I met Vern at Speedweek, he was and is one of my heroes. He has bought a calendar every year from the begging, and still has all of them in a drawer. And thought the year he will pull them out and see how things and people have changed.
That's cool. Man, the sound of that flatty in the roadster! That's THE sound of hot rodding right there...
I had the good fortune of visiting "The Flathead Ranch" twice and meeting both Vern and Keith. This was about ten years ago before the auction. Vern stopped what he was doing and greeted me like an old friend that had just stopped in. He invited me to take a look around the shop and would come over from time to time to offer me a better insight to anything and everything I seemed interested in. Occasionally he would come over and open the door on another building and made sure I did not miss a thing. Keith was busy assembling a chassis for a Flathead dragster but graciously took the time to answer any questions either me or my buddy Ernie had. After hanging around for a while we were getting on toward lunch and asked Vern if there was a local spot he would recommend. He mentioned a place in town and joined us for lunch. Absolutely a day I will always remember and I came away with a copy of the Tardel/Bishop bible the Vern was kind enough to autograph. If that wasn't enough we stopped at Roy Brizio's on our way back to Monterey. Roy was just as accommodating as Vern, but that is a story for another day.
Thats a sweet MR. Most of the modifieds today do not look anything like that with their extreme wheelbases and custom suspension. Anyone know how fast he got that XF up to?
Smokin' Hot Gospel from a man that's done the walk more than a few times...someday that will be a job I will need to approach as my perch pins are too short...it would also be a good time to tackle several other issues related to front suspension and components...hard working parts that's for sure... Thanks for sharing @Jive-Bomber...
I love Vern. Without him, The World's Fastest Indian wouldn't have been the same. I saw this, and I couldn't resist...
Nice view - thanks for posting ! Remember buying his books at SoCal in Sacramento when I was in Sac visiting my uncle. Was a little apprehensive to show them as the uncle had built roadsters in the 40's and 50's - was relived he said that A/V8 little book was good...as well as the steering and transmission - although my uncle ran a LaSalle later on.
From the article found at Windsor man’s hot rod heaven heats up (pressdemocrat.com): "Over the years, Tardel’s creations have been sought out by Hollywood, most recently by producers of “The World’s Fastest Indian,” the story of motorcycle racer Burt Munro starring Anthony Hopkins. He arranged for period hot rods that served as props."
I haven't met Vern yet, but I have seen and talked to Keith at past Lonestar Roundups in Austin. He is gentleman and a scholar of all things flathead. Keith, along with our HAMB creator Ryan, are down to earth hotrodders who add zest to Texas. Don't expect a long-winded, bullshit, conversation from either one if you meet them at an event.
My pop bought his book years and years ago and used it to build his A-v8 roadster, we loaded the car up in frigid South Dakota and drove to Pomona to the grand national. While at the show pops said he had to go talk with Vern and tell him that his roadster was in the suede palace. While chatting with Vern a guy comes up to his booth and butts in while we were in conversation and asks a really stupid question and Vern said why would you do something like that( in a stern voice) the guy walks away from the booth and Vern looks back at us and said that was a stupid f#*@king question. This was several years ago but thats how I remember it.