Folks Of Interest RIP ... Dave Tanimura

I am saddened to hear that we lost our fellow hot rodder, car builder and man with a keen eye for style. I will miss running into him and chatting at Nor-Cal car events. A big hug to his family and close friends...

 

One more for the road. Don't know who took this one and I sure don't remember who sent it to me, but I sure do like it. Almost like he's going to bust out in song, maybe something like Su****ious Minds! Hope he's enjoying hot rod heaven.

 

RIP

 

Rip Dave. I will miss bumping into you at all the swap and shows. I will never forget being 15 going to the Ramada in Antioch the night before bulletproof snd see Dave and mike smith doing a zig zag dual tire fire with the so-cal car while mike and I think Brent threw the car back and forth at each other! Great times and an even greater guy. Dave was a legend and his legend will live on but he will be missed by many.

 

God Bless Dave and all his family.

 

I feel compelled to tell the story. Maybe it will save someone’s life. If Ryan deems it inappropriate that’s ok. Delete the post. I was with Dave the night he got covid. We had a car club dinner at Trader Vic’s on Dec. 4.We skipped last year for obvious reasons. Dave was always invited even though he wasn’t in our club. Our group is mostly comprised of teachers, Vaxed early on. Me and Dave are mechanics. After dinner 4 guys went for drinks. The rest of us went home or to our hotel rooms. We all tested negative. That night Dave and 2 others got covid. Dave was not vaccinated, the 2 others were and the 4th guy was triple vaxed and didn’t get covid. We had group text going checking up on each other. Looked like everyone was recovering after a couple days.We didn’t know Dave wasn’t vaccinated, never thought to ask. He declined rapidly. On the 17th he was placed on a ventilator. He hung on and we thought he’d recover. I just wanted to set the record straight because there’s rumors spreading that he had health issues. Not the case. His last day of work before retirement was Dec 24th. Our group is devastated with Dave’s p***ing. I’m not advocating to get the shot or not. That’s an individual’s choice in my eyes. Please get medical attention early!! I can’t stress this enough. Antibodies and other treatments may have saved him.

 

F covid…so sad…

 

Dave was one of the best guys I have met in this Hot Rod world.
And he will be missed by many of us.

As has been said, he was a true hot rodder, through and through.
He also was quick to laugh and knew how to have a good time.

He would be one of the first people to offer someone help if broken down.
And I cannot remember hearing an unkind word come from him.

And even though he had built and owned some of the coolest cars around,
he was always humble and generous.

Thank you for putting this thread up there, as he is someone we should honor and remember.

And thank you Pat for letting people know what happened.

Dave is the first person I have known personally who has died from this virus,
and while I sit here with the virus myself, it makes it very real.

I hope someday this virus will be under control, and those of us who want to celebrate
Dave's life can do so in person, with our cars, and have a toast, laugh, and tell stories about our friend.

God Speed.

 

So true. I can’t get him off my mind. Nor do I want to. Take care and rest up!

 

R I P

 

Beyond sad, he’s one of the NorCal local boys I came up around . He was at pretty much every show. You won’t find anyone that knew him that didn’t like him.

 

Been years since I have been on here, BUT when I found this post, I felt compelled. I had the pleasure of meeting Dave over 20 years ago and had the honor to work with him for some years. Dave was always willing to listen and had the time to chop it up with you. I did not hear a negative word coming from his mouth, and actually looked forward to the times I could chat with him. Over the years, we went separate ways, but I would run into him time and again. He still always had the time to sit and talk with you. He was always smiling, and there was something about his personality that just made you feel good about talking to him. He was always a fixture you just ***umed would be there. Dave was a great hot rodder and an even better man. Like the rest of you, I am really going to miss him!

 

Dang, seems like a person you’d want to have known. So sad to have him p*** at such a young age.
Rest In Peace.

 

May he Rest In Peace …… I don’t care what side of the Covid fence anyone is on - we all hurt the same when we lose someone to it.

 

I'm very sorry.

Everybody is different, and this virus is voracious with some.

 

I didn't know Dave personally, only knew him to say Hi at automotive events but it's obvious he had a lot of friends in the hot rod community and was very well-liked. He certainly had good taste in cars and had some really cool ones. He left us way too early.

 

Our prayers

 

Knew and worked with Dave at S.B. for 20 plus years, always enjoyed our conversations about his or my ride or fixin up our houses . Best hair ever. Dave you will be missed. My condolences to Daves family

 

Wow. I haven’t been on the HAMB in a long time. I hope everyone is doing well holding it down here. I was brought back here through doing a Google search tonight for “Dave Tanimura”— because i hoping to find some pictures of my friend that I hadn’t seen before. I miss him.

When I recently told the story of missing the Road Zombies Christmas Party this year, and thus also missing that nights covid craziness, someone replied to me “you really dodged a bullet.” The truth is that i’d give anything right now to have been there with my friends that night— because one of them is now gone forever. I’m sorry for not being there.

The soul we believe “cool” cars possess is an illusion. In reality, that soul comes from people like Dave Tanimura. Dave infused his heart, soul, words, actions, blood and tears into everything he created, everything he touched and everyone he met. He is one of the special ones, who put the culture in cars— both in life and going forward post his death. Since I can’t explain it completely right now, I ask you to just look into his eyes in this picture—- if you focus well they’ll tell you everything you need to know….

Dave was love. Fun. Humble. Kind. Creative. A ****ing cool guy. God damn i’m lucky to have such good friends…. Dave Tanimura lives on through the many people he heavily influenced. Im one of the them and I so damned lucky.

Life is temporary. Let’s never forget it….

-scott noteboom

 

You will be missed my friend

 

RIP Dave Godspeed

 

Right now Dan Stoner is doing a story on Youtube Motor Underground "Chinatown Confidential" which was brought about apparently because of Dave's '55 tribute g***er "Underdog" He is mentioned at time stamp 7:35

 

R I P

 

My wife and I watched the last installment last night, she was brought to tears when Dave was on screen, we both miss that guy a lot.

 

Dave was just AWESOME! We really miss him.

- Tim

 

Thanks to Dave for the '25 T roller that I've built with a lot of help and raced a bunch

 

God Bless David and his family.

 

RIP, Man.

 

My condolences to his family and many friends.