Tabla de contenidos para January - February 2025 en Rodding USA

Larry Weber has had the sweet sickness, and the love of cars, most of his life, which he has passed on to his son Brian. A recent one, before this very nice '37 coupe, was a '33 Ford Tudor. It was a cool car but had little space for luggage when he and Brian wanted to stretch its legs, as it were. Larry has a long-time buddy from high school, Bob Belozer. Bob has been building award-winning hot rods for many moons; however, it was only for himself and a collector named Ted Bateman. Over the years Bob had finished five cars and was halfway done with this '37 coupe when Ted passed away. Bob expressed to Ted's family that it would sell sooner if it were finished. Like any…

Most hot rodders see an old car and instantly think about what a great hot rod they could build with it. They'll think about the overall look of the car, what engine and drivetrain they'd use, which wheels would look best, and so on. It only takes a picture, a glance, or a quick view on a social post and we'll build a complete car in our head within minutes. There are also those who go about the process differently, such as John Babcock and Bob Hancock. John, the president of Powermaster Performance, and Bobby, the man behind Southern Street Performance, have been paling around for years going to swap meets, picking up this and that, and in general, playing with old cars. Years ago Bobby came across a low…

The 2024 SEMA Show brought together over 2,400 exhibitors, including 580 first-time exhibitors, and attracted more than 160,000 attendees from 140 countries attending events throughout SEMA Week. Held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from November 5-8, this year's show encompassed 1.2 million net square feet of indoor space and acres of outdoor exhibit space. The SEMA Show continues to be the premier automotive aftermarket event. Since the first SEMA Show debuted in 1967, the annual event has served as the leading venue bringing together manufacturers and buyers within the automotive specialty equipment industry. Products featured at the SEMA Show include those that enh ance the styling, functionality, comfort, convenience, and safety of cars and trucks.. 2025 Dates: November 4-7 www.semashow.com…

Reasons for building and/or owning a hot rod are as varied as the hot rods themselves. Some people are reliving their youth by driving the dreams of their childhood. Others thoroughly enjoy the building process, selling a car soon after it is built, just to start another project. Still, others simply buy a car they like. Dave Gray had a different reason for building this full-fendered Deuce roadster. He has been building cars since he was a teenager, including a 1932 Ford five-window coupe, a 1934 Ford five-window coupe, and a 1934 Ford roadster. It should come as no surprise then that his career led him to ownership of Gray's Garage Hot Rods and Customs. For any business to be successful, it must be able to provide good examples of…

Now in its 32nd year, the Mooneyes Hot Rod Custom Show is the largest such car show in Japan as well as one of the best in that part of the world. Based in Yokohama (about a 30-mile ride South of Tokyo) the show has steadily grown and spread its influence to the point where once the Japanese had to rely on bringing in customs and rods into the country from the U.S., they now have a full-fledged industry and support system of builders, welders, upholstery, and paint specialists that only do this type of work. The result is evident at the show itself, as Japanese car clubs and hot rod businesses bring out their latest projects to showcase their talents alongside many independent hot rodders who are doing the…

When a group of hot rodders hung out in a hotel parking lot on Thanksgiving Day in the mid-Seventies it was just that. Five decades later, though, that little event has grown into a massive car show, swap meet, and car corral that fills the entire infield of the Daytona International Speedway. The four-day event each Thanksgiving Day weekend attracts thousands of participants and even more spectators. The show field hosts several thousand cars, from hot rods to muscle cars, trucks to lowriders. More than a thousand vehicles of all shapes and sizes are in the for-sale portion and 1,500 plus vendors pack the swap meet area. Even though the event attracts such a wide array of vehicles, hot rods are still at the core. Walk the show field, car…

Dave Vogt of Cold Spring, MN became interested in this make and year of truck as a kid in the early 60s while riding with his grandpa in his '36 Chevy. He took them everywhere, picking nuts and berries in the fall, sled riding in the winter, and picking up all of the neighbor kids after school to take them home. The girls rode in the cab and the boys in the box in the fall, winter, and spring. Dave says, “Gramps truck was cool and so was he." After his grandfather passed away, his grandmother sold the truck. Dave had the serial number, and he kept looking for it and hoped it had survived. To his astonishment, he found it fifty years later in Arkansas and it was “for…

Rick Bales is finally getting around to building the Deuce three-window coupe that he bought in 1985. He has sound reasons for not getting to it until now, but he now has a good reason to get it completed. In the past, Rick had a '26 Model T sedan that he converted to a sedan delivery. He then had a '32 Tudor sedan that he and his family drove to California in 1980 to attend the NSRA Western Nats. After that trip, the Tudor was sold to build a house. In the 1980s, he then had a '32 Roadster that was sold to purchase this coupe. Rick got started on the chassis work, then lost interest in it. So, now he was without a drivable hot rod. Getting tired of…

In 1974 my mom was 9 months pregnant with me and my dad bought a 1956 Nomad from State Farm Insurance. It was wrecked on the left rear while sitting in the street in Lexington, Nebraska so the insurance company totaled it. They hitched up a trailer built for a Model A Ford to their 1970 Chevy Suburban and headed out from Hastings, NE to pick it up. They pulled up to the location of the Nomad and it was wedged in between two other Tri-5s, door handle to door handle. So Dad got under the Nomad, got it in neutral, and winched the car onto the trailer. They tied down the Nomad on the trailer, and down the road they go (Lexington to Hastings is about 90 miles) and…

Denny Cissell of Lake Havasu, AZ grew up and was a business owner in Southern California. Denny is a long-time hot rodder and thirty years ago he decided to purchase a black, 1994 Chevrolet SS Impala. He enjoyed the car but couldn't stand the orange peel that is so common in factory paint jobs. He contacted his friend Julian Alvarez who was the go-to guy if you needed detailing, buffing, and/or paint restoration. He was a magician at making hot rods and exotics glisten. When Julian showed up at Denny's to buff out the Impala he was driving a well-beaten original 1932 Ford Sedan Delivery. Yes, this is one of the 406 that Ford Motor Company manufactured in 1932. A rarity to say the least and Denny took notice. He…

Mark Herz first saw this Dave Lane (FastLane Hot Rods) 1934 Ford Coupe in person at Steve's Auto Restorations in Portland, Oregon in 2020 when he dropped off his '56 Chevy Nomad (see pages 28-36) for its restoration. He'd seen photos of the 2013 Goodguy's “Tanks – Hot Rod of the Year” winner, but never in person. He inquired about the car and was told that the coupe “would never be for sale.” Mark has a stable full of some very desirable hot rods so it was not a big deal. At the time Mark didn't know Rich Stapf, another hot rod aficionado from northeastern Washington until later that year when he purchased the gold 1932 Ford Coupe (featured in Rodding USA, Issue 41) known as the “Champagne Coupe.” He…