BUCKET LIST #1 NOW CHECKED OFF - My Good Friend Dennis Winko and I were in Pomona California Jan 22-30th 2014 for the 65th Annual Grand National Roadster Show.

This post is a little diversion from what I usually do on my blog but feel that it would be nice to share.

To go to an event of this magnitude and to take over 1300 photos, it was extremely difficult to decide which ones to use and which ones to leave out.....so to help things out, I grouped a number of them together which are of common interest, but sadly reducing their clarity.  Be sure to click on each of the photos and groups of photos twice to get a full screen or larger, then you can scroll around to view them all. 
My good friend Dennis Winko and I spent an incredible 8 days in the Los Angeles area, not only to attend the 65th annual Grand National Roadster Show, but to visit some hot rod shops and automotive museums in the area and take in some of the local sights as well.  These photos however are all from the show and taken by myself.
...oh...a little side note "AMBR" means America's Most Beautiful Roadster.

This is the main hall and largest of 9 buildings.  The photo was taken from the center of the building so it only shows half the length of the hall.

We were there on set-up day and these two photos show the contrast of what you could see and everything in between.  That's Dennis beside a very cool deuce roadster barn find and the one on the right is an AMBR contender owned by Ron Goodwin.  Ron's car was one of our first choices to win.

This is a full restoration of Ed Roth's Surfite by Rick Rawlins.....it wouldn't be a California show without a surf mobile!!

 Bizarreness was the order of the day and this "Blitzen Benz" by Bob Burman was a great example.

Love the California "Horseless Carriage" plate

The theme of the show this year was 100 years of Bonneville, and there was a huge representation of Bonneville cars from over the last 100 years.  Heading to Bonneville for speed weeks is another thing we have to do to check off our bucket list.  The only photo that wasn't actually in the show is the Challenger 1.  It actually resides in the Wally Parks Drag Racing Museum just adjacent to the fairgrounds.  We did attend that on Thursday before the show, and felt that it was the best automotive museum that we had seen on this trip including the Peterson Museum.

Check out this film of Mickey Thompson breaking the 400 MPG Speed Barrier.  This is the same car we saw in the Wally Parks Museum.

Next we have Ron Main and his Flatfire engine and Streamliner.  Dennis was in his glory talking to Ron about flatheads and I just stood there and tried to take it all in.....one's never to old to learn something new.  Read this poster about his very fast flathead Ford.

The following group of photos are vintage drag cars, and we had a nice chat with Bill Corbett (originally from Victoria B. C.) who owns and restored the purple 1948 Fiat Topolino shown in the following photo group....the car is also the cover car for this months Rodder's Journal.

Exotic engines and actually mostly flathead Fords were the trend here in California.  Chrysler Hemi, Studebaker, Cadillac, Buick, Ford 4cyl and Flathead Fords were the most popular engines seen in cars at the show, many of which had McCullough Superchargers.   There were very few Chevrolet V8's, especially in hot rods and if there were they were nicely disguised as something else.

Next, you could buy a pair of deuces here....beautifully done real steel replicas.  The one from Sweden was interesting at $15,000. US dollars and we felt left a lot to be desired in detail.  The real deal as far as we were concerned was sold by SoCal and was extremely nice looking, more like an original body, but the price tag was near $28,000. and that was just for a body shell.....way over my head!!  I've had my own deuce back when but now I'll stick to the much more reasonable model "A", and having just as much fun as they are.

The one from Sweden is on the left and the already chopped SoCal one is on the right.

Next, we have some hot rods and custom cars scattered around the buildings and some even outside the buildings on drive-in day which was Saturday.  The body work and paint schemes were absolutely incredible....giving any gear-head some great custom ideas.

Next, we have some hot rods and custom cars mostly from the "Suede Palace".  My own car would have fit nicely along side some of these.  The vehicles in the "Suede Palace" had their own judging and awards program.  Some of the most interesting ones were the original barn finds of cars built back in the '50's or '60's which have survived the test of time and left in their patina state.  The one we liked the most was Greg Hopkins '31 model "A" roadster of unknown origin shown top left below.

We couldn't pass up the trophy girl contest that was held in the Suede Palace on Saturday night.  It was very interesting to say the least.  A few good Rockabilly and Blues bands also graced the stage there through the weekend.

One of the things I had planned to do was to get my friend Shaun Hopkins here in Thunder Bay to paint my glove box door from my custom '41 Chevy dashboard that I'm using in my next project a nice gloss black and bring it with me to have it pinstriped and autographed by George Barris and Gene Winfield.  The pinstripers would volunteer their work and you would then make a donation to Ronald McDonald House.  Other pieces of art by the stripers were auctioned off.

Well as you can see by the photos below that it all came to fruition.  Two pinstripe artists did a great job and George and Gene did sign it as well as the artists and "Deuce of Spades" film maker Faith Granger.  Thank you Shaun for painted it for me and getting this plan started.

Top left is myself with George and his grandson, top right is Gene signing the piece, bottom left is Gene with Dennis, center is Gene shaking hands, and bottom right is the artist Ric Malicoat.

Here are a few more pictures pretty much self explanatory!

They gave away 100's of trophy's and awards and we were very fortunate to have great seats for the awards and closing ceremonies.  Even though we didn't agree with the judges on their final pick for AMBR, all the cars were incredibly beautiful, and I could never afford one damn one....but Dennis and I still have tons of fun with our Model "A" Fords.

Dennis and I were very fortunate to have been able to attend The 65th Grand National Roadster Show, an event I've wanted to attend since I was in my teens.  Hey Den, aren't you glad I waited until you retired...Dennis is a great travel companion.  We had a fabulous time that we'll talk about for years.  Also thank you to my old friend Bryan Howland who was our tour guide for a day to the Peterson Museum and throughout the Hollywood area.  Bryan is a childhood friend of mine and lives in Woodland Hills, a Los Angeles suburb and we've only seen each other 3 times since 1958, but talk often and email often....great time!

Dave and Dennis in the Suede Palace.

This final group of pictures reminded me of the old Fort William Gardens car shows....at the end of the show you would stand outside to see the guys coming out of the Gardens and rapping their pipes and smoking their tires.....wonderful memories.

I hope you enjoyed this sort of unusual post on this blog !!  Thanks for watching...D.

I REGARD JUNK AS JUNK - by Leroi "Tex" Smith....

I am compelled to publish this great article with a total unbiased expert view by a man among men when it comes to real Hot Rods and his opinion of the "RAT ROD"culture and craze..

I REGARD JUNK AS JUNK

BY - LEROI "TEX" SMITH

"Tex" Smith

At this point you might want to read more by "THE MAN".  Here is a link to a few articles by Tex http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/guestcolumnists/LeRoiTexSmith/

The following is a small concise bio on Tex. and if these are too small to read, be sure to click on each section of the article to enlarge it.

 
The following is a tiny taste of some of the books published by Tex.

Tex Smith's Basic Hot Rods

Tex Smith's How to Chop Tops

Tex Smith's Complete Ford Flathead V8

Tex Smith's New Book

MERV DOVE - A Gentleman to be Admired!!

Merv Dove's racing career started at a very young age when the scent of oil, gasoline and dirt got into his blood and for a whole lifetime, never waned.

Here is a man outstanding in his field(no pun intended here). Merv was always a racer to be reckoned with. This first picture was taken just in front of the home stretch at the CLE racetrack here in Fort William, Ontario in about 1952. Although Merv never really won a championship at the CLE(well.....he did come a close second), his name was always in the top 10 roster, with a few time trial track records under his belt. Throughout all this, Merv was always a true gentleman. Proving this was to win a very prestigious award many years running in the 1950's as "The Most Gentlemanly Driver". The next picture above shows one of his early cars taken in about 1952 when dirt track racing was really taking hold here at The Lakehead.

A pit and home stretch shot here, taken from the Grandstand at about the same time as the photo above shows Merv's famed #31 car and extra bleachers below to accommodate the thousands of fans that frequented the track on race days. The next two photos were newspaper shots from his younger years....proving that Merv had many fan's, myself included.

This news clipping in the mid 1950's starts the Maple Leaf Service years as Merv's main sponsor. Merv, you said you never wrecked a '32 Ford...and the cars you drove were always '34 Fords....well what have we here....but a "little Deuce Coupe".

Here is Merv up against the fence with Pappy Fowler(Pappy drove #98 for awhile). Next to that is another Maple Leaf Service newspaper ad.

Be sure to click twice on this news clipping from a later 1950's local newspaper to get a great story about Merv. The next photo was taken 2 days ago and is the former site of Maple Leaf Service on Cumberland Street. The last photo above here is of Conrad Trombelli #49 and....Yes, that's Merv on the far right. I think he's adjusting his windshield wipers!!

The Crew during the Maple Leaf Service years. They are left to right, Merv in western hat(very common in those days), Pete Knights, Bruce Larson, and Merv's brother Reg.

The word "gentleman" surely runs in the Dove family as I worked for about 7 years with his brother Reg, shown above, at Shell Canada in the late 60's and early 70's. During this time Reg purchased an old 1948 Mercury(I remember it well). Reg's son Randy finished the hot rod many years after this photo was taken, and you can see a photo of it below. Randy aptly licensed the car in his fathers memory as "DADZ 48". A wonderful tribute to a great guy.

The clipping above spelled Merv's name wrong(damn those type-setters)...but showed him as one of the top dogs to have to deal with!

Merv worked for Jessiman Motors in the parts department in the early years, and from about 1963 when he started flagging at Riverview, until 1998 you could always see his happy face at Amco Machine. Throughout his life's trial and tribulations, Merv always had a smile on his face, and a friendly greeting for you no matter where or when.

NEXT - The Riverview Years

Merv retired from the CLE track after about 11 years of racing, but as noted above, the magnetism of the dirt was too much to hold back. Merv became the all new "Riverview Raceways" flagman for the first 5 years of racing there from 1967 to about 1971. Check out the high jumps and the high jinx.

As mentioned before, always a gentleman. When I was racing in 1968, Merv would check every car to be sure the seat belts were secure and to scold you if your arm was hanging out of the side window(as Al Yahn would say). He would also give good driving advice as he poked his head inside your car just before a race and say, "Hey Dave, you're leading in points....just take it cool and you'll be OK." .......it seems like yesterday!!

Here is Merv handing Stan Anderson the checkered flag after a win, and another high jump with the Checkered Flag.

Here is a photo of Merv and Louis Tocheri holding models of their cars I had built many years before the photo, and also how they looked years before. This one was taken about 8 years ago in Ron Limbrick's garage. Ron started the July 1st "back yard 500" Barbeque which lasted for many years in Ron's garage, then later on continued as a regular dinner evening and still does to this day, thanks to Merv. I always look forward to his call and getting together with all the guys. This is one of my favourite photos of myself with Merv.

Some of the guys that attend the present day Back Yard 500 dinners are Bob Walker, Tom Kusznier, Richard Spooner, Ron Limbrick, Dave Cano, Volker Lehmann, Denis Winko, Gary Jansekovich, Jim Hamer and Allan Yahn. Earlier on, all the above plus, Red Marsonet, Louis Tocheri, Bud Heidrick, Glen Kettering, Jugger Brown, Roydon Williamson, Gord Adams, Don Colosimo, Bob Kostyniuk, Jordan Calonego and others attended Ron's Barbeque. There were also many surprise visitors through the years. Thanks to Merv for keeping it going.

Here is the picture of Merv's nephew Randy's beautiful Mercury with "DADZ 48" on the plate.

Last but not least is a recent picture of Merv...still going strong. Merv and his wife Dolly travel all over the states sight seeing and....you guessed it....going to the races.

Merv has a long life yet to live, and of course always a gentleman and a great friend.

Ending with an Irish proverb.....Merv, May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, and may good luck pursue you each morning and night.

Be sure to click on most photos(some twice) to enlarge!

Back to the 50's 2010, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, St. Paul...

This week I am featuring the annual June event I usually attend in St. Paul, Minnesota....There were 11,794 1964 and older custom and hot rod cars in attendance. Be sure to click on all the links stated below to view 100 more photos and 6 new videos.

Here are a few photos posted to the blog, but if you want to see 100 more photos I took, click on this link then come back, http://public.fotki.com/Canodave/back-to-the-50s-2010/
ALSO - if you want to see 6 new videos that I also took at Back to the 50's, click on this link to see them all, http://www.youtube.com/user/canroddin
ENJOY!

Here's my friend Don wiping down the car just after cleaning off all the bugs and road grime on arriving in Minneapolis/St. Paul last Thursday, June 20. The next photo and the one below is of the General Motors Futurliner that was featured at St. Paul this year. In a nutshell the brochure said, "It was known as the Parade of Progress. A group of custom built vehicles toured the US from coast to coast in the 1940's and 1950's. General Motors played a large role in the Parade by developing twelve massive machines, known as Futurliners. These vehicles helped display modern advances in science and technology, such as jet engines, stereophonic sound, microwave ovens, television and many other modern marvels of the time. You can read more about The Futurliner by clicking on this link http://www.futurliner.com/ . Be sure to come back!

The dwarf Mercury or maybe a giant "Don" photo was taken at another cruise we went to in North St. Paul on Friday night...the car was also at Back to the 50's. The builder hand built this complete dwarf car in minute detail, including all the body and chassis components. We had seen his scrap-book on the construction that took many years. This is about the 6th dwarf vehicle he had built. It is powered by a complete Toyota rear wheel drive system and the tall 6' guy and his wife could very comfortably fit inside...WOW...Very Cool!!

You see it all at Back to the 50's...and here's a cutie driving her pink lowered pedal car(well...one made into a stroller!) The final photo is just 5 miles closer to Thunder Bay from Grand Marais Minnesota on the north shore of Lake Superior....a very beautiful spot!
The weekend was a blast and always look forward to the next year. Hope you enjoyed this.
Be sure to click on all the links and also the photos to enlarge them to get the total picture!!