2016 North West Deuce Days - Sunday July 23- The Big Show (Part 3)

Well, all good things must come to an end. After a long day of checking out some of the nicest cars around and walking a total of 14kms, we fired up the old banger and headed for our 6 o'clock ferry reservation. Below is a shot of my son as we wait in the line up to board.

This is what it looks like from the passenger seat of the car as we load up on the ferry to head home and get some needed rest from our little vacation.

2016 North West Deuce Days- Sunday July 23- The big show (part 2)

 The Morning after cleaning our cars was the best time to look around and snap some shots. It wasn't too long before the crowds started and taking a pic of a car became next to impossible without someone ending up in your shot. Between my son and I, we took over 200 pictures. Here are some of my favorites.
(Above) Two 32s that were brought up to the show by the Edelbrock family. Vics coupe and matching roadster. (Below) A shot of Vics yacht. Named "Victorious". This picture does the size and beauty of this boat no justice. He brings it for every event here.

 (Below) The 32 roadster below belongs to famed painter Darryl Hollenbeck. This car won the AMBER (America's Most Beautiful Roadster) award in 2015. It is a very prestigious award and not easy to win. It is an amazing car and he drove it up from his home in CA. Not too often you see an AMBER contender driving up the freeway let alone the winner.

 (Below) This 32 3 Window Coupe belongs to Bruce Meyers. He also drove this car all the way up here from Hollywood CA. It is a bare bones hot rod built in a true slat flat style. No side windows, a big shop to the roof with the windshield slanted way back. The interior consists of nothing more than two WWII bomber seats and belts, a steering wheel, shifter and a few gauges.

 (Below) This is a really neat 34 5 window coupe built locally in Coquitlam. Another example of the salt flat look. Powered by a great sounding V8 flathead.

(Below)  Here is a shot of the crowd by 11:00 am. The kid in front is my son, David.
They say that over 200 000 people go through the Langley Cruise-in. I bet this show attracts as many or more people. The streets were packed all day.

 (Below)I loved the color on this 32 3 window.

(Below) This 32 3 window was unreal. It was here from North Carolina. It had a seriously heavy chop to it. The rear window was only 1" tall. Powered by a hopped up Hemi, it sounded as good as it looked. We got a chance to chat with the guy that owned it for a while that morning. Very cool gentleman by the name of Tom Busch. He has two sons you may have herd of if you follow Nascar, Kyle and Kurt Busch.

 (Above) This 1930-31 (can't tell exactly what year it is due to the change from a model A grill to a 32 Grill. This was a popular modification to model A's when the engine was swapped out for a V8 from a 1932 or newer car to get the larger radiator in the car to cool the new power plant) This little roadster didn't have a V8, instead it is equipped with a heavily modified original Ford 4 cylinder engine (A Banger) Before the V8 was introduced in 1932, speed parts for the banger were everywhere. The flat head is named so due to the fact that the cylinder head is basicly a cap for the combustion chambers. The valves were located inside the engine block. This worked very well but was not efficient at allowing the engine to breath- and if an engine can't breath, it doesn't make horsepower. So aftermarket companies started to make overhead valve conversions for the little Ford  4 cyl. mill. This roadster is equipped with one of these conversions. I am not entirely sure as to the make of this particular conversion, there were a few different companies that made them, but I believe it is a Miller (the famed engine builder of the early Indy car engine) conversion. It also has been converted from one updraft carburetor to two downdraft carburetors. This is an excellent example of a pre-war hot rod.

2016 North West Deuce Days- Sunday July 23- The big show (Part 1)

We were up at 4:45am to get in line to get our spot in the show. It takes a lot of people and time to properly park 1100 cars. It was an early start but so worth it. After we got our cars parked, we cleaned them up and waited 40 mins for a coffee in the only open coffee shop in downtown and then cruised around talking to some people we know and others we didn't. It is a great way to see the show and the cars and talk to old friends before the huge crowds start to arrive.

 We lucked out and got to park beside each other and we were right in front of the parliament building

2016 Northwest Deuce Days- Saturday July 23- The Poker Run

On Saturday is the Poker Run. It all started at Clover Park which is a really cool little peninsula right on the ocean. When you leave you draw a card and it is recorded. As you continue along the coast and through the farms and different parks that have been mapped out, you come to stops to get more cards for your hand. At the end, the best hand wins. This year it was $600 for first, $300 for second and $100 for third. It was a ton of fun and the kids loved it. Lots of cool cars and people. When we first pulled into the park we were right behind Vic Edelbrock and his wife in their 1932 Ford coupe.
The organizers had planned for around 300 cars, but we were told over 500 showed up.
                                 
This is Vic Edelbrock in his 32 Deuce

 This is another very traditional 32 Roadster. Done in a 1940s style. Flat head V8, a mild lowering and a slightly chopped windshield. I love this car. It was up here from Arizona.

 Just a sea of Hot Rods down by the sea. We were a bit late and ended up gatting one of the last spots in the run.

 The view from behind us when stopped at a light while cruising through the Uplands of Victoria.

 Another pic from the back window of our A.

We had a crappy hand and three hours into the cruise, the kids were done. So we skipped the last stop and headed back to the hotel to meet our friends and go for a swim and an ice cold beverage before heading out for dinner. Walking through down town Victoria is real treat on a normal summer day, but this weekend the street are completely lined with hot rods. Our wives have a lot of patience when the guys have to stop every twenty feet to check out another cool car.

2016 Northwest Deuce Days- Friday July 22

So the weekend of July 21-24th was the event of the year for most local hot rodders and a lot of out of towners as well. This event is held in beautiful downtown Victoria B.C. and claims to be the largest gathering of 1932 (The Deuce) Fords in North America. The show is open to all vehicles built before 1953. In all, there were 1100 cars registered for the event and plenty more in town that didn't make registration in time but brought out their cars anyways. People drive their hot rods from all over North America for this show. There were cars from Texas, North Carolina, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta just name a few. Vic Edelbrock drives his 32 coupe up every event and we saw hot rod famed people like Bruce Meyers, Darryl Hollenbeck, Steve Moal and Roy Brizio cruising around.
My friends and I went to the last one that was held in 2013 and it was a blast so there was no way were missing this one. We had booked our hotels and registered for the show in January 2015! If you didn't do that, you would have a hard time getting a room and a spot in the show.
There is a poker run on the Saturday and the big show is all day Sunday. Its hot rod heaven, not one to miss.
So here are a few pics of the trip and some of my favorite cars of the show. Hope you enjoy them.
We will start with the Friday drive from Aldergrove to the ferry and then to Victoria.

This is the view from the back window of out Model A driving from the ferry terminal to Sidney for lunch. The car behind us in owned by my best friends Dad. It is a 1940 Mercury coupe.

                                                                                                                                                               Just a shot of some of us parked for lunch at Sidney.

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This 1932 Ford Coupe was parked at the same hotel as us. It is an original surviving hot rod from the 1950's. It is equipped with some very cool and rare speed parts. This is a perfect example of an early 50's hot rod. 

This is a video of my Friend Wayne's 1932 roadster. I took this as we were leaving lunch and heading for Victoria. The fresh 327 with a triple deuces sounds great

 This is a shot from the 5th floor of our hotel. Just a very small sample of the killer cars in attendance.
The second car from the left is our 1930 Model A.

The Race Of Gentlemen

Here is a youtube video about a very cool race that started about three years ago. It is presented by a group of guys in N.J. who are very dedicated to the Traditional Hot Rod movement and go to great lengths to try and recreate the days of beach racing that was so popular in the forty's. Every car that is allowed to participate must be 100% traditional, you have to submit photos of your car prior to being allowed to enter to ensure the traditional rule is upheld. People on the beach who are there to participate must also be dressed in a somewhat period correct clothing. If not, you have to watch from the walkway above.
It may seem way to extreme to most of you, but I cant wait to take my car to this event one day and be part of it.

Some more progress

A few more pics on the progress we had made during the first few months we had her.

 My crew.

Hard at work in a chilly garage in the dead of winter.

Fenders and splash aprons off. Starting to resemble a hot rod.

Re mounting the headlights to the frame. They originally mount to the bar between the fenders.

It didn't take long after the car got home that the family project began. First things first, get the bumpers, fenders and splash aprons off. Here are a couple pictures of the kids getting involved and dirty with me in the garage.

The beginning of the new project-Part 2

The entire drive home from that road trip, I was building my new project in my head. The original idea was a coupe, but since I have two children, a car that the family could not fit in was not an option. So the hunt was on for a 1930/31 Ford Tudor Sedan. A large scale internet search leaded to a lot of heavy projects with long lists of metal work and rust repair that would require shipping from half way across the country. I wasn't interested in a full scale build, I was looking for a car that would have the look of a old car a teenager bought for $20 in 1940 and hot rodded. So it is not meant to look like a fresh restoration.
Then I found an add in Craigslist about two hours south of the boarder. I thought it was a scam, the add showed a great car at a price that I felt was considerably below market value. When I called the seller, it seemed legitimate, but I was skeptical. My best friend and I decided to make the trip and see what the story was. At the very least we would have a good story and go for a burger and a beer.

It ended up being everything I was looking for. A 1930 that was an older restoration from 1970, lacquer paint that was starting to crack in some places. Just the look I wanted. So I paid the man a deposit and came back the next weekend with a trailer to bring it home. This a picture was taken by my best friend who came with us of my son and I after we loaded it up.

Here it is sitting in its new home awaiting its new direction. 

The beginning of the new project- Part 1

I few years ago a few friends and I went to Chehalis WA for a hot rod show called Billetproof
http://www.billetproof.com/
It was a rainy, wet weekend but we had a blast none the less. Here are a couple shots of the drive down.

When at the show, I was introduced to a style of Hot Rod that was new to me. It is a movement that was started somewhere around 15 years ago (maybe earlier) but has recently started to become regular sighting in the scene. Traditional Hot Rodding. These are cars built in the same style as was done when the hobby first really got rolling back in Southern California in the late 30s and 40s. They can be referred to as "Pre-war Hot Rods" and "Post-war Hot Rods". A style that revolves around the quest for speed and the earliest days of the salt flats. The Look generally involves a mild lowering job, removal of the fenders, "Big and Little" tire combinations (larger size tires in the rear and small tires in the front) Hydraulic brake conversions (Early cars had mechanical brakes- scary stuff) No bumpers and pretty much anything else that would add weight and slow the car down. 

The engine modifications started as hopping up Henry Fords 4 cylinder engine that came in the model A and early 32s. It produced a whopping ground pounding 40 HP and these guys did everything imaginable to squeeze every bit of possible power from them. From casting there own intake manifolds and high compression cylinder heads to completely re-engineering the valve train to convert the engine to an overhead valve and thus increasing the intake and exhaust flow. 

In 1932 Ford introduced the first V8 engine. This really changed the game and the 4 cylinders (Bangers as they had become known) were removed from most cars and the V8 were installed. 

This is a huge part of Hot Rodding history and one that could have its own dedicated blog. If this is something that interests you further, you could check out some publications that have been written about these early days of the hobby. Don Montgomery http://www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com/ has some excellent books on this. The Jalopy Journal http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/ is a website and forum that is strictly dedicated to this era as well and has some great info.

So as I started to check these cars out, I really fell in love with the simplicity and styling of these cars. Here are a few examples: