sunday morning .....FINALLY got caught up on some sleep....MUCH needed! just want to thank everyone who participated,helped,attended,supported our suede palace show this year. the producers of the show are so happy they want me back next year! it wasn't a joke when i announced during the award ceremony that going to bed @ 3:00 a.m. & waking up at 6:00 a.m. has been the normal routine for the past few weeks. everyones cars look great,the special displays are a huge hit,the bands have been great so far,and the atmosphere has been awesome ! if anyone has detailed close up shots of our SHIFTERS SPEED SHOP display please post them on here !!!!! again, thanks everyone!
thanks for posting those pictures! any more! CONGRATULATIONS TO MY PAL ROB FORTIER! he won BEST CUSTOM ......... AND..... he won the sultans car club favorite pick ! i must of announced your name a dozen times then asked if anyone knew you to come pick up the trophies........no one came up to the stage so i set both trophies next to your car. BTW, the deuce roadster next to you won best of show. please post more pics of the speed shop!
What? Guess I picked the wrong day to skip the show. Well, can you dust the trophies off too?! This is sweet--first indoor car show...first trophy. Now, I am officially a show car freak. Thanks for having my car in the Suede Hut, Alex. You done good with the choice of cars--much better than last year by far. See you later today.
Saw you on the morning LA news showing off the yellow truck, I was really glad to see the classics on tv getting some recognition.
What time does the Suede Palacio empty out? I need to plan today's trip to Pomona. My back and feet are damned tired. So, all day there again ain't appealing to me.
The palace is going to get better every year! In fact I've already started building a 32 pickup with tilt bed that spins, hydraulics (for the 3 wheel motion) and tv's everywhere. It's gonna be sooo sick !!! haha LOL. Just kidding. But seriously, It was a great show. I'll take a Quonset hut over a fancy building any day. Axle, I think we should encourage more displays,.. maybe a best display trophy ?? Just a thought. .
It was a great show. Axle, hats off to you and you deserve to be doing it again next year from what I saw yesterday. Rob, your interior was on the $$$$$. I know Kutty and a couple of other Sinners were there. Must have stepped out for a smoke or something! Your car would have fit right in at the other ($$$$$$$$) buildings but you know where your heart is and a true HAMB'r that you are to have it at the Suede Palace. Wish I could go again today. I think I missed a building or two. KNUX!
BTW.. Thanks alot axle, I know it was a lot of work because when I ran into you Thursday night you looked tired and wore out and were still working helping someone else when we left at 11pm and you had 3 more days left... I was with the chopped 40 (Dave Stinsons Barris 40), sorry I didn't introduce myself, we had been moved arround twice and just wanted to go home. It was almost 10pm and we had been there since 1pm. Even though you were odviously wore out you moved several cars and helped make room us. ( Not impressed with the promotor at all, I wish the older gentleman that ran it for years was still there he was a class act.) Saw some great cars and met some even greater people. Some of guys from THEM!! that had the cool model A we helped unload were great.. I wonder how they did in the judging, If anyone knows please let me know... The highlight of my day came helping them unload and the car was two low and wanted to hit in the middle, and one of them said " we should have left it a rat rod this is a pain"...
Axle, You put together an amazing hall, The Suede palace was great. You had a nice mix of cars, and the shifter's Speed shop was extremely cool. To top it off it was nice to finally meet you yesterday at the little HAMB get together. I look forward to next year. Great job, CBB
Awesome job Axle, the dump truck notwithstanding. The Ionia guys were a class act and it was great seeing Bobby Green's cars in person. Plus one of the finest bikes of the entire GNRS was behind a T-shirt display in a booth at the back of the hut -- a simple brown and black shovel with a springer front-end. I'm not a bike guy, but this thing was understated and perfectly proportioned. You done good Axle, thanks again. Oh yeah, perhaps you could share a little background on that Pontiac mill in your display?
Axle, outstanding job in the suede palace.. it was great to see some nice rides and not just thrown together shitboxes.. Hope you get to do this again next year..
Well axel, it looks as though everyone was very pleased with the GNRS suede room. Now that you've set the bar so high, I only hope we can come close to it at the Sacramento Autorama. With just a 30 day notice to put this together, I'll be happy to get enough cars, let alone a good mix. But interest is high so lets hope for the best. It will be good to see and meet you in person up here in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to those 3:00am days. LoL
thanks for the kind words guys. whew, 3 damn trips back & forth from pomona to our house last night. didn't get done until 2:00 a.m. the producer of the show took a gamble again,decided to have me organize the suede palace, and was very curious to see what i could do this year. he & his staff are so pleased they have asked me to join "the family" and assist them at the sacramento autorama ! the highlight of my weekend? to have bruce meyer come up to me,shake my hand, and say "axle, this building is the heartbeat of the GNRS" POORBOY BRUCE, not to worry, lets talk tonight! i've got vendors,cars,and assistance coming your way! we're gonna make it happen. DETONATOR....the story of my MICKEY THOMPSON engine is a long one. while helping out some folks i know in the pontiac restoration industry i stumbled across this engine in thier warehouse .they didn't care about it nor appreciate its historical significance. there were boxes,newspapers,and shop rags all over it. when i saw the custom made deep sump oil pan i knew it was a hot rod engine. when i enquired about the engine the owners of the shop said "oh thats mickey's engine" . i asked "mickey who" ? they replied and said "thats mickey thompsons engine and it powered that 4 engined thing he had.......oh, and its got some stamping in front of the block". knowing that all of the engines were accounted for , who restored the challenger 1 , and that the car is on display at the NHRA museum i was a bit confused. when i went back in the warehouse and took all of the crap off of the engine i looked at the front of the block and there was the stamping that reads "LEFT FRONT REVERSE ROTATION - ENGINE # 3" . i literally couldn't believe my eyes! i went back in the office and told them i had to have that engine. since they owned it for 20 years they didn't have use for it and gave it to me. when i contacted danny thompson (M/T's son) i asked about the engine. he told me that M/T had the 4 engines in the challenger. the two in the rear are normal rotation. the two engines in the front face the rear and are reverse rotation. since he was trying to be the fastest in the world M/T had one "ready to go" normal rotation engine & one reverse rotation. in 1959 & 1960 these engines were constantly being taken out at bonneville when problems would occur, and having the two extra engines were extremely helpful ! danny told me he had the extra normal rotation engine and for 40 years the extra reverse rotation engine was lost but now it has surfaced and "you've got it" . get goose bumps every time i tell this story to people! each engine puts out 750 HP. GROUCHO . wish i could have met with you and talked cars for a while. BOBBY GREEN & LUCKY . thanks for your awesome display. now go out there and break some records! bobby, i want to do the "special surprise display" we were talking about next year for sure !!!!!!! ZEALOT 9802 & GOOZGAZ . la bamba rules ! last but not least, let me clearify somethng. there were a few cars in the building that i did not want in there. i guess you could call them "theme cars" . the producers of the show felt it would be a great idea and that the kids would love it. couldnt argue and it was what it was. over all though, i am happy with the out come and it will be just as good if not better next year. thanks
good job Axle, you really cleaned that place up from last year. Rob Fortiers blue chevy, the belly tanker, the Immortals cars, your garage display, and all the other neat stuff. P.S. i want that Caddy motor you guys had on the engine stand!!! j/k can't wait for next year. some pics to show you guys what i'm talking about... -eric
Axle. Good to see a great outcome for you from the show. You deserve it looking at all that ya did to make it happen. I loved the cars that ya picked to be in the building. Wish I could have attended all 3 days. Can't wait till next year. KNUX!
A few impressions from me: Overheard in the Suede Palace: " Lots of great cars in the show, but this is the only building that's fun to HANG OUT in" This was from some guys in embroidered silk jackets that indicated that they had WON the GNRS in years before. Music: All of the bands were first rate. I especially dug Russell Scott & his Red Hots. They seemed to be having so much fun. I already liked the Vaquetones. The Go-Getters were a hoot also. The song selection flat out cracked me up. Neil Diamond?? ha ha The displays: All first rate too. The cars: Mostly perfect. Sure, there were some cartoony stuff, but there were enough truly great cars to more than make up for it. I took several friends down the row on the West side of the building so I could show them the 3 mercurys that ranged from stock body to a top chop to a sectioned and chopped car. It was like a perfect classroom to demonstrate custom bodywork. Brilliant!! My car was the ugliest one there. but I was honored to be running in such a high stepping bunch. Vendors: Best in the show, there also. The shine stand was pretty cool. HAMB meet: What a great cross section of the best talents and nicest folks around. Later in the show, it seemed like I met a new HAMBer every few minutes. A big thanks to Dennis from O'Brien Truckers for the name tags. Some things I didn't really like were: It was a cluster f*ck getting in and out of the show. They actually LOCKED us in on Sunday. There were some embarassing cars right in front of the doors to the Palace. Not all of them, that's for sure. But, C'mon! That thing assembled from junk truck parts was stupid. I'm OK with stupid, but I don't think that car properly represents what the Suede Palace was about. But all the little kids liked it. Some things I LOVED about the Palace: It felt like home. Lots of my kind of people, my kind of cars and a loose "hangin' around the shop with pals" kind of vibe. Axle & Celeste were the epitome of gracious hosts, as were the rest of the Shifters. The fact that we were in the coolest ol' quonset hut on the grounds was neat too. And my wife said that the Suede Palace was Ground Zero for people watching. Some folks must have thought it was Halloween last weekend. And I thank them for making the effort. How to improve it from here? More places for us old folks to sit. Include more painted and finished customs. I know that ain't the suede we all think of, but shiny paint IS traditional on cutoms. Oh, and let me help with the DJing next year. I hated to see Axle spread himself so thin. My 2¢, adjusted for inflation. Chili
Had a great time .... Thanks AXLE ... would havw been better IF my roadster was here ... but that was not your fault .. OFFROAD DEUCE ROADSTER...
thanks a lot phil ! i'll take suggestions any time. * i just heard a little history about the building * from 1941-1945 the city of pomona let the government/military build tanks there! can you believe that?!?!?!?! next year i am going to have a big mural/painting made of rosie the riviters & fabricators building planes & tanks, and place it right at the entrance. i'm gonna call it "IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK".
Thanks, Axle. I couldn't leave the building. Sorry about the turd on the floor by Rob's car. I crapped my pants when I saw that car. Thanks again from Oklahoma.
The Jalopy Journal
