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MAGAZINE

March 2001

HOP UP 2001

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2001 Cover

Maybe it's time to make the move. Take over the T's and A's from those wobbly paraders that have held 'em up for the last 60 years or so. Really. But they shouldn't have to give the junk to us...we gotta pay. (One guy who was sans hotrod and sans job thought they should give the stuff away.)

KV AND TV HAVE GOT IT ON THE RUN. DO THIS.

Some of them are flippin' (RIP) but their buddies usually get their crap and - even if those buddies are Graybeards - most just don't have the performance angle that Hop Up Guys seem to have. You cats put romance in to things; you're not slaves to convention or originality; a little bit rebellious - read 'anti-social' to some. Changing things. Originality ain't sacred, now, is it Bubba?

Now, we don't mean to demean the greatest generation that ever lived, because they are. They're stronger, more focused, more accomplished ,and as live models we can all still learn something from them. The worst of them - and they really aren't bad - are too anal for us and still get twitchy when they consider the hopping up of a car. The best of them are represented by one of their elders - Winfield - and by a few hot rod types who remain that were different, we guess, from all the rest, except they, too, had the Moxie that would beat the Axis.

One kind-of-recently departed was among a group of guys in the West L.A. area who we don't know nearly enough about, but some of our Buds grew up under their auspices; learned a craft, a passion, and a mission from the guys. We were treated to a tour of the private workshop of the leader of this pack of four-wheel Wild Ones recently and all we can say is: hallowed ground. There are vibrations in this shop. It's what curators try to present in garage scenes in museums, and even though we appreciate the curators' effort and want to see more...there is literally blood and sweat and ............we wonder.... .............tears?........ Naaaaw ....prob'ly not..............in the real thing.

Parts, some precious, mostly hardware, are paid out on walls and in lofts and in cabinets; the garages are exactly as you'd imagine - not insulated, exposed studs and diagonal lathe, skinny Model A era garage doors, shelving and workbenches and wooden drawers with essentials -you know- the odd fasteners and doo-dads like you, too, have been accumulating for quite a while now; lighting is an evolved thing including switches, extension cords, bulbs to screw in and the odd drop light hung in a critical place; there's engine blocks (A's B's and T's), cranks, flywheels, and the odd 'project' here and there,, 1/3 done.

Here's a lesson for us. Don't leave the pet project 1/3 done so that when you flip everybody that tours your shop says, "Ahhhhh, he never got to hear it run...."

Our host for the mini-tour (there was just the two of us) looked over toward a wall of vitals and said, ."I can hear him saying, "Kid, go pick me out an axle..."

A legend of sorts had domiciled here. Had done crafty things like a latter-day Winfield. Usually showing the boys the short way up Shell Hill, he had impacted young lives, was a colleague to other four banger wise guys, and was a technical confidant to readily-recognizable names in the auto performance after market from way back when up to right now. Every time we hear his name spoken, it is done so with reverence and loss.

One of 'The Boys' has DNF'd.

Maybe the tears do show up....................a little later.

SACRAMENTO AUTORAMA

We forsook the other Oakland and went to Sac because we figured there'd be some customs there. Not all that many (haven't heard the review from Oakland yet. Bet you have.) but we photo'd a couple that looked good to us. The whole thing was a cross section of the hobby today, so we walked by a whole lot of cars. As usual, the committee was not too forgiving. Damn. Where is that Christian Kindness? Where is acceptance that others may see it differently? Not here, Boys. You know how the Cool-O-Meter is set at the Hop Up Towers. Before we are dispatched, we take the Oath (it, along with the River City Roadster secret handshake is, well.......secret), we set the Cool-O-Meter..there's only one setting anyway...and off we go. The policy is to make it clear what we like, to ignore what we don't like..and to not bad mouth what we don't like. Constructive criticism is acceptable, and we'd rather just ignore the tacky stuff. One sorry exception follows.

SOME SILLY CRAP DISCREDITS OUR HOBBY

Then, in the same room, with the same entry fee, the same space and the same exposure, is the '57 Olds we show below....... and it soothes us..........gets us t'thinkin'. Imagining. Dreamin'. It's still barely daylight...we're dreamin' customs. WHOA DADDY! The world is wide open for customs. They're a natural for us......you can dabble in later model cars...more room, more comfort....more ride (unless you screw it up by lowering it as much as possible as God intended) might come with built-in Snow Cone Machine, might have acceptable running gear in it for high-speed runs to the digs..........Baby Oh Baby...........

MIGHTA BEEN DADS' OLDSMOBILE. AINT' NOW.

AND YOU, TOO, MY BOY, CAN BE A CADDY DADDY. WHOA.

Now, the Boys and us were really there to see Rustman's 'Doane Clone' get moved in by his Pal, Wayne (can't spell his last name yet, but it ends in a vowel) who has bought the car and my, my, my. Rusty had liked an earlier point-in-time for the Spencer car than was chosen by Bruce Meyer (neither is wrong by any means) so decided to build his next steel Deuce that way. Kennedy Bros. body, paint, Ward stitching, Mike and Leroy (Nottex) Smith chassis and running gear, Sherms plating, top bows cut by Mitch and Rusty with telephone coaching by Sewell, and.........it is stellar. A star.

BLACKIE WAS ALL OVER THE DOANE CLONE

We're nuts for the dash treatment - ya gotta see it - it's all damascened (some folks who learn a new word and say it over and over and over and over ad nauseum should learn how to PRONOUNCE it first) and it makes the cockpit feel like a big classic.

COCKPIT FEELS ELEGANT AND CLASSIC

OH! My goodness! Could it be that that is exactly what they were doing in the day? Trying to make their cars feel like and perform like more expensive and exotic cars of the time? Who'd a thought?