WEEKEND UPDATE

JANGLING THROUGH PARADISE

As you read this from your igloo, while watching the March Meet re-runs on Bangshift.com, I'm lounging under a palm tree in warm sunny California, sipping a cool drink. I'm down here to pick up my new daily driver from street/strip warrior Rick Smith (the guy who now runs my old Anglia race car - the BTU). The only interesting aspect of my new driver (a beat silver '98 Honda 4-door stealthmobile) is camel-like gas mileage, compared to my station wagon (50 hwy vs 12). But it looks like a flathead V-8 should slide right into it. Yes, this means the Bi-Polar Bear is going away ASAP. Look for it on the Barrett-Jackson website - or maybe Craigslist. Rick has lined up some photo shoots for me while I'm down here, then it's back home to God's country and my old familiar keyboard. I should have road trip photos for you on next week's blog.

FORAGING FOR SHELTER

I checked on an apartment earlier this week. Found my dream home above Roger Huffman's workshop, up in the mountains. Great place, with a panoramic view and all the rust dust I can breath in. The price was beyond my means, but I did snap some photos of the shop while I was there. 

A couple of Roger's many toys - he has way too many to post here. The late model ('31) truck in the lower photo is his going-to-town version. Roger was wheeling his daily driver '28 beater pickup on this day.

SCENE OF THE GRIME

Afterwards, Roger hopped in his Model A pickup, I crawled into the Bi-Polar Bear, and we bombed a couple of miles down the road to Dr. Lockjaw's shop for a surprise lunchtime visit.

The frame rails we tapered last week. This what fell on my toe, causing me to walk in circles for three days.

                             Dr. Lockjaw's driver, snuggled up to a customer's street/strip Willys.

    Graphic proof that Doc's Custom Metal shop complies with all current OSHA regulations.

PAT FOSTER: A DAY IN THE PARK

Veteran chassis fabricator, Dragster/Funny Car pilot, and all-around hot rod crazy Pat Foster was one of my heroes from the early 60’s until his recent passing. His son Cole is a highly respected rod and custom builder in his own right. So when Cole posted the following story on his Facebook page last week, I was all over it. The tale of Pat’s day in a miniature sports car is just too fun not to share with you, so here it is, verbatim (but for some light editing). I added the dragster photo below as a visual aid. 

           Dusty Rhodes' Top Fueler is a typical example of what Pat was more accustomed to driving. 

As told by Cole Foster:

“Found this newspaper clipping today. Tell what I know.......

Early 70s, and very close to the grand opening of "Magic Mountain" in California (now “Six Flags”). It might of been pre-opening day. Well, Hot Rod magazine hosted a day for the stars of NHRA drag racing there, the park was closed to public.

Like Autotopia at Disneyland, there’s a wall around a track you ran on. You could gas ‘em and brake ‘em and steer ‘em, but they had a cement curb running under the cars that pretty much turned them for you if you didn’t. And of course, there were governors on them - a little kid’s put-put ride. I’m remembering more as I go. They took like 20 brand new lil race cars off the track and the guys were supposed to race down the walkways around the park. If you have ever been there, the walking paths are banked, even some elevation changes. They ran banners to mark the track. Dad said they each had a co-pilot from the press. So they take off on the practice lap, maybe 10-15 MPH, and as soon as they get to the far side, they all jump out of the cars, lift the motor covers, and in a few seconds the governors were off and guys were tweaking the carbs, leaning them out a bit! Snake, Goose, Kelly Brown, Butch Leal - all the guys were there.

Dad said it was the most fun you could have with your clothes on. I’m telling you, 20 young fearless, super-competitive pro drivers and 20 scared-shitless news and magazine writers absolutely demolished anything near their path. Now these things are going 40 MPH, three abreast, headed for Turn One, and nobody's backing off. They ruined the cars, the landscaping - Dad said someone hit an entrance to another ride at some adobe archway and knocked it down - fiberglass and carnage strewn everywhere. Total mayhem. What was Magic Mountain expecting? A nice story in the paper to promote the Grand Opening! But anyhow, dad was the big winner! They didn’t ever do that again, for sure.”

Thanks Cole! Almost like being there...

To get you in the mood for springtime barbecue, I leave you with an inspirational image of some smoking meat.

                                Okay, I gotta panic! See you guys next week. Until then, stay warm and dry.

THE WINNERS CIRCLE

     The epitome of a winner, in my eyes. This guy embodies the hot rod ethos, period. Driven!

 Previously on Scotty Gosson Exposed... We offered my new ink pen, socks, underwear and seven gallons of cat-pee gasoline to the first responder to our fabulous giveaway gala. And the winner is... (drumroll)...(damn these quality American envelopes)... Okay, uh, let's see here. Oh, it's up-side-down... ah, here we are: Little Scotty Parkhurst from Snowball, Minnesota! Congrats, kiddo. The gas is long gone now, and I haven't had time to get the pen, socks and underwear yet, so I'll just send you my old ones (the pen doesn't work anymore, but my infamous fingerprints are all over it. Might fetch some bucks on eBay). Of course, there will be some shipping and handling charges, state tax, excise tax for the gasoline value, etc. Your package will go in the outbox as soon as I work things out with my secretary (currently in the Federal Witness Protection Program), which shouldn't take too long. Parkhurst works for a top-secret behind-the-scenes agency in the automotive aftermarket, currently supporting Optima Batteries, which is owned by Johnson Controls, which I believe is owned by the Department of Defense.

Also mentioned in the previous post was my impending triple-deadline, which I survived intact, for the most part. That desperate thrash eliminated last week's session at James Drive Studio, so nothing got done on the recording project. I did make it out to Dr. Lockjaw's Custom Metal shop for an abbreviated day of work on my Model A project (I dropped one of the freshly tapered frame rails on my toe, so now I walk funny-er). Between all of that, plus foraging for food and shelter, I'm still slammed with work. So this will be a pinched-off blog entry. But it appears that most things in Scottyville will be back to normal(?) by next week. Until then, here's a picture of some old cars.

Until next time, amigos!

MR. BIG TIME!

Writers work without a live audience. We knock out the story in solitude, send it out into the world on untested legs, wish it luck, and begin the next one. It's very rare to get any feedback after the fact, which I believe is probably for the best, in my case. It's important that I stay in the moment, lest I become dependent upon any virtual applause that comes my way, and transform into some kind of raging drama queen. I've seen it happen to others.

So imagine my reaction when I opened the December flier from our regional aftermarket parts house, touting their holiday season specials, and found this - the validation I've secretly fantasized about since trading my wrench for a pen, years ago.
.

                                                                                   

This changes everything! It's nice to see my books on the shelf at the bookstore, and a row of  magazines with my work in them at the news stand. But a parts catalog - this is where I live! This particular company (Performance Warehouse) has never sold any printed matter before (or advertised it, anyway), to my knowledge. And when they chose to do so, they gave my book top billing, over world famous author Jerry Heasley! Unreal. But wait - there's more...

Today, I received my quarterly  royalty statement from Cartech (my book publisher). They just notified me last week about my Rat Rods book going into its second printing, and today I learn that it only needs to sell another twenty-some copies and my advance will be paid off!

What a warm fuzzy week this has been. I'm humbled and honored. It seems appropriate to celebrate in some  respectful manner, but deep down, that feels a bit boorish, or at least pretentious. So I've decided to underplay it by using my newfound fortune to buy a new pen, some socks, underwear, and 7 gallons of gasoline.

I'm currently in the midst of a triple deadline situation and am on the verge of being overwhelmed. I know I'll make it - I always do. But this time, it'll take all the focus I can possibly conjure up. So that's it for this week's post. If I survive, you'll read about it right here. If not, I hereby bequeath my new pen, socks, underwear, and whatever gas is left to the first SGE follower to post something on here. May the best follower win.

Of Couch Surfing, Joyous Noises and Flinging Sparks. And the last Thumbnail Freakout (for now)-!

                       Test driving Dr. Lockjaw's '32. It's so nice to be the Forrest Gump of hot rodding...

 COUCH SURFER

It was a fairly standard week in Scottyville. Some of it was spent gathering nuts and berries, but every day of it was fun. Thanks to my pals Richard and Sandy (and their beautiful house, stocked with adorably quirky dogs and cats), I got some good solid work done on the latest book project for CarTech. I even prevented a deadline panic for the latest Hot Rod Deluxe story, which made several people happy.

JOYOUS NOISE

But just like you and your Uncle Bob, I live for the weekend. Lately, my Saturdays have been devoted to recording the new Scotty Gosson Combo album at Medford's James Drive Studio, which may sound pretty swanky, but is actually my pal Rob's unfinished (and unheated) garage. We wouldn't have it any other way, as this place is the natural habitat for some good honest garage band thrashing. After a lifetime of writing/performing/recording acoustic music, mere words are inadequate to describe how cathartic it is to finally unleash the electricity within - but I can tell you it's akin to a 220 volt enema, if you can imagine that. This stuff will probably surprise a few people. We have the basic tracks recorded now, and are down to adding some incidentals, then the mixdown begins. I'm very stoked about this.

That's Rob James' garage (er, I mean, James Drive Studio), behind the Bi-Polar Bear (bearing a cache  of musical instruments, haphazardly homespun electronic devices, and half a bag of Purina Bachelor Chow). Rob's place looks like any other garage on this idyllic cul-de-sac - blissfully invisible to the untrained eye.

Inside his lair, we find Mr. Rob hisself, displaying obvious signs of sleep deprivation, over-caffeination, and borderline creative process adrenaline poisoning. This guy has been a Godsend to me, and to many other musical misfits around the valley. Rob "gets it".

Rob even knows what most of those buttons and switches do. Amazing. I thought he was downloading a mix to the computer here, but it turns out he was pricing used ignition coils on eBay. The mix came out pretty good though.

As of today, the Scotty Gosson Combo consists of Rob on skins and Scotty on strings. We're discreetly vetting bass and rhythm guitar players for some future live performances though (Shhh!).

       Don't turn your back on Rob for a second - he'll make you more famous than you care to be.

Ah, back on my trusty Fenton guitar. This shot is my own fault - I left my camera in the booth with Rob, foolishly assuming he was actually working.

FLINGING SPARKS

Sundays are reserved for some quality shop time at Dr. Lockjaw's Custom Metal facility, deep in the wilderness of Oregon's Applegate valley. It's a therapeutic forty minute drive from here, and I always arrive at the shop (and later, back home) with my battery recharged. Doc and I are both building Model A's as spare time projects - he, a J-2 Olds-powered coupe, and I, a 2.3 liter Ford-powered roadster thingy (it's "unusual" and "interesting", like most cars I've built for myself). The Bi-Polar Bear sucks gas so hard, I haven't been able to afford the trip for a couple of weeks, so it hit the spot extra solid this week. Beautiful weather didn't hurt, either. After an initial mock-up of my "Sport Touring", we now have the basic parameters sketched out, so we started building my frame rails this week. If I can get out there over the remaining winter Sundays, I should have a rolling chassis in time for T-shirt weather. This project may end up in a book, so I'm not going into much detail here.

Sneaking a peek out of the shop door, at Doc's house. In true  hardcore fabricator fashion, he built it (and the shop) himself, from scratch. Both are totally badass!

Doc's A-Bone chassis is looking good. His up-side-down rails are actually the same Model A pieces I originally planned for mine, 15 years ago. But Doc actually made them nice. Very nice! As always, Doc's car will be deemed a fully realized masterpiece, while mine will be considered more "folk art". We're both okay with those titles.

On my last visit, I delivered these 2" X 3" rectangular tubes and the little 1 1/4" round tubes, and left them on a frame jig, gathering shop dust. These will be the foundation of my new car. SFI-spec (blown Big Block Chevy) Willys coupe in background is a customer car.

After some last second head scratching, slicing, dicing, and inner boxing, Doc waves his magic welding tip over the tubing, and presto! Instant frame rails for a needle-nose Model A! Next week: Tapering the rails.

 THUMBNAIL FREAKOUT!

Once again, my online research has unearthed another weeks worth of cool imagery, too small to print. So I've decided to share it here, then delete it, saving myself the agony of clawing through mountains of thumbnails (eeew!) while trying to be productive on the clock. Enjoy.

STREETERS:

Okay, streeters on the salt...

Here's your free Wally Parks screen saver.

A reminder from the AHRF that Ed Roth built more than just the Dali-esque Show Rods. Anyone remember Ed's hot rod '55 Chevy with the FE Ford in it?

Nirvana...

(My personal favorites) STREET/STRIPPERS:

When I worked at Mike DeVee's Mopar Resto-Mod shop, this is what we took to lunch every day (it was often the only car on the property without a Hemi). A surly blown smallblock Chevy with a 4-speed kept us engaged on the way to town and back. Mike has since sold it, and I believe this shot was posted online by the new owner, who hasn't changed a thing. I made some minor tweaks to this, and Dr. Lockjaw built the 'cage.

The Manilishi Falcon.

Saluting the El Monte Air Force!

Oh yeah! I'm a lifelong fiftysixer and this is one of my faves.

                          This Bowtie trio pretty much defines the street racer ethos, in my opinion.

Gotta love beaters... 

Speaking of which, Paul Zeilsdorf has the perfect swap meet-mobile!

Model A juxtaposition: Stock and Not.

Orphaned Racers:

Racers:

The Witchcraft streamliner was based on a Strother MacMinn concept. Where is it now?

Tony Nancy at the '70 March Meet. If you dig this stuff, go blow a few hours at the AHRF site, or their Facebook page.

A bunch that just grabbed me:

This series of shots depicting Gasser great Steve Woods test driving a friend's car is from the Fremont Raceway Facebook site. The rearend wasn't quite nailed down...

At Santa Pod, in England.

I heart early A/FXers. Stripped down to expose the very essence of racing.

Some Just Because racer shots:

PHUN PHOTO GRAB BAG:

Obviously, a lot of this stuff is from Facebook. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Hot Rod Deluxe has a Facebook page! I'm always the last to know anything. It's mostly behind-the-scenes stuff, posted by Taylor Le. But Mr. Ed has posted a few juicy tidbits on there, too.

CHOPS!:

The HAMB's Friday Night Art Show never ceases to amaze. Here's some samples from this week's show.

                                                                   ENOUGH ALREADY! 

                                                                    (Until next time...)