‘Perfect ’36 ‘, for example. (It’s ‘another’  because the original Perfect ‘36 is in Hop Up Volume VI) More later.

And folks.

One of them, Howard Towne, works his craft so far up a road in New Hampshire they have to make their own sandpaper. When a rodding magazine gets there, the editor has already changed. And they were surprised to hear that WWII had turned out OK.

DANDY CAB CAME CALLING; COOL GUYS

THE CRAFT TAKES PLACE IN HERE; LOOKS LIKE IT
WOULD FIT IN THE GRIN REAPER PIECE BELOW!

But it’s not just being in beautiful solitude that puts the blinders on ‘em. No. It’s focus. See, Old Fords get lovingly fixed up in those woods, and some of them get the ‘bionic’ treatment, pieced together cleverly such that many pieces of many dead things come together and live again. Yeah, that’s the name of our game but when this cat does it, he’s willing to save the ‘no chance’ case. It’s sheetmetal altruism, Boys. He and his comrades are living it right, doing it with little fanfare (none sought) …an’…..Hey! That makes ‘em Hop Up Guys, don’t it???

***

One of the next stops was at Belmont’s Rod and Custom in Dedham, Mass. We saw the gentle merchant do what he does (“Thanks, SUCKER!”, handing a receipt to the customer), dined with him, walked 4 miles at a Connecticut swapmeet where they say, “Anything over 30 (degrees) is a good day at Thompson!” and “Good weather…if yer a kite!”, and visited upon an 89 year old former sprinter pilot/owner who’s restoring a banger-powered rail job.

Nice car, Louie!

VECCHIO BELMONTI LEARNING SOCIAL GRACES ON THE WEB

Billy took us to meet the Alter Boys who publish ‘Magneto’, a great ‘little book’ you should subscribe to. Our meat, for sure.

*******

We saw Buddy George’s stuff and were floated over the moat by Paul Pfeffer, who met us in the ‘squished ‘ ’Box in the photo. It wasn’t hard to pick him out in the parking lot at the prescribed meeting place. They frisked us, administered the oath, stamped a bar code on our wrist….and led us, blindfolded, in to the inner sanctum of the clandestine Buddyfinger. Nice guys, those Rickshaws. (Gasp!)

PAUL PFEFFER MET US IN HIS HAMMERED SHOEBOX,
LED US TO THE BUDDYFINGER INNERSANCTUM

SMALL SAMPLING OF COLLECTIBLE GOODS WE SAW

Another stop was up at a place where we’re trackin’ progress on a ’36 roadster that’s in for the treatment. That went OK, albeit brief because our host had driven all night to meet us after finishing one o’ those car TV shows real late. You’ll see this one in about two months he said.

So they are battening down for the winter out east..an’ it’ll go fast…. because these cats know how to stay employed. Purposeful. Productive.

It’s goin’ around, ya know?

*****

PRIMER

We’re hopin’ here, that some folks aren’t getting’ the wrong impression about us: we are not a primered, unpainted society. Somehow, a whole bunch of what we show in here and in print, won’t be painted…..yet..or ever….but we don’t reject painted cars for any reason, rather, we choose painted ones as the (nearly) final iteration of the build process.

Just seems like these days it’s acceptable to run one that’s not done yet, and that’s when we have to show ‘em or somebody else will do it for us.

The thing that has changed (for the good) is that it is OK and plenty cool to not be done yet, and the thing that some think is not-so-good is that some cars are being built specifically to end in primer. We don’t come down on that either way.

To that end, there are some in lofty areas of auto-endeavor who think that Hop Up is a rat-rod publication and although that’s OK, (whatever a ratrod is) we really aren’t.

We are traditional hot rods and customs and that does not include 1965 street machines that are ‘rodded’ and that were chosen because the dispossessed owner couldn’t afford what we got, so is having rightful fun with his car. Yeah, that’s well n’ good. But he ain’t a traditional hot rodder just because he subscribes to Hop Up or any other book.

He’s a ….we don’t have a name for that either……..maybe a…………. ‘Machiner’.
Don’t matter. A ’65 whateveryawannacallit came out in the muscle car era so…maybe that.

***************************************
(The following malfeasance is submitted by Ken Schmidt of the Rolling Bones. Ed.)

                      TALES OF EVIL THAT MEN DO TO OLD IRON
                           
                              By the GRIN – REAPER Scene 3
  “ GOSH, ‘BEST AFTERMARKET WHEELS’, “ leaving the Wed. night ‘cruise in’ at the “ Eat It All Ice Cream Stand “ Bill looks down with pride at his new prize. His smile widens as he hits the power window button. Another trophy for his shelf , AH YES “ LIFE IS GOOD “.
  Barely able to hear the purrrrrr of his 350 over the hum of the air conditioner and the Britney Spears song on his CD player , Bill’s thoughts begin to wonder.
    It had been nearly a week since that terrible night when he scrambled away through the dark.
    As he approached the fork in the road his good sense told him , GO LEFT , go home before you get another chip , it might rain , get it in the garage , dust it off , put the cover on , place your new prize on the shelf and go to bed.
    He turned RIGHT , his tail lights disappearing into the DARK .
    I’ll just drive by and see if the lights are on , he told himself as he pulled off the road to park. The thought of mud on his freshly armoralled tires sickened him when he felt the soft dirt under his feet , but still he made his way in the dark guided by the dim light.

“I’LL JUST DRIVE BY..SEE IF THE LIGHTS ARE ON…”

    Reaching the window , heart pounding and with heavy breath he pulled himself up just high enough to see over the sill.
    Now on jack stands , the nasty chop completed , she quivered under the hammer and dolly wielded by Dave. With the flash of the welder and the sparks from the grinder Bills attention shifted to the other side of the room. There locked in a cruel looking jig , the frame endured a complete molestation at the hands of Keith and Ken.
    Unconsciously wiping the sweat from his eyes Bill had lost all track of time .” SWEAT ! OH MY GOD IT’S RAINING ! MY CAR ! “.Spinning he slips , scrambling to his feet , he slips again , this time catching himself on his hands and knees . With panic now in complete control Bill makes his way back .
    Gritting his teeth at the thought of mud on his carpet and if the water will stain the tweed , Bill hits the key . The 350 crate purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr’s into action and he pulls her down into drive. “ OH SHIT “ the windshields fogged up from the air conditioner ! Gripping his leather wrapped $999.99 custom billit wheel in one hand Bill wipes away the fog while his engine hit’s 4 grand.  The sickening realization that he has just undercoated his fenders while his car sits spinning brings on a new wave of nausea. Slamming it into reverse only makes the sound of mud spattering worse.
    Now suddenly calm , Bill simply turns the key and the LED lit dash goes dark . Reaching for his cell he asks , who can I call ? surely not any of my friends , how would I explain ? a tow truck ? but the news would still …….
    Dejected , Bill opens his door and steps out into the steady rain.
    Nearly jumping out of his skin , Bill crouches down as the soft drum of the rain bouncing of his hood is broken by the unmistakable BLAST of a HOPPED – UP Y-BLOCK coming to life.
    Leaning out from behind his fender he watches…………..
    Looking for all the world like some kind of a GHOULISH CREATURE OUT OF THE BOWELS OF HELL ,eyes glowing , rooster tails flying and roaring louder with each gear ,  the HAMMERED COUPE SCREAMED PAST !

THE HAMMERED COUPE SCREAMED PAST…............

                      “ DAMM THAT WAS SOMETHING ! “  
                            “ OH NO ! “    
          “ WHAT WILL I DO,“ Bill gasped as he realized the VICIOUS BEAST was DOWN SHIFTING .
                          “ IT SAW ME ‘ IT’S COMING BACK “
    Feeling helplessly like the next victim to be EATEN in a “ B “ horror movie , Bill just stood there
                              “ CAR TROUBLE “ ?
                              “ CAR TROUBLE “ ?
                        “ AH , ……… YA “ “ had to take a leak and got stuck.
    Thinking he saw some movement behind the 4 inch windshield he starts to stumble backwards , then the passenger side door opens ………
                              “ HOP IN “
                    see ya next time -  the GRIN - REAPER

****************

GNRS

Yeah, Buddy. The Grand National Roadster Show comes up late January in LA for the second time. We like it…for a show. See, Hop Up has this cool spot in the big room, so close to the big trophy you could throw a book and hit it.

Anywho, come on down, see us, and note that the feature of the show…..the big attraction….the reason people have been anxiously awaiting Volume II of the show…………naw it ain’t some pressed and polished smoothemobile….…it’s that a certain Billy V. is going to be in attendance.

I’LL BE GO-TA-HELL!!! At A CAR SHOW????!!!!! RIGHT!!!

But….but …..has he sold out???

Will he swing over to the other side? Come OUT as it were? A car show guy?!!!!!
Ooooooooooo, the humanity!!!! If he’s as good at this…. as he was at real hot rodding stuff, then..well…..maybe he’s gonna go for the title with his three window!!! Take it on the circuit? Yeah, that’s it!

We’ll get him some tutorials on grinding and bondo-ing up those roll o’ dimes welds of his. Cool.

We still know somebody who can shoot pearl over candy with lace and flake.

We’ll have a trimmer make shower caps to put on those oiled up tires when it comes off the trailer….the options are infinite.

It’s gonna be ………just……      swell..

An’ he’ll be pleased as punch. We can see it now. Say hello to him and have your picture taken with him…next to the trophy! Betcha he’ll sign it for ya…….

*******************************************

CALIFORNIA LITMUS TEST

Were you at the Antique Nationals? Do you know when Turlock is? The T Meet?

Are you ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ at Father’s Day?

Do you know the exact dates of ‘Del Mar’, Boyd’s Open House, and ’Seal Beach’?

Correct answers: yes, yes, yes, outside, no, no, no.

***********************************************

Is Patrick’s still in business? We can’t seem to raise anybody in A/P?

***********************************************

AMERICAN HOT ROD(S)

..have American parts on ‘em. Yup. Simple ‘zat. It’s clear that if you wanted the absolute top performance, you’d just get a MB, Cad or Lexus or something, so why monkey with old sheetmetal anyway? There is no way it can stand up to moderne iron or plastic/carbon fibre . That’s not even contested. (Using handier-to-find stuff in Europe would surely be OK, tho’).

What we are doing here is playing at this with imaginary limitations. Ceilings. If you’re a four-barrel guy, then you are pretending that the V-8’s didn’t eventually take over, or in the flathead world…that the overhead V-8’s didn’t finally take over from them. We’re in it just this side of obvious evolution.

We have to pretend there are tech ceilings…right up about….here. …..see?. That’s why they have classes at the races.

Same thing with any period you choose to re-enact: let’s do this, while ‘pretending’ that higher tech options don’t exist.

The entire metaphor is balled up when you mix it up with late,  foreign power. (Yeah, R2, that’s you.)

Why is it that when institutions are lazily ignored in this society, everything that is profound is ignored in order to enable lazy, undisciplined, selfish, character-less louts? Even this simple-ass hobby is getting fogged up/modified to fit the lazy ones; the exact definitions of things are being morphed to fit the fancy of almost unwashed guys who want to play because it sounds ‘cool’ and if they don’t have the thing whose description sounds cool, they start calling what they got by the name of the ‘cool’ thing.

Like traditional hot rod. Ya gotta see what some of them think that is! (In case you’re keeping track, note that the real thing hangs out here.)

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Are you winning…….with losers?

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BE SURE TO READ DRIP PAN, T n’ A, AND MORT’S SHORTS