Hot Rod Shops Around San Francisco Bay - Bay Area Roundup

Being the globe-trotting, travel savvy magazine guys that we are, we have seen our fair share of exotic locales. The winter solstice of Mundelein, Illinois. The fall flora of Puyallup, Washington. The sweltering summer of Louisville, Kentucky. And, it doesn't get any better than a little spring fling in Del Mar, California. The point is, we get around.

One of our recent jaunts was up to the California Bay Area to see what was going on at some of our favorite shops. We managed to cram four shop visits into two days' time, dodged the local traffic, pissed off a toll booth operator, and made it back in one piece with an insider's look into the future of our hobby.

If the Bay Area doesn't seem like a hot rod haven, think again. Aside from Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area had one of the most prolific drag racing scenes in the U.S. back in the 1960s, with historical area dragstrips like Fremont and Half Moon Bay. It was also the location of the most important indoor car show as far as hot rods were concerned-the Oakland Roadster Show. Many legendary builders, painters, and racers spawned from the Bay Area scene, including Tommy the Greek, Art Himsl, Kenny Foster, and Ed and Ray Cortopassi.

Influencing the hot rodding scene even today are guys like Andy Brizio, whose Champion Speed Shop and Instant T kits transformed the street rodding hobby, and Romeo Palamides' American Racing company, which produced what could arguably be the most popular wheel ever-the American five-spoke mag.

The Bay Area also had one of the most influential clubs at the time, the Bay Area Roadsters, who, together with the Los Angeles Roadsters, started what would become the iconic rod run in the form of their Roadster Roundup.

Nearly 40 years later, and the scene in the Bay Area is still going strong. With one of the first grassroots-based shows, Billetproof, hailing from the Oakland area, to one of the premier car clubs and show organizers, Goodguys, in nearby Pleasanton, the Bay Area is still a hotbed of activity. But, while the dragstrips have long ago yielded to high-priced condos and urban encroachment, guys like Roy Brizio, Steve Moal-and his sons, Michael and David-Zane Cullen, and Leonard Lopez are doing their best to carry the hot rodding torch into the next century. Their shops, Roy Brizio Street Rods, Moal Coachbuilders, Cotati Speed Shop, and Dominator Motorsports, respectively, should all be familiar names to diehard SRM readers (and who of you aren't?!).

Each of these shops has built award-winning cars in the past, everything from SEMA-debuting specials to AMBR-winning roadsters and everything in between. They've turned out some of the finest cars in recent memory, set the trends that we report, and have raised the bar on build standards the likes of which have never been seen. Therefore, it seemed only necessary for us to barge in, sidetrack, and halt any and all production that was going on so we could snap a few shots of what was happening and bring them to you, our dear readers. Check it out and keep your eyes peeled for these cars in the future.