Folks Of Interest RIP ... Andy "The Rodfather" Brizio

God speed old friend. It's been over 20 years since I've seen Andy. I believe the last place I saw him was either the Sacramento Autorama, or the Portland Roadster show, then I moved away. I went to his picnic in Castro Valley many times, and then to Vallejo when it was there. Would visit the shop in South San Francisco a lot of times too. He was always polite and willing to talk. My Dad's 40 Chevy had his front brakes.

 

Bad news but a life well lived. Condolences to Roy and the rest of Andy’s family...

 

A True Legend. R.I.P.

 

Condolences to all the family, he will be missed! Good times at Crow Canyon & many NSRA Nats!

 

Sad news.

Condolences to the family, and those who knew him personally. Always seemed like a nice guy who was having fun with cars, and encouraged those around him to do the same.

 

Passing of another legend. Condolences to the Brizio family.

 

Sorry to hear this. Condolences' to all his family. Passed him once but not for long, That evening I asked if he always drove that fast? Every time I can was his answer! R.I.P. Andy Brizio.

 

RIP

 

My sincere condolences to Sue and the entire Brizio family. I learnt so much about Andy thru the pages of old magazines and books. When he visited New Zealand it was the beginning of a friendship more than my fascination of his fame. Andy was the original work hard and play harder fun loving man we all admired. Our paths didnt cross again until the early 2000’s when I bumped into him at the Friday night banquet at the California Hot Rod Reunion. “Whoa kid, what are ya doing here?” followed by the Italian Andy kiss on both cheeks! From there that night this kid from New Zealand was introduced to everyone from Tommy Ivo to Don Prudhomme. Completely unreal. Andy and Sue seemed to be amazed by my interest and knowledge in hot rod history despite being a world away. I always tried to make a point to see Andy on each of my trips, I am forever thankful for the time and attention he always gave me and I will never forget the time he loaned me his roadster for Goodguys Hot Rod Week. I am so glad I visited Andy last year with my original Andy’s jacket - he was blown away I found one. It was tearful when I left that day as I knew I may never see him again. Thank you mate, may you rest in peace and hit the highway in the sky. This one sure hurts and hits hard. Miss ya already Andy - RIP

 

As I mentioned in post #3, it was in the late '60s when my family became friends with the Brizio family . . . and we attended (almost) every "ANDY'S PICNIC" from 1968 thru 1996 in our "HEMI32" Coupe.

My father passed away in 1990 . . . so in 1991, Andy honored his friend by including the coupe in the event artwork:

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I have hundreds (if not thousands) of photographs & slides from those 30+ years of "ANDY'S PICNIC" events . . . but the majority are pretty off-topic to post here . . . That stated, there's some HAMB-Friendly (& semi-HAMB-Friendly) photos in my "ANDY'S PICNIC" threads:

• ANDY'S 3rd Annual PICNIC - July 1969 ... PICS!!!
• ANDY'S 7th Annual Hot Rod PICNIC - August 1973 ... PICS!!!
• ANDY'S 8th Annual Hot Rod PICNIC - August 1974 ... PICS!!!
• ANDY'S 9th Annual Hot Rod PICNIC - August 1975 ... PICS!!!

 

RIP Andy, I was in my mid 20's when I first Heard about the Picnic's in Cull Canyon in 74 or 75 and went to as many as I could till I moved to Texas. Thank You, for putting them on. You made a lasting impression on both me and my son, that's 55 now who was 6 when we made it to the first picnic. Growing up in Hayward and cruising E14th from the early 60's on. Your picnic's were the largest gathering of rods we had see up until that time. I was working at Signs by the Brush in Hayward when we did the tow truck, and I always loved set up on Thursday at the Coliseum for the Roadster Show, doing last minute show cards for the cars. Sorry for the rambling it's just there are so many memories of your influence over my life. Thank You!

 

Sad News
Prayers to Family from Aussies
Saw him a number of times at LARS, this one in 2015

 

RIP... He contributed a large amount to the industry.

 

Briz bumpers were bad ass....The 80s were the Briz ...

 

For the record, neither Andy nor Roy Brizio have any connection to Briz bumpers

 

God Speed my friend. Hugs and prayers to Sue, Roy and the family from Lynn and Darold. I'm sure he will be in good company up there and free to walk all over the place. Rest In Peace Any Brizio. Will miss you!

 

His C-Cab was bought by Led Zeppelin's Drummer John Bonham in the late 70's. A few shots of the C-Cab in the Led Zep movie "The Song Remains the Same". I believe it was sold and shipped to new owner in Australia. Link of loading car:
RIP, and condolences to his family!

 

This is the clip I was looking for!

 

Godspeed Rodfather...

 

Not to hijack the thread but the C-Cab is for sale in Australia

 

More pics of Andy through the years:

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Beautiful memorial artwork by Ron Weber:

image from the r.weberdesign Instagram feed
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I was unable to attend the ANDY BRIZIO MEMORIAL held earlier today (Saturday, October 21st 2023 from 11am - 3pm) at ROY BRIZIO STREET RODS in South San Francisco . . . but 500+ others were able to attend . . . including @Greg Stokes who took these photos:

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NOTE: The Brizio family had Greg Westbury create this unique urn for Andy’s ashes:

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Here's 's tribute to Andy:

Parting Shot: Andy Brizio The RodFather
December 15, 2023

If there were ever four individuals who “gave all” to our hobby and industry it was from left to right Gray Baskerville, Tom Medley,
Andy Brizio, and Tex Smith. Each of them is now enjoying the fruits of their labor in a place I hope someday all of us can enjoy.
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Honored At Celestial Rodding Hall of Fame
By @Brian Brennan

The death of Andy Brizio, The RodFather, is a powerful and deeply felt loss for all of us, but the Celestial Rodding Hall of Fame just welcomed one of the truly great ones. Andy, who has long served the hot rod world in many capacities, will no longer be gracing the hot rod world; he died on August 1st of this year.

A great deal has been written on and about Andy throughout his famous career. He was a regular on the pages of car magazines going back to the ’70s and pretty much any hot rodder around today knows the story about his time as a flag starter at Half Moon Bay, which led to a job at Champion Speed Shop and then a partnership with Cub Barnett in Champion. It was in 1967 that Andy produced the Instant T, and it was in 1970 that he built an America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winning Instant T. More on Ts … Andy was also very well known for his Andy’s Tees, a company that produced T-shirts for years for hot rodders all over the country.

It was the SEMA show back in 1998 when Andy was everywhere, and his smile was looked for by all of us. It’s the smile that will be missed.
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He was a friend and driving partner to many hot rodders over the years. To me Andy will always be my friend but there are three stories in particular that are “pressed between the pages of my mind” forever. I first met Andy at Crow’s Canyon in NorCal at his long-running and famous Andy’s Picnic. I believe the event started in 1966 and I was to meet Andy at the “Picnic” in 1971. I had just started my lifelong ambition to take pictures and write about hot rods. It was Tex Smith who introduced me to Andy, and I clearly remember his smile and how he shook my hand. I felt I had known him for years and that he was my friend. Over the next 50 years that feeling never wavered.

Another time I was driving back from the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in the late ’70s when many of us stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona, as we had run into a summertime downpour. Remember Flagstaff has an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet. It was cold for a roadster driver and the thought of heavy rain and possible snow made for a rethink. Once again, our, Andy and Cub, paths crossed. They needed to press on but didn’t have windshield wipers on their roadster. Andy and Cub would switch out driving while the other acted as the windshield wiper cleaning off BOTH sides of the windshield.

We stopped at the same spot when I asked Andy why he didn’t have his windshield coated in Rain-X. Neither had used the magical windshield chemical that makes water sheet away quickly, leaving a clear and clean windshield to look through. I told Andy of my story of using it while working at Disneyland. I grabbed my bottle and proceeded to lather up Andy and Cub’s windshield. Andy and I would recall this story for years. He would tell everyone standing around how I saved him and Cub by showing them this miracle chemical. It saved one or both from hanging over the windshield wiping off the downpour.

Back in the heyday of the National Roadster Show (soon to become the “Grand”), Andy built one of his famous Instant Ts during the
10 day show. You could see progress each day of the show while visiting the vast array of hot rods and customs on the show floor.
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Over the years Andy and I would see one another often at gatherings but it was back in 2007 that I would enjoy what may very well be the “drive of a lifetime” for me in my highboy roadster. Andy and Cub were driving back to the Good Guys Indy event when Lil’ John Buttera and I would drive our roadsters together back to the same event. It was John’s lil’ lakester-style roadster that featured the all-aluminum Moal Coachbuilders body. It was John’s last build.

Andy could literally be found at hot rod events across the country for decades. He was a friend to everyone and would always talk
“shop” with people he was meeting for the first time. After the first time you met Andy you thought of him as a longtime friend for life.
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Some of you may recall that was a time when Andy and Lil’ John were on the “outs.” As luck would have it, I found myself acting as a go-between and finally one evening while standing outside the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Indianapolis Lil’ John and Andy “cleared the air’ ‘ and from then on their friendship was all that it should have been. Oh, the drive was fantastic with lots of crazy things happening, but all that took a phaeton’s backseat to what was important.

Andy, our RodFather, thank you for the memories. It’s appreciated. ​

 

Not sure if this has been posted somewhere or where it should be posted but seemed fitting here. Triggered a lot of memories being a young kid running around.

 

Thanks for posting ^^

 

1956, I was helping Ed Bosio get his roadster ready for Oakland (which he won)
when George Barris came by. He was in the Bay Area and knew Eddie from the time
he bought Edelbrocks roadster and wanted to see it befor the show.
When the word got out, all sorts of people started showing up including Andy driving
the garbage truck. He had left his route in order to meet Barris. As a 14 year old I thought
that was really cool.

 

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. . . and ANDY’S C-Cab is back with the Brizio family:

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