I rushed home every day that week. It was 2002 and the HAMB had voted the Roach Rod and I into the Ego Rama. I wasn't about to show up to a gun fight with a knife, so a plan was hatched to build a hot little engine to replace the worn out $75 Pick-N-Pull 283 with something a little more potent. HAMB member Steve Kraemer had a 350 short block that I bought, and he did a HAMB relay up to Jay Carnine's place out in the Central Valley so I could pick it up. I recall Jay and I spending the afternoon together. Jay and I had originally met in 2000 down in SoCal when a bunch of us spent the week together touring hot rod shops and fine eateries. It was that Friday, at Taluca Lake Bob's Big Boy that I found the body for the Roach Rod. The following day all of us sat around at Hot Rod Bob's place racing pinewood derby cars and coming up with a plan for what I was going to do with all that rusty sheet metal. So I was anxious to see Jay's '31 Roadster that he had originally began building as a race car. Jay was very proud, and rightly so, of all the little machined parts on the car. Of particular interest to me was this little nylon bushed "slider" of sorts that allowed the throttle linkage to operate through the firewall. That and a host of other billet aluminum parts that Jay had hand crafted on his lathe at home. Jay made billet cool and fibergl*** tolerable. The car sat in the cramped garage, back in the far corner, and his lathe up against the opposite wall. Talk turned to the Roach Rod and my plan to build a bigger motor and disguise it as a 283. It didn't come out until years later... and it was Steve who always put "283" in quotes when we talked about it. So I began to explain my idea for an intake manifold... a two two-barrel intake that used two Rochester 2gc 380+ cfm carbs. Jay could see I was excited about my new motor, so when I got home with the engine block, I was greeted with an e-mail from Jay. Jay told me to "Keep an eye on your mail box". So I did... and rushed home every day that week. Eventually I found a little package by my garage door. This wasn't the first time Jay had sent me something. When I began construction of the Roach Rod in 2001 (ish), Mike Bishop had encouraged me to run an un-split wishbone on the rear, and Jay offered up a set of '36 Bones for the project... they arrived on my porch, taped together, and my name and address... and his... written in Sparpie on the bones. I never knew (Jason either) that you could mail stuff like that. I suspect our names are still on those bones... somewhere. Wrapped in brown grocery sack paper... and about 18" long... there it was. "What the heck?" "What could it be?" I quickly opened the package to find three stainless throttle linkages with heim joints and stainless hardward on each end. There were also some neat little aluminum spacers on one of the 1/4" stainless rods. I didn't know what the spacers were for... but I liked the way they quietly slid along the stainless linkage. It hit me years later that they were to space the linkage out for proper alignment. I called Jay up to thank him, and he told me that I could use them on the new motor, or some other project if I wanted. He just wanted to give me something to help out. I ended up using the little short linkage on the Roach Rod, at first... between both carbs... but then noticed the thing had a bad stumble. I ended up using parts of it to make a sliding "progressive" type linkage that worked really well. The mid length one was used on my '55 Chevy. And the longest one... 16" from eye to eye, was just saved. I don't know where he bought the heims. But they are so smooth and nice. The rod was threaded on his lathe... and the little aluminum bushings were made on his lathe too. By Jay... with his own two hands... Anyway, I was just looking at them the other day, and thinking of Jay... and how much he loved the HAMB and all the people here. So I thought it was fitting to give this back to the HAMB. It will go to the highest bidder... and once Ryan gets the money, and gives me the green light, I'll ship it to you. Auction ends Thanksgiving day. Take care, Sam
Thought about Jay just a few days ago I was painting something for a friend and when I opened my brush box there were the two Grumbacher brushes he sent me years ago. I rarely use them but I always keep them oiled. Heavy stuff... I'll start bidding at $33.30
Never met him in person, but loved his stories and style. A piece of C9 and something that was destined for the roach rod. $66.60
lol Sam. Wish I wouldve kept the bones he sent me... whomever ends up with the leftover special, they're on the front. I miss Jay often. I have a few things that I hold close to my heart, one is a signed copy of Pinky from Jay. $125
i have a signed copy of the california hotrodder as well as a signed copy of the ORIGINAL m****cript for it. i miss his words $133.30 later jim
i <3 Jay. did when i first read his posts. did more so when i was working the kinks out of the 455 buick mill, and he was always up for a phone call... even more still when he figured out the oiling problem for me on the aforementioned 455 i miss him every time i look at that engine
Great auction Sam Thought the "Roachy" was fast because of the linkage... not that it put on a few more cubes... Hahaha...! Wish I had the ability to bid higher because it would be cool to have that memento!
Shortly before Jay p***ed I happened to be driving from Texas back to California helping a friend brack back a car. We happened to take a detour up into the AZ hills at dusk and the whole time I was reminded of C9's avatar and signature. It was simply gorgeous. Miss his writing.
well i was going to stop on my last bid but because it's so close and it's you i HAVE to $1FIDDYFOUR hehe later jim
I met Jay here in Kingman at saterday morning lyers club. We were both amazed obout our common friends,and not knowing each other. I moved to Redmond ,Wa for a year and jay p***ed just befor I moved back. I always thought there was somthing special about him.
damnit!!! i KNEW i was forgetting something last night on the way to bed... i even had a hunnert n sixty clams just waiting lmao congrats Jim Sam, thanks for the auction and the memories of Jay. awesome story
We have a winner! Jim... I'll dig around my pile of stuff and throw something in that makes this auction more interesting. I got a lot of early HAMB history stuff... I'm a "saver". Sam
no "like" ****on, but what the hell... this was a cool auction, for a cool reason, for a cool guys memory
got the linkage today, along with a little bonus pic of the roach rod version 1 thanks Ryan, SamIyam, and most importantly Jay/C9
You're welcome Jim! You should scan the pic... FWIW, it was a little sketch that I did of the RR before I built it... I probably did that sketch a few weeks after I got the sheet metal... and 6 months to a year before I started to work on it. Sam
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