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Pasadena Roadster Club Reliability Run - Revival MeetingThe Pasadena Roadster Club Reliability Run Brings Back That Old-Time Relivin' From the November, 2010 issue of Street Rodder By Tim Bernsau
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It really is like stepping back in time. The Pasadena Roadster Club was established back in 1945 when a couple of previous clubs, the Flyers and the Velociteers merged. The roots of those two clubs reach back into the '30s. In 1947, the Pasadena Roadster Club held its very first Reliability Run. Those early runs started at the Rose Bowl and ended at the same spot after a 100-mile tour through the local mountains and desert that really did test the reliability of those early hot rods that participated. In order to keep things safe and promote a positive image in a community that may have had a negative impression of hot rods and hot rodders, the speed limit was enforced and dependability and driveability was rewarded over speed. Ollin Trujillo rolls beneath... Ollin Trujillo rolls beneath the banner of the Pasadena Roadster Club in his '23 Model T roadster pickup. The '51 8BA Flathead runs a pair of 94s on an Edmund's manifold. The roadster rides on Z'd Model A 'rails. The Model A bed was shortened, and the wheels are Kelsey Hayes. By the mid-'50s, the Pasadena Roadster Club and the Reliability Run were gone-but not forever. The Club was re-established in 2002. In 2004, the Reliability Run was brought back, following the same route as it had half a century earlier. You could make the same claim about the Pasadena Roadster Club. The world has changed a lot since the middle of the 20th century, and the hot rod hobby has changed with it, but the club works hard to preserve a little bit of the old days. Club members must have a traditional, original-bodied '36-and-earlier topless car, which could be a roadster, rpu, phaeton, touring, cabriolet, or modified, built with period parts. The Reliability Run is open to the public, but the participating cars must meet the same rules as club member vehicles, and the event is limited to 100 cars. The Rose Bowl is no longer the starting and finishing point, but for the most part, the '10 Reliability Run has changed very little from the '47 event, and participating in this revived historic event feels like crossing a bridge to the early days of hot rodding.  A few months after taking...  A few months after taking the Best Hot Rod award in the Suede Palace at the Grand National Roadster Show, Logan Davis was in Pasadena, CA, for this event. There's a Flathead powering the period-perfect '28, sitting on Deuce 'rails with a Deuce grille.  Just before heading up into...  Just before heading up into the San Gabriel mountains, PRC member Richard Loe shares a few stories with Pete Eastwood (left) about their years of hot rodding adventures.  A couple of "late-model" roadsters...  A couple of "late-model" roadsters pulling up to one of the check points along the Reliability Run route before heading for higher altitude. That blue '36 belongs to Jim Schield, who won an award for the Best Time.  None of these traditional...  None of these traditional rods are set up as canyon carvers, but nobody cares. We drove up the road a few miles in time to see "Cigar Larry" McCullah coming through the curves in his beautiful '26 phaeton, pulled by a Riley four-port '32 'banger. At the end of the run, he won the Best Banger award.  We've met Phil Farber at the...  We've met Phil Farber at the Santa Margarita Time Trials and again at the Reliability Run. His eye-catching roadster combines a '27 T body with '29 Model A 'rails and a '32 four-banger with a Winfield cylinder head.  This truck-grilled, Flathead-packed,...  This truck-grilled, Flathead-packed, homebuilt '29 lowboy is as hot rod as it gets. We caught up with the car and owner Frank Barone III at the first checkpoint on the run.  Unfortunately builder and...  Unfortunately builder and hot rodder Dave Enmark is no longer with us, but his wife, Mary, keeps the channeled '32 roadster on the road-where it belongs-as much as possible.  Don Dillard doesn't miss many...  Don Dillard doesn't miss many opportunities to drive his hot rods, so we weren't surprised to see the perfectly patina'd full-fendered Deuce rolling up to this checkpoint. The heritage on this roadster is long.  The long-distance award, had...  The long-distance award, had there been one, probably would've been earned by Geoff Skene, who comes from Jackson, WY, to cruise his Army Drab Green, flathead-powered '32 roadster with the Southern California crowd.  Bill Garnett describes his...  Bill Garnett describes his '29 roadster pickup as a "true traditional pre-war hot rod." He's owned it now for 45 years, and drives it all the time. The Flathead is a Weiand engine with a Burns intake manifold and a pair of Stromberg 81 carburetors.  Marshall Topping and his co-pilot...  Marshall Topping and his co-pilot were having a blast, not hard to do in Topping's cool black Deuce highboy.  Pasadena Roadster Club member...  Pasadena Roadster Club member Dan Murchey now drives the '32 roadster his father Gordon bought in the '40s. The '48 Merc-powered Deuce was restored about five years ago, maintaining the original body and 'rails, and the preserved look it's always worn.  The Reliability Run is not...  The Reliability Run is not just for roadsters but for any early open car, such as Robert Lomas' '34 phaeton. The car was saved out of Lomas' neighbor's garage, where it had been for 50 years. The brown lacquer was shot in 1966. He says the steel and wood are original.  John Martin was racing at...  John Martin was racing at El Mirage with his 'banger-powered '29 roadster back in the day. His son, Willie, built this highboy with a Riley four-port as a replica of the one his dad raced as a teenager, and is having just as much fun.  Allen Brown has owned his...  Allen Brown has owned his '26 T with a suicide frontend, Mexican blanket interior, '39 transmission, and 8BA Flathead converted to center outlet heads for five years.  Every rodder should use their...  Every rodder should use their car like Tom Branch uses his. Like many of the roadsters at this event, we've seen this gold '32 roadster with the soul of a Studebaker (the engine of one anyway) everywhere from on display at the Grand National Roadster Show to the pages of magazines to outdoor show 'n' shines to the dragstrip to passing us on the highway.  Back up at the checkpoint,...  Back up at the checkpoint, Dan Bridges pulled up with his two-tone '27 Model T roadster pickup, featuring bomber buckets, big 'n' littles, split 'bones, 'banger motor, and some cool traditional pinstriping on the '32 grille shell.  In 1931, Mike Martinez's grandfather...  In 1931, Mike Martinez's grandfather bought this roadster pickup brand new. Of course, it wasn't running a Buick V-6, five-speed, or quick-change rear at the time. Martinez has owned the rpu since 1953 and has had it all over the place.  The Best Roadster award was...  The Best Roadster award was given to Rory Forbes. Open wheels, bomber buckets from a B-17, and a '49 Olds mill make this an out-of-the-ordinary '34 Ford. Forbes was there with his dad, Ray, who told us the car was three weeks old.  One of our other favorite...  One of our other favorite '34s is Richard Lacy's less-shiny, open-wheel, bucket-seated roadster. Lacy's Merc-powered car was voted Best of Show in the Suede Palace at the Grand National Roadster Show in January.  Timothy Cicora came back from...  Timothy Cicora came back from the run (which is also a poker run) with the best hand of the day. His '28 Model A, built carefully to emulate the look of a '40s-era hot rod, features a four-banger with Winfield heads, and a lot of other period details.  The Eddie Meyer Flathead and...  The Eddie Meyer Flathead and impressive pipes, plus a Deuce grille and 'rails, set apart Billy Crewl's '29 Model A highboy, built as a tribute to, and replica of, the hot rod raced by legendary dry lakes racer Jack Calori back in the '40s.
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