Innehållsförteckning för No 17 från Rodding USA

The first Hullabaloo in 2007 was no Hullabaloo at all. It all started as a pot luck dinner with about 25 folks invited to bring their favorite dish, while my cousin Kirby Stafford and his friend Richard Sanders provided the main meal. Life was breathed into the Hot Rod Hullabaloo in July of 2008, which was my first Hullabaloo. I attended with my son Shelby in June 2009. On December 15th, 2009 Shelby passed away by his own hand...he took his own life. Everything changed in my life after his death, including the date of the Hullaballoo which was moved to September (the Saturday of Labor Day weekend). I was in attendance and dearly missing my running partner Shelby. Hullabaloo # 7 was held in August of 2013 and would…

A few years ago Kathy and I were attending the Wheels and Waves car event in Seaside, Oregon. Just weeks before I had been invited to speak to a group of professional photographers in Sacramento, California. Naturally, being a hot rodder, my plan was to have a neat car to use in my photo shoot and demonstration on photography. I had struck out several times on the phone, and was hoping to find a car at this event from Sacramento. A long shot for sure, but my wife’s eagle eye spotted a red Deuce highboy roadster a block away, and it had wide whites. How perfect does it get, now what are those plates? As we draw closer, I see that they are California black plates, and the owner is…

Originally found in Yuba City, Calfifornia on eBay, just forty miles from Auburn, the old roadster had been hidden away since the early ‘60s. After a good going over to see what work had to be done it was trailered to the Tardel ranch to make a few changes. It had arrived with hydraulic brakes, an 8-BA flat motor, and was mostly stock. To rectify that, added are a ‘37 Ford 21-stud, with a Potvin cam, and a set of Stromberg 97s atop an Edelbrock manifold. Fire escapes out through Red’s Headers. Gears are changed in a ‘39 Ford top loader, connected to a Ford Banjo rear axle loaded with 3.54 gears. To get the drop top down in the weeds, Keith installed a 4” dropped axle from So-Cal Speed…

Ford Motor Company introduced a completely new model for 1933, one with a longer wheelbase, more body bolts, door seals, and a crank-out windshield. All listed changes were improvements but the windshields still leaked! The seal between the windshield glass and the windshield frame worked well. The seal on the outside of the frame was compromised because it did not seal against a single smooth surface. The “A” pillar trims and the overhead header cover all hook over body lips around the opening for the windshield. These lips are the sealing surface for the windshield frame outer gasket. The modern method to stop leaks is to convert to glued-in glass. Since nothing about old cars is simple, you should expect to need more than a new piece of glass and…

A busy mid-August to mid-October travel schedule which included trips to Pleasanton, CA, Denver, CO, Southern California and Las Vegas, NV didn’t leave much time for the RPU but we managed to change the entire look with new tires and wheels. Coker Tire supplied a set of their 16-inch Excelsior Stahl Sport radial tires which are “Made in the USA” and are offered in sizes and styles to replace popular bias ply profiles. The 5.00 fronts are 25.00 in diameter while the 7.50 rears are 31.60 which will give the RPU a great hot rod stance. The Excelsiors are filled with Rocket Racing Wheels stunning Igniter wheels which are machine finished on the outer lip with a dark gray center. The stunning hot rod wheels are accented with Rocket’s polished…

BOLT-IN CORVETTE SUSPENSION STREET Rod Headquarters has solved the modern suspension upgrade problem by producing a bolt-in cross member that allows using C5 Corvette components. In the past Chevrolet attached the factory stock cross member to the bottom frame flange which is exactly how our cross member attaches the bolt-in C5 Corvette independent front suspension system. This upgrade is simple enough to accomplish in a day. With the old suspension removed the new cradle and upper mount bolt to the strongest part of the frame, the flanges, just as Chevrolet planned it with no welding. Utilizes C5 Corvette Brake & Aluminum Suspension. Steering rack rotates for header clearance.LS motor mounts. Available for 1939-48, 1949-54 Chevy cars and 1953-62 Corvettes. For the 1947-1954 Chevy Truck; there is a weld-in C5 Corvette…

“The hot rod engine is backed by a Tremec T-56 six-speed manual transmission.” Ten years ago Bart Grange of Arvada, CO retired and quickly realized he needed a project or projects to keep him busy. After considering his many options, knitting was voted out and a new hot rod was voted in. While attending a local car show he met a rodder named Bill Peratt and his ’32 Ford 3/W coupe which was still in primer at the time. The coupe had the perfect stance and at that moment Bart found his new retirement project. He started the hunt to find a steel 3-window body and came across the Dearborn Deuce website which led him to a local guy who had purchased a body but decided to sell it. On…

With a bit of explanation you will understand why a diehard Chevy guy crossed the line into Ford territory. Brad Oaks has been the parts manager at Fairway Chevrolet in Las Vegas, Nevada for the past forty-one years and has always owned customized “bow tie” vehicles. That was until one day when he dropped in to visit his longtime friend Lenny Ribaudo, owner of So-Cal Speed Shop Las Vegas. On that fateful day Lenny had his SC roadster sitting front and center in the store’s showroom and Brad knew he had to own a Deuce roadster. Brad says “being a Chevrolet man, I had a lot to learn to build a Ford.” Up until then the only Ford he had ever built was his first model car which was the…

The latest flathead powered hot rod to join the gang is this ‘29 Ford roadster built by Keith Tardel in Austin, Texas. It has a spare Bonneville motor which at 306ci, is a real monster. With a 3-3/8” bore and a 4-1/4” stroke, domed pistons, a “Bonneville” cam, Navarro heads, and new Stromberg carbs sitting on a Tattersfield dual intake manifold, this thing really flies. This work of art is nestled in between a set of ‘32 Ford American Stamping frame rails, which have been slightly pinched at the cowl. The K member is original ‘32 Ford, as is the Model A Ford front, and rear cross members. So-Cal Speed Shop provided the 4” dropped axle held in place with a ‘42-’47 Ford wishbone. The ‘39 Ford top loader three-speed…

The farm truck at the Cannarozzi ranch is this ‘35 Ford pickup. As Randy says, all his old hot rods run flatheads, and this truck is no exception. The truck is totally original, including the paint and has been on the ranch for quite some time and even has the original dealer sticker from Lodi, California. Nineteen -1935 pickups painted that color were part of a national campaign by Ford towards the end of the model year. It fits right in on the ranch, and if you squint your eyes, you could be there when it was new.…

Goodguy’s Rod and Custom Association West Coast Nationals began 29 years ago at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, CA and they were back again on August 21-23. This year’s event drew in excess of 3,000 1972 and earlier hot rods, street rods, street machines, customs and trucks to this quaint town located a mere 40 miles from San Francisco. Beautiful weather greeted the rodders with temps in the low 80’s with cloud cover in the early morning and sunshine by 10am. The spectator crowds were average on Friday but when the gates opened on Saturday, it was another story with wall-to-wall people and cars. The unique venue features plenty of grass to park on and plenty of shade from hundreds of trees. The event also features a large swap…

Editor’s Note: I met Wings in the early ‘80s and throughout our careers in hot rodding we’ve run into each other on a regular basis at shows and other events. I saw him at this year’s Street Rod Nationals in Louisville and asked him to write a story about his career since he knows it better than anyone else. As a kid I remember there were two things that were most important to me - hot rods and rock and roll. For me it all started around 1956. I was old enough to remember the cool cars of the day by that time. My dad drove Studebakers until 1959 with a 1956 Chevy thrown into the mix. That probably explains my fondness for Studebakers to this day. Growing up in…

Hot Rod Shark On a recent work vacation visit to Southern California we dropped into Baja Sharkeez, a restaurant/bar by the pier in Newport Beach and found this cool shark hanging from the ceiling. SAR 1957 Custom Corvette The transformation of this 1957 Corvette is well underway within the walls of Steve’s Auto Restorations located in Portland Oregon. S.A.R.’s in-house designer David Brost was given the task of rendering the collective design. The project began by replacing the entire nose of the car from the cowl forward. The more streamlined design utilizes ’53 – ’55 windshield frame and trunk lid. The doors have been capped off and custom trim fabricated making this a true roadster. Custom front and rear bumperettes have been fabricated with the front bumperettes serving as the…

The 12”x9” hard-cover book is the complete story of the Gilmore Oil Company which is 240 pages in length with 320 historic photos and many color images of Gilmore collectibles. From the beginnings in the 1890s as a dairy ranch, the family property in West Los Angeles became an oil field, refinery, sports and entertainment complex and the world famous Farmers Market. The authors cover the entire history which includes a heavy dose of racing history at the Gilmore Stadium, Legion Ascot Raceway in Los Angeles and at Indianapolis and Bonneville through to the end when it was sold to Mobil during World War II. At its peak there were 3,500 stations in California, Oregon and Washington. Gilmore became well known due to the promotion and advertising provided by the…

Randy and Chris had a ‘34 Ford chassis, and were looking for a body, when Don Small, in Los Angeles, came up with one. So they loaded up the chassis, and headed down there. After bolting the body down, they headed over the Grapevine on I-5 in 100 degree weather. To keep the truck cool, they had to run the heater. The body had been chopped by Joe Johnson in 1987, and Steve Welch did the final bodywork around the top area. The coupe is running a ‘37 Ford flathead, with a high-lift cam, a ‘39 Ford transmission, and a one-off Vermiel quick change. It has been up and down the west coast numerous times, was the push car for Chris and Randy’s Bonneville race car, was in the movie…

In talking with owner Shane Lile, he wanted this car to look like it flew off those green pages from a hot rod magazine in the ‘60s and one look will tell you he hit the nail-on-the-head. The boxy body of the 1927 Model T sedan lends itself to that era and when you yank the fenders off and add a blower it screams hot rod. In December of 2014 Shane and his dad Bill caught wind of a T sedan which was for sale in Fort Wayne, Indiana and hopped in their truck to check it out. What they found when they arrived was a mostly complete car in need of final assembly. After some discussion and negotiation they loaded it on their trailer and headed back to Shepherdsville,…

Robert St. Sauveur of Thornton, CO has been involved in rodding for over 45 years and has owned many cars in that time but in the summer of 2013 he was looking for something different. He hunted for quite some time when his longtime friend Gary Vahling mentioned he was selling his 1929 Ford sedan delivery. Robert was all ears and shortly after made the purchase. As you can see, this delivery looks rather stock and it is. It sits on its original chassis complete with the stock I-beam axle, brakes and differential with 4.11:1 gears. . The car rides on 16x5 Kelsey wire wheels with Firestone 600-16 bias ply tires on the front and 750-16s on the rear. The sheet metal is 86 years old and is all stock…

Some rodders build cars and unload them shortly after completion, stating the fun is in the build with not much desire for the finished car. Other rodders have had their car(s) for several years and then you get a guy like Keith Bush of San Jose, CA who has owned the same car since 1956. He acquired the one-owner 1932 Ford sedan when he was sixteen years old and still owns and drives it to this day. We caught up with Keith a few months ago at the Goodguy’s event in Pleasanton, CA, but let’s go back to the beginning of this story and fill you in on some of the events which took place along the way. purchased twenty- year May 1956 from the original owner for the sum…

Like so many hot rodders, Henry Dana began his life in hot rodding running down the quarter mile before finding the benefits of not tearing up your ride every weekend. While drag racing his daily driver the timing chain broke, which is normally not a big deal other than he was over a hundred miles from home when it happened. That week a customer walked into his transmission shop and wanted a shift kit installed. He walked outside to look at the car and it turned out to be a 1932 Ford 3/W coupe which in Henry’s words “it was the neatest thing I had ever seen”. He became friends with the coupe owner and started looking for a rod so that he could attend the “rod runs” that his…