Buch - Rodders Journal - No. 28

128 pages, glossy full-color, perfect bound

Editorial | The RJ Times | Nothing to Hide | Bud's Old Shoebox | The Cole Foster Story | Blue Ridge Rodding | Jeff Allison Design | Custom Retrospective | 10 Years After | Kustom Kulture for the Masses | Parts Is Parts | The Other Brothers | 'Liner Notes | Spotlight

Big news: We're celebrating our 10th anniversary with our latest issue. To mark the occasion, which we'll be observing throughout 2005, we've revisited our very first cover car from issue Nr. 1: Ray Bartlett's 1934 Ford coupe. The coupe has changed a good deal over the last decade, making a timeless chopped three-window even better. Our story details what Ray changed and why he made the changes, and we document it all with stunning new studio photography. Then there's Royce Glader's '29 pickup. Although it has traditional cues—Red Ram Hemi, quickchange, widefive-style wheels—it's also something different. Royce and the builders at Pinkee's Rod Shop near Denver let their imaginations run wild, whether it was making the pickup so low that it would make Corvettes loom like SUVs, or using 34-inch rear tires, or hand-fabricating nearly everything. Part one of the story by Joe Kress shows the '29 in bare metal, before paint, so every nut and bolt can be shown. (We'll show the finished version in TRJ Nr. 29.) Everybody knows about Andy Granatelli, but less well known are his brothers, Joe and Vince. Both were integral to the development of the Granatelli empire, but preferred to leave the limelight to Andy. Dick Martin's story follows the brothers' rise from humble beginnings in Depression-era Chicago to fame and fortune on the track circuit. It chronicles their automotive innovations still remembered today, such as the side-mounted turbine engine that caused a sensation at Indy in 1967. Southwest Virginia has been a breeding ground of hot rodding since moonshiners hopped up their cars to outrun the authorities. We show photos of drag races in the '50s and '60, some memorable forgotten customs, the remarkable huge displacement Ford flatheads built by L.O. Stanley, and the long journey of Bob Bateman's award-winning '31 roadster. Ken Gross tells the story. Speaking of vintage, TRJ Nr. 28 includes three stories that focus on different aspects of rod and custom culture. Leading off is a series of photos belonging to former Rod & Custom editor Bud Bryan. Bud had kept a shoebox of the pix from his R&C tenure, but many have never been published before, and we think readers will be delighted by the look back to the '60s era when nitrocellulose lacquer was the paint of choice. Speaking of nostalgia, a book called Hot Rods & Custom Cars by Coco Shinomiya sums up the golden age of our hobby almost entirely through photos and artifacts. It's truly a loving tribute to a lost era, and we've included an excerpt. Lastly, we've gone through our own files to find photos of some of our favorite customs featured in The Rodder's Journal, from the Hirohata Merc to the Moonglow Chevy. It's a fun look back to our beginnings. This issue also includes a look at the hot rod art of Jeff Allison and part two of our look at acclaimed builder Cole Foster.