Hopupland

HOPUPLAND

Hopupland is the center of the earth. The core. The heart of all that is truthful. That Model A in the foreground runs a Four Port Riley, a Columbia and we think it was a Grapevine Runner. It’s owner knew truth. veritas.

It wasn’t that difficult….especially then.

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THIS MONTH’S COVER

Bobby O. Well, it’s actually Bobby R, but we call him Bobby O. Three windows or Roadsters. Or an antique sprinter or a slippery ‘40 Cad ‘Vert or…you get the idea. But back to the 3w’s? Always something that makes you gulp a little bit audibly. Screwing up old Fords? Whoa, Daddy!

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If you’re new here, you’ll find only traditional rods and customs. You can’t look that up and find our definition, but if you could, it would exclude fashion, trend, tacky retro and modern ‘looks’ . See, traditional to us means lasting and proven.

The result is a smaller community… not much fame…celebration of the art form…and noise. Hot, lumpy, dinosaur-eatin’ noise.

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HOP UP VOLUME IX - HOT ROD SEANCE - ORDER NOW FOR ON-TIME JANUARY DELIVERY

 

 

$17.95 TO:

HOP UP
PO 790
RIVERSIDE, CA. 92502

SPECIFY VOLUME IX

Or use Paypal…click on Speedshop up on the right>

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RIP KK

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BROTHER LANCE SOLIDAY CHECKS IN AT THE TABERNACLE OF GOW

“howdy mark! just checkin in. man i missed you in austin. i drove my roadster and i made it home to san diego (from austin) in 23 hours! no sleep , flathead powered and all by myself. no support vehicles and no car bros… not by choice Ha Ha!
take care
lance”

A few years ago Lance in his Hemi Model A and us in the ‘36 Staff Car lit out from Austin together and made it back in the same time…but with the benefit of sleep in Los Cruces..oh…and chile rellano thee (actually Mesilla), maybe the best I ever had. I think I told you that, though. Betcha didn’t even fuckin’ remember, now, didja????

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“Louie Louie, me gotta go….......”
Yeah. The Kingsmen or something-or-other men…no. I mean no fuckin’ way. The covers? No.The ORIGINAL Louie, Louie, was by Richard Berry in 1956. In about 1965 when I was getting in to “Clem Proctors Starlite’ in PARAMOUNT with an ID that said I was too big and too old for me….Berry would play that song and later we couldn’t figure out why anybody would cover it when the original was a record shop away. Go Google your ass off and…if you’re keen, diligent…and really want to hear the truth (veritas)...Richard Berry is da kine Louie, Louie. Gawd, it’s good.

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Guys in So Cal know about Axle Shows. He put on the anti-blessings a few years ago, an he’s probably the prime mover of the Shifters. About once a month his Rock n’ Roll/Blues/Billy show goes to Raax BBQ in River City (within easy view of the Hop Up Towers) but we never been there - for what seemed like good enough reasons. Until last Saturday night.
Sweet Thang an’ me knew that one of the nineteen was gonna be playin’ that night: John Williamson (hot rod/custom afficianado and musician) and the Superstitions would be among a couple of other bands filling the cool Fall air near the Mission, and we’d been meanin’ to slide out there…so ‘hook ‘em up, Baby’!

Ran the duster over the Riv…...made sure Morts Mix was in the CD player..stood back to be sure it still looked slammed with a little air pumped in to ‘im…..and snap, crackle, pop…got on the hiway. Got to the dinner res a little late so dropped Sweet Thang off to run in an’ claim the roost. Went around the corner..plenty early to get a PRIME parking spot and damn if Axle didn’t see me comin’ in the driveway, pulled up this orange cone and backed me in. Front Row. End. Right outside the patio where the sounds are. Dream deal, ya know, where you can be in there listening to the sounds, pullin’ on a brew…and steal a look out at your iron any time ya want. (Or all the time as is sometimes the case). An’ right the other side of the narrow drive, is preferred rod/custom parking where there’s an impromptu car show going on, cars movin’ up that drive at all times, pullin’ in and pullin’ out (they gotta be movin’, Boys)
Anywho (Hey, Wiley), ‘walked back to the restaurant, put on the feed bag, skated back just as things were gettin’ underway and…we knew this already…Axles DJ music selections are unmatched. I don’t think he has Mustang Sally, Bub, and that coulda gone all night but the Superstitions were climbin’ up on the stand.
Well. What a bitchin set. We wrote them later and told them how good they are, how each of them up there has a little something unique to offer, making it a real good time for the crowd. They could rock it, and give you the blues.They got a web site with a schedule.

Now, the Axle Show, in total, is an absolute hit. We will go back (especially if that parking place is there!).

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JACK BUTLER PHOTOG

A feature on Jack’s coupe will be in an upcoming Special, but an article on his photography will be in Hop Up Volume IX which you can buy above. Whatchawaitin4?

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It’s a fool’s errand to expect integrity when you have noted it’s absence....already. mea culpa.

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SWEET TRIP TO HERSHEY

Mark,
I assume you didnt make it to Hershey, so I’ll tell you how it went for me
I had planned to go this year to walk every day with nothing really in mind to buy and only a few grand in my pocket. Then a friend of mine gave me a sticker to drive my roadster in. So parts hunting turned to story telling and general shooting of the breeze with quite a few guys at least twice my age. (Not that I didnt buy ALOT of junk too). I didnt expect to get that big of a response towards my grungy little roadster. The guy who gave me a sticker, Roger. Is also a member of our revived FLYERS club. He had his 31 roadster there also. I’m usually not having too much fun talking with everyone at local shows. Generally you get all these questions totally unrelated to common sense. I always try to be nice….but you just get tired of explaining why the motor has 4 plugs and 3 pipes. But at Hershey I was having fun. People asking legitimate questions pertaining to history, parts, how to and why. It really was an inspiration to me to think maybe a shop building real old hot rods could make a go? I had brought my T-shirts and Hop-Ups in the trunk just in case i felt like selling….a couple hours after getting them out I was sold out!!
  So Saturday we’re back again, another sticker was given to a friend with another roadster making it an all out hot rod show in the middle of “restorer” central
  Once the crowds died down a bit we decided to try to drive to the other field across the road. This involved going though a tunnel past a few securtity guards.
  Some sweet talking got us past rent-a-cop #1….and #2 was no where to be found…so we did what anyone driving 3 loud old roadsters would do…..we drove right up the red carpet in the car coral area….right between the AACA flags….right past the shiny shoed high dollar car owners….right through the middle of it!!
  Boy must be what it feels like to be at Pebble Beach…only on a greatly smaller scale….

  Hershey was filled with almost anything you could ever imagine. More 4 banger OHV heads then you could carry and i even heard someone had some ardun heads for a V8-60
  The prices were a bit higher this year but i guess thats just progression and rarity rearing its ugly head…
But I was imagining having 10 grand in my pocket….adding things up….i think you could have built a model-B powered($2500) 28 phaeton($1500) on a 32 frame($2000)( or an A for $3-400) with a schofield head($3000)....then $1000 for used tires, wheels brakes, steering, axles etc. all of which could be had dirt cheap if you find the right pile…of course thats not pristine parts…..but wooulda had a cool car by spring no questions asked

Having off for a week and a half for 2 swap meets left me some extra days….so….I made a louver punch and started to get the nose done on my new car…. it sure was hard coming back to the daily grind…..

Well,  theres my rambling for this morning
  Hopefully next year you can make it out to one of these PA shows and I’ll get the opportunity to meet you.
If a garage under the house counts as a “shop” your more than welcome to stop in any time your passing through central PA.

Take it easy and enjoy your nice winter….We’re all preparing for the white stuff here soon!!!!

Oh yeah,  heres a mock-up pic to figure the nose…the hood, sides & belly pan are all temporary parts made for looks right now…they’ll get remade into ones that actually fit once i get the nose squared away
  Thanks again for the Eddie Dye lakes pics…I have them printed out and hung in my garage for reference and inspiration.

OK, talk to you later,
Zach

ZACH SUHR DYE TRIBUTE CAR

 

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JOHN STICA WROTE, IN PART:

“Hey Mark ... thought I’d send you a few pics from the recent Vintiques show in Watertown SD ... those cats sure do know how to throw a shin-dig. The Gribbles, as you know, are top-notch people.

I took my ‘40 coupe - first long haul in that car in years ... I’m thinking of taking it to Austin now, it ran so great ... swapped out the 3:78’s for 3:25’s in the stock rear - what a difference!

JOHN STICHA’S ‘40

The pic of my coupe is from before the trip to Watertown. Like I said before, the 3:25 R&P is a real treat compared to the 3:78’s.”

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STOOL?

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