The wires on the red '29 were Zeniths, not Tru-Spokes. By that time they were way higher end than Trues...
The yellow coupe with filled quarter windows was featured in American Rodder..think I've still got that issue .Loved it then and now. Never realised he is the same guy that built the Nachtfalter Merc coupe recently..
I was just reading that issue of American Rodder the other night and loved that yellow coupe. The only problem was, as much as I like half naked women, they should have gotten the models a little more out of the way so you could see more of the car. Don
Way cool pix bro. Look close at Rudy and you sill see a good amount of tats on arms and chest. I see a lot of centerlines and goofy mag type wheels, but that was the new deal at the time. The belly tanker is sweet, and the flamed 40's Chevy coupe for sale could live at my house real easy. Thanx for the memory lane, what a great shot of the iconic Blackie G. ~sololobo~
Post 56 has a little history http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=626765&highlight=poster&page=3
Jimmy B, You are so dialed in! I was just wondering which tank this was, and not only do you identify it, you post vintage shots. Gosh I love tanks, especially with 18" milk truck wheels.
REALLY kool seeing pics from back in the day, i had just bought my house and didnt have any kids yet, had been married 2 years, and had just chopped my wife's truck. now my house is payed off i got 2 adult boys one is driving the truck i built for my wife, and I have since done paint repair work on this boyd car, it ended up in winfield ,ks in a guys collection, i spotted in the front fenders and flames on the hood sides, about 6 years ago... wow time flys.
,,ever since i was born... my mom & dad hauled me everywhere to all the so-cal car shows,,,,but when i was about 16 or 17 ,,,i kinda became imune to th eperfect cars,,,but to this day if anyone ever ask what got me fired up about real hotrods is seing this yellow coupe in person....my parents have an old VHS tape from a car show we went to in fullerton that took place at Don Steves chevrolet(and i am pretty sure it was 89 as there was a new ZR1vette there,,..seeing them dudes hanging out around that yellow coupe made me decide that is waht its all about,,they werent sitting on lawn chairs,,,or any other lame things,,,,they were REAL hot rodders!!!!..funny though ,,,years later..i always assummed that yelow coupe belonged to the shifters,( i rember even asking a question about that yellow coupe on the hamb yrs ago),but its ironic, to realize it belonged to one of the modernday builders i have the most respect for...!
I guess Axle owned it in the 90's for a while. I remember I met him at the hootnanny and i asked him if I could stand on the tire to get a picture of chuck berry on stage cool car for sure. definitely left an impression on me.
Just got off the phone with Rudy, he told me Axle sold it some time ago to a guy in Hawaii and thats the last he has heard! He also told me some really cool stories about the history of it being built in the late 50's!!!
I was at that show in '89. Wow, what a trip down memory lane! Cal Tanaka's coupe is timeless. I saw it again at Mooneyes a few months ago, and it still looks bitchin'. It's got some rash from being driven, but I think that makes it even cooler. Definitely NOT a trailer queen.
I was at that one too! If I'm not mistaken, that was where both Tanaka and Vinther debut their coupes that year... Both still do it for me big time!
Didn't Cal bring his Dad's black '32 roadster with the same paint scheme as his coupe or was that a few years later? That car was badass, too. Vinther's coupe is one of my favorites. I still occasionally pull out and watch Pat Ganahl's old Hot Rod video, just to watch the part on that coupe. I LOVE the Outlaw-styled rods from back in the day.
I think his dad's car came about more like '91 or so. It was cool too, but I'm afraid most would call "non H.A.M.B. friendly" these days. Nostalgia isn't quite what it used to be!
Bingo! There's a certain faction that believes that if it doesn't have wide whites, it's not traditional or nostalgic. We're all getting older, and the pictures of the cars in this thread were taken 23 years ago. Eventually, the cool cars from the mid-late '80s like Hanson's yellow '33 coupe, Vinther's coupe, Tanaka's coupe, Lobeck's roadster(s), and anything from Fat Jack or John Buttera will finally get the recognition they deserve. To me, each era of hot rodding is "traditional" in it's own right. Too many people categorize the '80s solely as the Billet Era, but I tend to disagree. There were some great cars built back then. I know it's not "correct" on this site to say this, but some of the billet cars that were built in that era were some of the more amazing rods ever built. The old Buttera cars, the Fat Jack cars, the early Boyd cars...all of these cars were built with amazing craftsmanship and attention to detail. If you've ever seen anything John Buttera built up close and personal, you'll know what I mean. When the billet craze got to a point where all of the parts could be bought off of a shelf, it got out of control. That part of the '80s (and especially the '90s) kind of sucked. I'm a stickler for build quality, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. I'll give credit where it's due, no matter how unpopular the car is.
Actually, Blackie didn't build that car. The builders first name escapes me right now, but I'm pretty sure the last name was Krecorian. I'll look it up in the morning and correct it. Pretty sure he was a brother in law or some thing to Blackie though. Dude, your preachin to the choir on this point!!! Off topic, but did you ever look closely at the Harleys that Buttera built? I remember seeing one at his booth probably that year at LARS... Really?! A complete swing arm machined out of a block of aluminum, with rifle drilled passages for brake caliper fluids then the whole thing smoothed and industrial hard anodized?!?! Really?! DAMN!!!
The Emperor was built for Charles Kirkorian who was the brother in law of Richard Peters who owned the Ala Kart.. The Ala Kart one AMBR twice in a row 58 and 59 but he pulled in 60 to give the Emperor a chance at the gold..
My 29 Ford roadster sporting full fenders & magnesium Halibrands lurks in the background somewhere. Ahhhhhhhhhh, back in the day when the term "Street Rod" wasn't a bad word.
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