Sloppy's Revenge - stingray chopper

Our good friend Sloppy has a knack for making

cool stuff out of junk remnants.

One of his master pieces is this little stingray chopper.

It's been to Bonneville,

el Mirage and the Big 3 swap meet numerous times.

Well after this swap meet he was so packed,

it seemed safe to leave it at the house for a bit.

We've been lucky the past few years,

only a couple things have been snagged,

that we know of anyway.

Well days turned into weeks,

which turned into months,

and of all things,

someone opened the garage door and ganked it!!

Holey chit...

Hard to say exactly how much time had passed,

but Jaxon quickly posted the loss on "snapchat",

and guess what?

One of his friends spied it on the way to the skatepark!!

Holey double chit!!

They rounded up a posse,

and were able to collect it from the thieves,

most importantly without getting into a scuffle.

Someone had ridden it hard enough to crash,

and wrecked the front springer a little,

while also replacing the front wheel.

The bright green,

most likely why DJ happened to see it.

Good job guys!!

The fiasco spurred Sloppy to head down,

and retrieve the rest of his mechanalia,

before our luck ran out.

I don't think he realized how much stuff he had stashed!

A relief the story had a good ending...

TP

half mast

This morning I woke up with a decision.
(ok this was sunday!)
Rally to the swap meet or how about a bike ride for a change.
My lungs and heart could definitely use a workout,
and the last thing I needed was more junk to fill our house!

rays

There was actually very little decision making.
Lying in bed I had already imagined the ride,
and the bike that I'd use.
Smooth like butter...

1973 schroder 12-speed road bike

Geez how long had it been?
It took about half an hour to clean off all the dust and webs,
fill up the tires and lube up the mechanicals.
Better to spend time now then take the walk of shame home.

fort rosecrans cemetery

The destination was the Point Loma Lighthouse,
or at least the turnaround spot.
Round trip is barely 9 miles,
not too much flat,
an even mix of up and down hills.
A typical ride time is about 45 minutes,
an hour if I take the long detour.
Remember how I just said I'd imagined the ride?
Holey hellfire!
The first quarter mile is a long hill,
and I realized quick this wasn't going to be about speed.
Right off the bat my legs were burning.
Uh oh...
Keep my head down and revolutions up...

Fort Rosecrans Cemetery

I had a good clip on the main road,
but was passed by a group of tightshorts.
WTF.
Now I'm the guy that riders try to pass.
On a good note,
they were winded and took a break at the checkpoint,
and I turned around and kept going.
Turtle and the hare my friends...

half mast

Seeing how the Pearl Harbor date had just passed,
it was fitting coincidence to ride through the cemetery.
A very humbling place.

On to some apple pancakes and more regular rides in the near future!

TP

the life divine

This year the boys school day starts at 7:20,
a huge contrast to last years 9AM morning lollygag.
They seem to appreciate that weekends are for sleeping in,
so we've been passing on the sunday swap meet hunt.

TRIP

Hooking up the record player gave us a little stimulation,
and we had a late 8AM start to check out the goods,
maybe get a couple records.
It's funny for 14 years my life revolved around those 4 letters!
(ventura days)

fat tire mags

This guy had the best stall,
unlike any other in the lot.
This fat tired BMX bike was super cool,
to look at anyway.
If you study the pic he had a J-2 tri-power manifold,
an old mallory distributor for a SBF,
some '38 chevy taillights,
a bunch of cool stuff but from his prices he knew it.

pioneer sx-750

Things were slow until we ventured into the regulars corner,
the place where the same sellers sell the same stuff.
In the back of a stall lay a dusty receiver - a 1976 Pioneer sx-750.
The treble knob was missing and the tuner control was very stiff,
but for $25 we didn't even haggle with the guy.

pioneer sx-750 dirty nudie shot

I should have expected something like this to happen.
As soon as the back table was cleaned up,
something shows up to fill the spot.
*****************************************************


CARLOS SANTANA & JOHN MCLAUGHIN
THE LIFE DIVINE - 1973
Are you guys ready for possibly the rippingest guitar duo of all time?
This will either scare the holey chit out of you,
or help you to conquer any obstacle in your path.
It's a 9:30 epic that will leave you sweaty and out of breath.
I'd like a loop of just the first minute of drums,
 but holey moley the ending - so climactic you'll want a smoke.
This is what 70's high powered stereo systems were made to crank.
Give it a shot,
just don't drive while listening you'll be flying down the road.
******************************************************
Jaxon had the stereo hooked up before breakfast,
and surprisingly it had a clear and equal sound.
Scratchy controls from sitting unused,
but nothing a cleaning couldn't fix.
For now a quick vacuuming would do.
This is rated at a healthy 50 watts per channel,
much deeper sound than the little kenwood.

peeling

After breakfast I couldn't help but get distracted by the flaky wood vinyl.
I remembered an earlier project,
and dug through the garage for the materials.

peeled

I carefully selected the best grained vinyl walnut veneer.
As any woodworker knows this takes years of apprenticeship.

walnut

Every skill guided me to this exact point,
within minutes the sides were like new.

1976 or 2013?

If only I had this sticker to really finish it off.
Oh well.

genuine simulated wood grain finish sticker

I was too lazy to do the top.
There were no beer rings or candle burns to hide anyway.

pioneer sx-750 and friends

Check out the back of this thing.
Theres a neat ledge or shelf for the connectors.

pioneer sx-750 rear

Now the predicament is what to do with them.
The idea was to have a cheap beater stereo for the outside shop,
and these are almost too nice for being almost 40 years old.
I better replay that tune...

TP

perich toy shop - 1989

I found a couple boxes of pictures the other day,

and man did it bring back some memories.

Now that I've figured out how to use our scanner,

you guys are gonna get all kindsa throwbacks from the predigital age!

uncle steve's garage - 1989

This one will be a quickee,

but it is chock full of goodies.

Take a breather and gather it all in.

This is my Uncle Steve's garage around 1989.

Yeah I still call him Uncle Steve even though I'm in my 40's!

Here we've got my old '64 VW baja bug,

an early cut down not a fiberglass kit.

Than there is the most perfect '30/31 ford coupe project.

Check out the gasser chromed front axle.

Wonder if that's on the road now?

Last but not least is the stripped down shovelhead.

That was a family friends bagger bike,

that turned into a cool semi-chopper,

then ended up as a pile of melted steel and aluminum.

I'll tell that story when I find the better picture!

Anyway expect some periodic blasts from the past!

TP

scarf

I've been realizing lately that I'm in the wrong business,
if that business is making money anyway.

chinagirl

It's been a learning experience watching a gearhead newbie at work.
There's an alchemical process -
slap a chinagirl kit on an expensive beach cruiser,
throw on a couple stickers and bolt-on upgrades,
and holey chit find people who eat it up for the big bucks.
I have admitted to him time and time again,
that driving around slinging at shows to me is more work than cutting and pasting.

long

I'm happy to be that little sparrow that picks up the scraps.
Here's a fun project that he thought was easy.

double scarf joint

Fortunately he didn't cut it before he brought it over.
A double scarf joint (?) seemed better than a straight cut.
This was easier than trimming to the clamp tube and rewelding it,
even though the outcome shows an obvious scar.

short

The end result was straight and hopefully strong.

alchemy

This one will be up on the website for an exorbitant amount of money...
Dutchman Motorbikes

brown

TP

breezer goes to humboldt

A couple days ago I got the chance to pull off a whirlwind trip to Humboldt County.
It ended up being cut short,
but I still made an effort for an epically brief bike ride.

Hammond Trail Bridge

McKinleyville is a really peaceful rural part of urban Humboldt,
and the Hammond Trail crosses over the Mad River,
using this transformed steel bridge.

Mad River - Mckinleyville

There was a good flow of water for September,
especially when used to so-cal rivers that dry up in the summer.
The air was so fresh and sweet smelling.

moo

Maybe it was all the cows!

Mad River - Humboldt County

Too bad they decided to install this chain-link barrier.
Seems like a railing would be the most needed for safety.
The water did seem deep enough in parts to be able to jump off.

Breezer Thunder mtn bike goes to Humboldt

I had rented a little chevy car,
and I'll give the designers props,
as there was the exact width needed to pack in the bike.

packed

I had left SD without the bike,
and after 2 miles decided to turn around and pick it up.
I'm glad I did,
as the kids were checking out the car,
they found the USB port hidden in the center console.
That 1600 mile round trip would have been tough without the IPOD!

I'll do a better post about the trip later on.
Stay tuned!

TP

ventura wrap up

Now for the wrap up to this extended Ventura excursion.
Hey I gotta do something with all these pictures!
Here's the ending - Part IV

noble fabrication

With Sloppy's brakes finally working,
it was time to hit the road...
after visiting the open house party at a friends shop...

ventura highway

Driving around Ventura in the hot rod was surreal.
Some of you may not know this,
but we had lived up here almost 15 years.
This is where I met my wife and started breeding!

Ventura

Chief hadn't been "home" in over 5 years.
This little shop is where the magic happened.

chief at home

The truck and a couple other hot rods
were built in and outside this building around the turn of the century.
For 8 years we barely survived at this location.
Imagine having a shop next door to a city councilman turned mayor!
This was crazy town as most of the action was at night.
Many good times and good friends made here.

travis perich - ventura 2013

I thought the slumlord had really cleaned up the place,
but it was actually the tireless work of the new renters.
This was a gas station in the 20's,
built next to an indian burial ground.
There was some strange mojo here,
and the new flower store is perfect to revitalize the space.

ventura avenue

The city tried to redevelop the downtown area,
with definite hit and miss results.
Out of town investors would see Ventura as part of Los Angeles,
and it would bite them in the a$$.
One of the things I loved about it here,
you could dress it up but it was still a working neighborhood.

the players club - RIP

Matt's place was party central for the day.
His compound, family and business are growing fast.
A really cool location too.

noble fabrication - 2013

There's no faster way to clear out a party,
than with the ultimate burnout.
This guy rolled out in a '51 ford crown vic with a nasty SBF,
and did a block long double tire burnout.

ultimate burnout

As usual guys run out into the dank rubber smoke.
Holey Chit.
It seriously gave me goosebumps.

holey chit

That's the problem going to car shows,
you go home wanting to build wacky chit like this!

kade gates - wheelie master

Not to be outdone,
Kade got out his big Harley and was doing his trademark wheelies and donuts.
I had no idea people did this kinda stuff,
let alone a friends kid I've known since he was in elementary school!

cheese!

As the sun started to set,
I got a chance to talk with Holly and Aaron a bit.
She was the mastermind behind the Ventura Nationals car show.
If anyone could predict the future 7 or so years ago,
I doubt this would have been it!
All I can say is she better have her own car next year...

main street ventura

One last pass through main street...



Put the volume down for this,
some horrible sound.
Now I know why my ears are blown jeez!

palm trees

It was getting late and Sloppy and I had planned on leaving by sunset,
but I had to see Danny and Lucy's new hot rod first.
Nothing like a couple greasy friends visiting a fresh new baby!
Funny thing is Danny was getting ready to test out his buddy's Chevelle,
at 10 pm on a sunday evening!
Now this is a family I can relate too!
Congratulations on your little Camilo!

Ambriz baby #1 - 2013

We chose to cruise the 1 highway along the coast,
and man talk about a sketchy ride.
No street lights, 6-volt headlights and 2 nights of 4-5 hour sleep,
with speeding oncoming traffic on one side,
and the ocean cliff on the other.
Let's say it was an adventure to get past Malibu.

Add caption

I was on serious mellow mode until 60+- miles out of San Diego,
then snapped out of it and blasted all the way home.
The perfect end to a great weekend.

pigpen

The next morning I wondered how some keep there cars so clean.
I think it looked like this in the show too.
Oh well.
Surprisingly enough there was still 2-3 gallons in the tank,
that's roughly 22 gallons for over 400 miles!

TP