31 January 2011

chief goes to GNRS - part 1

Now that all the rush and deadlines are over,
I better write any memories out before I forget!

When we left off it was 3am thursday morning.
Luke and I had chief running but no brakes.

Typically brakes are the first thing I try to get done,
just in case the car starts and I get that wild hair to just go.
Well that's what happened.
I had adjusted the brakes first thing that morning,
but didn't bleed them.
There is a double curb/stairs leading to the shop,
so we have ramps to negotiate this.

adjusting brakes,
wife in background seeing where I've been for 2 weeks





















Of course I jumped the gun,
mispositioned the ramps,
and just barreled down the stairs!
No problem really,
Chief was made tall for this very thing!

(I'll get the video compiled of this soon...)

This one's a good one though.
You'll see Luke, Brandon and my wife Dani run to stop me,
before I hit the lunchwagon!




Good times, good times...

My family really pulled through on the send-off.
They knew what was going on the past couple weeks,
and were probably glad to see it end!

My dad making this a show car!
Brandon & I bleeding brakes.
Mom taking pics & video






















They also knew of my sleep schedule,
so wanted to make sure nothing bad happened!
Definitely a good thing!



My brother Trevor had agreed to tow the package up there,
and my cousin Brandon had the lucky trailer.
Trevor's not too happy when I almost took out the left backing plate!

loaded
















Probably a good idea to let them tie it down than,
while I tried to button stuff up.

pig's foot & fuel leaks




















I must admit it was a bit emotional for me to actually drive it around the block.
It was over a year and a half down, like a reunion with an old friend.
An old friend with a cheap TJ boob job and facelift none the less...

trailer queen king jack
















Hopefully one of the last times on a trailer!


marketing

















After some logistics errors,
(i.e. forgetting my wallet and most importantly sunglasses)
2 hours later we were in Pomona, half an hour before load in time.

spirits of el merendero




















So we did the traditional El Merendero mexican lunch stop.
Good food here.
45 minutes later the place was packed!

3 long lines of cars already!
















With Chief running,
we were able to make the long haul to the suede palace.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect,
as I was directed to a nice corner spot right in the middle.

show car 




















I kinda realized here that Chief's more of a go-car not a show-car.
Lotsa little leaks on the floor and really all over.
Definitely looks better with some road scum covering the plentiful imperfections!
No problem, we had reached the destination.

new old west




















I've forced my story down your throats for the past couple posts,
so its kinda obvious what a mission this was to get up here.

The weird thing was seeing all the other cars,
and knowing each one had its own special history of completion.
Yep, just like that Indiana Jones movie!

toothpicks in my eyes
Luke/Pigpen, me, Trevor, Brandon


















Thursday is a great day to see all the indoor cars,
and lotsa freaky people cleaning these cars too.
There are a ton of other sites with pictures of these cars,
so I'm going to be selfish and not show you my versions of these.

Okay, okay...
How about a few more unpopular ones ...

ultimate work car




















What can I say, I love this thing.




















Right out of high school I had a boat building job,
and a couple brothers, Pablo and Pedro, had lowriders.
I'd take this one as is.

ambr 1951




















This car really sparked my next hot rod build.
Its a '23 with a v8-60 flathead,
and just has a really cool tight fun-driving look to it.

ford roadster




















I've got a steel '27 roadster body, the small ford flathead and most of the parts already.
There would be a double motormounts for the larger 85HP swap...
circletrack racer style, but with lotsa small details, like chief.

big mouth 27 roadster




















little bits of this and that with the cool bellypans and tracknoses.

hopup roadster




















Whaddaya think Greg?

mercedes sleeper




















This thing was also totally bitchin.
A board friend (rotten rodney) was on the paint crew for this thing.
I guess it has an AMG suspension. Crazy.

rudy and paul's mistress







































Of course the 40 merc from Rudy and Paul is insane.
Hard to photograph with my borrowed point and shoot with that deep black.
Multiply my crazy by 1000 to know what these guys went through/are going through,
to get it here!



Chief




















Like one of my own kids though,
I wouldn't trade this little 1929 roadster pickup for any of the cars,
*as long as I got the $$ difference in cash though!

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7926990&pid=7926988

Anyway after getting totally overloaded by all the cars and bikes,
we went to Chabbot Engineering and met up with
Shinya and the not often photographed Zap and even more rarely seen "Menacing Ayu"...

twinkeesh
















Just missing the Pigpen rendition of the flailing arm blow-up guy

a real workshop

















I had realized it was a good idea to go back home when at the GNRS show,
when I started forgetting old friends names.

We left Pomona/Azusa kinda dazed -  machinery overload!
Although I half-planned on going up on Friday,
getting some much needed rest was more important.

like leaving your dog at the pound



















Stay tuned...

TP

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