The Jalopy Journal

A few years ago, I spent a week at “Ranche De Tardel” learning the basics of building a flathead Ford. More recently, I dove into my own flathead that featured a tapping lifter. We were able to put a temporary patch on the lifter issue, but this motor powers my daily driver and a proper [...]

I’ve mentioned Kevin Silva’s sedan a few times here on The Jalopy Journal (here, here, and here), but I’ve never really gotten into the full story of how this little hot rod came to be. Kevin recently finished the car and I thought the timing was there, so here we are – part 3 of [...]

So as 2007 comes to a close, I thought it would be interesting to crunch some numbers and list the top 10 posts in the last year on the The Jalopy Journal. Essentially, I took the number of page views and the number of replies and figured their percentage of the user base after taking [...]

I still can’t stop thinking about my time at the Tardel Ranch. Every now and then, a light will flip on and I’ll remember some little tid bit that Vern or Keith taught me. This one is basic and most of you probably already had a handle on it, but I didn’t and thought I [...]

We spent the day getting ready for the open house and the Hot Rod Revolution. As such, I’ve got nothing for you in the way of lessons learned or chores. Instead, I thought I would post a few random images from my trip. Click “read the rest of this entry” below and enjoy!

I spent the morning doing some work on the computer and didn’t get to the shop until around 9:30. That one hour head start was all Keith needed to get the motor stabbed into the ’36. I jumped in and the two of us swapped in the radiator, hung the sheet metal, and buttoned up [...]

So when I left you last we had just finished what Mr. Tardel calls a “backyard” rebuild on a 1940 Ford flathead. See, Vern builds some of the baddest flatheads on the planet and he stooped more than a little bit to teach me a thing or two… or ten. It’s been nothing short of [...]

Yesterday, I failed to mention a particular pleasure at Tardel’s. It seems there was a large air race in Reno over the weekend and as luck would have it, many participant’s have routes home that include a pass over the ranch. So while I’ve been wrenching away on a dirty old flathead, an occasional P51, [...]

The weather was crisp this morning in Santa Rosa. The cool air surprised me as the sky was clear and the sun was bright. It made the setting at the Tardel shop all the more dramatic. My first thought upon arriving was, “this place is heaven.”