Syracuse Nationals: Street Rod Heaven

As far a s big shows goes, the Syracuse Nationals is up there.   Thousands of cars, as far as the eye can see in all directions.  Any style, any era, a mecca for the automobile --mild to wild.

Johnny & I in the souvenir photo

I was visiting Upstate New York for my wife's high school reunion which also fell on the same weekend the 'Nats' an hour south in the town of Vestal.
Her old college instructor/cousin "Johnny" Butchko lives in nearby Binghamton, and has always been into cars, invited me to "a car show" earlier in the season.  I thought, "Oh, that's nice, a local car show, no big deal."  Not until the dateline got closer to the east-coast trip did Johnny hint that the car show would host 7000 cars.  And I still wasn't taking it seriously enough!

So we landed that Wednesday in Syracuse, NY (due to an airline mistake), it was two days before the big car show, and already the streets were buzzing with roadsters & coupes!




By Friday morning I was in Binghamton, NY.  Johnny picked me up at a local Dunkin Donuts and we drove to the show in his Model A hot rod.  Now I was revved-up after seeing street-machines all over southern NY for the last few days. 

V12 Lincoln powered A coupe

The one-hour highway drive to Syracuse in a open car with an open exhaust was sensory overload and a drive I would not soon forget.  My ears rang for hours, but with no lasting effects from the auditory distress.  I know you are reading this Johnny and I'm fine, really!




A great mix of all sorts of cars --something for everybody indeed!  I gravitated towards the traditional hot rods of course and there were a lot to see.  As far as I was from so-cal the influences are still strong.




Eastern themes are ever present, radically modified bodies, flashy paint and channeled cars abound.  If anybody is the embodiment of Right-Coast hot rodding it was my host Johnny.  The Model A we drove to the show in is purely Eastern, and it was very cool.  One car of many he's owned in his lifetime.






Our proximity to rural populations produce the best rat rods and there were many that paid to enter.  This would be one of the best:

Dirt Track/Formula-1/Antique/Street Rod Combo

The variety was uncanny.  I perhaps saw only half the cars there, but I think I got my fill. 
There were some cars I can proudly say I would never have never imagined.  Look at this one:

Girls look the same east or west coast.  Johnny & I made some new friends.

Nubby & Johnny had never met before. Boom --instant friends!

Also cool was meeting Nubby, custom painter & pinstriper from the TV show American Chopper.  A super friendly and approachable fellow.  Only in the east coast!

A car that is the epitome of "The Nats".

If it weren't for the super hot and humid weather it could have been even more fun.  But summer is for driving and binging out the good stuff.  LA has summer practicably all year, car shows all year.  New Yorkers make the most of their summers with enormous car show events!

It's Canadian!

July 14 - AJ's Big Saturday: Trompers, Mooneyes, Weesner

What you'd expect at a Mooneyes event.

5:09 AM - Got up after only one hit to the snooze button, showered, dressed.  I put the kettle on, made coffee.  Hit the road for some serious swap shopping.

6:03 AM - Eagle Rock, CA.  I pull up to the Tromper's Car Club swap meet and it is already in full swing!  I'm already late?!?  It's a small parking lot filled with sellers, swappers and some really great hot rods.
I can remember the last Tromper's swap as being very light in sellers and buyers.  But now --super busy!

Lots of sellers means there might be some good buys --and there were.  Friends aslo did well, or so I was told.






7:00 AM - I've already bought a lot and completed a thorough look though of all the sellers.  Do I leave or should I stay?
I start talking to friends about cars & stuff.

8:00 AM - I'm still talking to friends, and I've bought more parts. I start a new conversation with my other friend Michael who owns the Belond roadster; Sandy's Muffler Special.  He has great incite on tuning four carburetors and engine building, so we talk for an hour.





9:00 AM - Friend Dave Steele, finally gets a selling spot.  By now I'm feeling dehydrated and I'm holding even more parts.  Dave and I talk more, and I decide then, "Why not go to the Mooneyes show?".

10:15 AM - I finally leave.  I drive a just a block down Figueroa Ave to the Mobil station to fill up.  I also get an icy fountain drink and a turkey sandwich (breakfast).  I quickly ate in the car as I merged into traffic on the 134 Ventura Freeway. 

NEXT: Mooneyes Open House Party

11:15 AM - Santa Fe Springs; Mooneyes Headquarters.  I arrived at the annual Mooneyes Open-House Party already over two hours in.  And it's only at light-pandemonium levels.
Like the usually quiet Tromper's swap, the usually crazy Mooneyes show is somewhat calmer then in the past.



All the characters are there: Greasers, Burners, Rats, 4-door Customs, Lowriders, Bikers, Street Rods, Yellow Paint Vehicles, and a sprinkling of Japanese people.  The rockabilly music was only at a low scream this time, a pleasant volume level for a change.

I met Keith Weesner at his booth, he's a fellow hot rod owner & a local artist.  He mentioned he was having a gallery show in Santa Monica later that night... sounds like fun.

1:15 PM - Dave Steel finally arrives to the show in the Tommy Sparks roadster, just as the show starts to really die off.
Dave brought the only legitimately old hot rod to the show, everything else there was non-vintage in the literal sense. I'm not saying non-traditional, because a Gasser is traditional, but no other car at this show was actually hot rodded in the 1940s or 50s like the Sparks car was.  If you disagree, let me know.



Mooneyes is a great company, there are few others like it that have survived time so well and still hold tight to their tradition of making brand name parts.  But I have always considered Mooneyes parts as 1960s/70s era look, not 1950s so much.

Mooneyes Open House Party includes a look inside the house; where they make tanks

2:45 PM - The show is 100% over and Dave & I are pretty much the only party attendees left in the empty parking lot.  One last snap shot under the Mooneyes logo and we bid our farewells. And so I head for home.

Dave Steele and the very vintage Tommy Sparks roadster

NEXT: Weesner Show

3:30 PM - I got home in Hollywood and unpacked the car of the earlier swap meet treasures.  I'll take a few minutes to relax after a very sun-filed, car crazy day.  I also took a moment to look up where the Weesner exhibit will show later that night.

6:10 PM - Wife Wendy & I head out to Santa Monica  for dinner and a show.  We eat at Bombay Cafe Indian restaurant on Pico near Bundy. It was very nice, but after this visit we still prefer our Indian place only 3-blocks from home on Sunset blvd.

I'm full of Indian food

8:00 PM - We near the Copro Gallery were Keith Weesner has his show.  The Weesner showing in conjunction with a tattoo artists exhibit and the crowd is lively.  Keith has his pieces widely spaced on dark walls with spot lights --more like in a quiet museum.  While next door the tattoo art is crammed in, the room is brightly lit, and the art is scary to say the least (so were some of the visitors).
The Weesner painting are serene scenes of cars, scantilly clad babes, sometimes topless combined with cars.  It was really great to see the original art by Keith himself, the detail is fantastic.

8:50 PM - Wendy & I stopped for Ben & Jerry's ice cream on Main Street near the beach.  Then we left for home.  Boy, was I tired.

Putting Fenders On My Model A

This isn't going to be easy!

Some of you may agree, why put fenders back on a perfectly good looking, driving, roadster hot rod?  Well, it's something I always said I'd do ever since I pulled that rough original roadster into the backyard almost a decade ago and tore it apart.

Ten days before the Pasadena Roadster Picnic --a deadline!

I sold all of the non-hot rod parts off the car, like the brakes, bumpers, drivetrain and headlights.  But kept the fenders and brackets, hood shelves and latches.  I've been bumping into those parts and moving them around the yard for too long.  It was time to finally do it and put them on the car.



The fenders were in OK condition.  Decades of use was very apparent below the surface.  There were crack repairs already on them, and the fronts even has some filler.

OSH brand hardware store paint in a can!

Me, not a being an auto-body/sheetmetal repair type guy, took the front fenders to Troy at Hollywood Hot Rods.  His guys did a fine job of fixing three cracks and magically pulling two large dents.  The fenders were super solid again, and ready to use (in my eyes).

Again, I am not fluent in auto-body.  So after very minimal sanding, I spray painted everything.  OSH brand semi-gloss right out of the can.  I will understand if you are disappointed with me, but this is "shade-tree" hot rodding to say the least.  I literal hot rod in the shade of trees.  As a plus, the paint will match what is already on the car.


When I bought Goldie in 2003 (it had no name until Daytons came along), my first idea was a fenderless roadster.  It was going to be low with tall tires, I was going to put a Ford 260 c.i.d. (SBF was all I knew at the time), but those were all the plans I had.  Because I had never though I'd actually own an antique automobile, it was just a dream.

Today, nostalgic hot rodding is part of my life.  So I sort of owe it to my car to finally do as I said and get it on.


First thing to do, strip it down --getting off some of things that might get in the way.  Bye-bye shocks, grill, hood and lights.









Next, raise the front of the car.  Previous test showed that there was no way that the "kind of large" 6.00 front tires was going to go under the front without some serious upward movement of the front end.

This is the process of swapping the spring, not the result.

Luckily I had another stock Model A spring just lying around.  I painted, then swapped in the standard eye main leaf, which added one inch of height.  Would it be enough?  We'll find out later.








Now I'm moving on to attaching the brackets that hold on the running boards & front fenders.

Years ago when building the car I filled many of the holes in the sides of the frames for looks.  I welded up the passenger side steering box holes, and the eight motor mount holes.

I did myself a favor and never welded up the rivets that held the running board brackets on, I just ground them flush to the frame, whew!

Except for the front fender bracket holes, I simply hammered out the rest of the rivets.  That was easy!

 

My front fender brackets were cracked at the frame mounts from fatigue. So after bolting on the headlight bar, I welded the cracks and added some steel bracing to strengthen them.
New front fender brackets may be only $35 each, but I already had the original ones, so...

Frame webbing goes under the apron & fenders to prevent squeaking, seen here untrimmed.

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the brackets.  But there are four that hold up the running boards. Of them, the front ones are the same left or right side, the rears are the smallest and are unique to the side of the car they are mounted.
The front fender brackets are the same on each side also.





Original step panel/running boards.  The tops are cratered from rust, very typical.  It's due to water & grit getting under the rubber, sitting and rusting away the steel.
My new running board rubber kit from Mac's was adhesive backed and very easy to use.  It will cover up that cratering and nobody will be the wiser.



As it is coming along, one side almost done as seen here.

What you don't see is that the body bolts have to be loosened to get the side aprons between the frame and body.

With the body bolts  off or loose, I lifted the body up one side at a time with the jack.  The side aprons are secured to the top of the frame by two small bolts at each end.

Particular note has to be made where shims were needed to keep body alignment. 

Looking fantastic!  Time for a first drive, but will the tires rub?

7 PM with two days left to work on the car before the show and I still don't know if the tires will rub fenders, time for a spin...

I start up the car and a turn to pull it out the steep driveway, and right away lots of angry tire noise!

Aah! The car looks so great!  But had to go much higher in front, damn.  So I took the spring up, not all the way back to stock, but close.  From seven leaves, up to ten leaves --adding almost three-quarters of an inch more height and stiffening up the suspension just a bit more.






Next problem: a stock 1929 headlight bar doesn't work with a 32 grill.  Time to do some chopping and fast!

Out of my stash of parts, a curved 1930 Ford headlight bar to fill the center.  A little cutting and a bit of welding --job done!

It's a hybrid '29/30 headlight bar.

Friday, ready for action and one last problem --my axle caster is way off!

I forgot that by raising the front end the caster degree is now less then 3º.  The car doesn't want to drive a strait line.

So I'm back under the car adjusting the suspension with only hours to the show.

Well it was all worth it!  I finished in time for the show and the car looks pretty nice. 

After the show; success feels so good.

2012 Pasadena Roadster Club Picnic

Goldie, fresh with shirts on, ready for an exit --27 miles of windy roads ahead.

I never got the chance to do the Pasadena Roadster Club Reliability Run, the last run being 2010's.  This year I got word early that there would be a picnic for invited cars only.  I wasn't going to miss it this time!

Pasadena Roadster Club Picnic at Newcomb's Ranch 2012

myself, Frank, Chuck

PRC, unable to continue the the very popular reliability/poker run due to "clerical issues", settled on a picnic rather then skip another year with no events like 2011.

In my mind, I was thinking it was going to be something like the Throttler's Picnic --a shaded local park, pancake breakfast, lots of spectators, cool cars all around.

I found out later after contacting members of the club and excitedly telling them, "I so want to be a part of it!", that it was 27 miles inside the Angeles Nation Forest.  At a secluded rest stop, also known as Newcomb's Ranch.

David Steele musician/hot rodder drives the Sparks roadster

Oh, I was still looking forward to the event.  But I would have preferred it maybe not so far from civilization.  I knew that it being so far inside the forest would keep spectators away... and it did... very much so.  I have to tell you, I like spectators.  They make a show fun, busy, buzzing.

It didn't stop the fun we had.  I took my wife Wendy, she always makes anything more fun.

Wendy bored, shoots us in a reflection

I was already familiar with Newcomb's Ranch, I spent two weeks there on a low-budget movie shoot (nothing you'd ever heard of), shuttling actors back and forth from LA.  This was years ago when gas was $1.50.

But what I wasn't familiar with was the forest anymore.  I was a little blown away when I saw for the first time since the fire ravaged these hills for miles all around.  I can remember the fires of 2009, it was bad that year.  The one in Angeles was called the Station Fire; 160,577 acres burned & killed two firefighters. 

After lunch, more talk, European austerity I believe was the topic

 

So sad to see so much destruction, nearly every mile we drove was burned.  I want to fondly remember it as it used to be, because it will take a lifetime for the forest to return to the green-emerald like place it was.

The drive to Newcomb's was a blast.  Although Wendy & I got off to a bit of a late start because I was still working under the car at 7AM at morning making suspension adjustments.

The love of my life, and my wife

We left home at about 9:00, stopping for a bagel nearby.  We reached La Canada at 9:40 and topped the tank off.  There was a '29 tub filling up too, so I knew I was on the right road.

The forest, not as I remember it.  Result of the Station Fire.

After a pleasant drive through the windy roads, we finally pulled into Newcomb's at 10:30.  Third to last to arrive I beleive.

Lots of chatting with pals, staring at cars, hot rod parts talk of course.  Lunch was nice.  I made some new friends.  Wendy discovered Lilacs grow there (because it snows, Lilacs need a frost).  And then we were off by 2 PM, satisfied.









FOR MORE, visit the HAMB's coverage including great photos of the cars: click here