and its a biggie!

2012-01-22T05:14:00.000-08:00

Winter is always a lean time for us hot rod bloggers in the Northern hemisphere, but since we spent New Years with some friends down in Cornwall, it would have been rude not to include at least one garage visit while we were in the South West.

So with the last day of the year being a Saturday, it was a fair bet we'd find Plymouth's Mike Noble in the garage working on a project. We were right, and as we turned up at Mike and Lou's place, we were soon joined by another local, Alan Marsh. We knew Alan's Dodge Pick-up of old, but hadn't seen his smart '56 F100 before, which with company logo on the door is his daily driver. That's Lou's Chevy in the background.

Not content with buying the Altered Wheelbase '57 Chevy 'Honky Tonkin' at the end of 2009, Mike and Lou made it a double whammy by also buying that other fearsome '57, 'The Hooligan' from Chris Manning. After running Honky Tonkin' on the street for awhile with small block power, it's now been set aside while some serious rebuilding work is carried out on the wagon.

Mike has retired the old stock chassis as it was showing its age, and has now fabricated a complete new box section frame himself. When we called it was already up and rolling and had its big block Ford motor pre-installed up front. Mike was working on a rear axle location and brackets and prop clearance as his next job.

Meanwhile the body is on stands and has had some firewall and floor work done. This may be the last picture you see in its old guise as when its back running again it will be re-named before Lou gets back behind the wheel. We were told a couple of possible new names but we're not telling!

Not long in to the New Year we took the Coupe out and went along to the new Breakfast meet in our area at Jack's in Bagshot on the A30. A few of us have been meeting there casually already before heading off to one day shows, but thanks to a Facebook campaign, it has now become a regular thing.

We went down fairly early and there was a reasonable turn out already despite it clashing with the less publicized meet at Fairoaks airport at Chobham. Personally, I don't rate that much as a venue, as the cafe is too far from the car park on the opposite side of the building. Obviously, it was designed for plane spotters not hot rodders! I'm sure the Bagshot meet however, with its easy access and location will soon become a very popular little event throughout the coming months.

Another cool aspect of Jack's is that it has hot rod history. Way back in the '70's it was used as a meeting place for rodders in the short movie 'Shutdown' which supported 'American Graffiti' in some cinema's at the time. It was just a greasy spoon back then and was known as the 'Berts gone Mad'. I wish it was still called that....

Since I started this blog entry with a Pick-up, I'm going to end with one too. In this case it's a '64 Chevy C10 Custom Cab Long Bed that I've just bought out of California from a colleague of Rod & Custom journo Kev Elliott.

The truck is for sale and although the paint is in a state of 'patina', it has cool custom shop logo's on the doors, since it was previously owned by Jimenez Brothers Customs in Riverside California.

I'm having a new screen and screen rubber fitted, plus Kev may paint the roof to match the wheels before it ships. He's rushing to get his own truck painted for the GNRS as I write this, so that's taking priority right now. The Chevy will need a little work to the drivers side sill, plus like most of these trucks, the wood in the bed floor has seen better days.

More good stuff though, the wheels were recently powder coated red and its sporting brand new radial white band tyres and new hubcaps. It also has new brakes including drums and the wiring was recently replace front to back including plug leads and a new distributor cap.

The truck should arrive in the UK during March, I hope I don't like it too much, I haven't the space to keep another vehicle! For anyone interested, the final price will depend on whether I get it MOT'd and registered in the UK or sell it 'as-is'. Figure on somewhere between £6-7000 as a price guide on this basis.
You can get in touch via 07770 371475 or email me at www.keithharman34@gmail.com

Website: www.keithharman.com

Say, how's the Shoebox project doing?

2011-11-23T12:35:00.001-08:00

If you've been following the Blog awhile, you may recall a post back in March about my acquisition of a '49 Ford 'Shoebox' that had been stored in my area for way too long. (If you haven't seen the original post then you can always flip back and find it). Anyway I guess its time for an update, so hear what's been going on so far.

An early quick fire up of the engine soon after getting it back to Wyliez workshop showed that the radiator had a leak so an early decision was made to send it away for re-conditioning to save any hassles later. The pic is the old one removed from the car.

While I was under the hood I decided the old oil had been in the engine quite long enough, (like 20 plus years or so ) so time to change it. The filter housing was removed from the cylinder head and also cleaned out before having a new cartridge filter installed. As I'd drained the oil with a cold engine its probably still pretty dirty in there so I'll probably only run this oil for 500 miles or so and then change it again.

We already knew that the brakes would need a total rebuild as we'd had to strip them out in order to get the car rolled out of the garage when we picked it up.
New wheel cylinders and small parts were ordered online and brought back from our trip to Texas in April, but the shoes were sent down to O.R.C.A in Bordon, Hants to be re-lined.

While we were waiting for the new brake parts, I started a big clean up under both front fenders and around the front chassis area, there was a lot of dried out road dirt in there and some surface rust but pretty much all good metal throughout. Once the sheet metal was cleaned up it was coated with some Rustololeum red oxide to protect in future.

Here's the LH fenderwell after clean up with the wire brush, you can see the crud that came out on the sheet beneath.

While I was doing all this I had the offer of a bunch of parts from Ian Whittaker in London who had recently upgraded hos Shoebox to a Jamco set up. It included some lowered front lower A-arms, so the front end was dis-assembled, cleaned, painted and re-fitted with the lowered arms. New old stock Sears 'Futuramic' front shocks were found on Ebay and these have now been fitted also.

Here's the new brakes re-fitted with the new parts. The adjusters are the originals, they are alloy so cleaned up nicely on a wire wheel.

The brakes are all back on the car now and the master cylinder has been re-built with a new seal kit. A set of new front hoses and the brakes are done.

Just thought I'd show you this little piece of the cars past that I found in the glove box. It's a shoe repair shop stub and the shop is apparently still trading. Maybe I should pop in and see if the brown brogues left there in 1959 are ready yet!

We are now ready to tackle some rust repairs, and incredibly for a car that has spent all its life in the damp British Isles, the issues it has are remarkably small. Take a look at the pics below, for the floorpan, that is all there is!

Firstly, here's the LH front footwell, a piece of metal had been bodged and bonded over this hole, fortunately this car has a seperate chassis so its not an MOT issue and never was but a plate will be welded in here.

Here's the drivers side, the floor has gone immediately behind where the throttle pedal mounts. Still, not bad for a 61 year old car eh?

There's a same size piece at the very back of the boot floor that also needs attention, but check out the rear floorpan with the back seat removed. It's all good!

Once these areas are welded up with new metal, I'll paint the floor pan and then it'll be ready for new carpets when we finally get to the trimming stage.

After the welding we're going to get into the fuel system, cleaning the tank and making sure its all clean and free of rust and debris.

That's all for now.

A September Sunday at Shakey!

2011-11-15T12:58:00.001-08:00

If there's one thing I always look forward to in September, its the Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway, (there used to be two, but I tend not to look forward to my Birthday any more). This year had the added dimension of taking along a new friend who, although he's had some some serious hot rod adventures in the US, hadn't been along to the HRD'S before. Jonathan Suckling is English but although he's done many miles across the USA with the Rolling Bones crew, high tailing it up the M40 in my '34 Ford on a Sunday morning was a new one for him. For me it was cool introducing him to folk and showing him around, so picture taking became of secondary importance on this trip.

John Kellet's steel five-window.

We decided to take a look around as the strip hadn't opened yet, and was soon drawn to the campsite of the Originals club, and in particular, to John Kellet's Deuce Coupe. Last time I met John, we were both in Austin, Texas and since John lives in the North of England and I live in the South, I'd not really had a chance to check out this great car at close quarters before. This hemi-powered '32 like my own was imported from the US. It's a real hot rod, and no mistake.

'57 Ford done period 'street race' style

John also used to own this cool street racer style '57 Ford 2-door, pointing out to us that the 'vintage' style slot mags were actually a more mundane brand that John had spent many hours modifying with a dremel to create the vintage look. I should have taken a close up pic I guess....

We usually drive up to the drags ( and other events) with fellow Flat Packer, Dave Sturgess, but Dave had decided he was eventually going to try out his Flathead Roadster on the quarter mile and this time had arrived earlier to get signed on and scrutineered. We got trackside in time to watch him make his first run however, though the start saw him napping at the light which was reflected in his less-than-awesome first timing slip. His second run later in the day was far more respectable though I've forgotten the actual time, sorry Dave!

Here's 'Dangerous Dave' suited and booted and cool a s cucumber in the fire-up road......

As said before. we didn't take enough pics on the day, especially track side but these three '32's from up t'North make up some quality in lieu of the quantity.

We'd seen some pics of this five-window in the magazines but it was another we'd not seen up close. It seems to confuse some people as to its model year since it's a '34 with '33 front sheet metal and grille. Looks good on slots, a look my own '34 will be sporting next year too.

Summer wrap up and a cool buy!

2011-11-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hi gang, I just took a look around my blog website and noticed I now have 67 followers to this blog, which kinda makes me feel guilty for being a lazy sod and not getting to it more often. So thanks to all you people for reading and sticking around. The good news is I just downloaded Google Chrome and am amazed how quick it loaded the pics to the blog, something which bugged me and contributed to not keeping it as up to date as I should.

So where were we? Oh yes, still stuck back in the so-called British summer, I mean look at the sky in the first pic, that pic was taken in Mid August, which is supposed to be a hot one.....I mean I ask you...

Anyway, what with The Hayride clashing dates with the NSRA Supernats this year which we have usually gone to in the past, we didn't get to that one which by all accounts was very much like the last one, and the one before that, and the one before that too....you get the picture?

So instead we supported a very local show and took ourselves along to our local airfield at White Waltham for the Retrofestival. Classic and American cars, steam engines, aircraft, and live bands playing in the aircraft hangar made for a different kind of show for a change.

We were trading our stall all weekend, but were strategically placed as the only trade stand that was within sight of the stage. The bands were all good, especially The Jive Aces, a great bunch of guys who came over for a pic with the Coupe after their great set.

We also met a local guy called Gerry who with his son had built this great chopper cycle which apart from the quarter mile turning circle was surprisingly easy to ride!

We are supposed to be getting together with him to see the trike he's also built and maybe do a photo shoot too.

Speaking of photo shoots, we were back at White Waltham a couple of weeks later to shoot this sweet little '40 Ford Pick Up owned and built by Paul Henwood, for a potential feature in Custom Car magazine. We've since learnt that they are running it in the January 2012 issue.

Having finished the shoot by about 7pm, we were in for an unexpected treat, as over the top of the hangar we were using as a backdrop came the Battle of Britain flight for an impromptu flypast. Fantastic! White Waltham was the home during WWII of the women's air corps that ferried Spitfire's, Hurricane's and other warbirds back and fro to the airfields for repair, so the sound of Merlin V12's is a familiar one over the airfield.

Finally, back there some time during the summer we found this little gem for sale online. It's a '31 Ford Model A Coupe last used and driven in 1964. It was offered by our friend Jason

Pall of Bear Metal Kustoms, over there in Morro Bay, on California's Central Coast. The little Coupe had been in storage for years and in the dry climate was totally rust free and solid. The price was right so we snapped it up and arranged for it to get shipped home, this will make one

awesome little hot rod for someone once we get it back. No, not keeping this one though, this deal is strictly business. Cool huh?

July seems like months ago now.....Oh yeah, it was..

2011-09-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

July was such a lack lustre non-event this year weather wise, that I've struggled to remember what we even did that month. Ah yes, I remember now, and 'not much' is the answer. Mid month though, we did accept an invitation from Terry Howarth to venture over to darkest Essex to trade at his 'Lawdy Momma' event, a combination of a one day car show and a live music event at the interesting Battlesbridge Antique market.

The show has great potential, especially if you live in the area, unfortunately gloomy skies and blustery winds took the edge of the day out for us. Nice to see some of the folk from over that way though and a few nice cars such as Clark's outstanding '36 3-Window.

An extra bonus was seeing local band 'The Ladykillers' play a storming set. Essex has a fine tradition of rock 'n' roll bands and you can add these guys to the list.

Of course July was also notable for having the Hot Rod Hayride at the tail end, and thank goodness too as it gave us something cool to look forward to. The weather finally lifted too, which was a bonus. A change of structure this year saw some differences to previous events but none that were a problem, the biggest being the amount of

bikes present.

It certainly was just as busy as ever, even if a few known 'faces' were absent this year. Lots of visitors from overseas too, the Hayride is becoming the Number one choice for European hot rodders it seems.

Instead of the dirt track, this year we had eighth

mile flag start drags on the airstrip at Dunsfold, the home of the Top Gear TV programme courtesy of The Detonators car club. This gave myself and the rest of 'The Flat Pack', Chris and Sturge, the chance to go and have a play on the strip with the great backdrop of a military Dakota adding to the atmosphere.

I was paired up with Adrian 'Bob' Broadway's killer '34, now with a straight axle up front, and which with a stroker 383 and dual quads (I think) is waaaaay quicker than my car.

Still, the pair of '34's looked cool lined up together and there was a moment of drama as the back end of my car broke loose resulting in it getting a serious 'wiggle on' . You can see in the pic below that its running wide to the left.

The rest of the Hayride was as good as ever, I'm sure you've already seen plenty of coverage in the mags already. We finished up by having a great morning on the Sunday flogging our T-shirts, DVD's and Cock Grease to the Europeans who still had some English cash on them!

Catching up on....June! (But where's Terry?)

2011-08-19T06:08:00.000-07:00

As June rolled in, I expect many headed once again for the NSRA Fun Run at Billing. We've been there plenty in the past and its lost its appeal these days so our first outing of the month was to Kent for the Detonators 'Help for Heroes' run. We did this last year on the Sunday and vowed to return this year for the Saturday Reliability run. However, the club had invited us to be one of the few trade stands so the '34 stayed home again and we trucked along Saturday afternoon in the van instead.

This is an invitation only run as the venue behind the Tally Ho pub is limited in size. We arrived to see everyone return from the run around the Kent Countryside, again wishing we had gone too.

Continous rain on the Sunday put a damper on the show and kept Joe Public away but it was still a good club run as usual.

The following weekend was the Southernationals at Beaulieu, we made a last minute decision to take the Trade stand again as the cost of a pitch was the same as two weekend tickets anyway so it was a no-brainer. Victory Wheelers put on a decent run as usual despite heavy handed interference from the Beaulieu 'elf 'n' safety' gestapo. I did the write up for CC on the run but wasn't supposed to mention this, but everyone at the show was aware of it anyway.

At least we had the chance at last to check out Dave and Sue Wright's Winfield painted El Camino as we'd missed it at Wheels Day.

We were also rather taken by this Brookville bodied Model A Roadster on '32 rails. Very nicely finished with a very traditional theme. We saw it again a week later at the Nostalgia Nationals at Shakesoeare County Raceway, and just for a change the '34 got an airing with a cool Sunday morning trip up there along with Chris in his '34 and Dave in his '32 Roadster.

The event as always featured the Flathead Meltdown race series, though this year it was being held in memory of the late Tony Cardy who was a stalwart member in the early years of the Meltdown and also rarely defeated when behind the wheel of his T Roadster.

A record number of cars entered this year and the fire-up road full up with totally traditional cars was a real sight to see.

Bikes don't figure too much on the blog but this Norton drag bike was outstanding, I wonder how many noticed the twin Yamaha FS1E fuel tanks grafted together?

There's always a great atmosphere at the Nostalgia Nats and hopefully we'll be back again for the Hot Rod Drags in September.

Catching up on.....May

2011-08-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy, May was a busy month for us, we started and ended the month with two small local (ish) shows, which saw us trading at both the one dayers. The first was the annual show at Beaconsfield Football club where they managed to cram an awful lot of vintage machinery on to one small football pitch. Sunshine, a live rock n roll band, and a few punters at the stall made for a pleasant day out among the Teds.

Speaking of which, here's a typical ted-mobile of the period, an English Ford Zephyr Mk II, and a jolly nice example it is too.

Now compare it with its 2-door USA equivalent from a couple of years earlier and you can see that Ford were very much singing from the same hymn sheet in terms of styling back then.

Then there was the early '50's Chrysler that at the last minute decided not to drive straight through our gazebo....

After this show we had lots of non blog stuff going on. A family funeral (which was bad), and a visit from our friends Rip and Natalie from Memphis (which was good). We took them on the tourist trail from Stonehenge to Brooklands Museum, and then the Ace Cafe and a Sunday at London's funky Camden market. They had a blast in England and somehow we know they'll be back.

The last weekend of the month saw us over at Rickmansworth for a local club run by the Deadbeats CC. This was their first show and although a relatively small affair, everyone seemed to have a good time what with the live band, DJ's etc.

It was also the first time out in public for Chris's '34 Five window which was featured in this blog at the beginning of the year. Now MOT'd and sorted, Chris was still a tad nervous about venturing the 20 or so miles from home, well, you just never know with old cars.

Next to our stall was our mate Simon Nefarious, pin striper extraordinaire who seemed to spend nearly all day striping this one big Chevy panel van.

Also dipping brush in pot was Benny the Brush who applied some tricky lettering to the tank on this neat little British bobber.

Rounding off a trio of talented chaps present, was a very cool young guy known as 'Flatfoot Johnny'. Johnny picks banjo, but not just any ol' banjo's as he makes his own from scratch. Biscuit tins, cigarboxes and even gourds can be turned into musical instruments by Johnny.

They sound great too, but very different according to their construction. You can read more about Johnny in Dirty Magazine #4, the last in the short lived series of a very cool little shed-built magazine. If you have trouble finding a copy, get in touch and I'll get you in contact with Scarlett and Simo who produced it, as at time of writing, they still have some stock left.

Here's a few of Johnny's home made banjo's, just wish I was able to play, I'd buy one.

Catching up on......April

2011-07-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Coming back to the UK from a trip to a rod run in America is always a bit of a downer, especially if the weather is miserable when you get home. There's always the feeling also, that you've already been to the best show you're likely to go to this year and the summer shows in the UK will be a bit 'same old, same old'. Others I've spoken too agree, but what can you do?

Our first show on getting back was Wheels Day at Rushmoor Arena, we missed it last year 'cos the Easter weather once again was so awful, so it was a welcome relief to see some sun.

We were also doing our first trade stand at a show with our website merchandise, a bit of an experiment really. Wheels Day is huge these days and even going down on Thursday night to mark our pitch saw us way down in the almost furthest outpost of the field. I swear we were nearer Aldershot town centre than the showfield.

So we set up the stall anyway early Friday and Paula put the kettle on, look there's me having a coffee and waiting for some punters!

We were pretty busy later on and I didn't get a chance to wander very far from the stall, though I did manage to snap a pic of Steve Young's lovely '40 Ford Pick-up, recently imported from the USA.

The fine weather even brought out a squadron of '32 Fords courtesy of the Brack Pack who arrived in close formation, had a quick look around, and as usual left before their engines cooled down! Maybe Dan had seen a small speck of cloud in the sky!!

A couple of days later on Easter Monday we took the merchandise and stall down to Wyke Down near Andover. This event is more of a classic show than anything, and I took even less pics than at Wheels Day. However a fresh new ride for Cal Evans this year caught our eye, his '40 Chevy COE sporting a bare metal finish. We like it a lot!

In the next blog, we attempt to catch up on the month of May!

Long overdue Texas wrap up!

2011-07-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

We did a bunch of sightseeing and stuff in the week after the Round Up including a trip out to theTexas Hill Country to visit Fredericksburg and Luckenbach, both very cool places. Another highlight was the Salt Lick BBQ, A Texas eating tradition for generations. Needless to say if you're tree hugging Veggie then you best stay away....

But back to the automotive stuff, and we spent a cool day hanging with our friend Matt Quinn, talented fabricator and owner of Pipeworx in Austin. Matt is the go-to guy for high end welding work in Austin and has carried out jobs for all the top local shops. We started by paying a visit to see auto trimmer Fat Lucky who is the guy for custom stitch work in Texas and has trimmed many a cool rod and custom, his signature probably being intricate pin stripe designs stitched into the actual fabric of his interiors. Take a look at the red banner in the pic for an idea of what I mean.

When we visited Sean (his real name) had not long finished the Brian Bass built 'Texas Playboy' '32 Roadster, and here was with another black '32 to stitch. This one however was having a very understated brown interior, as they say, sometimes 'less is more'.

Fat Lucky has worked in some of the bigger shops in the area but seemed quite happy working out of the modest two car garage behind his house. Matt is on the left in the pic below, and thats Sean (Fat Lucky himself) on the right. Thanks for the visit guys!

After lunch Matt drove us North out of Austin to a private establishment that is hardly known and has never been feature in print anywhere. It belongs to a guy who is very successful in the oil business and now has a huge garage complex with a full time staff working on his collection of rods and customs.

Most everything in there was pretty contemporary in style but it was the size of the place and the number of projects on the go that blew us away. A high -tech '34 Roadster with a quad webered Roush motor, a '56 F100 Pick-up, a fully bagged Shoebox Ford and a '39 Lincoln Zephyr were just a few we saw, with plenty more waiting in the wings, I mean this place was bigger than most pro-shops in the US and we've seen a few. Absolutely amazing!

Thanks again to Matt Quinn for the tour and all our friends in Texas for a great trip!

Still talking Texas.......so what?

2011-06-29T06:06:00.000-07:00

Despite promising myself I'd keep the blog topical and up to date, it just isn't happening. Here we are mid-June and the blog is still stuck in Austin, Texas, where we were a couple of months back. Mind you, I can think of worst places it could be, so by now you've probably just accepted that this blog just mosey's along at its own pace, recording events which don't really relate to your own personal calendar, just mine, and thats just the way it is.

So where actually were we on that hazy Sunday back in early April? Ah Yes, we were in North West Austin for Mercury Charlie's afternoon get together. Last year we took the cruise out to the lake at Ski Shores, but gave it a swerve this year and went straight to Charlie's.

Unlike the Round Up at the Expo, Charlie's is a much quieter, less hectic affair and there's time to catch up with people you may only have had time for quick greeting for earlier in the weekend.

People like Ken and Keith from the Rolling Bones for example, we'd already set up our deal to supply RB T-shirts through our website earlier in the weekend, the fruits of which you can find in our online store right now.

Not a Rolling Bones car, but just a nice traditional Roadster, didn't catch the owners name.

As usual, Junior Brown played a free concert during the afternoon, outside in the parking lot this year, which was good as more people could see the show, but the gusty wind blowing through the yard didn't help the acoustics, or the security of Junior's Stetson.....

Now this was an odd co-incidence, see after last years visit to Charlie's, I happened to call into a discount book store and pick up a paperback about the original California bike club, The Boozefighters. I didn't actually get around to reading it until the flight over and hadn't finished it when over the weekend I saw a couple of guys wearing the colours. I didn't realise they were still going or even had a chapter in Texas. This guys name was Wolf and he was the President of the Midland Texas, Chapter. Nice guy though only had a few minutes chat before we had to go.

Of course I had to check out this lovely '34 Coupe in detail. It was a survivor car that a HAMB member had bought recently and put back on the road. Nicely aged and with some really cool decals in the window that showed that that the previous owner had served in the military way back when.

Nice original looking interior.

Way-cool 1953 NASCAR sticker in the rear glass, I wonder how many others survived?

Another great afternoon in Austin and with leaving Charlie's, the Round Up was officially over for us. However, stick around because Paula, Chris and I stuck around the rest of the week to do a spot of Texan touristing, coming to a blog near you soon! (Well, soonish.....)

Drive-in Saturday, Yes More Round Up!

2011-05-30T04:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday at the Round Up was more of the same, i.e. checking out cars, meeting cool people, buying bits and pieces, the routine is the same at most shows but is always that much more fun when there's still so much new stuff to see.

Taking a look at other online galleries from the show we've realised there was still so much stuff that we didn't get a chance to look at.

Mind you, a few cars were welcome reminders from previous USA trips like George Poteet's so-subtle Shoebox. We saw this car under construction at Jerry Kyle's, Tupelo workshop back in '06, and then again finished, at George's BBQ in '09. To our knowledge this was the first time ol' George had made it down for the Round Up and he'd chosen the '49 to do it as he always drives his cars.

If the Shoebox is subtle, the Chevy below was at the other end of the scale, slammed to the deck, a heavy chop, and some extremely green paint. The De Soto grille teeth are cool, similar to stock Chevy teeth but different enough to be eye catching.

It's great too to meet people you've previously only read about, and this year we got a chance to meet Brian Bass from Bass Customs in Dallas and builder of the very lovely 'Texas Playboy' '32 Roadster. Strange though that I should end up talking to Brian about Marmite and monkeys....

If Brian was a new aquaintance, then Norm Grabowski was an old one! (well since 2006) but you always feel like you've known Norm forever.

Norm was guest at the H.A.M.B. meet 'n' greet that always happens on the Saturday afternoon, and had donated one of his skulls as a superb raffle prize. Unfortunately he hadn't brought his unique new ride 'The Fish Truck' with him, it had developed a gearbox problem and had to be taken back home early on the trip.

You'll have to forgive us for featuring a variety of Shoebox pics, but since we now own one we are somewhat biased.....

The Maroon one below is just a nice mild example but I like the louvred hood on it a lot.

Don't know much about this Sixties style competition inspired A Roadster except for I love everything about it. Is it street driven? Don't know, but the lack of an upfront radiator says no, perhaps it has a tricky rear mounted one somewhere.

As a contrast to the two mild custom shoebox's pictured above, here's a radical one using every trick in the book to disguise its origins. The great thing about these cars is they look great whichever way you choose to build them.

As we've mentioned before, the music at the LSRU is always second to none, and for many,

the highlight this year was set late on Saturday afternoon by Jimmy Vaughn, brother of the late Stevie Ray, and former member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Jimmy is a big fan of rods and customs and owns several, he's also a member of Round Up host club The Kontinentals, so since it was the 10th Anniversary of the Round Up it was treat to see him do his stuff at the show.

Later that evening we went to the Austin Speed Shop party though for some reason it wasn't quite as good as last year, maybe cos I was driving this year rather than drinking with the Yay-Hoo's! The evening's fun came to an abrupt halt when one of our group, Chris Smith had his car towed away by a very sneaky tow company. Still, the visit to the impound yard later that night was interesting, but thats another story....

Meanwhile, back at the Expo Centre...

2011-05-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

It took weeks last year to write last year Round Up blog with approx one post every 10 days or so, and I vowed this year I'd add a new post once a week without fail. As you might have noticed, that idea has already gone to hell in a hand cart so we'll keep the spiel to a minimum and whack up a bunch of pics that hopefully reflect the variety of traditional automotive flavours that makes up the Round Up.

This Hemi-fied '34 five window was one of the first cars we encountered on entering this year and had all the right stuff, the olive green paint is 'flake by the way, though it doesn't show in the pic. Graet chop, Cool wheels, Slicks, just Wow!

There are always cool bikes at the Round Up, you've just got to look for them between the cars.
This Triumph bobber is about as simple and clean as you could ever make a bike. Compare it with a typical Orange County Chopper creation and ask yourself, Which one would YOU ride?

A little more adventerous was this hardtail shovel we saw in the swap meet area, it has an element of the Hank Young chopper shop about it or could just be a clone. Either way we like it.

A lot of well know hot rod builders make their way east for the Round Up, its that kind of show, Jimmy White's Circle City Hot Rods is one example, complete with his killer '34 Roadster.

Kustoms!

Little Deuce Coupe!

As Vince Pollington always says, " What could possibly go wrong?" ....... and if you want to know the answer to that question, drop him a line, care of, the Detonators C.C. South London.

That was Friday, we spent a lot of time running around making contacts for merchandise for the website as well as checking out the cars. More pics from Saturday next time!

The H.A.M.B. Friday Garage Crawl

2011-04-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Round Up proper starts on Friday but while some head straight out to the Travis County Expo Center, others prefer to participate in the Friday Garage Crawl. The Crawl has become a regular feature of the Round Up, largely organised via the Jalopy Journal forum, the H.A.M.B. It means an early start at a local restaraunt where directions are handed out to local garages and hot rod friendly business's and collections. While last year's tour was around the North of Austin, this year we were South of the city at mostly private garages though the first stop was a collection of mostly stock classics at a local RV dealership. The pic barely shows half the cars there, they were packed in pretty tightly. We were surprised to see an early Sixties Hillman Minx Convertible in there, can't remember when we saw one of those in the UK, let alone Texas! We couldn't help snapping these two partners in crime hamming it up for the camera at one of the stops. Mercury Charlie and Gene Winfield were cruising Charlie's Merc 'Nadine' on the cruise and having as much fun as anyone. I wish I'd got a picture of these two dangerous dudes as they cruised past us, but this one is pretty cool. As you can see in the pic, ya just can't teach an old dog new tricks ....... The next stop was a little ways out of town as you can see by the rural background, but the local police department were more than helpful, closing off junctions as we went through complete with flashing lights and sirens.

We finished up at a pretty swanky private garage which was pretty 'high end', I didn't catch the owners name but he was a member of the local 'Donut Gang'. Apart from the Merc and the '57 in the pic there was a '32 3-window, a brace of '39-40's, a '32 Highboy and even a Ferrari. I'm not sure what business he's in but I'd sure like to know if they have any vacancies....

By the time we'd got out here it was nearing Midday so we decided to cut out and get back across town to the Round Up, that'll be the next blog entry, see y'aaaaaaaalllllll............

If its April, its gotta be Austin!

2011-04-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's flipped back through the older pages of the blog, or better still, has been following it since last year will know that last year I road tripped from Memphis to Austin Texas for the Lone Star Rod and Kustom Round Up in Austin, Texas. I had such a good time that I vowed to return this year, this time with Paula.

We flew in to Houston and were immediately offered a deal we couldnt refuse on a Camaro rent-a-car, certainly a looker and went very well for a V6, couldn't believe how little space inside though for a car of this size. After overnighting at a motel in Waller, outside Houston, we hit the road Thursday morning heading for Hutto, and Reggie Hill's now legendary Round Up pre-party BBQ.

We weren't the only ones either as we were passed on 290 by this '32 Roadster and F100 pick up also en route to Reggies.

Once at Reggie's place we quickly hooked up with friends from last years trip, it felt good to be back again, Texas people are some of the friendliest folk in the US. It wasn't only Texan's there though, we met up with some infamous New Yorker's too in Ken Schmidt and Keith Cornell from the Rolling Bones. Though they are 'friends of friends' it was the first time we'd met them ourselves, and better yet, we soon struck a deal to be a 'Bones dealer' and will be importing RB merchandise to the UK in the near future.

As usual the standard 0f cool traditional cars was top notch, rods, customs, some painted, some sporting well earnt vintage patina, as long as its built in a traditinal hot rod style, its welcome at Reggie's, and of course, the Round Up.

This '32 3-window for example, who couldn't love the killer stance and Halibrand wheels, its absolutely spot-on in all respects. If you think it looks good in the picture, you should see it going down the road.

John from ACME Speed shop hauled his vintage International Harvester Metro step-van all the way from California to Austin to sell his great range of T-Shirts. John's a super guy and we may well handle some of his shirts in the future. Stay Tuned!

What goes around, comes around....

2011-03-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

This story takes a ride on the way back machine to the late Eighties, I had a job with a collar and tie, a first wife, a young family and a nice new house on a housing estate in Woodley, near Reading in Berkshire but no toys. I was returning home one Sunday afternoon when I saw parked on a drive near me this cool old '49 Ford Sedan. I went round to see the guys and found it to be a rare right hand drive model, all original and never restored. The fella admitted he didn't drive it much as he didn't really trust the old Flathead V8 that much. Needless to say I tried to buy it from him but we couldn't get to a deal at the time. I tried to buy it again a few years later but still to no avail, and then later learnt that he had sold it to an old guy near Maidenhead.

Some years later I went round to old Ernie who had bought the car to find that it was in his garage but that he really had done nothing with it. Ernie didn't want to sell however, and there it sat with two other non running old yanks. Failed again to buy it.

Time went by and last year I once again wondered what had happened to it so popped round to find out if Ernie and the Ford were still around. There was never anyone in every time I tried, so next time I left a note through the door.

Ernie eventually called me and yes, he still had the car but hadn't touched it in years. He invited me round to have another look and this time Ernie agreed that yes I could have the car but not yet!!!!! I had to play a waiting game for another four months until the phone rang one Tuesday evening and Ernie at last named his price and after 22 years I finally bought it!

The car itself was first sold and registered in Dublin, Ireland by a Mr E. Kelly, who imported it to the UK a year later through Liverpool docks and according to the old log book, kept it until at least the mid-sixties. There old Ford just oozes nostalgia, and there are details on the car not found on US models such as the leather interior, semaphore turn signals and unique art deco looking interior lights set in the B pillars. The car has been re-painted at some time, but is still grey, the original colour, and apart from that its quite original and has never been restored.

Having recovered the car with a trailer and taken it to a mates workshop as I'm short of space at home, we've started making a list of stuff it will need to get it back on the road. A full brake rebuild is a priority, and we've also found a hole in the radiator so that will need re-conditioning too. The good news is that with a borrowed battery and coil, the engine is free and it even starts up with a little fuel down the carb. We're not sure of the condition of the fuel tank yet so that will have to do for now.

With a battery connected we were able to assess the condition of the electrics and most things seemed to work fine, including the semaphores!

It's pretty cool discovering your own 'barn find'. especially one thats preserved as well as this one.

We'll post up more updates to the blog as work progresses. Just want to sat thanks to Chris and Ian at Wyliez Speed shop with help recovering it and for the storage and help. Cheers guys!

Movie car madness!

2011-03-10T02:29:00.000-08:00

For some reason, although I've been writing this blog for approx 2 years now, I'm still surprised when people actually tell me they've read it. I don't know why, perhaps its that writer's very rarely get feedback for their work (unless they cock up!) in the same way photographers or artists do. So when I went along to the NSRA swap meet and a couple of people asked where the blog report on the Brooklands Marvel Comics movie car auction was, I was duty bound to get it sorted, so here it is.

For those that don't know, they've recently finished filming the latest Marvel comics move 'Captain America -The First Avenger' right here in the UK. The film is set in the 1940's and the production company procured cars and trucks from that period from both here and in the US.
Those vehicles were recently auctioned off at a special sale held at Brooklands Museum, and I was there to cover the story for Custom Car Magazine.

There was certainly a variety of cars and trucks there, in some case two similar cars of each model. Quite a few also showed signs of previous modification, the '40 Oldsmobile Coupe for example in the first pic ran a small block Chevy motor. It had also been raised up from its previously lowered suspension and had had stock steel wheels fitted.

There was a lot of interest in this old '42 Chevrolet bus with coachwork by Gilling Brothers. It had been painted up as a New York City tour bus, closer inspection revealed that although quite original the bench seats inside were crude box section fabrications and not the originals. We've since found out who bought it and hope to shoot a feature on it. I'll have to remember to bring a big lens, this thing is loooooong!

While we're on the heavy duty stuff, how about this cool old wrecker, a '33 Dodge that had not moved for 50 years and was found in the desert somewhere in the South West USA.

It surprised a lot of people when the bidding went over £10,000 considering it was seized up totally.
Someone wanted this truck bad!

If you wanted a rusty project however, you could have saved a ton of money and bid on this '49 Plymouth 2dr Sedan in 'as found' condition. I've never seen one of these in the UK before, it was complete and saveable, I wonder who bought it?

Much of the auction consisted of early Forties sedans to reflect a typical street scene in the time period. This '46 Ford Sedan seemed to also have had the rodders touch, the Flathead was painted and detailed and it had an aftermarket inlet and twin carbs fitted. It had been painted for the movie like many of the cars, the dashboard being a bright metallic blue despite the grey exterior.

Old GMC trucks are always rarer than their Chevrolet counterparts. Perhaps the fact they were sold through truck only dealerships meant they had harder lives?

Maybe, but this '41 Pick-up caught my eye as a particularly nice example.

The bidding was strong on this one with it eventually going to an Asian family who planned to take it back to their native Thailand with them.until then it'll be living in North Wales.

More interesting stuff! The Studebaker Business Coupe was a rare one, in good order but needing engine work, liked that a lot. Beyond that one of two '37 Chevy Master Deluxe taxi's that had been set up for stunt work. Both had Chevy V8's and Auto's with later steering columns plus hydraulic handbrakes for movie style sideways action. Could be fun in Sainsbury's car park on a Sunday morning.....

That's all folks........

The California Kid .........(No not that one)

2011-02-26T06:42:00.000-08:00

There had been some speculation around these parts recently about a certain barn find '34 Five window that was seen for sale in the swap meet of the California Hot Rod Reunion last year. Rumours abounded on forums etc that it had beeen bought by a Brit and was destined for these shores. Ok, we knew who had bought it, and were really looking forward to getting a closer look at it when it arrived.

As it turned out, we didn't have to wait long. as not only did it arrive in the country in January, but it was promptly bought by a close friend, Chris Smith. Chris recently took delivery of this cool old hot rod that is not only complete and very straight, its virtually rust free too, and we were there to welcome it to its new home.

This car just reeks history and shows many hints to its hot rodding past, the underside of the fenders and the torque tube are painted white for example, a very late '50's early '60's touch.

Under the hood is a very strong sounding Flathead V8 complete with Edelbrock heads, a Mercury crank, Crabbe distributor and 3 Stromberg's on an Edelbrock alloy inlet. Sticking out of the front of the engine at an angle is a Judson Electronic Magneto which is dead flash name for what is basically the coil. The running gear behind the motor is all '40 Ford stuff including the 3-speed manual 'box. The brake pedal has been replaced at some time for a later swing pedal hence the firewall mounted master cylinder.

So far Chris has cured an overfilling carb, cleaning and checking all three while he was at it, he's also removed the faulty drivers window regulator and ordered a replacement repair kit. The next job is to cure the heavy steering by re-setting the camber angle, getting the car registered and then driving it.

I'm looking forward to both getting a ride in it myself and also cruising alongside in my owm '34 this summer. This old hot rod has been stored too long, now its time to get some miles under its wheels once again!

We also got the chance to check out another cool imported steel car, this '32 Tudor. Powered this time by a small block Chevy with a 3-speed floor change it has lots of cool features such as a drilled front axle, wishbones and a 9-inch rear end, and since its for sale, will make someone a great hot rod.

Inside it has a '40 Ford dash with mucho pinstripng, a banjo wheel and new interior trim. Thw hole plot is setoff with Vintique wires and Firestone wide whites. Altogether, the car is very up together and runs, steers and stops as it should do.

Anyone interested can email me through my website email address and I'll put you in touch with the owner. First come first served!

Trucks of the Forties!

2011-02-19T07:17:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves a truck don't they? I know I do. People might not realise it but trucks are like good friends. You like 'em for what they do, not neccessarily what they look like, and if you have one around you can usually rely on it to be strong and help you when you need it. They are practical and also fun to have around as well. Yep, trucks are cool no doubt about it.

We seem to have seen quite a few recently so thought we'd share. First off how about this rare gem. Recently imported from California by local hot rodder Wayne Streams, it may look a little rough around the edges but according to Wayne was being used regularly up to about a year ago or so. For those that don't know, it's a Willys, much sought after by drag racers in the Sixties and your more likely to see Gasser versions on drag strips these days than old barn find stockers like this one.

A trip down to deepest Surrey one rare bright day in February, netted a whole host of vintage truckery. Derek Drinkwater is of all things an ex-Olympic rower that these days is more likely to be seen running his mobile diner business. His themed '50's diner's are all trailers pulled on a fifth wheel by some very cool old trucks.

This black one is a '48 Diamond T that's been uprated with a late model Chrysler Magnum V8 with an automatic tranny, it also has nitrous!

Derek's partner Pat is often seen on the school run behind the wheel of this sharp '46 Chevy pick-up which is also equipped with a fifth wheel.

The low stance gives away its hot rod pedigree since this pickup is all Corvette under the skin.

Full independent suspension all round, four wheel disc brakes and a 350 V8 means this ol' truck handles as good as it looks.

Derek's collection of working trucks started with the purchase of this '49 American La France Fire truck that he found on Ebay. Although its fire fighting days are over it regularly earns its living as a mobile bar. You can just about make out the box section frame that holds the awning that extends out beside the truck, the back of the truck is fitted with coolers and all the neccessary plumbing you would normally find underneath the bar of your local! Beer and old trucks working together in perfect harmony, sounds like heaven to us!

There's a lot more cool stuff down at Derek's but lets finish up with another California import produced approximatly 10 years after the one at the top of the page. This '50 Chevy Sedan Delivery may not have an engine right now but is very straight and rides on fully bagged suspension with an IFS at the front and a 9-inch rear. A 350 is destined for the engine bay and then it will be up for sale. This is going to make someone one cool ride when its done. Lets just hope those '80's Camaro wheels get lost somewhere along the way huh?

We've submitted a much longer piece on Derek's place to Classic American Magazine, lets hope it makes ink! Keith

More two wheels than four....

2011-02-02T05:35:00.000-08:00

This blog really needs to loosen up, I need to stop sitting and thinking so long about what to write. Is it cool? Is it worthy? Is it even interesting? I've decided that its not me for me to say. That's for you the unknown readers out there somewhere to decide, if you like it you'll keep reading. If you don't, well hell, I'll never know will I? So raise a glass to random thought, loosely based around what pictures I have lying around or what I feel like blowing hot air on. Of course when the weather warms up I'll probably be busier and less introspective so once again the blog will find its own way once again. But meanwhile.....

I guess since the last blog, and what with the weather and all, the website continues to be the centre of my universe at the moment. A new title that landed on the doormat in January was 'Drag Racing Dreams Vol 1', a retrospective 40 minute documentary on the early days of drag racing narrated by past masters of Top Fuel racing. Get past the rather uninspiring cover and it's actually a very slickly put together film, easily the quality of any TV made production which makes it very easy to watch. We are the official importers for the UK for this one and online sales were helped no end by getting a mention on http://www.eurodragster.com/ including some orders from mainland Europe. This month should see mentions in Custom Car and American Car magazines plus also Classic & Sportscar magazine which will be a first for me.

Now lets have a picture of a cool motorcycle. A TriBSA to be exact and a chopped one at that.

Some might recognise it as a bike owned by 'Cookie', a man I've not had the pleasure of meeting, but known in circles as one of the original 'Low Flyers'. Indeed, the bike still wears a Low Flyers decal on the right hand side cover, you can just see it in the pic. The bike was bought late last year by my mate Mal and he not being a hot rodder, has had the significance of the decal explained in great detail. I've recently been round the lock up helping trace a flat spot, we were checking the timing manually as the bike has a later alternator inside the primary cover but no reference marks for TDC. Mal worked out where it was but throttling the bike on the bench while putting a timing light on the alternator and then adjusting the Boyer ignition was a two man job. Seems ok now, and sounds great! Future plans may include a real seat and possibly slightly lower bars.

Which brings me nicely two these two cool bike

DVD's which I was offered by one of my Stateside

suppliers, John Wells. Ok, they are not new, Harbortown Bobber has been out about a year already and Choppertown a couple of years, but they are great DVD's and I recently noticed that no-one had them on offer on Ebay UK, 'cept me of course.

Check out the trailers on the website then buy them!

Both cool insights into contemporary California chopper life, worth a look if you like this type of bike.

We did get out to one event during January, the 'Rockers Reunion' which is now held locally in Reading, was an interesting Saturday night out, even if it was more 'Reunion' than it was 'Rockin'. The event is one of the few places you can still see a few Teds that were there the first time around, though there's probably fewer each year, likewise the original Rockers, though there's no shortage of leather jackets in homage worn by subsequent generations. The music was average rather than great but I'm not knocking it, everyone there was having a great time and long may it continue. For more pics see an upcoming edition of Milkcow magazine who kindly organized the passes. Thanks Danny!

Another month, another year.....

2011-01-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Just by sheer co-incidence I felt it was time to update the blog and found it was exactly a month since my last one. Not that much has been going on in the real world apart from Snow, Christmas and more snow. Having said that I did get out in the Coupe on New Years day. It was a last minute decision between Chris Smith and myself to scoot down to the Phoenix pub at Harley Wintney for the annual New Years Day run they have there.

I've known about this little get together for years, but have never actually made it down there before, which explains why not leaving home until lunchtime meant the best was long gone by the time Chris's '59 F100 and my '34 arrived there. Apparently it starts around 10 am.

There are always plenty of nice classic cars down there, it is a sports car get together really, but being a grey damp sort of day I really didn't feel motivated to take any pics, which is why there aren't any on this blog post. Instead, imagine an old pub with some very old converted stables on one side of the car park, and a red brick building on the other side next to a Texaco filling station.

Picture the pub car park mostly full of pre-war British Sports cars, MG's, Jag's and the like, most of them painted green. Men are milling between them, some with pints of ale, but most clutching wax cups of tea and coffee, nearly all are dressed in green or blue Barbour type jackets or brown leather coats. A few women stand around sporting different types of knitwear over jeans and holding onto the leads of small shivering dogs. That then is the scene on New Years Day at the Phoenix, that and the grass verges either side of the A30 filled with all manner of '50's and '60's cars for as far as the eye can see. There, who needs photograph's?

Apart from that I've been kept busy with the online store on the website. The original plan was to sell a few DVD's and T-Shirts but it seems to have taken on a life of its own and now has over 25 products for sale, more if you count the different sizes of T-shirt available. Since online shopping from the comfort of your home seems to be an ever growing pastime these days, by offering cool stuff aimed at a niche market at reasonable prices, especially stuff thats not got widespread availability, its a fun way to earn a little extra beer money. Except everything is going back into more products at the moment, rather than over the bar at the Victoria Arms.

On the publishing front, I was pleased to see that Australian magazine 'Cruzin' once again published more pages on the Hot Rod Hayride than any British mag ever does! The spread looked really good and my input was complimented by some killer black and white pics by Russ DeBarr. Thanks Russ! Similarly, Classic American's February issue (out in January) did me proud with a three page spread on a Cadillac powered Bonneville streamliner, two pages on the Bisley Harley rally last summer, and a page on the Lincoln Continental Sedan that was for sale down on North American's forecourt. If only every month was like that. Until next time........

November, the NEC and nothing much else...

2010-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

It was a last minute decision to zoom up the M40 for the annual Classic Car Show at the NEC, I hadn't been for years, but had heard it had been getting bigger and better so with the extra bonus of the bike show there as well, mates Malc, Remo, and myself piled in my Chevy Arstro van and went for a looksee.

Malc and Pete went straight off to the bike hall while I fiddled around with my camera. Indoor photography has never been my strong point so I thought I'd play around with the camera settings at the NEC. All the pics on here were taken at with a long exposure and no flash, so if the colour looks weird, that's why. Blame it on the sodium lights.

All the interesting stuff for me was in one corner of the hall, here could be found the Milkcow stand, various American Car clubs, Classic American Magazine, (thanks for the tickets, Ben) and not one but two national clubs for hot rods.

Although only formed about six months earlier, the Vintage Hot Rod Association or VHRA has already grown rapidly and catering for traditional hot rods and customs, their stand had for me, the coolest cars at the show. What the stand lacked in display boards, ropes and other show paraphernalia mattered little as the cars spoke for themselves (it also made them easier to photograph).

The NSRA stand which was right next door looked very shiny indeed in comparison, especially as the centrepiece of the stand were three cars that were at the opposite end of the hot rod spectrum featuring cars that with their stylised lines, massive bling wheels and high tech touches had just about eliminated all the features that make old cars appealing in the first place.
All three have won many prizes its true, and are extremely well screwed together, but this high tech style which was at its freshest in the late '80's, is beginning to look very dated these days and frankly rather predictable. I decided a while ago in a moment of introspection that the reason I got into the hot rod scene is because I like old cars. If the car no longer looks 'old' at all even if modified, it loses its charm for me and also its appeal. Many modern street rods sadly fall into this category. I didn't even bother taking pictures of them.

By contrast, over on the Mopar club stand was this outrageous 60's Dodge A100 Pick Up, with its Keystone mags and rear mounted V8 it was every inch the wheel standing exhibition wheelie truck of the drag strip. I was so busy sodding around with the camera I didn't find out any more about it, More's the pity.

A car that should have been on the VHRA stand was Jo Paynter's Model A Coupe, this 28-29 was displayed with the Model A club and apparently was the most popular car on their stand. I can see why, just lovely.

The rest of the show was the usual classic car fare, lots of English Fords (all nice examples), Italian exotica and over priced Jaguars etc. It was a very big show, the sort that makes you wish you'd worn different shoes. Not sure which ones mind, just different to the ones you had on. The bike show lacked the variety by comparison and I imagine anyone going mainly for this would have been a bit disappointed.

Finally, looking a little out of place but a welcome sight anyway was the 'Glacier Grenade' Daimler powered dragster of Russ Carpenter. I don't really attend drag race meets these days so don't know when it last ran in anger, but it was good to see it again looking as fresh as ever.

Keepin' it local, Rodding in the Royal County....

2010-12-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

The big deal for me in October was launching our new website, which you may even have found already, and I had a lot of fun on the end of the phone to Tim and Jane Odell who were building it, discussing ideas and emailing bunches of pics to them for the galleries. What started as a sort of Ad for my writing work seems to have grown into something else entirely with the online store being the focus for most visitors. Take a look at http://www.keithharman.com/ if you haven't already. I keep finding new and cool stuff to import and offer for sale.

Out and about during the month, I was invited by Beaters Car Club members Russ and Jo Kirkby, to get myself along to local shop Wyliez at Farley Hill for a roof chop party. I'd been along to Wyliez a few weeks before to shoot the shop for Custom Car magazine which is now in print in the December issue.

Russ and Jo imported their '50 Ford from the US and it was already at Wyliez for other work, although the chop was to be collaborative effort by the Beaters, something they excel at at.

After scuffing off the 60 year old paint with flap wheels on grinders, Kelvin and Pete got busy measuring and marking where the cuts would be made.

The body had already been braced internally by Ian, proprietor of Wyliez, and so it was soon time for Jo to make the first cut since its actually her car.

The the sparks really began to fly as the rear window and surrounding metal was cut out, and then one by one all the pillars and posts were cut.

By lunchtime the top was ready to be lifted free and set to one side. Jo now had herself a convertible! A good mornings work, time for some BBQ!

Here's the 'Cutting Crew', left to right,

Pete, Kelvin, Dean, Jo, Russ and Ian. Not shown are Julie and Becky as they were cooking the lunch!

By the end of the day the pillars had been cleaned up, extra cuts calculated, and the top tacked back on ready for final welding. A long way to go yet, but it at least now looks like a custom rather than a stocker.

Completely co-incidentaly, another chopped Shoebox owner, Miles Sherlock, called me up later in the month to let me know about a 'JackHammer Rod and Kustom Supply' open evening that he was holding midweek.

Due to limited space it was to be an invitation only affair for local rodders from the Surrey area, though Miles' plan further similar evenings for other clubs and groups in the future

About 40-50 people came along on a rainy Tuesday evening, pizza was ordered and eaten and a raffle was held, organised by Miles and Grahame Smith between them.

We also took along some of the newly arrived 'Deuce of Spades' merchandise and sold a few T-shirts and posters and also took some orders for the DVD's. A good evening for an otherwise quiet time of the year.

At the end of the month I was out at another local shop to shoot a piece for Custom Car on Wayne Streams new business 'Xstream Engineering at Arborfield. Wayne finally decided to go 'Pro' earlier this year, and already has some interesting stuff in the workshop.

In this pic you can see a '50 Pontiac Fastback which is going to be a real sleeper once that built small-block is installed. Next to it is Lee Painter's so-low '55 Chevy, already channeled, bagged and with a Viper V10 installed. There won't be another '55 around quite like this one!

Also in the shop in the early stages is Keith Killick's '36 3-Window Coupe. Look out for this one next year too.

In another corner was Wayne's own Willys Gasser project. Rescued from a dry river bed in South Africa, the killer coupe already has the gasser stance, a set of Halibrands and a blown big block Chevy motor. A lot of people are already looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Look out for a two page feature in the January issue of CC on Wayne's new enterprise.

There goes another summer...

2010-11-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

September came in with a bump for me, literally, as I managed to drop my car off the jack one Saturday afternoon during a supposedly 'hasty' adjustment. I'll spare you the gory pics but it wasn't pretty there for a while, stitches and all.

Moral. ALWAYS use axle stands even for 'quickie' jobs.....

Never mind, all better now and good job too as a couple of weeks later it was Hot Rod Drags time again. The HRD's is always a good event and since the weather looked good I took a run up on the Saturday in the '34. There was no point in running it again, it wouldn't be any quicker, I'm going to wait until I can put some wider rear tyres on before I try and improve my p.b.

Still, it was good to hang out with the Meltdown guys again and also see Simon Phillips' new Coupe for the first time. There are lots of pics of this event in a gallery on the website so take a look on there for more. However, it was nice to see my old F100 Panel Van again, now with a new owner who was obviously enjoying running it down the quarter again.

Later in the month and at short notice we were invited down to deepest Surrey to join Geoff Cousins at one of his workshop open house BBQ's.

His very tough looking Pop is coming along nicely and should be ready for next year, maybe we'll get to shoot it for a feature in CC.

We took a few extra pics while we there and hopefully they'll appear in CC in the not too distant future.

Another cool car there was this Model A Pickup which belongs to Mark Tanner. It hasn't been seen for a while since debuting a few years back and looked great in its new olive green under stated paintwork. I'm not normally a fan of the high tech look myself but you couldn't help admiring it never the less.

After lunch we had a fun drive back with the Sturgester '32 now sporting its new Sid Chavers Bop Top in fetching tan, which really does suit the car no end.

Well, thats another summer over I guess. Doesn't time fly?

From one extreme to the other.......

2010-10-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

The end of the month of July and the beginning of August, actually straddled one weekend this year and it happened also to be the most eagerly anticipated rod run of the year, the now famous Hot Rod Hayride at Bisley, Surrey.

Since it is our most local run we were there Friday morning along with a bunch of friends who had travelled on the Thursday and stayed overnight near our place.

Much has already been said about this years Hayride, especially how much it had grown in size and especially in terms of numbers of participants. Looking at the two extra camping areas it was clear there were many there for their first Hayride, judging by the wide assortment of non traditional vehicles parked there.

The layout was a bit different this year with the most noticeable difference being the change of route around the main pavilion, meaning that it wasn't quite the same view from the balcony as previous years in terms of passing traffic which has always been a highlight.

We missed the run to the dirt track this year but despite the changes everyone we know had a great time as usual. It'll be interesting to see how it differs next year, now the Executioners are stepping back from direct involvement. It also clashes with the NSRA Supernats but we know where we'll be!

While at the Hayride we met Simon Pollock aka 'Nefarious' busy pin striping anything and everything. We soon had him lined up to add some extra lines to the '34 and he popped up to see us at home in the week following the Hayride. There's more pics of Simon at work and a link to his website on the News section of the website.

Co-incidentally we were back at Bisley just one week later having had an invitation to pop along for the SOFER Harley rally. This time it was just for the Saturday afternoon and we were more focused in collecting magazine material for possible future articles.

It's weird how such a familiar place can be so different when a

completely different crowd are on site. Harley H.O.G. owners seem to believe they are living the freewheelin' life style but ironically, their events are some of the most highly organised and regimented than any I've been to!

Dave Seymour's Wall of Death that is a major feature of the Hayride stays onsite for the week as it also an attraction for the bikers. We were privileged to witness a special event also as Dave took a special lady for a ride up on the wall on the handlebars of his Indian, a sprightly 83 year old lady called Norma who was fulfilling a personal ambition, she loved every minute too!

Mid-month we were at a small local show at White Waltham Airfield near Maidenhead, Berks, the former home of the Womens Auxiliary Air Force during WWII. a typical county type show their were the usual steam engines, classic cars etc with the added attraction of a flying display.

Cadillac's seemed to be a feature of the day so we came home with this moody black and white pic of a '59 with a plane overhead.

We also came across Mike Dockree's unique Caddy-boat being towed behind his '59 Coupe De Ville. The vintage glass speedboat has had real Caddy fins grafted on to it plus a '59 Cad steering wheel and many other neat features with all work done by Mike. It probably looks even cooler in the Thames than it does on the trailer! We managed to get a mention of it in the News section of Classic American magazine's November issue.

As the end of the month drew to a close we headed East in the '34 followed by Chris Smith and his daughter Emily in Chris's pick up, to take in the NASC Nats up in Ipswich. We went with a degree of trepidation as its been many years since we did the Nats and our impressions of events since has not been great.

Although a lot of our friends and assorted party animals were camped with us our fears were well founded. The camp site was crowded and seemed to be over run with more caravans, stock vehicles and daily drivers than any run I've been to. The evening entertainment was on the wrong side of mediocre and compared with the Hayride at the beginning of the month it really wasn't doing it for us. Sorry Nats, you may be a big run but for us big ain't beautiful.

We did manage to tempt Tony Osborne into laying a little rubber in the Head Hunter Willys though!

Another car we'd wanted to check out for the first time was this '49 Mercury. Imported at the beginning of the year as a stock more-door, all the work being carried out in a garage in Leicester and documented step by step on the Rods n Sods Forum. The work done is outstanding and well worth checking out if you see it around. Nice job guys!

A BBQ, a breakdown, and some American beards...

2010-10-13T03:05:00.000-07:00

So sure as eggs are eggs, July followed June as it usually does, and with the summer heatwave continuing the first Sunday of the month saw us down at Coolham in Sussex for the annual ACME BBQ. More of a friendly get together than an organised event it was a smaller gathering than last year and unfortunately we didn't have the added attraction of Juarez Fab's workshop as Marco was elsewhere that weekend.

No matter though, it was still a great afternoon out with friends.

The following weekend, a chance conversation with Kris 'Pop' Brown lead to me being invited along to Fintan Ellis' workshop down in Alton to one of Californian tin bender Ron Covell's workshops. One of a series he's held over here.

Ron's a real nice guy and extremely accomplished at his craft, hammer forming being his subject of the day.

The day was only marred by my alternator deciding to part company with my '34's engine due to a sheared bolt. We found it at lunchtime halfway through the day and with no way to remove the remains of the bolt a large yellow lorry was summoned to take the Coupe home in the afternoon. The first time its not made it home since I've owned it! A new mounting kit from Jackhammer Rod and Custom Supply cured the problem the following weekend.

One of the highlights for many rodders is the NSRA Supernats at Old Warden. We've been to all of them and always manage to have a fun time even if the huge show and shine field is losing its appeal to me these days. As usual we were camped with the Brack Pack which along with Perry and his Dutch crew (absent last year) meant we were guaranteed a good laugh.

One of the appeals of the event is the high quality and variety of the cars, and seeing as this year the event had been combined with the Euronats there was even more to see.

This years guests were Pete Chapouris and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons though we didn't get to meet them personally as they were obviously much in demand and ZZ Top were playing a gig Saturday night. We did catch a pic of the Reverend Billy G signing autograph's on the Sunday though.

We did a quick trip around the show field on the Sunday morning then as we did last year, we escaped at lunchtime to avoid the crowds.

We'll be giving it a miss next year in favour of the Hayride which is on the same weekend. Speaking of which, the next blog will feature that very show! Stay tuned!

Summer at Last!

2010-09-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yep, as you'll know if you live in the UK, (the blog has overseas visitors too you know), we finally got some home grown sunshine during June, and what a fine month it was for hot rodding on the UK. First up was the Billing Fun Run and although we used to attend this run regularly, it seems to have lost something in recent years, so this time we took a run up on the Saturday just for the day. Since many cars were out on the cruise we didn't take many pics, but this fresh out '34 caught our eye. Lots of cool traditional features make it similar to our own, yet very different at the same time.

Another day trip a week later saw us heading round the M25 to the Biggin Hill area for a much smaller run put on by South London club, the Detonators. Put on to raise money for 'Help for Heroes', once we arrived at the campsite behind a proper old country pub, we immediately wished we'd gone for the whole weekend.

Some cool traditional cars, a great atmosphere ,and of course 'all in a good cause', made this a 'must-do' event for next year. A small run but perfectly formed.

As a complete contrast, the South Coast Internationals put on by Victory Wheelers at the excellent Beaulieu Motor Museum was a much larger affair but still a great run as Wheelers runs usually are. We were there all weekend to cover the event for CC and since that has already been published in the August '10 issue, you may well have seen a few of our pictures already if you saw that report.

We were amused to see in the following issue a month later, that we were admonished by a letter writer to the mag for not staying until the prizegiving in order to take photo's of him and his father in special commemorative t-shirts they had had made especially!

Oh dear......what a shame.....never mind.

Apart from the excellent venue, what stood out on the weekend was the quality and variety of vehicles that turned up, especially on the Sunday. I seem to have developed a thing recently for '49-51 Mercury's, stock or custom.

This lowered but otherwise mostly stock example comes from the Bournemouth area and it was the first time we'd seen it. Have it wrapped please I want to take it home.

We found out the Merc was from Bournemouth the following weekend as we down that way on the Saturday, having been invited to attend the new showroom opening of Battastini's custom bike shop, the Merc was parked right across the street. We hadn't met Mark Battastini before, though his name is well known in the custom bike world as is (Biker Build-off Brit) Russell Mitchell's who was over from California for the weekend and was a guest at the shop.

We had a great day, lots of bikes, great weather (again) and several rather tasteful burlesque shows throughout the day. Look out for a report in 100% Biker Magazine around October/November.

Newsflash! First the Blog...Now the website!

2010-09-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this blogpage to let you know that the blogpage is now incorporated into our new website www.keithharman.com where it can be accessed by clicking on its very own button!

If you got here via the website, thanks for visiting and make sure y'all stop by again, y'hear.

However if you linked to the blogpage via a previously saved link or just wandered over for a looksee, then we'd love it if you take a look at the rest of the site. There's lots of pics in the gallery, many of which are from events that we've covered already on the blog in past months.

There's also a store there and we hope to add some cool new stuff to this in due course, we're already talking to some suppliers of DVD's, posters and T-shirts, hopefully all exclusive to this site.

Finally we'd just like to say thanks to Tim and Jane Odell at Raygun Industries for helping out and building the website. Cheers! KH.

Back in the UK and yes it was raining...

2010-09-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

The trouble with taking a trip to the US early in the year and having a right old time of it, is that it does kind of spoil it a bit when you get home knowing that although its always good to catch up with the mates you haven't seen since for ages, most UK shows will be generally similar to last year, and that also goes for the unpredictable weather too.

It was the weather that for the second year running made us forego Good Friday's 'Wheel's Day' at Easter and so the first trip out in 2010 was the Watfords Rods show on the first Bank Holiday Monday. Having been asked to cover it for Custom Car we duly attended with camera in hand and once again I'm afraid I found it a lack lustre event at the same mediocre sports field site as last year, although many people seem to like it. The highlight of the day was seeing Gary Chester's very lovely '32 5-window debut, having been recently completed by Wayne Streams.

Two days later we were up at the Ace Cafe for the Spring Riot, which is always a good night, again we were on assignment but at least it was a fine evening and we were able to take the Coupe out for an airing. In fact it was two Coupe's together, as Dave Sturgess followed up in his immaculate Pagan gold 3-Window. Predictably the Ace car park was packed as usual as it is on most Riot nights. After the event we were also asked to submit some pics and text to Linda Wilsmore for the Ace Cafe's newsletter, which we are always happy to help out with.

Mid May saw us meeting up with the Brack Pack for a Sunday morning cruise down to the coast for the Victory Wheeler's 'Inn on the Beach' Hayling Reunion. Although a car show on the beach is always a cool idea, the British weather conspired against us once again and although we had a great drive down there, the blustery wind coming in from the sea sent us home at lunchtime.

Later in the month we decided to do an Autojumble that had actually been postponed due to a flooded site from Easter Monday, it's the annual Wyke Down Classic Car Show held every year just outside Andover. We took the van as we were trading and just for a change it was a lovely sunny day! My fave vehicle of the show was this Ford truck owned by a good ol' boy called Seth. Its got a warmed over Flathead and gets driven and used regularly.

While we're on the subject of commercials, a little competition just for fun, no prizes.

The question is, can anyone spot the Chevy van in the pic below? I know its in there somewhere....

We rounded off the month of May with another mission from CC, this time to cover the 35th anniversary of the Chelsea cruise. We hadn't been up there for years so didn't know what to expect. There was precious little Kings Rd cruising and one of the bridges was closed for work, but at least the car park in Battersea Park was open and it was weird being back there again after so many years. The turn out was reasonable considering the weather was showery yet again with a particularly heavy shower sending most sensible folk home about 10pm. Here's a couple of cars that unlike many have survived the years and are still cruising Chelsea.

The '55 Bel Air on the left was a car that impressed me greatly back in the late Seventies., Back then it stopped people in their tracks as it was full-on straight axle high rider on chrome five-spokes, and was owned by Martin Bonner. I know it's a much quicker now, but I think I preferred it in its former style. I wish someone would build a clone of it!

On the right is the Rover 3.5 Coupe that has been owned by Winston Sewell forever, he was cruising Chelsea in it in the '70's, racing it at Santa Pod in the '80's and its till looks good today. An unusual choice for a street custom then, as now, but a nicely built and detailed car and a real survivor!

Turning a negative into a positive!

2010-08-30T01:48:00.000-07:00

After a truly great week in the US it felt good to be flying home to the UK with so many good memories. Unfortunately, the trip took an unexpected turn when the onward KLM flight from Amsterdam to London was cancelled due to the volcanic ash situation from Iceland. Stranded without any luggage, I managed to get into a hotel in an area of Amsterdam not noted for its night life, and made arrangements to get home by an alternative route although this was to be by sea from Rotterdam to Harwich on the Monday afternoon. With a weekend to kill time in Holland, I got hold of a phone number for a Erwin, a Dutch hot rodder from the Trashers car club I'd met a few times before.

By Saturday morning I was on a train bound for Eindhoven where Erwin picked me up from the station in his '32 Roadster and whisked me off to the Trashers clubhouse to meet the rest of the guys. An impromptu club profile photo shoot was organised in the parking lot which with a bit of luck might appear in a US rod magazine.

The Trashers turned out to great bunch of guys and later that night we piled into a car and went to see a Wayne Hancock gig, Wayne's band also stuck, as they were due to play London on the Monday evening. Erwin and his family were good enough to let me crash at their place for two nights for which I'm eternally gratefull.

Sunday was once again a glorious sunny day and also the day of the first summer show in Eindhoven, the Canal Party, held in and around the local Harley dealership. Mostly a bike show, hot rods and classic American cars were also welcome, and as well as the Trashers, I met up with Perry and Stevie and friends who I also know from UK shows. With live bands and a few beers in the sunshine it was cool way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

After the show I went back with Perry to his workshop and then to his local bar in town, before we went to see another live gig, this time US band 'The Trashmen', famous for their 'Surfin' Bird' record which was also covered by The Ramones, years later. The Trashmen played some great surf guitar and it was a great night out in Eindhoven's bar 'The Rambler'.

Monday morning I took the train to Rotterdam to catch the boat home, finally arriving in the UK late Monday night. Once again a big thanks to all the cool people I met in Holland, plus Erwin and family for taking in a stranded traveller and showing me a great time!

A new 'Daily' for David!

2010-08-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

On the Monday following the Round Up, David and I were up early before dawn and hit the road back to Memphis, it was dark, damp and foggy at that hour and I was in no mind to take any pictures! Fortunately, the skies cleared over Texas and Arkansas and we had a fast and troublefree run all the way back, all 600 miles of it! After 10 hours on the road at about 80 mph all the way, we arrived back at David's place in the late afternoon. Later we met up with friends for dinner and I still had one more day left in Tennessee.

We had been talking on the trip about David's need to replace his tired Ford Taurus that he uses for work, he's had it a few years, we borrowed it when we first stayed with him in 2004 and it was old then!

So we decided to go shopping to the local Chevy dealer, Serra Chevrolet over at Bartlett, a suburb north of Memphis, to look at new Camaro's.

The line-up of the various models outside sure looked impressive!

Of course there was a yellow one that every kid under ten would recognise and call 'Bumble Bee', but David is far too old to know what a Transformer is, so we passed on that one!

After a couple of test drive's, one in an Auto and one in a six-speed manual, David decided that the gun metal grey stick-shift without all the stickers and spoilers was the one for him.

With no P/X to worry about, David swiftly negotiated a deal and we waited while they prepped the car. An hour later and it was ready to drive home, now that's service!

David drove the Camaro back home to Millington and I followed in the Taurus to drop it off before we went out and grabbed some lunch.

Naturally we took the new Chevy and had a scenic drive out through the local Shelby Meeman National Forest that lies between Millington and the Mississippi, stopping off at a great little General Store that we've visited before. Family run and full of stuffed critters found in the forest on the walls, it's a favourite.

After lunch we took the opportunity to take a few shots of the Camaro at a beauty spot on the banks of 'Ol' Man River', the mighty Mississippi.

We then popped back to David's to collect some 'hardware' and then spent a while at the local shooting range, David instructing me the correct way to handle a handgun loaded with live ammo. Obviously we couldn't take pics there but trust me it was fun. I think I just found a new hobby, apart from the fact that I live in the UK where we aren't considered mature enough to own guns even for sporting purposes, the bad guys have them though, so thats ok.........

Everyone back to Charlie's Place!

2010-07-03T03:40:00.000-07:00

After the brief but scenic lunch stop at Ski Shores, it was back to McNeil Drive in Austin and Mercury Charlie's workshop for his afternoon 'Hot Rods and Honey's' get together and party.

Once again we'd heard about this late addition to the Round Up weekend via the H.A.M.B. and seeing as it was featuring a full live set by Junior Brown, it was not to be missed. If you've not heard of Junior Brown, he's probably best known for inventing his unique 'Guit-steel', double necked guitar, a combination of a regular six-string guitar and a pedal steel, so that Junior Brown can effectively play both guitars while performing the same number. While his recorded work is mostly twangy traditional country, JB can also bend a mean string and produce some cool blues or killer surf guitar as well.

A temporary stage had been set up in Charlie's workshop and accompanied by his wife and a young two piece backing band JB put on a great show including his two best known tracks, 'Highway Patrol' and 'My Wife thinks your dead' .

Check them both out plus plenty of others on You Tube.

Before the show David had mentioned that it would be cool to add JB's autograph to the already much signed dash of his '32 and we duly mentioned this to Charlie before the show. After the set was over, Junior Brown and crew retired 'backstage' to Charlie's office, with Charlie motioning for David and I to join him. Thus we got to meet Junior and his wife and hang out while he restrung his wife's guitar and talked cars with Charlie and the guys from Chopit Kustoms.

Once he'd taken a break Junior was happy to come outside and sign the '32 for David while I recorded the moment for posterity.

Meanwhile, Charlie had arranged a small prize for his favourite car of the afternoon and this deservedly went to Goran Lassell and his cool custom Mercury. Goran is Swedish and was a well known face on the European scene until he re-located to Sacramento, California. Check out his website at http://www.cockgrease.com/ Yes really!

Here's Goran accepting the trophy from Charlie.

We had a great time hanging out with Charlie, he's a real genuine fella and all around nice guy, he also builds nice cars.

Check out http://www.mercurycharlie.com/ You might even see some of my pics appearing there if Charlie ever gets his finger out and posts them up!

The bash at Charlie's was the last cool happening of our weekend in Austin, we really had a great time and met some great people who we've kept in touch with since we got back. The Round Up is probably one of the best events I've been to and I'll certainly be returning again in 2011 for the 10th Annual Lone Star Rod and Kustom Round Up. Thanks to everyone we met for making for such a great time and especially thanks to David Waring for inviting me to ride in his Roadster all 1200 miles there and back, it was a blast!

As a post script to the blog regarding the Round Up, we've since heard that Ol' School Rodz or Car Kulture Deluxe will be running my pics and story in one of the mags as their official report on the event. Icing on the cake or what?

It's Sunday, must be Ski Shores....

2010-06-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Officially, the Round Up is over by Sunday morning and many people are hitting the road for the long drive home. But for those sticking around for the whole weekend, the Kontinentals have one more trick up their sleeve, the traditional after show cruise out to the Ski Shores Cafe up at the lake.

The Ski Shores Cafe has been open since the Fifties and is built right beside the popular resort of Lake Austin, a popular water ski venue, hence the name. It recently went through a re-furb but was opened again just in time for the Round Up weekend.

Cars gather once again on downtown South Congress St on Sunday morning and take a picturesque cruise out of town for lunch at the lake. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell Mr Sunshine and it was misty Texas morning when we rocked up to the Continental club about 10. am.

As we wandered down the street on the damp morning, the twangy strains of guitar-reverb surf music seemed somewhat uncharacteristic for a Sunday morning just about anywhere, but then again, this was Austin. We soon found the source of the cool pickin', none other than local country star Junior Brown (Look him up on You Tube if you don't know) was playing his unique double necked gee-tar sitting in Mercury Charlie's Mercury, complete with amp on the back seat with Rosie Flories also squeezed in the back playing acoustic accompaniment.

I got in close for a couple of close up shots before Mercury Charlie asked me if I could fire off a few more for him to use on his website, which of course I was pleased to do. Hopefuly a couple will turn up on http://www.mercurycharlie.com/

Soon we were off to Ski Shores with Charlie taking off in 'Sweet Nadine' with Junior still laying down those sweet Sixties surf licks.....too cool!

Pretty soon everyone was saddling up and moving out making for yet another cool cruise out and up the freeway heading North East out of Austin

Parking was pretty tight at Ski Shores, the area is a national park so the lot hasn't got any bigger over the years, we didn't realise how many had it made it out there. Consequently the kitchens were a little overwhelmed and service was probably slower than normal but when lunch arrived it was good and worth waiting for.

The Cafe's location is really pretty and probably even better when the sun is shining, try and get out there if you ever visit Austin. We actually didn't stick around long as we needed to get back to Mercury Charlie's as Junior Brown was playing a full set back at the workshop in the afternoon, definitely not to be missed!

Next blog, Mercury Charlie's 'Hot Rods and Honey's Party' back at the shop.

Ding Ding Round 2! (or rather, Round Up Day 2)

2010-05-28T02:14:00.000-07:00

Day Two of the Round Up, (Saturday) and after the mad rushing around of the last few days, the laid back Texas vibe had finally got to me. Although we spent all day at the Expo Center, I decided not to rush around like a loony with my camera trying to take it all in but to just enjoy the day. I actually ended up using my little digital video more and the results are currently with Ray Gun Industries, where Tim Odell is editing the footage. Some of it will soon appear in Rad Rods 4 which is released on June 4th 2010, plus hopefully there will be enough to make up a DVD of purely Round Up footage, we'll let you know how it goes.

I also spent more time just hanging out talking to folk and met some great people.

For example the old guy who owned both this cool '39 and the pale blue '34 Roadster told me some fascinating stuff about both cars. The '34 was a well-known Dallas hot rod back in the old days, he was lucky enough to acquire it a few years back, and with a few updates it was back on the road. The '39 also had history, having once belonged to Dick Kraft.

I also found out that there are at least six or seven car clubs in the Austin area, The Kontinentals who put on the Round Up are one of the best known but I found myself hanging with these guys several times over the weekend, The Yay-Hoos!

As well as having some neat cars (and bikes) they were a friendly bunch and sure like to party, as I found out later that night at the Austin Speed Shop Party!

Quite by co-incidence I got talking to this couple, Chris and Jayme who flew down from Spokane Washington, and it turned out that Chris had sold a friend of mine (Bob Luxford) here in the UK, his '46 'Jailbar' truck after seeing it advertised on the H.A.M.B.

The Saturday was even busier than the Friday with many more cars attending, and lots more public, who were still lining up to come in and see the show well into the afternoon.

Apart from all the cool hot rods, I was still being blown away by how many kustoms there are in Texas, low and slow is still the way to go down that way with some real nice sleds everywhere you looked.

Since Texas is big and mostly rural, it stand to reason that there are a lot of barns, which seems to suggest there are barn find cars too. Yep, they are still finding gems like this totally original '32 3-Window, unbelievable!

We had watched the evening Cruising on South Congress the night before, its gets pretty crammed on the Saturday night so instead we headed back to the Austin Speed Shop for the annual A.S.S Party. The crew at the shop had cleared the parking lot and set up outside bars as well as a big canopy for the live bands to play in.

As mentioned, I had a great night of Texas hospitality with the Yay-Hoos, we had a blast! Thanks guys and see you next year!

Checking in and checking it out....

2010-05-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon after a great morning cruising Austin and it was finally time to go check out the Round Up event itself out at the Travis Expo Center just outside town.

First job was to pick up wristbands for the event, and then find out where to pick up wristbands for the Saturday night party at Austin Speed Shop which we'd heard was also not to be missed.

Even though there would be many more cars arriving later in the day and also the next, the amount and variety of great cars was already impressive, obviously we took pics of our favourites but unlike other shows we've been to, nearly everything was worth checking out depending how you like your traditional cars. If you were a fan of billet aluminium and directional alloys however, you were definitely in the wrong place!

Of course there are some people out there that think these shows are nothing but old patina and faded paint, so for them I give you this wild chopped shoebox, and really, this picture does not do the blue 'flake and hot licks justice at all.

Or how about a full-on Sixties 'sickle? If that don't grab you, grab a piece of history with the newly restored Gene Winfield '35 Ford shop truck which was rescued from behind a barn a couple of years ago and brought back to its former glory by Gary Hatfield of Hatfield Restorations.

Bruce's Rod Shop from down in Houston have got themselves a great reputation in recent years and Bruce Jr is a cool guy. Lovin' their '32 shop truck!

Need a rest from looking at cars? (Yeah, Right!)

Well at the Round Up you could always take a break and grab a beer and go listen to some of the great bands on during the day.

Or check out the big swap meet.....

Or even do a little people watching if that floats your boat......

We found Brian Bass' way cool Hemi Model A Coupe over in the vendor area so it was back to looking at cars again.

Customs too are very popular in Texas with a great mix of lowered Chevy's, Merc's and Fords.

Add in a little glamour from Miss Brandee Frost, aka The Parasol girl and you have a great first day at the Lonestar Roundup. Think this is good? It got better....

Later that evening the action switches to the clubs and bars in downtown Austin, in particular South Congress St, a broad six lane street with plenty of street parking. The atmosphere is great down there with live music in many of the joints plus plenty of places to eat and check out the continous cruising that the Round Up brings to town. It's such a big street with only low level street lighting that its hard to capture the feel in just a few pics and we only took a few. I'd been carrying the camera around all day so instead we grabbed a burger at Fran's and just soaked up the evening's entertainment.

More Round Up pics to follow....

Roundup Time! But first some local sight seeing....

2010-05-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Friday morning and the first day of the actual Roundup, but before we headed out to the event at the Expo showground, there was another side event to take in. The Friday Garage Crawl is traditionally a morning cruise around some of the rod shops in the Austin area. It's promoted only on the H.A.M.B. with detailed directions printed out of the shops and the cruise route.

We got snagged in downtown traffic and so caught up with everyone at the Austin Speed Shop. The car park was already packed when we pulled in.

Alex Gambino was down from Nor-Cal, looks like he painted his Chevy Kustom since we saw it at Bakersfield last year.

Talking of Chevy Kustoms, how about this '55 complete with Corvette grille teeth and scalloped paint. I believe its owned by one of the owners of the Speed Shop.

Another big attraction was the famed Khougaz '32 Roadster, this car was a killer on the salt in

the early fifties thanks to its channelled body, full-on flathead and arodynamic alumnium belly pan.

Fans of the Mad Fabricator DVD's will know the name Bob Bleed already, Bob now works at the Austin Speed Shop and although his roadster has been featured several times, it was cool to see it up close for real. The car has been in his family for years.

The second stop on the tour was Mercury Charlie's. As you'd expect, Charlie specializes in chopped customs, though he's just as keen on any cool hot rod's. We found Charlie's enthusiasm and warm welcome infectious, he really did appreciate everyone stopping by his place and thanked everyone by handing out 45 rpm records, not that we knew what they were for....

We soon found out that it was a free draw and one discs had a double sided label which meant that the lucky holder got to come back and do a two day metal shop class with Gene Winfield. Now that's what we call a prize!

A special attraction at Charlie's were two great cars down from New York, this gold '54 Chevy, and radical '32 truck, both built by Chopit Kustoms. Of course, Mercury Charlie's show winning Merc, Nadine was also there, but more of that later in the blog.

Next stop was at Matt Quinn's Pipeworx welding and fabrication shop, Matt had several cool projects in the shop, you can see what I mean by checking out his blog here //pipeworx.com/Pipeworx/Welcome.html

Matt is a talented fabricator and is equally at home working on bike frames or hot rod frames, here's a tall T he is currently working on, gonna sit low....

Before we left Pipeworx, the sight of two English guys in a Right hand drive '32 caught the attention of the local news crew who had been following the cars around all morning and before you knew it we were in the full glare of the media spotlight.

As someone later said 'we almost sounded like we knew what we were talkng about'. Almost.

Here's the link to the news cast.

//www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/here-come-the-hot-rods

Down at Reggie's BBQ...

2010-05-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

About lunchtime on the Thursday before the Round Up, we were winding through the small Texas towns on the North side of Austin until we found our small convoy of rods pulling into a small business park of commercial units. We soon saw that both sides of the street were lined with some cool rods and customs and that parking was every man for himself.

The gathering was an annual Round Up tradition for early arrivals to the Round Up consisting of local rodders and out of town H.A.M.B. members at host club Kontinentals member, Reggie Hill's, own workshop. The event is about as big as is maneageable so is pretty much for those 'in the know' and so we were grateful to be part of it and made sure we thanked Reggie personally before we left for the hospitality. Ah yes, the hospitality! If I've tasted better Bar-B-Que beef off the bone and potato salad I really can't remember when.

Then there were the hot rods of course, if this was a sample of what was to come over the Round Up weekend then we were definitely in for a GOOD time!

Somewhere here is a pic of Mark Morton's so subtle and gorgeous '36 3-Window, as well as Reggie himself with two of his favourite rides, both real deal survivor hot rods that Reggie drives regularly while still preserving their
vintage charm and authenticity.

We spent a relaxing few hours at Reggie's, soaking up the laid back atmosphere, meeting some of the locals and checking out the cars.

Another highlight for me was finally getting to meet hot rod artist Jeff Norwell, a name I'd known for a few years since a friend of mine emigrated to Canada and met him out there. We'd since connected on Facebook as well so it was cool to finally meet him at last. He follows this blog too, so I'll take the opportunity to say, "Hi Jeff"! and post a pic of his killer '32 truck with the man himself at the wheel.

A few of the guys we'd driven down with headed off to another location for 'Thirsty Thursday' another Austin area pre-Round-Up get together that we'd seen posted on the HAMB. David and I elected to continue into Austin and find our motel and get some rest before heading downtown later in the evening and checking out the cruising on South Congress St. It looked like it was shaping up to be a busy weekend!

Next Blog, we head out to the Austin Speed Shop for the Friday Garage Crawl.......

T for Texas (Part 2)

2010-04-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

So to recap, it's a sunny Thursday morning in East Texas and we've hooked up with a bunch of Dallas area H.A.M.B. members on our way to the Lonestar Roundup in Austin. As the 'newbies' we followed along at the back of the line for a few miles until David decided to move out to the outside lane so I could get some 'on the road' shots. We soon passed Big Ken's truck which was sounding good through its uncorked shorty lakes pipes.

So I'm shooting back at Ken and he picks up his little digital camera and starts shooting me, shooting him.......

Then no sooner do we pull back into the inside lane than the Caddy pulls level and Ryno gets in on the act too. It was a lot of fun!

A few more miles pass and then Ken, now back in front, pulls off the freeway and makes for a gas station parking lot. Closer inspection shows why, his truck has broken a lower rear shock mount and the shock is hanging in the breeze!

Ken quickly breaks out the tools and removes the offending item, chucks it in the back of his truck and we are soon on the road again headed for the small town of West a bit North of Waco.

This turns out to be a regular meet up place as there is a Czech deli and convenience store on the gas station that serve a local delicacy known as a kolache, some sort of pastry with either a sweet or savoury filling. I only found this out afterwards so didn't get to try one out. We pick up a few more cars here, including this big humpy back Hudson Coupe.

With Waco behind us, Ken takes us off the freeway and out into the green flat Texas countryside, its good to travel on a backroad for a while when I spot an interesting sight over to our right. It's a small local drag strip right by the highway and even better, Ken is leading us off the road and into the gate. This is Little River Dragway (as it says on the van) and is the venue for a local event known as 'The day of the drags'.

Ken seems to know the guy running it and we get the nod to put the cars on the line and take some cool pics, strictly no racing though!

This is one of those unplanned but so-cool things that just happen when you're travelling in the US, especially when you hook up with the right crowd.

Thanks Ken!

Since the place had a cool old timey feel, it only seems right to work a little computer magic and show these next couple of pics in good old black and white. Is this what it was like here back in the old days?

This was just about the last pic I took before I jumped back in the Cabrio and we hit the road again bound for a special pre-Ro

und up rendezvous.

Next stop some Texas BBQ!

T for Texas (part 1)

2010-04-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

It all started with an email back in January, I hadn't meant to return to the US again quite so soon after last years trip, but when good friend David Waring contacted me to invite me to join him on a road trip from Tennessee to Texas for the Lone Star Roundup in his '32 Cabriolet, how could I refuse?

We left Memphis on an overcast and damp Wednesday morning in David's right hand drive Deuce which he's owned now for 40 years. The rod runs a 283 Chevy, a four speed, original seat and no top. This was to be back to basics interstate rodding at its best!

The car has no fuel gauge but David knows it will run for two hours straight at highway speeds so after leaving at 7am we were well into Arkansas for our first fuel stop. The skies still looked like there might be rain ahead and we did all we could to outrun it and hope for brighter weather further South.

We did hit a bit of rain somewhere down Interstate 30 on the way to Little Rock but the Rainex did its job and we were moving too quick to get wet, worse were the side winds that were blowing in across the flat countryside.

Once past Texarkana and into Texas we welcomed with blue skies and by mid afternoon we were heading into the Dallas/Forth Worth area and our motel South of the city at De Soto.

David had pre-booked this motel so as to be close to the Friday morning meeting point for hot rods as posted on the H.A.MB. website and early Thursday morning we cruised around to the Cracker Barrel restaraunt to meet the guys.

Strolling in we were given a warm Texas welcome by the guys who having already eaten we ready to hit the road after introductions had been made and another quick coffee downed.

Three trucks, a Caddy, our Deuce and one late model Chevy HHR left the diner bound for the next stop at West where some more cars would join the trip, here's some intro's to some of the guys who we would meet regularly over the weekend and soon become good friend's.

Here's Big Ken from Garland, Texas and his traditional Chevy powered fenderless truck running wires, and yes Ken does do the Santa thing at Christmas, ok?

Ryno is from Joplin, Missouri and was driving his sweet lowered '63-64 Caddy, (I forget which exact year) with

mucho cool blue and silver metalflake, Ryno finished the car just recently and this was its first long trip, this dude rolls in style!

The orange '34 truck was a neat rod and owned by a guy called Gary who escaped my camera and last but not least was Stu. Stu's truck is a patina'd '46 Chevy running moon discs and a mean rake. Say 'Hi' Stu!

With Ken leading the way we left De Soto on I-35 for the next meet-up, the sun was shining, we were cruising with some cool rods and all was well with the world.

Part 2 coming soon!

My crazy life!

2010-04-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

We'll be back with the blog proper very soon but it seems like I've been travelling forever this month, a week away in the sun with Paula that was booked last year was followed by Easter Weekend in the UK and then I was straight out to Memphis to catch a ride to the Lonestar Roundup in Austin Texas. Had a blast and then back to Memphis for a day that involved a Chevy dealership, a new Camaro and several loaded hand guns! I'll explain later!!!

The trip home was interupted by the volcanic ash situation, but after initial despair, it turned out right with a wild weekend spent in Eindhoven Holland with the Trashers Car Club.

All will be revealed in the fullness of time, stay tuned!

Keith

March Motor Madness!

2010-03-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

At last a break in the weather meaning I could actually do some messing around outside with the Model A, nothing exciting though, a bit of primer on the chassis and a couple of small jobs. I also managed to get out and about in it a bit too. The first two pictures below were the March Krispy Kreme cruise at New Malden on the third Sunday of the month. I don't go that often but it was a good excuse for a blast in the truck.

It also gave me a chance to get a better look at Paul Hobby's Model A Coupe which I'd seen briefly a couple of times. A really cool rod originally built by Joe Painter from Cornwall, now living up Gloucester way. Paula and I met him at a party in Cornwall last year, nice guy and obviously knows his stuff too.

Halfway through the morning the truck started to list to the left
like a boat taking on water which turned out to be a slow puncture which had gone flat by Midday. Thankfully the Welch brothers, Jim and John from the Detonators came to my aid with a jack even if the foot pump didn't do the trick (I don't think Jim was putting his back into it!) and I ended up rolling the tyre across the road to a local garage and once re-inflated it was enough to get me home. Thanks due also to David Williams for the loan of the wheel brace.

Once a new tube was fitted after the weekend it was up to London mid-week to the Ace Cafe where we used the truck to take some pics of owner Mark Willsmore supposedly putting up posters promoting Lucky 13 clothing with which he has a tie-up this summer for the hot rod nights. The pics were sent to Lucky 13 and may appear in press releases promoting the events.

It's not every day you get a top brass copper to pose for a pic in a beaten up jalopy hot rod! But here is a Metropolitan Police Chief Inspector assessing the new unmarked stealth pursuit car on behalf of the force.

Not so amusing was finding out my Coupe had broken a valve spring at sometime. Not sure when it happened exactly, the last time I used the car was the Hot Rod Drags last year, Hmmm, I'm not someone who usually over revs a car either...

Oh well, thanks to Mike Sargeant at Tornado Automotive its fixed now and a the centre carb had a freshen up and new accelerator pump at the same time. Just need to get a rear tyre for the MOT and it will be good to go for the summer.

Yep, that's broken alright!

It all gets a bit exciting next month as after Easter I'm flying out to Memphis and road tripping down to Austin, Texas for the Lone Star Round-up in a friend's '32 Roadster. Can't wait!

See y'aaaaalllll laterrrrrr!

Here and There...

2010-03-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

Apart from getting the interior on the Jalopy truck sorted, February was mainly spent writing and shooting bits and pieces for the magazines to try and earn a crust. One particular Saturday we started off by popping in to Al's Classic's in Windlesham, Surrey to witness the 'Saturday Chop Shop' where Al and Chris were chopping the top on Chris's post war Morris Sedan, this was to be done in a day and we took a load of pics of it for Custom Car, visiting again later in the day to see the top welded back on.

See the mag for the full story, not sure which issue yet though.

Edit! Yes I am, it's the May issue.

From there we went down to Horsham in Sussex where we collected my mate Mal's chopper frame and tank etc that had been painted by Keith Baker, we had already shot Keith and his Lightning Pick-up for a Classic American Readers Rides piece a few weeks before so since we were in the area we nipped around to Juarez Fabrication to see Marco and have another cup of tea. We also took the opportunity to shoot Steve Friend's Ford F150 'Boss' truck, also for Readers Rides.

Marco's new project '34 Roadster is coming together nicely, look out for it later in the year.

Also at Juarez was one Mr Wells of far flung Norfolk, down to collect a '46 Coupe he'd recently purchased. As you can see, heavy check shirts are the rodders favourite at this time of year. Phil's Coupe came complete with a Caddy motor already dropped in the frame but Phil tells me he's replacing it with a Flathead as Henry intended.

Towards the end of the month it was up to London for a mid-week gallery opening of cool photograph's shot by German photographer David Biene.
David has been shooting cool black and white pics at traditional car events all over Europe and last year had them published in a book titled 'Hopped Up'.

The Proud Galleries in Camden liked the book so much they offered David a couple of weeks display in there exclusive gallery. It was an interesting evening with a live rockabilly band and a few friendly faces in attendance from the London area.

February was wound up with a visit to the Ace Cafe Ally Pally Bike show in North London. A good show with top sponsors and some of the best custom bikes in the country looking to win the A.M.D. prize of a trip to Sturgis to compete on a worldwide level. The standard of bikes was very good, I've submitted a piece on it for my column in an upcoming Classic American, hopefully they'll run two pages and lots of pics..
Thanks to Mark and Linda Wilsmore at the Ace for the invite.

My favourite stand at the show was the Krazy Horse Customs one, KHC are now dealers for Zero Engineering from Japan who make some very cool machines, I particularly like the Samurai Type Z Chop shown here. Its just got such cool lines

This flat track style bike was also fresh out of KHC's workshop, a big inch Harley motor in a Sportster hardtail frame means it'll be a quick and fun bike. Riding position was cool but its out of my price range I'm afraid. Paul Beamish of KHC was telling me that they plan to move into a new unit this summer and invited me up to Bury St Edmunds when it opens. Looking forward to it already.

Yep, there were lots of interesting things to check out at the Ally Pally show.........

Apparently there were more bikes there too......

Mmmm..... Leather!

2010-02-22T04:34:00.000-08:00

So here we are eight weeks into the new year and what's been happening? Well the weather has been hampering work on the Model A since it lives outside, but I did manage to get it over to Eric at Trimmania www.trimmania.co.uk to sort the seat out. When bought the seat consisted of a home made foam pad covered in a old mexican blanket which had been liberally moulted on by Dave the dog down at Juarez Fab. Now no offence to Dave whose a lovely fella, but there was room for improvement in the comfort stakes. As luck would have it, Eric had recently stripped out and re-trimmed a 1933 Lagonda Saloon and still had the pieces of the old interior. Although worn, the British racing green leather wasn't completely knackered, so we decided to re-cycle it for the jalopy truck. With the two-piece seat removed, Eric took no time in sewing the pieces together around the foam using the rolled pleats from the Lagonda's back seat, there was also enough to cover the small side panels. The back's of the seat were smooth leather and these were used to cover the ply door panels. I've since made up new kick panels and covered them in some matching green vinyl.

The backrest has also been mounted at a slight angle to provide more lower back support, not bad for a mornings work, plus the worn look of the old leather matches the look of the truck even if Eric was moaning all morning about working with material he usually throws in the skip!

Back to the British Winter.....

2010-02-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

If you've been following the previous blog pages you'll know that its taken a couple of months to record all the terrific things we got up to in California back in October. That's all very well until you come home to the urban greyness of an English winter, deep joy.....

One thing we did have to look forward to however was the Rythym Riot. I'd already been down to Camber Sands back in the summer for a quick trip to the Rockabilly Rave as seen in an earlier blog. This time the event visit was almost arranged for me as organisers Robin and Colette had been in touch with Faith Granger of 'Deuce of Spades' www.deuceofspadesmovie.com fame to ask about possible previews of the movie at the Rave. Faith agreed and sent over some exclusive clips to be shown on Rythym Riot TV over the weekend and Robin offered Faith a free merchandising stand at the Rave to promote the movie. Since I'd already done some promo for DoS, Faith 'volunteered' me to man the stand, and since I already new Robin and Colette, it was shoe-in for the weekend as I'd also be reporting on the RR for the magazines.

Unfortunately not everything went to plan and the DoS merchandising stuff didn't arrive in time and we had to quickly knock up some posters and stuff to improvise. It all worked out ok though, the Riot was as busy as ever with lots of people interested in the movie. I reckon if we had had DVD's of it on sale we'd have made a killing!

The bands were good at the Riot too with The Ray Collins Hot Club being a particular favourite.

Since the event we've had a report published in Classic American already as there's always a good turn out of classic yankery at the Riot for the cruise, even if hot rods are a little thin on the ground that late in the year. Of course there's always a couple of exceptions, including Marco Warren's '29 Model A Roadster Pickup. Naturally I took a pic of it on the Sunday morning, though what I didn't expect was that I would own it in the very near future!

It was only a week or so after the Riot when I noticed on a web forum I use that Marco had advertised the cute little truck for a quick sale as something else he wanted had come up for sale.
Since I had already been thinking and even talking to Marco about a possible Model A truck project, and since I'd just sold the '63 Chevy Nova Wagon that I imported from Mississippi, I nipped in quick and did the deal. It's a fun little truck with a pinto motor and 5-speed, a bit ratty here and there in the body, but a hoot to drive.

Unfortunately, no sooner had I got it home than Binfield turned into a Winter wonderland as did the rest of the country so any more fun with it would have to wait until the new year.

Thus ended 2009.

Museum Piece Part 2 (Going underground!)

2010-01-27T12:13:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't yet read the last blog entry, we left off with having blagged an exclusive visit to the Petersen Museum on the last day of the trip, the museum is usually closed on Monday's for cleaning etc but we were granted unrestricted access courtesy of museum curator, Leslie Kendall. Our first stop was on the first floor at the Bruce Meyer Gallery which is always the first place any self respecting hot rodder would check out first! The display changes regularly but when we were there the display was themed 'Cars of the So-Cal speed shop' which really needs no further explanation.

The first car I checked out in detail was Chuck De Heras' 392 Chrysler powered '40 Coupe. This car was featured in the Rodders Journal and also featured on So-Cal merchandise. The reason I was so glad to see it is that I copied the theme of the interior for my own Coupe. If you know my car you'll see the resemblance.

Elsewhere in the gallery was JJ Barnhardt's 'Champagne Coupe' which starred in the TV series 'Hard Shine', while next to it the bare metal Model A Coupe which was also an RJ feature car. Other cars in the display were the Doane Spencer '32, Bruce Meyer's black and yellow checkered Deuce and a So-Cal signature roadster.

Further on in another area we found this '50 Olds built by Valley Custom in 1953 for Jack Stewart.

It featured a 4-inch section job and was a ground breaking custom in its day for its subtle lines.

Having met John D'Agostino when he was over in London, it was good to see a couple of his customs on display, the '57 Oldsmobile 'Golden Star' and the '61 Convertible dubbed 'Aladdin'.

The visit got even better when after chatting with museum registrar Tom Kenney, who took us down below stairs to the huge underground storage facility. I was blown away with the vast number of famous hot rods that I recognised. I could have spent a day down there checking them out. Maybe another time (I hope!).

This is 'The Mail Truck' built by George Barris, its a life size version of a famous model kit by MPC. It's got a Flattie up front.

The 'Malco Gasser' was basically a 'glass Mustang body that 'Ohio' George Montgomery swapped onto his Willys Gasser chassis. He cleaned up and the age of the steel bodied gassers was over.

This weird looking bit of kit was built to race in the 1953 'Carrera Panamerica' road race through Mexico. It was sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine and driven by Ak Miller and Doug Harrison.

Roth's 'Outlaw' T needs no introduction but where has the other front nerf bar gone?

This orange '32 was the 1988 AMBR winner at the Oakland Roadster show. Owned by Ernie Immerso it was unusual that a car powered by an Ardun equipped Flathead should win in the midst of the billet era, cool car though.

Frank Mack put this '27 T together in the early '50's, it was a well known magazine featured car but unusual because Frank was from Michigan not California where most 'famous' hot rods came from at the time.

The 'Ala Kart' restoration was another cool find downstairs at the Petersen, as was the 'Voodoo Doll' the '27 Tub recently completed by our good friends Chuck and Kim Vranas. We had many emails with pics from Chuck while the car was being built so even better to see it at last. He has since told me that the car has been bought by a collector from Texas and was being stored at the museum pending collection.

The Bill Niekamp roadster is another famous post war hot rod with many innovative features, it was a real privilege to finally see this car for real too.

The So-Cal belly tank had just been moved from the museum reception area to the storage area the day we visited.

A few weeks before we were there, they had had the huge 'Speed and 'Style' auction and these Barris show cars had been part of it, we assume they were purchased by the museum for future display. Left to Right is the 'Boot Hill Express' and 'The Stagecoach'. The weird green machine was actually the 1969 AMBR winner which shows you how far show cars had got from real hot rods in the Sixties. It was built and still owned by the Himsl Brothers and was dubbed 'The Alien'.

That brings us to the end of our 2009 California trip, if you've been following the blog you'll know we saw some fantastic cars while we were out there, and we only had space to bring you a few of them on here. Thanks for reading!

Keith and Paula

Meanwhile in Beverley Hills....

2010-01-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

Bruce Meyer's name is well known in both the hot rodding and the classic car world as a true connoisseur and collector of all things automotive, and a chance meeting with him at the Goodwood Festival of Speed proved that he's a damn nice guy as well. One thing we've learnt over the years visiting America, is don't be afraid to ask an American about their cars, they all love to share them with anyone interested as I found out when I asked Bruce if it would be possible to see his collection when we were in California. He was more than happy to give me his card and told us to contact him when we were out there. It turned out that on our last full day of the holiday he had the morning free and invited us up to his house in Beverley Hills.

We found it easily enough and Bruce greeted us at the door and invited us in, we were obviously hoping to see his extensive collection of hot rods but as luck would have it, most of them were elsewhere on display at various museums etc. We didn't register our slight disappointment but Bruce went on to ask if we would like to see some of his classics that he keeps at home. Our dissapointment didn't last long when we entered the garage and saw what exotica he had there, not to mention all the cool memorabilia that lined every square inch of wall space.

In the first pic you can see a 427 powered Cobra, the dash autographed by Carroll Shelby, behind that is a '50's Porsche 356 Speedster and to the left a Harley painted in chequers to match one of Bruce's '32 Roadsters.

On the other side was a classic Porsche 911 Carrera, a true drivers car, Bruce uses all his cars regularly, sometimes for week long endurance and touring events, these are no museum pieces. Behind the Porsche is a Mercedes 300 SL Roadster and behind that were a few more bikes including a four cylinder Indian and a Norton that was once raced by Stirling Moss.

This part of the garage is the original four car garage that came with the house, but behind that we walked through into a larger extension that Bruce has had built on at a later date.

The first car we saw here was also a very special one, not to mention Paula's favourite.

This elegant 1956 Mercedes 300 Sc Convertible is one of only 48 made, many of which were sold to the Hollywood set. This particular one was the last car owned by Clark Gable, it was also his favourite. It is completely original and has never been restored, Bruce buying it direct from Mrs Gable after the stars death. In the boot (trunk?) was a complete set of fitted luggage, never used and still that new leather tan colour since it rarely is exposed to daylight. The whole car is simply stunning.

Also in this part of the garage is the first production Cobra ever sold which I guess may make it worth a bit extra!!! Behind that is another Porsche 356 and the three cars on the right are all Ferrari's, a Daytona, a G.T.O. and nearest the camera, a famous race car with a wealth of provenance and history.

Over in another corner is a '60 Cunningham Corvette race car, 1960 being the first year a Corvette ran at Le Mans, driven by Dick Thompson, this is one of three cars that Briggs Cunningham entered that year, a Corvette finishing 8th overall but first in class. A very cool piece of American racing history.

Bruce's drop dead gorgeous 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB (Short Wheel Base) one of the sexiest Ferrari's ever made.

By far the biggest car in the garage is this depression era Duesenberg, it literally dwarf's anything else in the place, Bruce probably uses it to go out cruising with his mate Jay Leno, since Jay is a big Duzey fan and owns several.

Tucked away in a corner of that garage is this nice but unremarkable Triumph 650. "Ah that", Bruce comments, I bought that new and used to date my wife on it many years ago".

Talking to Bruce about his hot rod collection once again, he mentioned that he had some of his cars in the nearby Petersen Museum. He asked if I'd been there, I replied I hadn't and today was Monday and my last day in the US, the museum is always closed on Mondays so I'd run out of time. " Wait right there" said Bruce and picked up the phone, he made a short call and then announced that if we drove over to the Petersen and mentioned his name we could get a private viewing of the exhibits, even though the place was closed to the public.

Result! Just shows, its not what you know, but who you know! Guess what the next blog will be about.......By the way, if you ever read this Bruce.....Thanks again!

Better Lakes than never....

2010-01-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

Before we even left the UK, I was excited to find out that the SCTA were holding their penultimate meet of the season out at El Mirage on the last weekend of our vacation, and having not been to the dry lakes before, I was definitely looking forward to seeing the place where it all began so many years ago.

With instructions from the official on the gate of " follow the telephone poles and keep going for three miles, you can't miss 'em" we headed the rental car off the highway and across the dusty dry lake into a large expanse of nothing surrounded by mountains and blue sky.

Reaching the area loosely termed 'the pits' we learned that the racers were waiting for the wind to change direction before racing resumed, apparently it changes several times a day so no biggie. A quick look round and I was immediately drawn to this Chevy flatbed truck and the matching Model A on the back. I found out later that it belonged to Shug Hanchard, Scottish ex-pat who now runs his own rod shop, the So-What Speed Shop, specializing in pre-34 hot rods. I'd never met Shug before but found him working the startline, a nice guy, wish we'd had more time to natter.

Dodging the dust devils being whipped up by the gusts of desert wind, we were struck by the variety of machinery around that run in the various classes, everything from a late model Honda Civic to a diesel powered Hudson pick-up and everything in between, '33-34's have always been popular on the Lakes so I had to get a picture of this full-on version, shame we didn't get to see it run.

Although it was our first time at El Mirage, we did have a tentative rendezvous arranged with a rather talented lady, Faith Granger is the writer, producer, director, etc etc, of a new movie due out soon called 'Deuce of Spades'. Having put a whole feature length movie together without any sponsors or backing, we'd been following her progress with interest online for some months. We'd also been in contact previously having also offered our services in promoting the movie in the UK, so it was good to finally meet up and pass on some UK press clippings. http://www.deuceofspadesmovie.com/

The star of the movie is undoubtedly the '32 Roadster from where the Deuce of Spades gets its name which also happens to be Faith's own car. Chevy powered with three two's, its a nice example of a post war hot rod and with the screen removed, looking over the louvered hood at the lakes while wetook a quick spin across the dry lakes really gave a flavour of what it was all about back in the old days.

It's good to see traditional Belly Tank racers are still being used, and we saw several examples even though this was a relatively small meet, including this one being campaigned by the Huntington Beach based Scandinavian Street Rods guys.

As well as an incredible career as a hot rodder,

Customizer and custom painter, Gene Winfield is still an active participant in lakes racing at over eighty years old, here he is leaving the line for another run in his streamlined roadster.

If Faith was the coolest lady at the lakes on four wheels, then Jill Iverson took the honours for the two wheeled fraternity with her 500cc Indian Scout motorcycle. Built for her by husband Dave who had been involved in lakes racing for a few years, Jill has steadily upped the record for her class with the hand-shifted but stock motored 1941 Indian. At the close of the 2009 season Jill's record stood at 106.001. One fast lady!

We took a bunch of pics of this great machine and they should be included in my regular bike column in the Feb issue of Classic American magazine.

Jill and Dave run Iverson Originals hot rod shop, check them out at http://www.iversonoriginals.com/. Next up, our last day in L.A. but what a day, stay tuned gang!

The Museum Piece.....Part One

2009-12-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

After the early start at Derelict Donuts, and with Paula staying at the motel for a quiet 'non-car' day, I headed up to Pomona to at last visit the Wally Parks, NHRA Motorsport Museum. The museum is another of those places that I didn't get around to visiting last time we were in So-Cal.

We usually bump into Executive Director and British ex-pat, Tony Thacker and his team at the Reunions we've attended and they've always invited us up to the museum, so a visit was well overdue.

The displays are laid out over the ground floor of the impressive facility, and this display of Salt Flat cars were the first things you see when entering the building.

I was immediately drawn however, to the red candy '32 in the background and in the main pic here, this '32 Ford Sport Coupe was built and

shown by the Jackman Brothers.

It was shown right here at the Pomona Fairplex way back in 1961 where it won the Sweepstakes trophy at the Winternationals, no wonder, with a fully chromed chassis and a 312ci Thunderbird Y-Block V8.

For a real piece of living hot rod history, it doesn't get better than Ed Iskendarian's '23 T Roadster, amazingly preserved and un-restored and pictured in so many books and magazines, it was a real thrill to be standing in front of it and seeing it first hand at last.

Another famous name that went on to establish himself as a producer of speed equipment was Barney Navarro who used this roadster to test his speed equipment on the lakes at El Mirage.

The car ran 146.8mph in the early fifties using all early Ford running gear, save for the GMC 3-71 blower fittted, the first one on a Flathead.

The car is now on permanent loan to the museum.

Yet another famous roadster on display is a recreation of the Model A Highboy owned by the late Wally Parks. It was restored and presented to him a few years ago before his passing and now forms part of the display paying tribute to him. I'm glad to say that I had the opportunity to shake hands and speak briefly with him at the Reunion at Bakersfield in 2006, it's a treasured moment for me that I'll always remember.

For a different generation of hot rodders growing up years later, the cars made famous in music videos of blues rockers ZZ Top have been just as influential in their own way. I can smugly say I was a fan since before the Elimintor album and its subsequent video's featuring the '34 Coupe, but it was still cool to finally check out the Cadzilla, Billy Gibbons '48 Cadillac custom. It maybe not as famous as the Coupe, but its styling has remained as fresh as it is innovative, more so than the '34 which now looks very 'of its time' i.e. 'Eighties.

Is Tommy Ivo's T the coolest ever? or does that honour belong to Norm Grabowski's 'Kookie' T, that inspired Tommy to build the Nailhead powered beauty. Both cars were built to drive and to show too, though Tommy's also had a respectable race history and starred in many early hot rod films too. This is another 'survivor' car that is preserved just as it was back in the day.

The display at the NHRA Museum also features plenty of drag race machinery with many of the cars changing on a regular basis. Tony Thacker told me over lunch that he felt it was important to keep the exhibits fresh so as to attract regular visitors and keep the turnstiles moving. After all, the museum is self funding and needs the support of the visitors as well as the sponsors to stay in operation. If you've not visited yet, make sure its on your 'to-do' list while in L.A. and even if you've been before, its worth checking out again as it's bound to have some fresh stuff since your last visit.

To prove the point, the museum have just announced that 2010 will feature a display dedicated to Mickey Thompson with many of his race cars and machinery from his varied racing career. The display will run from Feb to October.

Doing Donuts....

2009-12-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday the 24th of October, it's 5.30am in the morning and the alarm clock on my mobile wakes me up in my motel room.
Moving around quietly so as not to wake Paula at this unearthly hour I pull on some clothes on and sneak out the room like someone escaping from a bad one night stand....

Luckily. it's only a five minute drive down to the parking lot on the corner of Adams and Magnolia on a dark and misty-foggy-smoggy, perhaps all three, Huntington Beach morning. Parking my Sebring rental car in a dark corner I find this otherwise nondescript, typical local shopping center already three quarter full of hot rods, trucks and classic cars. It's the famous Derelict Donuts Cruise, the longest running cruise in the L.A. area.

Now ready for some breakfast I squeeze into the tiny shop and order a donut and a coffee, I'd prefer a bacon sandwich but it is not to be, besides, you can't get decent bacon in the US, just thin pig flavoured brittle strips that snap into three bits when you bite them...

I especially ask the guy behind the counter for a strong black coffee, I like to be able to taste the stuff, rather than just the black hot water you usually get in motels. He assures me that I'll like it as he fills the medium sized wax cup and bags the sugar fix with the hole in the middle. I step outside and taste the coffee, yup, same tasteless crap you usually get, guess he lied about that one.

Oh yes the cars, I'd heard a lot about Derelicts so it was good to be there at last and although I'd seen plenty of pics before, it was the variety that was the was the eye opener, hot rods, customs, classic pickups of course but lots of restored classics and even a few race cars too. As you can see in the pictures, the light obviously changed as dawn broke making it easier to take some snaps of the cars, but cars were arriving and leaving all the time and it was a fairly big lot meaning several circuits were needed to check everything out.

It's definetly an older crowd that makes the scene at DD's and they were a friendly bunch too, but then again in America most people are always willing to chat, especially about their cars.

I've already written and submitted a report on the Derelict Donut run to Custom Car magazine for future publication so am deliberately keeping this blog entry short and sweet, but here are some of my favourite cars that I saw there that morning, including this much photographed '36 3-Window which must live locally as we saw it cruising Huntington Beach the day we arrived three years ago. With its cool chop, blown flattie and Cadillac caps I'm sure you;ll recognise it from several US mags, a stunning car.

The green '57 Caddy was a stunner too, but it's only when you get home and look at the pics you've taken that you wish you'd spent more time actually looking at the cars in more detail. That's always happening to me at events though.

The Seventies may have been a bad time for rods but it was cool time for 'Street Machines' and this '55 Sedan Delivery looked to be straight out of Hot Rod magazine's readers ride page of the time or maybe even been a regular on Van Nuys Boulevard in its heyday.

After a while, I snuck down the street to

Papa 'Z' s diner a couple of block's away for the 'Anti-Donuts that often gets touted on the H.A.MB. I needn't of bothered though, these two were the only cars that turned up which was a disappointment, so I never did find out if their coffee was any better...

Still, it was early yet so I headed back to the motel to have breakfast with Paula, by which time the sun had burnt off the haze and she

elected to have a lazy day by the pool leaving me to go find some more car stuff, next blog, the NHRA museum and lunch with Mr Thacker and family.

Just Coasting....

2009-12-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

Continuing our West Coast trip we left Cayucos behind and drove down Highway One following the coast as far as Santa Barbara where we had one night booked, on the way we passed through Guadalupe, a very Mexican produce growing area and then Lompoc, where we saw this old Drive-In movie theatre, or what remained of it, it's now a re-cycling site, but the sign was still intact and its rare to see even this much of a drive-in these days when travelling in the USA.

We arrived in Santa Barbara Wednesday afternoon (21st Oct), a very pleasant and clean town with lots of palm trees and a long pier, much bigger than the one at Cayucos, big enough for several bars and restaraunts on it. The town itself was a bit So-Cal chi-chi, lots of designer shops etc, not our scene really, so by Thursday morning we were on the road again heading South.

Once through Ventura and Oxnard you come down to the coast again through the Santa Monica National Park until you hit the ocean again. Then the road runs right along beside the beach all the way to Santa Monica before turning inland as you hit the outskirts of L.A.

We were heading for a motel in Huntington Beach but on the way through Long Beach we stopped off briefly to visit Richards Rod Shop, also the home of the franchised So-Cal Speed Shop Los Angeles, run by Jim Aust, owner of 'The Garage' online forum and E-zine. Jim also used to write for Rod & Custom Magazine until fairly recently. We had a brief tour of the workshop which seemed very busy with lots of projects on the go and some in storage up above awaiting their turn.

From Long Beach it was an easy drive down to Huntington Beach and the Best Western Regency on Ocean Boulevard, we stayed there three years a go on our last trip, a couple of miles North and you're on the Freeway to tour L.A, a couple of miles South and you're on the beach so a good location on which to base your visit.

After settling in and relaxing we decided to hit our first recommended dinner spot, we had heard good things about 'Don the Beachcomber's' , a fabulous tiki style bar and restaraunt at the North end of H.B. We found it easily, hell you can't miss it! (See the pic!). Although it was quiet, being midweek, the decor was cool, our server Chris couldn't have been a warmer host, and the food was probably one of the best meals I've had in the US (no fries! just for a change!).

Chris told us that the place was previously known as 'Sam's Seafood' but was now under new ownership and was working hard to restore its reputation locally. Thanks due to Neil Fretwell for recommending it, if you are in the area, we recommend it too!

Friday morning and time to do some L.A. rodshops (like you do) and first stop was to see Steve Dennish and team at Limeworks. As is now customary with British visitors to Limeworks we took British biscuits as a gift, this time Custard Creams and Ginger Nuts which were gratefully recieved by Steve, Carole, Kerry etc, and the kettle went on for tea. Afterwards Steve returned to working on a very cool '32 five-window that had been laid-up in a garage for nearly fifty years. The Deuce was in for the Flathead to get freshened up and a few jobs.

From Whittier we made our way up through the

central districts of Hacienda Heights and Diamond Bar up to Pomona and the So-Cal Speed Shop. Being a Friday it was quite quiet as the guys that build the cars work a four day week. John Reid welcomed us in and let us tour the workshops to see what was going on. Next door to the bodyshop we saw this really nice asse

mbled '32 chassis complete with a fully detailed Flathead. You wouldn't have thought a pale green would have looked right with a dark blue frame but it looked great as you can see.

This wild three window also caught our attention, it looked like a typical '60's show rod with its twin blown Hemi , fogged paint and sculpted bodywork, but in fact had never been finished or shown anywhere before.

There's actually a tragic story behind this car but it's not my place to tell it here. Maybe when the car is completed the full story will go with it, maybe not, it's up to the family that own it after all.

Billy F. Gibbons has had a long relationship with the So-Cal Speed Shop since Pete Chapouris re-opened the business, and this is his latest project. The '58 Thunderbird is a cool Watson-style mild custom with a matching black and gold interior. Named the 'Mexican Blackbird' after one of ZZ Top's older album tracks, its a sweet and cool treatment of an often overlooked model.

After So-Cal we popped down the street to the Kennedy Brothers place but unfortunately they'd locked up for the weekend, oh well, there's always next time!

If Paradise is half as nice....

2009-11-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

October 19th and after all the high octane, fuel injected fun of the Reunion, we headed West from Famoso, driving across the flat valley towards the hills of Paso Roble wine country until we hit California's Central Coast where we were booked in at a motel in the sleepy village of Cayucos.

A community of no more than 300o people, Cayucos is a great place to just relax and very untypical of what you usually find in the US. For a start their are no fast food joints, only a couple of bars and restaraunts and very little traffic.

We were booked into the Shoreline Inn, the only motel on this stretch of coast built right on the beach and with a balcony that looked straight out over the Pacific, the sound of the surf on the beach was a nice way to start the day. This was the view that greeted us from our room (although this pic was taken in the late afternoon).

Coming into town from the North just off Highway one you can't miss the cool Borradori Garage building established in 1932. Unfortunately it's no longer a working business and is just used for storage these days.

We found out later that legendary hot rodder Doane Spencer lived in town and had a little workshop here in the last few years of his life.

In the centre of Cayucos is the Rogue Wave cafe run by local surfer Wade Rumble. This is where the local surfers, skateboarders and music types hang out. The '60's cars outside are just the local rides of some of the guys we met hanging out there, made for a good pic though. Oh, the coffee is great too by the way.

A couple of miles South of Cayucos is the town of Morro Bay, different to Cayucos with a harbour, waterfront and fishing boats, but still lovely.

On our way into town we stumbled upon a Hot Rod shop quite by chance, run by Jason Pall and his wife Rochelle, Bear Metal Kustoms was a cool little local shop and it turned out they also knew some other Brit rodders that we know. After a tour of the shop we all went to lunch overlooking the harbour, which was nice!

The following day we decided to drive North up the Pacific Coast Highway towards Big Sur and just enjoy the stunning ocean views on the coast.
It's a great road to drive in a convertible on a sunny day (so we did), but would be even better on a bike.

First stop was San Simeon to check out the big Elephant Seal colony that thrive in the kelp beds off shore. They don't look big in the pic but they are the biggest species of seal in the world, those two males sparring in the surf were each over seven feet long.

Much of this coastline from Ragged Point right up to Monterey is National Park so there's few houses and businesses along the winding coast road. One exception is the Lucia Lodge perched high upon the cliff, seemed like a good place to stop for lunch and admire the view.

If you like dramatic scenery, this bit of California is hard to beat, the pics are good but still don't really do it justice. If you get the chance, go see it for yourself.

On the next blog, we drive South to Huntington Beach and check out some L.A. rod shops.

Hasta la vista baby!

Cacklefest Bonus issue! Extra Images!

2009-11-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

No rambling from me on this page, just some more cool pics from the Cacklefest that were too good not to share starting off with the gorgeous
Topolino fuel altered of the Burkholder Brothers
and the gold 'Moody's Garage '55 Chevy gasser which I found out belongs to an Ex-pat Englishman called Peter Broadribb who now lives in Arizona. Enjoy!

Don't forget you can click on any picture for a bigger version in a new window.