An afternoon with Vern and an evening with Sam.

Not necessarily in that order, and not on the same day, but I was lucky enough to catch up a few hot rodding legends (yes Sam, you're a legend) during my brief stay in San Francisco.

As I only had three nights in this great town, I had to make the most of it. So after a 4:30am start to the day (1:30am SF time) and a six hour flight from New York, plus a two hour delay because the ****s at American Airlines put half of our baggage on the next flight (real good when you're travelling with a baby), I finally got everyone and everything to the hotel.

Sam said BART could give me a ride to his place, BART being the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. It might be RAPID, but when you live out in the bush, it's still an hour away on the train. I did get to see the Coliseum though, and the A's did win that day... anyway, Sam picked me up and we headed back to his place for some beer and a bit of BS. Here's some pics.

Sam's latest project, a '55 Chevy 150 two-door sedan. It's a pretty special car as Sam had owned one as his first car. The inspiration for his previous '55 was a bad-*** Chevy that used to watch race as a kid. This is the actual car!



Shouldn't have any problems hooking up.



A bit of stuff just laying around. Sam's going to run a set of these scoops on the '55. Cool...



Of course, I had to check out the Bomb Factory Digger. Here's a couple of gay-****d arty shots...





One of the guys that helped with the BFD was Terry and this is his latest ride, a well used but very cool '59 El Camino. Dig those wheels.



Me trying out the BFD for size while Terry makes 'Bruuum bruuuum' noises. I wanted Sam to make the noises, but he was taking the photo and he couldn't do the two things at once.



Terry backing out of the driveway so that Sam can...



...pretend to be a restorer. The coupe is extra special for Sam as it was built by his late father over 30 years ago and then sold. Sam bought it back and it is practically identical to how it was when Sam was a kid. Scratches and all.



We then headed down to the local Taqueria for a bite to eat. While we were sitting there a bunch of cool cars started driving past. Sam tried to tell me it was like this every night in downtown Livermore, but it turned out that there was a bit of a cruise night on down the road and Sam didn't hear about it. (Must be because he's a restorer now )



A few of these high-zoot things went past...


...as well as some cool stuff.



This '55 was real nice.



We then figured we'd try to find where this cruise night was. Of course, by the time we got there the place was pretty empty, but we did see this killer shoebox.



The owner came out a bit later, but here's Sam checking out whether it'll fit under the toll gates. It's had a heap sliced out of the roof as well as a five-and-a-half inch section! Late model 5.0 engine and airbags and the beginnings of a very cool interior. Should be real cool when it's done.



This is the guy's family wagon. A nice and simple Riviera, and yep, it's still got the Nailhead in it.



On the way back to Sam's place we went on a bit of a garage crawl. We stopped by Bob's place, checked out his awesome pickup and then headed back to Sam's place.



Where we drank more beer, talked more BS and generally had a good time. Sam dropped me off at the BART and I caught the 11:30pm train back to the city and got in to the hotel around 12:30. So in the end it was a 23 hour day, but boy was it worth it!



THERE'S STILL MORE PICS TO COME FROM VERN TARDEL'S PLACE, SO PLEASE DON'T REPLY UNTIL I PUT THEM UP. WON'T BE LONG.

 

The visit to Sam's place was on Saturday night. The family and I spent Sunday doing 'touristy things' around SF which meant I could do more hot rod stuff on the Monday. I had been in touch with Mike Bishop before I left for our holiday and was keen to meet up with him as I'm a big fan of his work.

I also knew that Mike was good buddies with Vern Tardel, so I asked if Mike could organise a visit to his place. Now if you know Vern, you probably know that he usually keeps the gate locked on Mondays so that he can get stuff done around the shop.

A big thanks to Mike for chatting to Vern and making my visit possible. Vern still had to run a few errands, but while he was away he let me poke around as much as I wanted and with Mike as a guide, I got a real good look at what was going on at the shop.

Needless to say, wherever I pointed my camera there was something cool to look at. There is some seriously neat **** going on at Tardel's and by the look of it he gets a lot done.

Disclaimer: If you're expecting to see fuel-injected engines and 20-inch wheels, look away now.

One of the biggest problems with going to Vern's place is where to to start! There's just so much cool stuff laying around. I figured Mike's super-cool F-truck was a good a place as any. You've all seen it before on the HAMB, but here's another look at it, push-bar and all.



Flathead ****.



And the car it's bolted to is pretty neat too. Vern dropped this one off to the exhaust shop today, so it won't be long before it's cruising around with the sound of that early Halibrand whining away.



Another advantage of fenderless hot rods, you don't get foot prints on your paint! Here's the boy checking out the trim job.



Mike's scratching his and saying... "Now what's going on here. It's got four plug leads on each side, but only three exhaust ports. Is it a V8 or a V6?"

Actually, he was telling me that this is one of his favourite '33s and that it had quite a drag-racing history. Sweet chop and black tuck and roll interior. Very, very cool...



Another car you've all seen before, but it was very cool for me to see it up close.



Just some junk Vern has laying around...



Vern's roadster is getting a bit of a freshen up before heading to B'ville on Thursday. He was telling me that he's only missed two Speed Weeks since 1966. He's not racing this year, but is just going for a look. That salt fever bites hard.



Is it a brake drum, or is it art?



Like I said before, wherever you point your camera you see some cool stuff.



This neat little A coupe is just about ready to go.



Early Chevy mill with some very nice detailing.



Mike found this old dirt tracker and Vern ended up buying it. Someone walked in and just had to have it, so now it's a customer's car. Cast alloy nose, flathead and an aluminium body. The cowl has been re-done, but the rear is original and in pretty nice shape.



We're pretty sure Henry didn't fit bodies like this, but it seems to work pretty good.



There's one thing clear from this photo. I've got the best hair!



Harsh but fair.



The man hisself!



The rates seem pretty reasonable to me, even with the conversion to Aussie dollars!



Vern brought out a box full of Hot Wheels and Luka was allowed to pick one. I'm proud to say that he picked out the Topolino dragster, although they were all cool. He's just checking that it's the right flavour.



So that's it, my time in San Francisco. I did also drop by the Rodder's Journal office but didn't take any photos. Not much to see really, but I did get to watch Steve do a studio photo shoot and I also got an advance copy of Issue 33 and another copy of Issue 32 (with the reverse cover to my subs copy). At least I'll have plenty to read on the LOOOOOONG flight home!

 

Sams and Verns, I hate you! Wow thats a lot of hot roddin in two days. Saw Verns roadster a few weeks ago, its amazing. Looking forward to seeing it at Bonneville. Thanks for the pictures, they allow all of us to tag along. Mark

 

Did you go to the mexican food place for dinner with Sam, that mexican joint has some good food.. .. Been able to hang out in Sams garage a few times and enjoy it every time

 

You've been MIA for a long time! Cheers to the cheese, and Luka's coming on well - he's got the eating cars part happening, just gotta work on the sleeping and drinking.

 

You're SUCH a name dropper.....but you do have good hair, I'll give you that.

Maybe see you Friday night....

 

I've been really enjoying your travel log brootal, thanks!

 

Y O U B A S T A R D !!

Fantastic pix and man, I just gotta get my *** up to Santa Rosa one day.

We got a few in on Fri nite...let me know what's shakin re you arrival pal.

Rat

 

Yep nice hair.

Ive been keeping an eye on your blog looks like you have had a great holiday. Now home and back to work to pay for it. Im sooooooo envious.

Later

 

Thanks for sharing your story and pictures! Any more pictures or info of the 1928-29 Pheaton/Tub
thanks John

 

I'd LOVE to spend an evening with Sam..........



AWESOME adventure, thanks for sharing.

 

What a great tour, thank you for sharing.

 

Thanks for the tour up-dates...looks like you are enjoying America

 

Hey Brootal, nice meeting you. Next time have a bit more time and we can show you around more of Livermore. Terry

 

Great thread!

 

Yea! We had a great night!

We also stopped by another "restorer's" house on the way home from dinner... he has a RARE Model A pickup... one of the 293 Deluxe pickups made in late '31... it has a fleetside bed of sorts on it... very cool.

Sam.

 

Very cool post, thanks for sharing.

Mootz

 

Sam, a local restorer has a fleetside 31 around here. Really cool truck.

 

thanks for sharing Verns looks like hot rod heaven.

 

Wow looks like you had a ball, the Bay area is probably my favorite part of the US so far, cool stuff there and around there and also it seems a little more like home with the harbour and bridges and all that. Hope next time I get over there to have a little more time to check stuff out.

 

Luka's gonna REAALLLYYY want to build that A tourer when ya get back.....

Great to see that our friends in HAMB land let ya drink all their beer and open their doors, great to see the world grows smaller every day.

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

Thanks for that Boris!!!! You are one lucky man. Its great to see such hospitality.

 

Cool stuff Boris. Always good to see world tour photos.

 

Now you've done it ....
"Drool" all over my keyboard!

Thanks!! Safe trip home.
Dave

 

I would second the legendary hospitallity of the BFD guys - and as evidenced in the pics, Sam has very ***y legs...

 

Thanks for sharing, here as well as on the blog. Almost felt like my own mini-vacation from work! I've also got to know if you have any more pics & info. of that A touring... I made it the background on my work PC and have had a ton of old guys ask me about it.

 

Yep, I've got a couple more pics but I've had some problems with the broadband at home. It's sorted now, but I'll have to get the pics off my laptop. Soon.

Sure is a cool car.

 

Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Bay. OT- But I was in Tahoe all week and there were some hot august nighters where I was at. My girl meets someone at the bar who has a GREAT hook up for some banger parts for me. I say- ok and wonder over. He's drunk as hell and says Vern Tardel.

Hilarious.

Great pics.

 

Great pics & story, we were lucky enough to visit Sam & Vern last year too although i wish we had more time with Sam.......maybe next month Sam when we come over, might even get to see Tims new '40!

Kev.