Hot Rods Inspiration vs Reality

I find I do this at the larger shows, and it makes it more interesting to walk through a sea of a lot of muscle cars, etc. That day I'll focus on what people did to tidy their engine wiring, fuel plumbing, maybe wheel and tire sizes, or whatever is on my mind for my own stuff that day. Even if 90% of the cars at the show aren't your style, you can still gather ideas and inspiration from them on how to do something in a way you may not have thought of, or see how different ideas look.

Even last year I had done a bunch of work in the engine bay of my 62, and was self-convinced it was still a mess. Going through a sea of 1000+ cars at a show revealed to me that I was more than on the right track, mine was among the top of clean wiring and plumbing in engine bays for amateur builds at that show.

 

Yeah, its fun to really take a break and realize you're that clean and tidy vs so many others... I love clean and tucked away engine compartments. And walking through shows you get some good ideas for sure. I tend to do the simple and clean.

 

On the SBC in my 62 Bel Air I did the plug wires that go around the rear of the engine then under the manifolds, as GM did on Impalas, Corvettes, and others. It looks so clean and tidy. It's a bit of a pain to route them, but the results are worth it. Plug wires haphazardly draped across the valve cover on a SBC looks so messy to me even though GM did it that way on some.

I like the realization of "my junk isn't that bad", "I could do that on mine to make it look better", etc.

 

It seems like my builds always evolve along the way too. They kind of ‘speak to me’ during the build process (never in the planning stage, hmmmm). Sounds crazy, but they do. Once ‘we’ decided on highboy, versus wearing a skirt, I tried several sets of rim/tire combos and the car really didn’t like the big fatties on the rear. I grew up in the “big boots” era, so I’m generally attracted to that look (as are most of my buds), but this sedan seemed to disagree and she just felt more comfortable with the tall skinny rears.
Strange but true.

 

Nailed it.

 

10-year-old me: That's cool! I want one.



12-year-old me: There are no '59 Caddy ambulances in any of the Aussie car sales magazines. Perhaps a wagon...

17-year-old-me: That's cool! And it's a wagon! I want one.



18-year-old me: You are going to have to sell both kidneys to own a 55 Nomad like Tim Allen.

30-year-old me: If you squint, it's a Nomad. This will be cheaper. Needs to finds me a Chebby motor...



50-year-old me: that 327 was not meant to fit in there. Got there in the end. Ecto-1 would have been cheaper...



Cheers,
Harv

 

Which twin is the reality and which is the inspiration? Too close to call it, Man!

 

My inspiration is every cool car I see.
My reality is that I don’t have the talent (or checkbook) to build anything close.

 

Inspiration

Reality

 

Said the guy who turned a fantasy into real steel

Ditto

 

Bob Bauder 32 sedan SoCal

Hello,

I met Bob Bauder at several local car shows and breakfast gatherings. We talked about hot rods and he gave me the time of day as if I was an old friend. He found out I was a photojournalist and he came over to my old house in Laguna Niguel for a visit and to set up a visit at his house in Mission Viejo. He was doing some short term build projects and asked if I wanted to document the activity. So, a photo story comes from all sorts of places.

He and his wife were the most friendly folks I had met and they accepted me as if I was a long time old friend from way back. He inspired me to tinker with cars and in between the articles, kept our daily drivers healthy. I was sorry to see him move to the mountains, but I knew where his place was and if we had the money to move up there at the time, we would have easily done so. Although it was a couple of hours from the coastline and good surf.

Jnaki

But, long before Bob Bauder’s 32 sedan build, I was influenced by this chopped 32 sedan from the time we saw it in the pits at Lion’s Dragstrip in 1958-59 season.
George Cerny’s 32 sedan 1958
The top on the 32 sedan was chopped 3 inches. George used to race his 32 sedan during the late 50s when we saw it in the pits at Lion’s Dragstrip and I filmed it racing on the track. He ran 123.45 mph on gas. The car was equipped by a Cadillac engine sporting two 4-throat carburetors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVKFSuUk6s 32 sedan


Being So Cal locals, we always like George Cerny’s paint jobs on all of the custom cars and race cars we saw at the car shows and race tracks. According to Kustomrama, George Cerny’s history is interesting as all of us growing up in the 50s probably had one of his early paint jobs sitting in our kitchens. Maybe someone still has one...

He sprayed paint/porcelain on the O’Keefe and Merritt gas oven/stove combination appliances as one of his early painting jobs. So, we can safely say that we had a “George Cerny Paint Job” at our 1948 Craftsman house and our 1940’s Westside Long Beach house. Our parents were sticklers for buying those brand name appliances.

“George's first job was spraying porcelain for O'Keefe and Merritt, who made home appliances.” Kustomrama…

Cerny’s Compton Paint Shop was about 6 miles away from our Bixby Knolls cruising area. It seemed like, in a blink of an eye, we could drive the short distance to his shop to see all of the cars in various stages of paint. That was fun. No, our HS group did not have enough money for one of his paint jobs. The three hot rod/ cruisers that got painted, used the local Earl Schieb and a friend’s backyard. But, we could dream...


In researching the changes in the 50+ years, the 1514 North Long Beach Blvd, Compton, CA is no longer a sleepy street with a bunch of small industrial buildings. As anywhere has changed, so has Compton. The business address turned into a restaurant and is now for sale.

“In 1942 George decided to open up his own shop, and leased a property at 1514 North Long Beach Boulevard in Compton. He erected a rickety building, and called his new venture Cerny's Auto Paint & Body Shop. One of the trends George started back then was tinting white primer. A trend he called, Easter Colors. Back then a lot of the guys drove around in primer while they saved up to have their cars painted.”

(Shades of our own primered 1940 Willys 671 SBC C/Gas Coupe in 1960.)

1959-60 Altered 32 sedan, before the new paint? If the A/A whitewash designation was not on the window and anyone saw it sitting by itself in the pits or on a side street, one would think it was a street hot rod. But the definite sound coming from the sedan made a difference.

Note: another custom build from Cerny’s Garage.

1959-60 Lion’s Dragstrip Off track exit near the starting line, in front of the spectator’s seating bleachers.

The first rendition of his Modified Roadster...

 

So glad I didn't have the funds (or knowledge) at the time to update the things I had in mind - Chevy V8, open drive line, smaller bolt pattern to run chrome wheels, etc. If I had, I'd be tempted to put the wide 5s & flathead back in now. This one stays "Hot Rod." I even had the old "Streetrod" chrome emblem on the running board, just behind the front fender. Now, it's got "Country Sedan" on there.

 

^So much this. An open mind and eyes will lead to inspiration and ideas.

Sometimes pure luck (maybe chance is a better word choice) provides that idea or inspiration, too, and it ends up morphing into something different which works for your particular vehicle and vision. Ideally, it all works out in the end, and if not, change it.