Table of contents for March - April 2024 in Rodding USA

2006 was our Inaugural Year of UTAH FAST PASS; we had 40 supercars from all over the world participating. The participants would pay about ten grand to participate. The FAST PASS was a 100% charity to help crippled children, Navajo Christmas, families of fallen highway patrolmen, scholarships and a dozen more charities. We started our adventure at the Miller Motorsports Track for a day of racing to get as much speed out of our system as possible. Then, early the next morning, we would start our sojourn of 1000 miles through the Red-Rock country of Utah. We would stop at some small towns where they would have lunch waiting for us at their local parks. We would show the cars and take some of the kids for rides, etc. We…

Jim “Jake” Jacobs, a name synonymous with traditional hot rodding has instilled his extraordinary talents to produce another iconic hot rod. This time, his car of choice is a 1928 Ford Roadster that was conceived to hold a unique engine that had been in Jake's garage for many years - the theme: a mid-'30s style hot rod. In 1971, a fellow club member offered Jim a '28 Roadster body that was channeled for $50. He couldn't pass it up. At the time, he owned the Bill Niekamp roadster and didn't need to build another driver, so he disassembled the body and hung the pieces on the wall in his garage. In the '80s, he was restoring a vintage Sprint car with a Riley four-port head on a Model B block.…

Henry Dana was more than just an icon in the street rod community; he was a wealth of knowledge and a friend to many. His passion for cars led him to establish Dana's Hot Rods in Fort Pierce, Florida in the late '70s. However, in 1995 Henry and his wife Nancy made the difficult decision to close the shop and pursue a new adventure as a fabricator in the NASCAR industry in Mooresville, North Carolina for over 20 years. Tragically on August 6th, 2020, Henry's life was cut short by suicide, leaving a void in the lives of his family and those who knew him, especially in the street rod industry. His passing sent shockwaves through the community prompting Melissa to channel her grief into something positive. Thus, the Henry…

So-Cal resident Gary Stell Jr. can look back fondly at his teen years when he and his father worked on old cars in their garage. His dad's business car was a '63 Volkswagen Bug, which he'd drive back and forth from Buena Park to Los Angeles every day, but Gary Sr. also had a 1966 Toyota FJ40 he'd outfitted with a Chevy 350 (a rare mod in the early '70s) they called a Chevota. Restorations of Austin Healeys was another passion of Gary's father, and Jr was taught the mindset and precision needed to do automotive restoration correctly. Jr's first car was a '68 Bug, and both he and his dad customized, prepped, and painted the car in their garage. As Gary got older, he followed in his dad's business…

rodding museum Tucson Auto Museum The Tucson Auto Museum is dedicated to preserving automobiles from around the world. The museum was started eight years ago as a passion project of a private collector and has grown to over ninety cars. Now, as a local 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, they focus on many areas including working with local schools for students to come and learn about the history of the automobile. There are over 70-80 cars on display from 1913 through 2012. The focus is on classic and distinctive vehicles you rarely see, such as Desotos, Packards, Citroens, and Davis Divans. They specialize in low-number production cars, making this a unique collection to visit. A distinctive feature is the wide variety of vehicles and memorabilia on display from popular motion picture films and…

If you've never attended the winter Barrett-Jackson auction in person, you're missing out. Yes, almost everyone has seen the event on television. Still, you have to attend it in person to get the entire experience of the people, the excitement of high-dollar bidding, the merchandise and food vendors, the cars, and the automobilia. You may even want to purchase a bidders card and bid on your next dream vehicle. I compare this event to having everything that any car show or automotive museum have to offer and then some. Incredible machines come from across the country and worldwide, providing you with visual access to these works of art. BJ Scottsdale can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience or an annual pilgrimage; you decide what you want it to be. One guarantee is…

Muscle cars and hot rodding didn't just change Detroit automotive culture; they reimagined it. The ability to control raw power on an open road without checkered flags or pace cars, with distant frontiers beckoning, came to symbolize the unbridled freedom of the American spirit. Now that those frontiers are all but subdued and the future appears to be the domain of cleaner and tamer electric vehicles, it is worth a look in our review mirror to an era where big-block engines roared and guzzled leaded gasoline, where chrome glittered and a car's worth was determined by the number of horses that powered it. Director / Producer Keith Famie and his team at Visionalist Entertainment Productions dives beneath the hood of Detroit's muscle car and hot rod tradition, tracking down the…

PHOTO LOCATION: Arizona Model A, LLC - Chandler, AZ My Dad, John Whitfield, purchased this 1940 Ford Standard Coupe in Pennsylvania in June 1954 for $100 and was the second owner. The original owner had the car for 14 years but had inherited a low-mileage 1948 Ford from his sister and sold the '40. He was specifically looking for a 1940 Ford Coupe because he thought they were the best-looking pre-war cars available. He replaced the original flathead engine with a 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 303ci. The Olds was bored out for a few extra cubic inches and included racing pistons, a light aluminum flywheel, a Chet Herbert roller cam, tubular pushrods, and adjustable magnesium rockers. The original intake was topped with two 2-barrel Stromberg 97 carburetors from a 1938 Buick.…

If you have ever been on a quest for the perfect car, and luck comes your way, you might run across one. Let's face it, that perfect car comes in many forms, depending upon the eyes of the beholder. The world changed in 1955 when GM introduced the Chevrolet OHV small block V-8. Suddenly, the Ford flathead became a lump of lead. The new engine could pump out the horsepower the flattie couldn't muster. What followed quickly was that you could go to the local parts store, get all the right goodies to drop that new engine in just about anything, and do it overnight. In my shaded past, a kid in my home town put a SBC in a '52 Ford, and it instantly became the fastest car around.…

Back in the '20s and '30s, when automakers were introducing new models, it was quite common to have a short transition period where the new model had parts from the previous one included with it. Grant Chitty's Canadian-manufactured 1928 Model A Sport Coupe is one such example. Called an AR Model A, it was one of the first initial batches of Model A's built and, from all accounts quite a rare car. Apart from the handbrake being mounted on the left-hand side as opposed to next to the gear shift, the car itself included carryover parts from the Model T. Another essential feature was the black enameled Ford emblem on the grille, a sure sign it was a Canadian made vehicle. Oddly enough, Grant was looking for a '32 5-window…

We all have been inspired by various hot rods over the years. Still, we all have that one specific hot rod that is laser-etched into the back of our skulls so deeply that no amount of body filler could ever fill it in. That hot rod may have been parked at a gas station or speeding by heading the opposite way down the highway. Perhaps you saw it at a car show and were able to check it out a little closer, or maybe you only saw it in a magazine. Regardless of where you saw it or how close you were to it, THAT hot rod is the one that set the hook and reeled you in. For Bob Galbraith, the hot rod that hooked him was a Model…

On October 21, 2023, car enthusiasts from near and far gathered at the picturesque Clover Park in Port St Lucie Florida for a day filled with classic cars and street rods for a meaningful cause hosted by the Henry Dana Foundation. The 2nd Annual Hot Rods for Henry show was a resounding success drawing in a larger crowd and more participants than the inaugural event in 2022. Underneath the warm Florida sun, the day began with a heartfelt rendition of the national anthem sung by Pastor Jim Sunderwirth followed by a few words about Henry Dana, who he was and the legacy that he left behind and his famous Dana Red paint and incredible hot rod builds. With 212 cars on display ranging from street rods to vintage classics, there…

rodding event GNRS 2024 During the days leading up to the February 2-4 Grand National Roadster Show, weather predictions called for devastating rains in Southern California on Thursday and Sunday. We arrived on Wednesday. The skies were partly cloudy, and then the rain made for a messy time during the second setup day. Fortunately, the weather cleared through Saturday's Grand Daddy Drive-In Show, but Sunday brought more rain, which lasted for several days. Rush of Oklahoma City, OK. Despite the weather, the show was an overwhelming success with stunning cars in competition from across the country. The America's Most Beautiful Roadster competition included nine cars, with a wild 1932 Ford Phaeton built by Roy Brizio Street Rods for Beth Myers Beth Myers of Skippack, PA, taking home the big trophy and…