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I
am back on the Red Road King and head
to the 60 freeway and out to Pomona.
I
am to meet Tony Thacker and check
out what's new at Southern California's
revered So-Cal Speedshop.
I get to the door 5 minutes before
the 3:00 appointment. Tony is in meeting
with a client and Alex Maldonado will
be showing me around. Alex works in
Clothing Development, and has quite
a bit of knowledge about the Hot Rod
Shop. We went straight back to the
hot rod shop and he begins to show
me the different projects they are
working on.
The
main shop is a big space behind the
front office and store. There were
about 20 cars in there in different
state of assembly. The ones nearest
the paint booth were covered with
a 3M film. In this shop was an old
'32 3-window coupe that used to be
a racer and now they are putting it
back on the street. They had to completely
rebuild the car from the frame up.
I asked Alex what was the biggest
challenge they face. And he thought
for a minute. "Making these
70-year old cars look like they are
brand new. Everybody expects them
to have Lexus-like door gaps and they
just weren't that way in 1932."
They like to build cars that GO, not
just SHOW.
Out
back is another building that has
their special race cars, and client
cars stored. Next to this garage is
a R & D room. It has a large surface
plate in the center of the floor for
accurately measuring everything from
frames to complete vehicles. The room's
walls are white and have plans and
concept drawings pinned up. There
are a couple of rods in there as well.
Thacker and Shine's Deuce the So-Cal
SS's 32 and a lakester. In the garage
was an innocently looking '34 Roadster
with a big pipe coming out of the
grille. The pipe is the air intake
for the turbo. This rod has a Chevy
in-line 4 banger and set a record
at 210.881 mph at Bonneville. All
these cars have been to Bonneville.
Let me correct that; Both the Thacker
and Shine Roadster and the '34 Roadster
were DRIVEN to Bonneville. They
don't trailer their cars there, they
road test them on the way. And in
one backward county in Utah, the troopers
made them put the 4 banger '34 on
the trailer, saying it wasn't street
legal.
In
the next building back is Jimmy Shines
shop. Not that they called it that,
it’s my moniker. He was working
on a bike and a couple of other cars
that they asked I keep under wraps.
I ran into him just last weekend at
the Grand National Roadster Show.
He was hangin out with some buddies
by his bike.
Back
in the storefront, I asked Alex what's
new? Bullet Knobs. A new Model A Frame,
and their Open House on Saturday,
February 12th. So grab your chick
for a romantic stop at So-Cal Speedshop!
It's
about 4:30 and I am saddling up to
head on home. I slip the 800 pound
beast between the traffic on the 57
and make a right turn into the sunset
and home for a beer and start writing
this article. Look for more Shop Tours
in the months to come.
Get
out and Cruise! — T-Bone
T-Bone@Car-Shows.com
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