Before WWII, Bill Burke was active in the Southern California hot rod and racing scenes. Speed had grabbed Bill by throat and wasn’t about to let go. Like many of us, he was a slave to all things fast and hopped up. So it makes sense that even while Bill was stationed in the South [...]
The First Belly Tank
Posted on July 31st, 2009 by Ryan
Filed under: History
Filed under: History
Rocketfire Shoebox
I spent a lot of time in Salina this weekend just sitting and thinking… Thinking about line, proportion, style, and what makes a custom work to my own sensibilities. Riding along in Lee Pratt’s shoebox Ford, staring at El Jefe’s Gary Howard built Cad, and just generally hanging out with the crew that I was [...]
Epic Roadtrip
An old Ford Ranchero hauling a 25 year old single axle trailer with one of the most sinister model-a coupes you’ve ever seen strapped down tightly to the deck. Kanada to Texas… You wouldn’t believe it if there weren’t pictures – would you? Well, there are… There are tons of pictures. Tuck and Kevin Lee [...]
Bailiegh Bail Out – WINNER!
Man… That was one hell of a contest that came right down to the wire. Around 1000 folks voted and the winner took the goods by the slimmest of margins. In all honesty, all of the participants are winners. I know, cliche… But we really had some great entries this time around and I’m awful [...]
The Leadsled Spectacular
I attended my first Spectacular a number of years ago in Wichita, KS. Robert Rolling and I drove my ’65 Buick Riviera up for the event and proceeded to have an absolute ball. We reveled in the fact that we were the young guys in a crowd of older gentlemen. Something about it made us [...]
On The Road
Lee Pratt and I left Dripping Springs, TX yesterday morning at 7am. Lee was driving his fabulous shoebox Ford while I rode shotgun and played navigator. In Austin, we were joined by the Kontinentals – namely Steve, Reggie, Gary, and Norm. The goal? Salina, KS for the Kustom Spectacular. It’s a 650 mile trip straight [...]
Climbing Hills
I’m on the road today headed toward Salina, so this is gonna be a quick post… My buddy Clive over at Stromberg sent the video below. It was taken at a Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb in England and features an early English “special” powered by a monster Ford flathead. Of course, Clive had the particulars on [...]
A Day In The Life… Part II
You remember part one, right? My life is quite a bit different now. A lot has happened since then. I guess the biggest change is that I now have a son and my mornings are more euphoric and clear than they have ever been. Typically, I spend them in bed with my two kids and [...]
Auto Polo
This is pretty far off-topic, but I just can’t help myself… I was cruising through the Library of Congress Flickr stream and found the photos you see here. From the little research I’ve done, I’ve been able to gather that Auto Polo was played for one season only on Coney Island. The basic rules of [...]
Through the years we’ve had some pretty amazing articles pop up here on The Jalopy Journal. The following is just a few of them:
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Tom Cobbs
The story of Tom Cobbs, his legacy, and his hot rod roadster. Read: Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3.
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The Bob Roddick Story
The story of a set of lost photos that literally take us all back into time. Read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4.
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The Ferrari Shoot
Comparing and contrasting three very different cars with three very different purposes in life. Read It >>
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Inspiration
This post is actually a continuation of two other posts that were written in 2006 (Part 1 & 2). The stuff you guys came up with is breathtaking.
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Gary Howard
Gary is one of my heroes and after interviewing him, I got to check off an item from my dream list. Read It >>