Thank you j.s. for mentioning Bill Toia. He indeed was the originator of Gratiot Auto Supply and remains a legend in racing. Anyone remember "La Carrera Panamericana" It was nice to read about the fond memories many of the posters have regarding G.A.S. Bill is my grandfather and he will be celebrating his 94th birthday this month. If anyone would like to post a "Happy Birthday" message to Bill, I will be sure to pass it on to him.
WOW!!!! This sure brings back some great old memorys,I was a teenager in the early 70's(71 72) from Ontario Canada(Sarnia)There was no hot rod shops around here,I was drag racing at Motor City Dragway(Sunday Sunday Sunday)I would pile the guys in the old Plymouth Valiant and take the hour drive to Detroit,I was like a kid in a candy store,got every thing from gratiot for the race car and the street car,Thanks for the very Kool Memorys.
94! Wow. Hot rodders just keep getting faster. Congrats to Bill and thanks to Dennis for the history lesson. I was from the sticks out south of Adrian, MI and we would go to Ramchargers in Toledo or Performance Automotive in Adrian. Everything was catalog ordered and I didn't have $$ so I just got the catalogs and dreamed! Now I sit on the net and dream...still no $$.
CJM1967. Tape record your Grandfathers recollection of the history of the Hot Rod Shop and Gratiot Auto if he can do that. There is a website www.AHRAF.com which is devoted to preserving the recorded history of the hobby. This is a chance to preserve another pioneers story.
When I was a kid, the kid acrosss the street from me had a HUGE (like 24" wide) late style Gratiot Auto Suppy sticker on his bedroom mirror... I thought it was the coolest thing ever and I wanted one... still do. I just could see spending a bunch of money on silk screens, film, ink, or vinyl to make 1 or 2 for myself, but if I could make enough to pay for mine... Not to mention being sued back to the stone age. I've never seen the big ones on ebay.
Hi all, New to the board, but was doing some searches to see what this Gratiot Auto Supply' was. I found super old stickers on my 69 Boss 302 when I bought it. It was raced back in the day so I was told. Thought it might be worth posting for those of you who knew of the place. The car is freshly restored now, but the history lives on! Here are some pics of the car and the old stickers before I had to razor them from the glass. Regards Sean [email protected] Sydney, Australia.
Sorry to repeat myself, but this really was a special car, and I'm sure many others would like to see it too.
Yes, that's the car. We'd love to see it whenever you're able to dig out any pictures. Thanks! Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
Isn' this the same Toia family in Tucson, "Leo's Auto Supply" and "Don's Hot Rod Shop" and grandson JR.
I see angelo ever so often for lunch or dinner and he is still loving cars and fun to talk with and i could listen to him for hours. I got to beleive he knows more people in the business than anyone. But an earlier post was correct his long time (I mean long time) friend is John Vermeersch Total Performance Clinton Township. Those two should write a book........would make the racing worlds hair stand on end curl up and blow away.......All kidding aside they are a large part to all that we see today. Without them the racing and fun car sport would not be the same. Fighting for us at every corner for everything from product to shows events sponsership and new ideas. Most of what is posted is true Angelo did sweep the floors and take over the company may years ago. The hot rod market died late 70's/early 80's and so the big guy had to call it quits and become the voice of Ford Motorsport Dealers around the world. But I can tell you he is A first class guy and always will be.
fasi my dad knows some history of GAS bill was his brother inlaw. cjm1967 looks like were cousins pm me. bluemeanie if your wally pm me . thanks for this thread
yeah me to i've been waiting 39 years cmao. oh yeah thanks for the reply [they]. i thought this would bump back to the top .any thoughts about that would be helpful thanks. captain junk lol i used to be general scrap lol
So, who the hell own's this '68 Super Stock Hemi Dart?? I took this at last year's Woodward Ave. cruise.... Sorry I didn't get a better picture of it.
My son owns an original Gratiot Street-Sprint kit roadster, which Hot Rod Mag did a cover story on with 5 or 6 pages! Anyone remember that? Kit came with a 1.5" X 3" rectangular tube chassis, and a cowl rollbar and roll cage, with a 'glass '27 roadster body with a flattened cowl, and opening passenger door. An older California gent was building it, he had cut away the upper rollcage and substituted a chopped '27 windshield, '41 Stude taillights, and a rolled rear pan. Race car nose is the same one Speedway Bill sells now, the inverted Sprint type. The elder gent passed away before he finished it, my son bought it from the widow. Son Rich tore the whole car apart, rebuilt it 'old style'. Dropped I beam, hairpins, Kelseys, and the neat aluminum Dodge steering box, cowl style. Angelo had his ducks in a row...Car always draws interest wherever it goes.
I got that issue of HOTROD stashed in a box wth a bunch of others.. I saved every car mag that I bought from about '73 on up..
good to see some life in this post again. cool Hemi dart. It would be nice if my Dad and 1 of my Aunts that worked with angelo could get together. I see some members could relay our ph. # Atwater mike post a picture
Really interesting turn of events lead me to find out that Angelo did NOT build the "Lil" Billy" car,.... But I know who did,... And I just got a good look at the construction pictures,.... The guy is going to let me scan the pictures and give me the entire story,... Right up to the day Angelo bought the car. Stay tuned !
It's not public domain.Gratiot Auto Supply is incorporated in the State of Michigan. The logos and images are registered trademarks.
I have seen pictures of the "lil Billy" while Angelo was building it, with his nephews Tom, Joe, and Mike sitting around watching. Some construction of the components were farmed out to other hotrodders, but the ground up construction was Angelo's. Al Bergler did some of the body panels, Setto S. did the "Swiss Cheese" dropped axle, etc. The engine was built in the machine shop in the back of Gratiot Auto Supply at 9146 Gratiot Avenue in Detroit, which was originally called "The Hot Rod Shop" prior to 1951. (But any claim that someone else built it and sold it to Angelo is just not true.)
Checkout this site There's pics from the old drag strips in Michigan plus other interesting historical places, http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/default.asp
The Jalopy Journal
