Modified

Part two of our long beach adventure 

was supposed to be a quick slam bam deal.

Pick up Brandon's new project and mosey on home.

This was a lucky find.

The builder had taken it to the Father's Day roadster show,

didn't have any bites,

and made one attempt at posting it online.

Somehow Brandon remembered the car,

and found the contact info almost a year later.

The pictures were clear enough to see a solid build,

with a quality parts list 

although the proportions were a little exaggerated.

Compared to some other junk he had found,

this looked like a score.

The day was warm and the guy a bit grumpy,

but what happened as time progressed 

was the stuff that beers are made for,

to try to remember if it really happened.

Our amazement and interest cracked his hard shell,

or was it cold hard cash!

First off the shop was bitchin.

A simple no frills metal fabricating work area,

decorated haphazardly with old race car parts.

He and his brother had built and raced this hemi powered 27 since the late 60's,

winning the winternationals in 1978,

then crashing in 1980!

The crash led him into two ventures,

funny cars and creating Aldan Shocks.

This was Frank Aldana.

His car history was big time.

Very surreal to hear stories of burning alcohol,

business swindlers, and race hijinks.

We were there almost three hours!

This Willy's was built 20 years ago,

scared all the competition,

and retired unraced,

while he went to race with the Pfluger team instead.

That's where he got the big trophy...

So now what does a guy like that do?

Besides building race cars and bread & butter contract work,

he spends every Saturday building a hot rod.

Going back to simpler times.

Brandon's new project was his test bed for his keeper project.

Lots of cool little details.

Thanks Frank for the tour!

Even if the surprise visit was a bit overwhelming,

I couldn't resist grabbing these speakers on the way home.

More later...

TP