Table of contents for September - October 2023 in Rodding USA

rodding event The first Annual Southeastern Hot Rod Show kicked off Friday, June 16th, at the North Georgia Ag Fairgrounds in Dalton, Georgia. This show is “Puttin’ the Hot back in Hot Rod.” Pre ‘72 custom cars and trucks began rumbling through the gate from as far away as Pennsylvania, with Tennessee, Alabama, & South Carolina also represented at the show. Saturday brought out even more cars to the showcase, along with enthusiastic owners and spectators that enjoyed the show. The participants were competing for the Top 25 and Fab 4 Awards. All the Top 25 awards winners were given a $25.00 Gift certificate from Summit Racing, and Fab 4 Award winners received a $100.00 Summit Gift Certificate. Another focus of the Southeastern Hot Rod Show was to bring awareness…

Rodney Singleton grew up watching circle track races throughout Illinois. He and his wife, Linda, own an auto repair shop in Brighton, Illinois. You can guess that gasoline and motor oil run through Rodney’s veins. About ten years ago, Rodney caught the hot rodding bug and has since amassed a nice collection of 1932 Fords and a couple of diesel-powered Chevrolet AD pickup trucks, with one of the latter being his daily driver. Deep down, Rodney always wanted to build a 1932 Ford. He bought a Tudor sedan in July 2013 to cure that hot-rodding bug. With help from Mike Schuenke, the car was finished and on the road in March 2014. An eight-month turnaround time for a complete frame-off build means hitting it heavily. This multi-talented duo started by…

rodding event Goodguys Des Moines The 32nd edition of the Speedway Motors/Heartland Nationals held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds was a first time event for Rodding USA, and it was an exciting visit to Des Moines, Iowa. The event took place June 30 – July 2 and was well attended by over 3,000 custom cars, trucks, and tens of thousands of spectators. The fairgrounds are very conducive to a three-day car show, with plenty of parking areas both on asphalt and on the grass and under the big trees. They also have an excellent cruising route, providing a drive-by car show throughout the day. The weather was consistent on Friday and Saturday, with morning showers clearing out by 10 am and partly cloudy to sunny skies for the rest of the…

I’ve had a life-long obsession with the iconic Willys coupe, which began while watching my brother Tom racing his 1960 Pontiac at the local Cordova Drag Way in Illinois. I always kept my eye on the other lane where the familiar Willys gassers were staging. Eventually, I bought a Willys coupe and worked on it until I enrolled in a trade school, and then the military draft forced me to sell it. But I vowed to one day have another Willys! Years later, the time was right to buy another Willys, and I found one in Wichita, Kansas, in 1990. I brought it home to Rock Falls, IL, and began dismantling the stock steel car. I began building the Willys to be at least a driver that my wife Toni…

rodding event 54th Street Rod Nationals 2023 marks the 29th time Louisville, Kentucky, has hosted the National Street Rod Association and the incredible Street Rod Nationals. Over 9,000 entries were recorded for the four-day event, which occurred from August 3-6, 2023. The Kentucky State Fairgrounds and Exposition Center are the perfect place to hold the massive event. It provides plenty of asphalt and grassy areas for the cars and their owners, along with the beautiful Exposition Center, which houses most of the vendors, Women’s World, the Builder’s Showcase, and more in a clean, well-lit and air-conditioned comfort. We couldn’t ask for any more than this. The weather at this year’s event was favorable, with temperatures in the mid-80s and wet skies only on Thursday morning. Take a look at our Rodding…

Butch Rosales from Boston, MA, always has some new project on the chopping block covering a wide range of hot rod styles that fit his taste. During these builds, he finds quite a few other enthusiasts while buying or swapping parts that become good friends. Thru these hot rod veins, Butch will put the bug out for what he would love as a next project ensuring his chopping block is fully cured! In this case, a friend Randy out of NJ, who was building a V8 Model A, told Butch about a ’32 5-window coupe knowing it was part of Butch’s bucket list. Butch was excited about the possibility, given he never thought due to cost, one could be obtained. After swapping photos, Butch arranged payment on this original ’32…

(Editor's Note: While walking around the Pro's Pick area at the Street Rod Nationals last month, I spotted this Model A Phaeton in the mix of cars in competition. The car was a perfect match for the pages of Rodding USA. In talking to owner Gregg Dyke, he filled me in on the recent completion of his stunning car. In fact, the car had less than 1,000 miles on it when he left his former home in Greenville, Ohio. He and his wife Renee moved to Southport, North Carolina the following week. The weekend was a huge success as Gregg left the show with a Classic Instrument's Pro's Pick award proudly sitting next to him in the front seat on the drive home.) I grew up in a typical small…

Rich Fairservis grew up in Wyoming playing with Match Box cars and building model cars, as most of us did. Little did he know then that it would eventually become a full-time love affair with full-size cars of all types and some incredible and sought-after gems. He restored his first car in 1967, a 1958 Edsel Ranger. During high school, he worked at a local Texaco gas station from 1969 – 1972 when gasoline was a whopping 34 cents per gallon, and the hourly wage was $1.38. He was then able to purchase a slightly used green 383ci powered 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. He kept it for a while but decided he wanted a ‘72 Plymouth Duster and sold it. The Roadrunner always held a soft spot in his heart, and…

With Goodguys no longer hosting a summertime show in Spokane, Brian Anderson, who puts on the very successful Spokane Speed and Custom Show, took advantage of the hole left in the Northwest show calendar and took it upon himself to fill the gap. Being a car guy who knows what car guys like and want, he organized the First Annual Great Northwest Gathering held July 21-23, 2023, at the Spokane, Washington, Fairgrounds. As car shows are just that, a gathering of like-minded guys and gals getting together to show off their rides and do some socializing, it is a very fitting name for the event. A “Spokane Tour” was organized for Thursday, featuring stops at rod shops, laps around the local race track, and a few blasts down the drag…