The Auderer Roadster: Part 2

If the name Brian Auderer sounds familiar to you, it just might be because Brian also owns “The Jewel” – a well publicized and gorgeous little model-a sedan that we featured here on The Jalopy Journal just last year. You remember that story, right? If not, go back and read it… I’ll wait for you to finish before I carry on with what would become a strange coincidence.

Done? Cool, let’s go…

So, it’s around 2005 or so and “The Jewel” is at a shop called “Aces & Eights” in San Antonio. At around the same time, Brian decided it was finally time to give his roadster a new chassis. So he too dropped his car off at Aces & Eights. The car was completely torn apart and readied for a transformation. But then, the owner of the shop disappeared – taking a lot of customer cars and parts with him. It was a big damned mess and Brian was just one of the casualties. He showed up at the shop to find the place deserted, doors unlocked, and most of his roadster missing. He did, however, get the body, the grille shell, and a few assorted parts back.

After recovering mentally, Brian decided to press on and delivered the salvaged parts to Circle City Hot Rods – owned by another a good pal of ours, Jimmy White. At the time, Brian Bass was farting around with Jimmy quite a bit and he took it upon himself to give a little vision by way of an illustration:

So, an idea was born… Jimmy did what Jimmy does. He built a trick little chassis with lots of race car inspired details that would give the roadster a solid foundation for what was to come. Here’s a quick gallery of photos from the time the roadster spent at Jimmy’s that Brian was able to dig up:

In no time at all Brian had the car back to Texas with a rock solid chassis. He then took the frame and all of it’s components out to Gary Howard and had him throw some paint on it. Once that was done, he laid everything out on his garage floor as if it was a big model kit.

The Eva Street Garage…

Jimmy came out for the Round Up that year and brought down Curtis’ freshly finished a-coupe. The two looked like family members.

Once the chassis was painted and assembled, Brian then took the car out to John McHenry in Blue, Texas. John shot the body in black primer and got everything assembled. And from there, Brian made one last stop at South Austin Speed Shop. There, Bob Bleed got the radiator sitting appropriately and all of the details ironed out. And while he was doing that, Sean Johnston stitched up a simple interior.

The last “Fat Lucky” interior.

A crazy side bar of sorts: The first interior that Brian had in the roadster was also done by Sean. It was the first hot rod interior that Sean had ever done. And when Sean redid the interior this time, it would be the last job that he would take on before moving from Austin to become a gypsy of sorts. Symmetry.

And as Sean was moving away, Von Franco was moving to Austin. In fact, Franco spent his first Easter in Austin over at Brian’s house on Eva Street. At some point during the festivities, he snuck out to the garage and striped Brian’s car in quick order. As you might imagine, Brian was thrilled… And the car was considered done.

Franco’s sneaky stripe job…

A portrait… Penned by Von Franco of course…

Once finished, Brian continued to drive the wheels of the car as he always had. It attended every Hot Rod Revolution in Austin, made many Round Ups, and was once again a kind of mainstay in the Austin hot rod scene. Then, the old flathead began to give up the ghost. It was smoking and blowing oil as if it was attempting to make Brian a millionaire in his own sitcom. Eventually, he parked the car and began to focus all of his energy on The Jewel.

Of course, The Jewel is now finished and Brian has begun to think about his old roadster again. I’ll let him sum it up in his own words: