1932 Ford 1932 Ford Frame Chassis Hot Rod Flathead Traditional florida - Part 2
Clarke Hot Rods
Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009, Shop Events

100_3212Back on the road Wednesday – I took Tuesday off from the hot rod vacation, and did some work in the hotel room in the morning on the computer, then took the roadster up into the mountains by myself and just rode around till dusk…no stopping, no pics…just me, cool mountain air, and an open car. I one read an article in Hot Rod I think it was about the 10 cars you should own – on the list naturally was a Deuce roadster, and the author described it as a “mood alteration vehicle”…someone google that and find out who wrote that…I remember a corvette was on the list, and the authors choice was “make mine a ‘62 fuelie in honduras maroon”.

So Wednesday was back on the road – some friends from FL arrived today, Chuck Burns and his neighbor Daniel. They rented a Jeep Liberty, so we decided to give the roadster a day off, and the five of us hit the road to see the sights. Let set the Jeep into the wind – headed for Corona – to Marcel’s Custom Metal. I had never been to Marcel’s before, and thsi was real treat. I could not help buy stand in the shop and think of how many cars came out of that shop, shaped by Marcel and his two sons Marc and Luc, that changed not only hot rodding, but Read more »

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009
@ Scandinavian

@ Scandinavian

Coming back to the hotel last night from dinner, Max spotted a huge puddle of oil under the rear axle of his F250 – uh oh…it was oil…from the pinion seal. So early this morning we limped it over the a shop in Diamond Bar down from the hotel to see what the deal was – the owner operator Chris(who had a money ‘56 Vicky) put it up on the lift, pulled the drive shaft, and the yoke off the pinion shaft – the seal had worn a groove in the yoke….really?? in an ‘04 with 90k? Wow.

So while the big truck was under repair, we decided to hop in the roadster and hit up on of the shops near the the hotel and wait for the call to come pick up the truck. Since we’ll be at SoCal for the big party on Friday night, we decided to see what the Kennedy Brothers were up too. As you may know, I’m pretty big fans of these guys and their work(see previous posts about hot rod costumes) – We were greeted at the gate by the fierce and menacing guard dogs, a pair of  Italian greyhounds (Davinci and Sinatra.) I snagged a couple treats from the bowl on the front counter at the hotel before we left…dogs love me. I didn’t take a a whole bunch of pics there – as they were leaving for lunch when we arrived, but I did get a shot of a stocker rolling ‘32 chassis that was hiding in a container just inside the front gate of their place. It is amazing how in California, stuff like this is just sitting around – outdoors or in sheds. The shop was full of cars and projects – so much that Jay’s Deuce vicky was sitting outside under a carport Read more »

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009

100_2975As I’m writing this, the Los Angeles Lakers have just closed out the Magic for the NBA Championship!  Congrats to Phil and the team. I’m a huge basketball fan, and I can’t beileve they rebuilt another team so quickly and won it all….wow…

Today started as just another cool crisp morning in California – after getting some breakfast at the hotel , we were blasting off down “the 10″  to the the 39th annual Antique Nationals at Fontana. I love building hot rods that you can go 80-85 in the left lane on the freeway in – and blowing by the white knuckled 55mph crew in the right lane. PUNCH IT.

At any rate, this is a very cool event, vintage drag racing open to pre ‘55 cars of all types. In addition to the racing there is a car show section to park the regular cars in…but hey are far from regular. I have some video from this, I’ll work on getting it up soon, but here are the pictures to hold you over for now…..

Don Dillard was in town in his super-patina’ed green ‘32 that was featured in Rodder’s Journal Issue #32 – in case you didn’t know, Don was side swiped in that car a while back and the right front of the car was smashed up pretty good.  He has it back on the road and the new parts and reparied old parts look about like the first parts – if that makes any sense?? Read more »

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009

100_2901I was standing in line at 6am this morning to buy a donut and a bottle of water. I don’t drink coffee.  The cute little girl handing me my change was the typical California girl in every way – if the Beach Boys made music videos in ‘65, this girl could have been the star. If you asked this girl where she worked, she would brush back her blonde hair, smile, and tell you about this little mom&pop donut shop. And she may or may not mention in conversation that on Saturday mornings at this particular shop, all these old cars that show up. The Donut Derelicts is what car culture is all about in Southern California. You could bring someone from Albany Georgia here, they could spend 2 hours in the parking lot of this donut shop, talk to ten guys about their cars, and understand exactly the mentality of a California car guy. Outside of So-Cal, has anyone seen an under-construction belly tanker and a stocker ‘32 Roadster at a weekly parking lot BS session? In Florida, this would be fully of ‘38 Chevy 4-door sedans and rat-turd rods….unreal.

For years I have read about Brian Brennan attending the Donut Derelicts on Saturday mornings. He has mentioned it in his editorial so many times over the years, and of all the years I’ve been out to SoCal for various auto events, Read more »

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009
Bad Ass 5w...

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My roadster is on its 3rd speedometer – the first one died 92 miles into its life – the second made it to about 2000 miles. I put this one in the week before the car left for CA – When I dropped it off at Max’s house for him to haul it out, the odometer read 150 miles…I would love to drive a roadster out here from FL one time…but it is hard enough to schedule time to be here for the week of the show, let alone another 4-5 days for the drive out. I guess I’m putting this in my “one-day” file, even though I’ve lived most of my life without one of those files. I guess that is why I’m sitting on the balcony of a hotel in SoCal writing this…and not in a 12th floor office in downtown Orlando with a neck tie on…

My flight arrived at around noon local time, Max and Bob picked me up from Ontario International – and rushed me to the hotel. I couldn’t figure out why they were in such a hurry…then Bob mentioned that I needed to clean the roadster up from the trip out, so “we” could go down to Whittier to a little Friday night show. Great. We headed down a little early – about 4 or so to beat the traffic on the 57. Since we were in Whittier, we figured we should stop by Limeworks an see Steve and the guys. The shop was buzzing at 4 on a Friday, tons of cars in process – a beater steel ‘32, a 4-door with a blown Hemi – you know typical Limeworks style…haha

Back in the car and over to the parking lot cruise night….about 200 cars or so I’d guess, which is nothing for this weekly deal, a couple of the locals said it often is upward of 400. We have nothing like this in FL – we have a gathering once a month in downtown New Smyrna beach, with about 150-200 cars – but there is nothing like this. The event was held in a mall parking lot right in front of  a Sears store – and get this, Read more »

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009

Update One: From seat 21d on a 757, most likely over Texas.

I’d like say this is a live update, but I don’t have internet at 30k feet. But it will be ready to publish when I hit the ground in PHX(layover)

Max called last night, he and Bob rolled into Diamond Bar yesterday afternoon, roadster is in good shape ready to hit the streets of sunny southern California. Read more »

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009

imag0026.jpg My flight touches down in Ontario at 2pm pacific time on Thursday. Max should be rolling into town at that time with the roadster. I will be updating this site with updates several times a day for the entire week – commentary, picturs, videos, interviews, etc. This could be nearly as good as being there yourself. Many of you followed us last year, in case you didn’t you can see those posts last year HERE

Saturday morning we’ll be driving down to Huntington for the Donut Derelicts, hitting up the Antique Nationals, and spending the entire week visiting the various shops and after parties. Most people know about the big party/open house at So-Cal, but we are going to take you all to the smaller gatherings, inside the shops you only hear about after the fact.

Bookmark the page, subcribe via RSS, or whatever you choose…you’ll want to keep coming back every day…or several times a day.

Categories: LA Roadster Show 2009
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A1A - Daytona Beach

Well, the ‘09 LA Roadster Show is right around the corner…and it seems like we were just there riding around in the little ‘31 on Deuce rails…”Chili Verde”

This year we are bring my own personal car out to drive, the Imola Red McGee stunt double…ha.
So I have spent the last couple of days getting m it ready for the trip. its a good idea to put a wrench on the important bolts every now and then, especially when it seems like I haven’t done anything but drive the hell out of this car in the two years its been on the road. Here is the full gallery Imola Roadster

I took it out for a couple hour run up the coast this afternoon…what a great car this is. sometimes it takes a fast ride on a cool evening, with the ocean air flowing through the cowl vent to remind you of exactly why we love these cars…

Categories: Project Updates

piercerod-05_787x600

We are pleased to announce that we will be particiapating in the build of this incredible car. The original Model 40 Speedster was built by Edsel Ford in in 1934, and was recently sold at the Amelia Island Concourse – Info on the original can be found here, Edsel’s Model 40 Speedster. The below rendering is of the new car – which will be based on a ‘34 Ford passenger car frame. Several clever modifications will be reproduced, as Edsel did before, including an aggressive pinch to the front frame horns, as well as flipping the rear portion of the chassis to facilitate the underslung rear suspension…. more details to come…

Categories: Shop Events

This year, on the Friday night during the Daytona Turkey Run, we will be having some friends over to the shop. This will be highly informal deal…. a gathering of cool hot rods and good people.

More details to come…