I'm baaaaack.....

Well I am back. After a long hiatus, I am going to attempt to get back onto this community. After about 3 job changes and 3+ vintage car changes I decided it was time to get back and do some serious catching up.

For those of you who don't know me. My real name is Phil. I have been called many things from Hotrod Phil, Suckerpunch to Paparazzi Phil (I always have camera in hand to catch you in those candid and sometimes compromising shots. Mostly at parties or bar hopping). And of course I have been infamously called "So-Cheap".

So-Cheap came around because I had a website that was documenting hotrodding in Phoenix and all the fun we were having building cars and partying. Weekly entries to the pictures pages were the highlight. But I also was trying to promote the style of cars that we so love here on the H.A.M.B. Actually I had a community similar to the H.A.M.B. before there was ...the HAMB. I didn't promote it so it never really caught on. (fortunatly the HAMB did) The name for the website came about because I was originally making fun of our beloved So-Cal Speed Shop. Right up until the Cease and Desist letter came after 4 years of poking fun at the overpriced 'hotrod in a box' company.

Don't get me wrong, if I absolutely have to have it today and I am willing to pay twice what it is worth I will buy it there. But in most cases I am pretty damn cheap. Just ask my ex-wife and my exgirlfriends. There are still remnants of the site located at www.pbase.com/socheap/ I can't remember the last time I updated it.

By Background.....Grandpa was the original hotrodder/bodyman/WWII Navy gunner. Slicked hair, cuffed Levi's, wingtips and tattoed forearms. My hero. When I was a kid I thought it was amazing how he could take a wrecked car and make it new. I remember many times while growing up being at the shop 'helping' grandpa. Mostly getting really dirty and having to be sprayed off with the airhose. The smell of bondo dust and hardener still takes me back. My father was always buying and fixing up something old. Then later in life he was able to afford to create what he really wanted and has had so many hot rod cars he lost track. But he has the pictures to prove it. HAHA.

First hotrods.....Honda 50 - Age 8. I did everything I could to try to kill myself on that bike running through the canyons near the St. Joe river in Idaho (a tributary to the Snake river). Then it got only worse after that....more motorcycles. Kawasaki 100 - age 12, Suziki RM 125 - age 14, Honda CL 350 - 16 and so on.
When I was a kid my neighors were really cool. The guy on the right had a 67 RS Camero with a 327 - Black. Oh yeah. The guy on the left raced NASCAR. I was forever at his house trying to get in his way as he tuned up for the saturday night races.

First real hot rod was a 1954 Ford Main - Stright 6. Just waxed it, lowered it and drove it for 2 years.

Other past Hotrods: 1927 Ford Roadster, 1958 Ranchero.

Current Hotrods: 1959 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88
1954 Dodge Coronet with a BB 440
1923 Ford Track T
1971 Triumph Bobber

 

Oh man, I remember all the so-cal BS. It's great to have you back.

Cheers Dave

 

Dude I loved your web site and was pissed when ya got the cease and desist! Whats wrong with some good old fashion ribbing. I'm still wearin my so-cheap t-shirts that I bought from ya a long time ago! Welcome back!