Table of contents for May/June 2022 in Rodding USA

In March, more than 3,200 hot rods, trucks, and muscle cars rolled into Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for the 33rd annual Run to the Sun car show. Cool cars, warm weather, and sunny skies made an excellent combination for spectators, many of who were eager for the opportunity to be outdoors after a long period of virus restrictions. The three-day show was located only two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean’s popular beach known to many as the Grand Strand. Luxury resort hotels that line the beach made an excellent backdrop for the show, located on a vast area formerly occupied by a shopping mall.…

Anyone who has imagined a custom hotrod with an engine bursting from the front with huge Mickey Thompsons on a short wheelbase which made the car look like it was arching as the horsepower was about to be unleashed at any time would have a ’41 Willy’s in mind! This was a banner year for this make and model that fizzled out due to the new direction of supporting the war effort, making this the last of the civilian versions now known infamously as Jeep. Cory Bonugli of Lawrence, MA, had just wrapped up a build of a yellow old-school-style ’32 Roadster with red flames, a removable top, and a custom interior. Having always wanted to build a hot rod, he found this project in Oregon. He had a background…

(Note from the Editor: Longtime subscriber Frank Brown recently participated in The Amelia and shared a few photos of the 90th Anniversary of the 1932 Ford exhibit.) The Amelia was held for the 28th year over the weekend of March 3-6 at The Golf Club of Amelia Island in Florida. The Sunday Concours d’Elegance showcased 215 incredible vehicles, including the 1932 row. FOR INFORMATION ON FUTURE EVENTS: WWW. AMELIACONCOURS.COM…

There were many good reasons to attend the 6th Annual Spokane Speed and Custom show. There were forty 1932 Fords on display for starters to celebrate the 90th Anniversary. Throw in not one but four celebrities, Buddy Hale, Gene Winfield, Ian Roussell, and Troy Ladd, who were there to sign posters and chat with fans. With the full opening up of the CDN/USA border, cars from British Columbia and Alberta were able to come and help boost the number of cars on display to upwards of 300. Year after year, the warm and welcoming hospitality extended to all participants has always been the same, nothing short of outstanding, with this year being no different. Making a show like this a success is no easy feat, yet show owner/producer/ promoter Brian…

We’ve seen 90th Anniversary Deuce gatherings all across the USA, and on April 23, 2022, another one took place in Tucson, AZ. Three Tucson Street Rod Association members assembled the Deuces in the Desert gathering as part of the 47th Annual Rodders Day Show held at the Pima Community College Downtown Campus. The Deuce event was sponsored by Tom Richards, Joe Mapes, and Paul Martinez/Rodding USA. In six short weeks, we were able to get artwork produced by David Thacker, dash plaques manufactured, and t-shirts and banners printed. Each Deuce owner paid the Rodders Day entry fee and then received many complimentary Deuce extras, including a unique goody bag sponsored by Rodding USA. We had 41 Deuces for the spectators and show entrants to enjoy. Tom, Joe, and I would…

The streets of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, were filled with hot rods and street rods of every make and model during the weekend of March 3-5, 2022. The final tally of cars was right at 500, with 300 of them being 1932 Fords. The cars in attendance came from across the country and even Canada. Havasu Deuces is spearheaded by Joe and Teresa Mitchell and assisted by a multitude of incredible volunteers who work ever so hard to provide rodders with one of the premier events in the USA. What the rodders enjoy most is that each day provides a different array of events and activities at unique destinations from the previous day. Thursday starts with registration at the Hampton Inn, and then it’s off to Downtown Main Street (McCulloch…

Call it what you will (Hitsville, the Renaissance City, Motown, The D, or The Motor City), but when you say “Detroit” to a hot rodder, they’ll immediately think of the Detroit Autorama. In the last eight decades, the Autorama has become a nationally important automotive event due to what organizers bring to the table each year. Once a local club-based car show, the event took off after they hired Don Ridler to promote the annual happening. After his untimely passing in 1963, the show owners decided they’d name an award after him that would honor him for the professionalism he espoused. In 1964 the Don Ridler Memorial Award was first awarded, setting the stage for it and the Autorama to become what they are today: among the most sought-after rewards,…

Al & Julie Miller live life with a sense of adventure like most hot rodders do. They like to travel, see new places, and meet new people. In 2014 they planned to drive cross country from Wisconsin to California with several other hot rod friends to attend the L.A. Roadster Show. Unfortunately, they had to change their plans at the last minute, and their friends went without them. Al & Julie never lost their desire to do a cross-country trip in a hot rod. After the Covid pandemic hit and a long and cold Wisconsin winter, they decided 2022 was the year to do it. Maybe it was that sense of adventure, maybe it was simply "cabin fever," or maybe they're just a little crazy! The L.A. Roadster Show was…

Thom McDonald jumped into the street rod scene in the early seventies, and like so many others, his first car was a coupe. Perfect when you are single or recently married but not so perfect when the family begins to grow. So the hunt was on for a larger car, and after following many leads, he came across a 1933 Plymouth Sedan in central Tucson for the sum of $300.00. It was a non-running car with good sheet metal, which made it an excellent choice to street rod, and he liked the unique shape versus the more popular Ford cars. In addition, street rodding in the seventies was a family affair, and the back seat would allow the whole gang to pile in on the upcoming adventures. He opted for…

Students of Hot Rod history are familiar with the story of the founding of the National Street Rod Association and the first Street Rod Nationals in 1970. The guys at Rod & Custom Magazine, Tom Medley, LeRoi ‘Tex’ Smith, Jim ‘Jake’ Jacobs, and Bud Bryan, conceived the idea of a get-together for hot rodders all across the country. They looked at a map and determined that Peoria, Illinois was almost in the middle of the country and would be the place. They needed local help, so they contacted a Peoria area car club, the Slo-Pokes. Club members Bruce Miller and Cotton Werksman went to work securing a location, reserving hotel rooms, and making plans with the local officials. The show n' shine was held in a hayfield at Timberline Farm.…

The first question for Dennis was why did you build this, as you already have an outstanding ’39 Chevrolet street rod sedan. “I had a vision of the existing ’39 dollars burning a hole in my pocket and no sense of what it took to do something like this.” Dennis had found a pair of NOS Corvette headlights even before the project had started, cementing his ideas to build his version of a ’39 ‘VETTE. Dennis had commissioned Keith Kaucher to create a rendering of his vision, so with many back and forth ideas, and after a few adjustments, it was completed, finally settling on an early Corvette theme for the build. Sectioning was Dennis’ idea to reduce the excessive height of the door sides and somewhat awkward balance of…

When the calendar changed from the sixties to the seventies, most hot rodders were busy looking for good fenders and cowl lights to put on their resto-rods. They had figured out that a small-block Chevy fit between the frame rails pretty well and that radial tires were probably here to stay. Some of those West Coast magazine guys even drove their street rods cross country to Peoria, Illinois, to meet up with some other like-minded guys. Some pretty radical thinking for that time, automotive speaking, that is. Of course, that gathering in Peoria became what we now know as the NSRA Street Rod Nationals. In 1971, that event was held in Memphis, Tennessee. Being just a few hours down stream, Saint Louisian Gary Kessler drove to the event in his…