Old Skool Rodz and the Fonz article, excellent!!!!!!

Walt, what day is the Chopper show, is it at The Last Resort? I'll ride my chopper out, if the ***** runs worth a damn.
BTW the shifter/clutch combo on your bike is the shizznizzy bro'.
And Cave Catt Sammy are on a 'hiatus', there goes our headliner. We got The Hindu Cowboys as a fifth band, so we'll be alright, I hope. I'm scared to be honest with you.

 

Hey man. The Horse chopper show is saturday march 6th. My chopper is a blast to ride. Im sure the show will be fine. We will gladly play more.

 

Im pretty sure I have seen a feature on the one of Fonces Mercs that ended up in Sweden, like Zodoff mentiones. At least after a redo in Sweden, it wasnt black, but pink and/or yellow (cant remember?) with lots of heavy sculpturing and beaks everywhere.

Thats a nice read, Chopolds.

 

I have a cheesy car show videotape here somewhere that has very little content of interest other than a segment that Joe "Fonz" discusses his love of customs and a short flash of one of his photo albums showing one of his mercs after it bit a ditch and rolled. May be the one chopolds mentioned.

Oldtin

 

Yeah the Fonz was a great guy. He brought that merc up for the second Keystone Nats. The next year he brought a different one up and had it for sale. Someone from around the area here bought it. I haven't seen it for a couple years now. later plmczy

 

I really enjoyed that article on him. I think meeting him would have been like stepping back in time.............

Now all of this has me wanting to find me a Merc!!!!!!!

 

order it from www.olskoolrodz.com . save a few bucks and subscribe. the "fonz" article is great.

 

Here's a couple of pix I took at Lead East in 91.I think it was just before he,"lit 'em up"

 

and the "business end"

 

Bob Findlay of Flanders, NJ made and sells a 10 minute video of Joe the Fonz Carloni building a chopped Buick in his driveway, lighting his cigarettes with a welding torch, with a rope tied from the doorhandle to his garage to actually hold his garage up! Narrated by Joe hisself. Welding and working on the car in his driveway in the snow.
It is a cl***ic of cl***ics. I knew Roth and Von Dutch personally and knew Fonzie, and Fonz should be a cult hero like Dutch & Ed. Findlay's phone number is 973 584 7750, but you can buy it by mail (not e-mail) by sending a check for $12 + postage ($3) (outside us $10...US funds only) for the video made payable to:
Fairway Productions, 30 Ironia Rd., Flanders, NJ 07836
all proceeds(less shipping)for this video still go to fonzie's family. The video is a trip, one of my favorites.

Terry Cook
aka terrydactile
leadeast@aol.com
P.S. Glad some of u you liked the story on Fonzie in RODZ
P.P.S. Hope to have my 44-inch tall '62 T-bird at Lone Star in March and Viva in April and Paso in May.Just look for the zebra skin

 

Thank you very much for the information. I will be mailing out some $$$ today to get the video.

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

fonzie was the father of rat rods 20 years before they were invented
a friendly dude
riding with him all over central NJ in his merc and kids would yell to him as he p***ed...
"lite em up"
they didn't mean the tires
as he was one of the early flamethrowers in this area
and all the kids knew it

 

Welcome to the HAMB Terry, and thank you for submitting the article about the Fonz. I don't remember how much time I have spent looking at the article and staring at the pictures of his sled. The one with him draggin into his driveway would make a kool poster. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and that article is a prime example.Do you have any more pictures to share?

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

Albertsons carries the mag! I meesed up when I said 7-11, that was the second place I went that night. Albertsons grocery store is the place I saw it.

 

Off the top of my head I don't have pix of Fonze to share immediately but I can dig around. I do remember when he p***ed away we made up Fonzie Forever t-shirts with his head on the front of the shirt and sold them at Lead East and gave the proceeds to his widow Mary Ann, who now , incidentally, as of last Lead East is dating Joe Uspruch (also has a chopped Merc), a really nice guy and friend of fonze's. The T-shirts sold out immediately but I think we gave Mary Ann the number of the shirt company and she reprinted them so some might be available. I'll check.
Yes the car s****ing into the driveway was an excellent shot.You had to see the numerous grooves that were carved into the pavement where Joe swung into his driveway. They are probably still there although somebody else lives in that house now.
Fonze had "echo cans" of thick cast iron pipe sticking out beyond the bumper to get the flames further away from his car. They were m***ive, perhaps 8 inches across and 18 inches long, thick wall pipe. He was parked in a parking lot somewhere and one night in the dark some female citizen (not a rodder) didn't see his exhaust extensions and made a turn by his car. The echo cans caught her car in the rocker panel and ripped a 6 foot hole in the side of her car like the ***anic, but never phased Joe's Merc.
Because Fonze was dirt poor one year I offered to take him along with me on a run in my old Lee Pratt '41 Buick lowrider from NJ to the Cleveland Rock N Roll Hall of fame, then to the Auburn Cord Deusenberg Museum in Auburn Indiana, then to the Gas City/Rebel Run/James Dean trifecta rod run (3 events within a few miles on the same weekend).
When I took Fonze to the James Dean Museum (now there are two?) in IN he was in heaven.
I bought one of his Mercs for $1,700, running, and like a total fool took it to the FL Turkey Run car corral where everyone laughed at the car. The stupid Billetheads had no idea how cool it was. Like a fool I sold the car for like $3,500 and when I got home from the Turkey run there were a half dozen messages from all over the world (Australia even) respondin to an ad I had put in the KOA gazette. I wish I had that car today as almost everyone who bought one of Fonze's Mercs including the guy in Bloomsburg PA spent money trying to straighten them out and make them into just another lookalike Merc custom rather than leaving them in their raw, cracked, bondo on bondo state of Fonze art.There remains one unrestored Fonze Merc in Jersey, but I can't remember who owns it. Occasioanlly it shows up at Lead East.
Wish I never sold Fonze's Merc.
I hate to push my own run but Lead East was Fonze's favorite event. Last year or the year before Mary Ann and her daughter brought the urn with Fonze's ashes in it and walked around spreading his ashes at Lead East. I offered to get her a driver with a Merc convertible to drive her around while she was doing it but she preferred to walk while spreading his ashes.

 

I agree about that article. One of the best articles I've read in a magazine and Fonze was the real deal for sure.

I only wish I could have met the guy and seen one of his cars in person. He was a true visionary artist in every sense of the term.

Stacey

 

Hey Terrydactile,

The main reason I liked Fonz's rides, they were works of art. Like some paintings, some people just don't get it and that is a shame. I remember seeing one of his Mercs for sale, and his Merc really caught my eye. It had the right at***ude. I was going to call, but a friend of mine talk me out of it, because he has seen his work before. He was one of those guys that just didn't get it, and I was young and I took his advice. I guess all I can say is woulda, coulda, shoulda. Monday, I will be sending some money for the video tape & that would be kool if they had some shirts for sale. I would be interrested.

Lead East!! I have a friend from Texas (Turbo Tom) & Wisconsin (Ralph & Nancy Schindel) that really talk highly of the event. Who knows maybe someday I'll be able to kruise the Merc up to your show.

I don't know if any one has mentioned it to you but you should post a topic and introduce yourself to the board. I know everybody knows who you are, by doing the intro lets everybody know that you are on line.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences with "The Fonz".

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

Mick

Lance aka Texas Turbo Tom is a total trip. Plan to visit his house wed nite on the way to Lone Star in mid March.
The Schindel family is as hard core custom car as you can get. Cheezeheads.
Good people, all

The reason I don't post a topic is because the little line sez I can't start a new topic

although i have the cl***ic steamroller personality i feel its best to check my ego at the door when i come to hamb, lest i get sliced and diced online by the membership. if anyone cares, rather than introducng myself as you suggest I have a bio on the bottom of the mission statement page of www.decorides.com

Can't wait to post pix of my '62 T-bird. It is as rude and tacky as a car can get, but you'll have to wait about 3 weeks.

By the way, just spoke with Joe Urspruch and he sez Mary Ann Carloni has about 40 Fonzie Forever T-shirts left. He's finding out sizes, price, mailing address for checks ec. for anyone who wants one of these collector shirts (2nd printing). Money goes to Fonze's family. When they're gone, they're gone. Fonze was such a cool guy. Loved by many, missed by many.

 

Here is a pic I have of the merc that was sold up here in bloomsburg. The car is on the right in the background. I thought I had a clearer pic somewhere but I can't find it. I wish I had the money back then to pick that one up. I hven't seen the car for a while now. later plmczy

 

terry, good to see you on the hamb ! on the subject of Joe, been coming to leadeast for about 15 years, never knew as him well as you did, but always b.s. with him when icould.i came in one year with a 50 ford tudor that , shall we say,was east coast rough. iwas sweating the build, cause it was rough. joe says,"you gonna live in it or drive it"bought things into perspective. put the car in primer, scalloped it in my cousins garage, and drove the piss out of it! anyway, long story short, joe was one of the best people i have ever met at lead east, and thanks for being his friend.

 

Still a very GAY name but a good Issue with some neat cars. Terry, nice to see you finally posting here! You still coming to Sturgis this summer?

 

Tman

Sturgis is Aug 9-15. Pebble Beach Concours week is Aug 11-15
and I'm trying to gte one of my boattail speedsters done to run across the auction block Sat Nite 14 aug, so I can't be two places at once. However if I don't get the Boattail done and to the left coast I will have T-bird out there, after Paso and LA Roadsters, and could drive it back thru sturgis at that time.Stay tuned for the further adventures.

 

I thought the mag ****ed for the most part. there were a few good pics of some nice hotrods and customs, and a couple of articles, but the site of the fonz's poor bondo slathered merc was gnarly, and what's with the "Fear This" and "Blo-Me" stickers on the black pickup in the spread. Holy stickers on the car batman. Also, in my opinion, which is just that, my opinion.....Kragen cheapo car antennas don't belong on roadsters. Anyway, thank God for Rolls and Pleats, Hop up, Rodders Journal, CkDeluxe, so we have something to stear the rodding world in the right direction.
oh the Fonz article was a good read, but the cars, I don't get it.

 

here's what i think..Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

who gives a ****!

 

The one redeeming feature I found in the magazine was a letter someone had written.Turns out it was a guy I was stationed with in the Navy and haven't talked with since 1965! Finally got in touch with him and found out he's still into cars bigtime.Thanks OlSkollRodz!

 

"here's what I think...blah blah blah blah blah..."

well yeah, pretty much. except I didn't have my picture in the upper left corner.

 

No ****?!

Since 1965??

That's cool!

Sam.

 

[ QUOTE ]
No ****?!

Since 1965??

That's cool!

Sam.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah Sam it was really a trip! The guy has a rather unusual name and I recognized it immediately. Couldn't contact the magazine because my e-mail is dysfunctional(non-functional)so I did a Yahoo search.Knew he originally came from Jersey so I started there.Only one listed.Called and got his wife.Explained who I was and if in fact her husband had been in the Navy.She got hold of him(he works 4-12 usually)and he called me later on.Freaked him out completely.Said I was the first person who has gotten in touch since he left the Navy in 67.We were going to Ordnance school in Jacksonville together and I mentioned I still had pics of the T-shirts I used to doodle on with magic markers.That really freaked him out!
Turns out he's got several cars and does custom upholstery on the side.We're definitely getting together when my wife and I head out East for the Ty-Rods show in September.Might even hit Lead East while we're in Jersey.
Started me wondering how many guys are still alive from the cl***.I know a couple of them got killed on the South China Sea. Tried one other guy in Minnesota(another unusual name)and he's supposed to call when he gets back from a trip.I guess this is what happens when you attain "coothood"!
Ray