Innehållsförteckning för Issue# 28 från Rodding USA

Few people have left such an enduring legacy to the automotive world, and the art world in general, than the late great artist Kenneth Howard, aka Von Dutch. Since his untimely death on September 19, 1992 his fame has grown enormously and even Von Dutch himself would be amazed at how desirable his work has become. Dutch, as he liked to be called, was truly a legend in his own time, and a considerable amount of his artwork has survived in many collections worldwide. His paintings, guns, knives, motorcycles and other creations show up once in a while at art exhibitions and auctions and have become quite valuable. But most experts agree that complete automobiles bearing his artwork are extremely rare, probably numbering less than a dozen. One such survivor…

Eighty-five years ago in Detroit, Michigan and other locations worldwide, the Ford Motor Company was in full swing producing what would become one of the most iconic vehicles of all time. Henry Ford introduced his first V-8 engine in 1932 and incredibly this body style would be manufactured for only one year before the introduction of the all-new 1933 Ford. Worldwide production figures for the 1932 Ford: Passenger Car – 322,962 Commercial Vehicles – 115,322 Publishers Note: I’d like to thank The Henry Ford and my contacts Melissa Foster/Media & Film Relations Manager and Jim Orr/Image Service Specialist for their assistance in providing and allowing Rodding…

The street rodding world descended on Louisville, Kentucky August 3-6, 2017 for the National Street Rod Association’s 48th Annual Street Rod Nationals. This is the 23rd time Louisville has hosted the Nats and will continue to do so through at least 2025. The total registered vehicles topped 10,000 with cars coming from across the U.S., Canada and several foreign countries. The event includes the Builder’s Showcase highlighting builders from across the country, Pros Pick Awards, 29 Below display, Mopar Country and many other special display areas. The Women’s World arts & crafts area was jam packed with incredible products for the ladies while the commercial vendor building provides the best and largest display of street rod and hot rod products in the world. The one area which seemed to…

Building a pre-WWII hot rod offers so many options to anyone who is willing to try their hand at balancing proportions, profile and stance, while also retaining some sort of functionality along the way. A car which exemplifies this effort is Shawn Blandford’s 1934 Ford three-window coupe, a car with simplistic styling but an oh-so aggressive attitude. The Ford Model 40 design certainly has a sleek look, even more so with the curved 1933 grille, but Shawn didn’t stop at body modifications and a killer stance. He made a valiant effort to keep things traditional, without losing any drivability, and he makes even more of an effort to drive his hot rod. Shawn is a long-time hot rodder, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. We spotted his coupe at the NSRA…

Classic Instruments in Boyne City, Michigan hosted their annual NSRA Appreciation Day car show along with celebrating their 40th year of creating spectacular instruments for custom cars. The event took place on July 29th, 2017 and hosted over 200 cars. This year’s featured club was the Charlevoix Street Legends and their many beautiful custom cars. The one-day event showcased the Dangerville band along with food from Pigs Eatin’ Ribs and BC Pizza. Other activities included a raffle, 50/50 drawing and a silent auction. The event raised over $10,000 with the entire proceeds benefiting the Boyne City Police Department. You can visit www.ClassicInstruments.com  for more information on the 2018 event.…

Remember the days when you easily removed the hood from your car? Those hinged four pieces of steel could be lifted right off, instantly turning a classic into a hot rod and you into the wild teenager of the neighbor-HOOD! I don’t know how this fad started. It may have begun when we built our first engines. We were so excited to drive that car around the block that we’d leave the hood on the garage floor. In that moment, we were cool… showing off all our hard work on that bright red flathead engine with the latest aluminum intake manifold and carbs. Ford’s post 1936 designs, however, largely prevent the reflexive leave-the-hood-behind look. Call it a hood or even a bonnet… this new guy is one major sheet metal…

Fine Leather is perhaps one of the most sensual and luxurious materials used in crafting a fine automobile. You have only to sit in a finely crafted leather cockpit for a few seconds to be wooed with leather’s seductive, alluring aromas and opulent textures. Once enveloped by this incredible material, you become one with the vehicle you are motoring down the road in. If you think I really love leather, you would be correct. Quality leather interiors add value and appeal to any vehicle, not to mention the incredible comfort and ambiance for the owner. Looking back to the ‘30s, the era of real automotive design and lavish finish materials, using leather for the interior was not even a question. Most survivors of the period, if not left out in…

Ken Stephens has lived in Southern California, Arizona and now in a hot rodding hot bed in Grass Valley, California. He’s been a hobbyist of hot rods throughout his life and continues to work on cars for himself and helps out his buddies in the area. In 2008 he built a 1932 Ford roadster with fenders and it soon became one of his favorite cars. He had planned on keeping it but he was approached at a show by someone who was interested in buying it. He didn’t want to sell it but the offer was too much to turn down. Sometime in the past Ken had built a Deuce three-window coupe for a friend and always liked that car, and now was the time to build “the car of…

Bob Watrous resides in the small Northern California town of Grass Valley which is situated in the foothills of the Tahoe National Forest between Sacramento and Reno, Nevada. He had been in the market for a hot rod and had narrowed down his list to a 1932 Ford 3-window coupe and he finally found the car he wanted. There was a looming problem in that the owner/builder of the coupe was a longtime friend and he didn’t want to sell the car locally because he said “I don’t ever want to see my car again.” After several meetings with the friend and the promise that the car would be totally rebuilt and would not look the same when finished, Bob was able to purchase the coupe. That wasn’t a difficult…

For most of the year the hallowed grounds of the Bonneville Salt Flats can be found a few inches underwater. Speed enthusiasts from around the world wait patiently for Mother Nature to work her magic to dry things up and leave behind a few precious miles of salt for them to come and test their limits each summer. This year marked the 69th anniversary of the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) Speed Week at Bonneville. Six full days of land speed racing (LSR) where race teams come with merely the simple quest for speed. If they are lucky, and things run smoothly (and we all know how that usually goes) they have their names added to an already long list of LSR record holders from past events, and become part…

Friend Frank Shannon and I were talking recently and he mentioned he’d been thinking of replacing the stock rear end on his 1957 Chevy Sedan Delivery. He said he’d been looking at the units from John’s Industries in Caspian, Michigan. This sounded like a good story for Rodding USA so I arranged for his installer and our Project RPU head builder Steve Codianni to get in touch with John to work out the logistics and exact components which would be needed for the installation of the upgraded unit. A few weeks later the components arrived and the installation began. The John’s 9-inch was ordered unassembled to allow for the brake tabs and after-market sway bar mounts to be welded on in the proper locations. It included the HD housing, axles,…

Over the years I’ve run across many cars along with their owners and frequently hear “I built this car myself” or “I did all the work on this one” which may or may not be true. Of course there are not many folks who have the skills, tools and shop space to actually build a car themselves, but they may have built parts of their cars and subbed out things they couldn’t do and there is nothing at all wrong with that. This was not the case with Jerry Lacer of Auburn, California. Upon retiring from driving a tractor/trailer for Safeway in the San Francisco bay area including daily trips into the city, he decided it was time to replace a 1940 Ford opera coupe which he owned when he…

Rodding USA subscriber Mike Krisak of Helotes, Texas recently sent some photos of the restoration he completed in his home shop on this 1954 Buick Century hardtop. This is not his first attempt at building a car by any means. His home garage has a few more cars he has restored and rebuilt including a 1929 Model A roadster pickup, 1930 Model A truck, 1932 Ford Tudor sedan, 1947 GMC (short) bus, 1950 Merc and a 1957 Chevy. What makes Mike’s collection so unique is that he has built every one of the cars and trucks himself including fabrication, engine work, wiring, body work, paint and assembly. The only part of the cars not done by Mike are the interiors which Vernon McKean accomplishes. He also has a new car…