The Randy Canarozzi ’35

Randy Canarozzi was taking a leak in a bar somewhere in Northern California some time ago. It was later in the day and a few beers in, so he had to use one hand against the wall in front of him as a way to defend against the gravity that pulled him towards the urinal. As he did so, he couldn’t help but notice the Stella mirror that hung above. It was notable because one of his best pals was actually at the bar with him, drinking his favorite beer – Stella.

So Randy finished the paper work and promptly headed towards the bartender. “Is the owner of this establishment around by any chance?” he asked. The bartender produced and Randy found himself in an unexpected situation of commerce. “I’d like to give you $100 for that Stella mirror in the bathroom,” he said. “Does that sound fair?”

Without any hesitation, the proprietor of the bar agreed and Randy headed back to the head to procure his prize. He then walked it right over to Keith Tardel and humbly presented him with his birthday gift.

This feature is not brought to you by a corporate sponsorship from Stella, but it should be…

“Keith and I used to talk cars for hours. We’d go to the local watering hole or we would grab lunch and just talk for hours and hours about the cars we should or could build – using cocktail napkins for illustrations. It was a regular deal and since Keith has moved to Texas, I’ve really missed those sessions. Keith just makes it happen. He’s a one of kind.”

Obviously, Randy and Keith go way back… and Keith has been largely involved in a lot of builds for Randy including a ’33 5-window and both versions of a ’32 roadster – one for the street and one as a flathead powered land speed car. Most recently, they’ve been talking about a ’29 roadster on deuce rails. But we will get to that at a later date… Today, we are here to rap about Randy’s ’35 roadster.

Randy found the car in Yuba City, CA where it had sat dormant since the early 1960’s. Other than a juice brake conversion and an 8BA motor, the car was pretty much untouched and stock. “I wanted to make it more fun to drive, so I took it to Keith,” Randy recalled. “I knew he would get it done and I knew I would just tear it apart and let it sit.”

True to his reputation, Keith got to work. For power, a ’37 Ford 21-stud motor was called upon. For kicks, a healthy cam was added along with an Edelbrock intake and a pair of 97’s. Red’s headers lets it breath. It’s all backed with a ’39 top loader fronting a banjo rear with 3.54 gears.

From there, Keith worked on the stance. An aggressively dropped axle (4″) was mated to reversed-eyes springs that were missing a leaf or two. He then grabbed some ’35 wires with Lyon’s accessory wheel covers and mounted a set of 6.00-16 Firestones up front and 7.00-16’s out back. The result is a rake that gives the car a very aggressive personality. It’s just pissed.

To accentuate that anger, Keith decided to chop the top 2″ while retaining the folding top. And as a subtle tip of the hat to the custom gods, the headlights were lowered just a tad. That’s it. That’s all she needed. And it was then that Randy came up with the idea to use 1940 Olds bumpers. You might imagine that there was quite a bit of bewilderment around the shop when that one came down. There was. But once they were mounted, the traps were shut and everyone fell in line. They look amazing on this car.

Anyway, the final touch was a visit to Francini’s for the interior work in brown leather. Afterwards, Randy figured a ’40 wheel would be more appropriate than the original. Again, he was right.

And with that, the car was done… By happenstance, I drank a Stella with both Keith and Randy about 36 hours ago here at The Jalopy Journal World HQ. This ’35 isn’t the last in a line of Canarozzi/Tardel collaborations. Not by a long shot, so stay tuned…

Editor’s Note: I wanna thank Bryan Rusk for not only shooting the car for me, but also doing a great job gathering quotes and what not from Randy. Someone give Bryan a pat on the back – he has it coming.

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