Old Cars Weekly – 29 August 2019

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com August29, 2019 ❘ 25

d,“The Suede Palace.”

lyno lowriders or even

dubs” in Detroit, but

component in Pomona.

shows feature custom

ksand station wagons,

remore woodies at the

Heres anoth r difference: It’s freez-

inginDetroitinMarch, so almost no one

drives a rod or a custom to the Autorama.

In contrast, daytime temps are in the 70s

or better in Pomona, so the GNRS en-

courages hundreds of rods and customs

to park outside the show halls, making

for a sun-drenched show-within-a-show

that changes each day. Many guys and

gals bring different rides to Pomona that

aren’t entered in the event, and the cars

line the alleyways between the buildings.

They pay for that parking privilege, by

the way.

Speaking of a show-within-a-show,

this year was the 90th anniversary of

the Model A Ford, in a way. The fi rst

Model A Fords appeared in 1928, but

hey, who’s counting? More importantly,

Karpo Murkijanian, with help from his

good friend Brian Bauer, gathered up

nearly every signifi cant historic Model A

hot rod, including many magazine cover

cars and former AMBR winners—107

in all—for a truly spectacular presen-

tation in Building 9. Nearly every fa-

mous Model A hot rod was on hand. Jim

“Jake” Jacobs brought his “decoupage”

tub, and his famed panel truck. The Ed-

die Dye roadster was there, along with

the famous roadsters of Rich “Pure

Hell” Guasco, Dennis Varni, Frank “Ike”

Iacono (owned by Neal O’Kane), Keith

Weesner and Mark “Rodzy” Morton. The

late (and sadly missed) Gary Meadors

and Bill Burnham were represented with

their iconic old roadsters present, thanks

to their new owners, Marc Meadors and

Harry Daviess.

One of my favorites on the “A list”

was the Williams Bros. Model A, better

known as the “Ram Rod” when it ap-

peared in Hot Rod Magazine in 1954.

The four Williams boys installed a Dodge

“Little Red Ram” Hemi V-8 in their ma-

roon ’29 A roadster then added the best

go-fast goodies of the day: a Chet Herbert

roller cam, a Scintilla-Vertex magneto

and eight-stack Hilborn fuel injection,

bored it out to 250-cid with J-E pistons

and took it to Bonneville and set a B/

Roadster class record with a scorching

159-mph average. They drag raced it a

few times and then put it away for ever.

Stashed in their garage for 50 years, the

Williams Bros. roadster is as close to a

hot rod time capsule as it gets. Owner

Tom Mcintyre likes to say, “I’m just the

custodian of this car.” And he plans to

keep it just the way it is: cracked leather,

chipped paint and 60 years of old salt and

lakes dust notwithstanding.

The Model A collection in Building

9 was over the top. I soon lost count of

how many A’s there were. John Mum-

ford brought the famed Barris “Ala Kart”

(which won the Bruce Meyer Preserva-

tion Award) and the family of the late

Blackie Gejeian brought the ex-Chuck

Krikorian 1960 AMBR-winner, better

known as “The Emperor.” Reminiscent

of 2007, when the show presented most

of the Top 75 Deuces, this A-plus display

was a never-to-be-repeated tribute, and

Karpo deserves all the accolades for his

two years of hard work.

Speaking of accolades, Alex “Axel”

Idzardi did his usual great job of organiz-

ing the “Suede Palace.” Once again Bill

McGrath from the Early Ford Store in San

Dimas had a couple of stellar barn fi nds

parked at the entrance to the building.

One of them, with a “Sold!” sign on the

windshield was a ’35 Ford three-window

coupe in red oxide primer with a modi-

fi ed fl athead. It looked as though it had

been parked in the early ’60s and it had

just been disinterred. The “Suede Palace”

has its own stage and Axel presents great

bands with rockabilly music while tattoo-

ed guys and gals can shop from hot rod

Hop Up cover car from

1952, the famous Eddie

Roadster is now owned

imBobowski and it was

byCircle City Hot Rods

e,Calif., and completed

for the AMBR competi-

r. I never tire of looking

omits Whitey Clayton-

k nose and hood, to the

ork by Gil and Al Ayala

eles, and a full-on Earl

flathead — it’s a time-

less beauty.

Jim Govros, from Dripping Springs, Texas, competed for the AMBR in “Tweety

Bird,” the bright yellow, Caddy-powered, chopped-and-channeled, full-fendered

’32 Ford roadster he had in high school. Featured in Rodding and Re-styling in

1959, it was lost for years, found and restored by Keith Tardel and the crew from

Rex Rod and Chassis in Austin, along with an impressive list of builders who all

pitched in and donated their time to help Jim make the big show.

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