Talking Shop with the Hot Rod Kid

Last month, I traveled north to Portland, Oregon, for a weeklong excursion. While I was there, I rolled around in the snow, explored old neighborhoods, and ate way too much good food. One of the highlights, however, was sitting down with Noah Norwood to record an episode of his Hot Rod Kid Podcast.

Noah and I first crossed paths last October at Charlie Hascall’s Harvest Drags, which were held in a field just south of Portland. That Saturday, Noah and his dad were jamming gears in their newly acquired 1928 Model A roadster (above). Over in the pits, we talked magazines, racing strategy and even how to correctly slice-and-dice a headlight bar on a Model A highboy. It became immediately clear that Noah knew his stuff.

Even though Noah is only 21 years old, and he’s spent a great deal of his life around vintage machines. His skillset is diverse; he’s a talented fabricator and metalworker with a keen eye for detail. When he’s not cruising McMinnville in his 1957 Ford shop truck, he’s working on his flathead-powered Model T RPU or repairing sheetmetal for customers as far away as Colorado.

Somehow, amidst his jam-packed schedule, he makes time to record a weekly podcast with his friend Garrison Foster. The subject? Hot rods and custom cars. To be honest, I was pretty surprised when he asked if I would like to be on the show. “Do I need to prepare any sort of material?” I asked the week before. He assured me that I did not, so I knew it was going to be a great time.

Walking into HRK Designs on a damp Oregon afternoon, I was greeted by Noah, his dad, and a group of their friends. The shop itself is neatly organized and filled with traditional hot rod treasure, including their now disassembled roadster, the aforementioned T and a whole lot of flatheads. I enjoyed hearing about their plans for each project.

Noah’s roadster pickup project. The nose is made of two Deuce grille shell tops stitched together.

Soon thereafter, Noah, Garrison and I made our way over to the studio to start recording. For the next hour and a half, we talked journalism, hot rods and just about everything in between. I’m no stranger to interviewing, but being interviewed was a completely different ballgame. Noah is a stellar host for putting up with my rambling, and Garrison is a pro on the tech end of things. Thank you both.

All things considered, it was neat to look back at my early days in journalism. Perhaps my favorite part of the podcast was telling the story of how scared I was to submit my first Jalopy Journal article back in the spring of 2013. (That falls around the 23-minute mark.) The fact that that exchange took place nearly eight years ago is pretty hard to believe. But, as they say, time flies when you’re having fun.

Anyways, if you have some spare time this weekend, tune into The Hot Rod Kid Podcast. It’s 100% free, and you can play it on your computer, phone or tablet. Click the red words below to give it a listen.

—Joey Ukrop

Listen to the full episode here