OK bring your best Joe Reath story and plan to be at The Lakewood Country Club ,3101 Carson St , Lakewood ,Ca. Feb. 2 from 12 noon until 4PM , casual racer wear. There will be a continental buffet served. RSVP to Joel Gruzen by phone, PM me for Joel's number , Thanks Hambers. S (edit) You may also contact Delma Reath to RSVP, just trying to get a head count for food and seating. A no host bar will be in the room.
Just bumpin' this back up. Like thousands of others, I have great memories of hanging out at Joe's. Dad started taking me there when I was a little kid back in the 60's. I remember him buying a 3X2 Offy intake for the Y block he was putting together. He got the manifold and picked out 3 97's off the bargain tables of used equipment that use to be in front the counter.
Yeah, Joe Reath, what a genuinely nice guy. I didn't meet him personally until the 70s, when I restored my hydro, but I'd always heard of him and seen his ads. Joe and Del were a great help to me. Back in those days, I was performing in San Diego once, or twice a month, and the guitarist, Larry Spatz, and I, would get off the 405 South at Cherry, to go get parts at Reath's. We'd walk in both with big pompadours, Joe would never call me Spike, he'd call me "Senator", for whatever reason. The name stuck. A few years later, I had a whole lot of 392 engines and parts, that Joe took gladly, in exchange for doing 392 machine work and parts for my hot rod '34. I think the last time I saw Joe and talked with him was the night the NHRA Motorsports Museum first opened ( '97?). The place was filled with VIP's and "name" racers, manufacturers, etc. I got an invite thru my good friend Tommy "Itch" Otis, then president of the L.A. Roadsters Club. Itchy and I had no sooner walked in the doors, when I heard Joe's deep voice "...well Senator, how are you doing?". Of course Reath would be there. I was taken that he never forgot me . To this day, neither I, nor the guitarist, can pass Cherry Avenue on the 405, without saying outloud..."parts"! I attended the Memorial there in Lakewood out of respect to this good man, and his wife Del. Godspeed my friend.
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