Len was a former member of the Nor-Cal Early Irons & Valley Rods. He painted some of the baddest cars in the 70's in the S.F bay, from Hot Rods (Gary Meadors 32') to race cars (Ray & Shirley Strasser Insanity). He had a yellow 56' chevy gasser in (1966) high school for a daily driver while building his 29'. Then he had a 55' Nomad that was the "family" ride until he finished Jus Bad a 48' Anglia... after that was sold he started a 51' Henry J that was sold unfinished to build the 48' that is to be finished by his son. Len is the reason Im who I am. Anyone that wears bell bottom jeans with Simpson race shoes every day for as long as I can rember has to be Jus Bad! http://public.fotki.com/1badnov/4/lens-old--new-rides/ R.I.P. Uncle Len......
@1badnov - Sorry for your loss. Growing up in Fremont (and a fellow member of the Nor Cal Early Iron car club), I knew your uncle well. In addition to painting Gary Goodguy's Deuce Tudor in the '70s, Lenny also painted our "HEMI32" Coupe. Here's a few more pics of Lenny's "HALF-BREED" '29 Roadster: I know I have some pics of Lenny and/or his "JUS BAD" Anglia ... but haven't been able to locate them in my photo & slide archives ... Will post here when I do find them! R.I.P. Lenny Mendes
I'm hoping HAMBers (& Nor Cal Early Iron alumni) @alex blanca, @bobs36hotrod, @fremont32, @plywude, & @Roger Garcia will chime in here ... I'm sure they have lots of "Lenny stories" to tell. NOTE: @plywude's son once owned Lenny's "JUS BAD" Anglia.
Sorry to hear about Lenny he was a good friend my son loved his Anglia and when he was a kid Lenny would give him rides all the time about 5 years ago my son bought it, his dream car, but hard times hit and he had to sell,it went to some one in the Sacramento area, years ago when Lenny had his roadster, our club Nor Cal Early Iron had a rod run to Lake Comanche and while there we all checked out the roadster but Bill Burnham was the most impressed and decided his touring was history and started working on me to sell him a 28 body and 32 frame I had, ended up trading him for a 57 Nomad, Bill went on to build a number of hi boys and his Ol Blue is being driven today by his grand son, you can see it at most west coast Good guys events Lenny was an awesome guy
So sorry here about Lenny. Knew him well. He painted my Willys. We all use to run around together. Couple of years ago he saw my roadster at my mom and dad's house and stopped and we caught up about our lifes. What happened to lenny? I knew he was a marine during Viet Nam. Semper Fi Ol buddy!!
I did not know him, but knew his Anglia and really liked the license plate so I got one for my 1970 Z/28.
i want to thank the ones who did this...lenny was my brother...i helped him build his '29...also was his heavy installer on his '48 angila...made alot of runs with him in the day...this brings back alot of memories for me...i hope his son does build lenny's unfinished project...the thought process in this angila was unbelivable...from just a drawing of the frame to a roller...my best to my nephew...thanks again...
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