Memory LaneI really enjoyed Dale Moreau and Al Drake's accounts of the 50th Portland Roadster Show (STREET RODDER, October '06, page 128). Al's nostalgic comments on the 1956 PRS show were a fun trip down memory lane.
I recommend getting a copy of Al's book, "Street Was Fun in '51" (ISBN: 0-936892-11-0). Lots of entertaining and easy reading about Al's early relationship with hot rods as a young man in Portland, Oregon, in 1951.You won't be disappointed.Mike ChiavettaVia the Internet
Mike, it is always good to hear from you. I believe we have printed letters from you from as long ago as the '70s-or am I making you out to be much older than you are? Thanks for the insight and your response was exactly what we were hoping readers such as yourself would experience.
Helping HandI was traveling from Denver in my '48 Ford with my buddy Frank in his '40 Chevy for the NSRA Nats in Louisville. Fifty miles west of Topeka, Kansas, we stopped for fuel and both of us noticed the front suspension in my '48 Ford was sitting unusually low but thought the car might be sitting in a low spot. The suspension is an Air Ride Technologies system sitting on Fatman narrowed A-frames for a '77 Camaro subframe.
Pulling out of the station, while attempting to turn left onto the freeway ramp, the left tire was rubbing on the left fender and I could not make the left turn. I checked the air pressure in the system, which was fine, and looked under the front of the car and found the problem. The ShockWaves cylinder had broken through the A-frame, snapped off the mounting pin on the cylinder, and pushed its way through the lower A-frame to within an inch or 2 of the ground.
NSRA publishes a booklet with volunteers throughout the United States for people who might be able to help fellow rodders in times of need. I looked and found only one entry for Topeka-Carl Lundquist-so I gave him a call. Luckily he answered the phone right away and I identified myself and told him of my dilemma. Carl immediately offered assistance and said he had a truck and a trailer and would come and get me. I told him I could probably make it to Topeka and asked if he knew someone there who might be able to help me.
He gave me the name and number of Randy Herrick of Reliable Car Shop and I gave him a call. This was around 3 p.m. I explained the problem to Randy and he said he might be able to help me out, but he was closing at 5:30 p.m. and might not be able to do anything for me until morning. Trying to make it to Randy's shop before it closed, I maneuvered the car onto the freeway ramp and headed east and managed to make it there around 4:30 p.m. He took the car in immediately, put it on his lift, and verified the problem.
Randy told me he knew a machinist who might be able to make me a new pin, and his welder could probably straighten and repair the bottom of the A-frame, but he had no idea whether the machinist could make the part in a timely manner. He let me borrow his computer and I got Air Ride's number and called them. Air Ride had the new pin for the ShockWaves and they overnighted the part to the shop for delivery the next morning.
The part had arrived by the time I returned to the shop the next morning, and Randy's mechanic was working on the A-frame. A short time later, the shop welder brought the A-frame to me and showed where he had straightened it, welded up the cracks, and reinforced the whole surface with a quarter-inch plate and cut it to match the stock opening. Randy told me they were going to paint it and let it dry while his welder went to lunch and would get it back together on his return. Frank and I visited a local museum across the street and came back an hour later, and the car was complete and sitting outside.
I got my checkbook and went in the office and Randy met me inside with some literature that came with the part from Air Ride. I asked him how much the bill was and he looked at me and responded "nothing."
I told him I didn't expect that, but he insisted, saying he had been in that position before and wanted to do that for me. I told him I didn't know there were people like that left in the world and expressed my sincere gratitude.
Randy and his wife, Amy Rose, are special people who care about others, and Carl Lundquist was willing to do whatever he could to solve my problem.
Please give them a "tip of the hat" in STREET RODDER, as well as my sincere gratitude.W.D. BallowKaty, TX
Once again you found out why all of us enjoy our hobby so much-it's the people who make it worthwhile. Someday it would be a heck of a feat to get as many of these stories together into one article that could run on the STREET RODDER Web site; it would make interesting reading and also provide many rodders with the confidence to get out there and drive more often.
One More Helping HandI recently attended the Evansville Frog Follies with my buddy and our wives. I drove my '35 Chevy coupe and he trailered his '29 Ford sedan (under construction). We arrived Friday morning and unloaded his '29 at the hotel and set out for the 4H fairgrounds and the Frog Follies event.
My buddy's '29 started spewing antifreeze on his windshield so we pulled into a service station to check it out. Turns out the Cool Flex upper hose did not seat correctly and we needed to retighten it.
I was going to move my '35 Chevy coupe, but it did nothing when I turned the key. I had power but no power to the starter. About that time, Big Bob from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, saw us and pulled in to help. He was in town to pick up some equipment and was pulling a long trailer, but this did not stop him from pulling in and offering tools and a helping hand to a rodder in need. After tightening the hose on the '29 and pulling off my '35's steering column cover, I discovered the ignition switch on the column was the problem. With Bob's tools, we performed a quick fix to get her going and later went to Pep Boys for a replacement switch.
Many thanks to Big Bob, as he took the time to pull a big truck and trailer into a service station in an extremely busy intersection just to aid a fellow rodder. He truly is what the "Fellow Pages" is there for, and in this instance he was there in person, offering help in spite of his trouble to get that rig back out and on the road again. I won the Exceptional Chevy Award at the Frog Follies, so I must say we were elated at the end results of the weekend.Kim FisherVia the Internet
Once again, people make the difference. No doubt you probably had wished your trip had been uneventful with regards to the mechanical problems, but very thankful that there was someone there who could help when the time came. Proving one more time that it pays to be a street rodder, and this should also serve as a nice lesson for the rest of us to help another when the opportunity arises. Karma is a strange thing-it is true that "what goes around comes around."
Longtime ReaderI have been a reader of your magazine since the first issue. The last time I wrote in was in 1980, and I just sent some pictures and you published them, to my surprise.
The June 2006 issue was interesting and I was impressed with Mike Young's homebuilt-and-driven rod he had at the GNRS-it is my favorite, as well as some of the others. The GNRS winner is more like a piece of art than a car, and the cost is in the heavens. There is some comment on resto rods coming back; well, I never changed-I have had 14 cars and pickups, all rodded with Chevy V-8s, Pontiac V-8s, or Buick V-6s. My first car was a channeled '34 Ford coupe and a hot Flathead in 1955, after I was out of the Army. I have had a lot of new cars and trucks over the years, but I always have a street rod to play with and work on. This last one has stayed with me since 1969, with 150,000 miles and four Chevy V-8 motors. It now has a 4.3L with an overdrive transmission with EFI, Corvair frontend with Olds Cutlass disc brakes, and a '56 Chevy Posi rearend. It is a 1935 Chevy three-window coupe, and my wife and daughter won't let me sell it. Like Bill Hardy and his very nice '35 Chevy Suburban, I am 73 years young and still do all my own work, except paint and upholstery. Also, I love Mike Nix's '40 Ford coupe-very tasteful. As a hobby related to cars, I now restore and repair, sell, and buy license plates, mostly in Iowa.Ron HargraveWebster City, IA
You have more miles under your belt in your street rod than many readers have in their stockers! Job well done, and it sounds as if you have had a great time with all of your cars over the years, making sure to get the most fun out of them.
Registration FeesI just read you story about getting the '36 Chevy registered here in the state of California. The story was great and it does show what we go through here to drive our cars. Because California is so rigid, it causes more guys to do it the wrong way. I've only registered two cars here in California without paperwork, so I know what we're up against. The thing I would like you to have told us is how much it cost to get the '36 registered. Of the two I registered, one in the mid-'70s cost 25 bucks, and the last one was around '90 or '91 and it cost 50 bucks. Just wondering how much it has gone up.Wayne RoganVia the Internet
Well, Wayne, you were fortunate to register your cars at a time when "everything" was more affordable. You are correct in assessing that California can be a tough state to register a vehicle, especially when it comes to all of the fees associated with registering a car.
For the record, the fees on this year's Road Tour '34 Chevy were $45 for brake inspection; $45 for lamp inspection; and the piece de resistance, $5,577, which was broken down into the following: $31 registration fee, $427 license fee, $9 for the California Highway Patrol, $1 for local highway call box fees, $1 for drunk driver program, $1 for abandon vehicle program, $6 for the air quality management district, $1 for Southern California air quality, $1 reflective license plate program, and $1 for something no one at the DMV could tell me what it was for (I wish I got a dollar for every car registered). The coupe is currently running on a temporary registration for the remainder of the year.
And I am sure someone somewhere will think of something else to charge us for, as we have one final visit to the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) and a referee station to prove that we haven't told a fib about the engine we are running. More on that in a future issue.