DFW swap meet, cruise night and more

Finally went to my first US baseball game...and absolutely loved it..this was a Thursday night and the stands were just about full for the Texas Rangers vs Oakland As.....bases are loaded!!

Good friends Tim and Chris Cruce have a stable full of cars, including this purty 51 Ford custom...at home, there is a 34 roadster, a 32 roadster, and the race cars, Chris has three!, a Studebaker Pro Mod, a front engine dragster, and a fuel altered is in the works, while Chris still has her "pinks" winning 63 Ford Unibody pickup.

Arlington has a Friday night cruise night, starts at about 4pm through till about 9...lots of cool cars on show.

DFW swap in June is hot!..over 110, which is about 40 in our language. very good layout, but not as many bargains as in previous years...still, I did manage to load my red wagon quite a few times.

Sunday morning ritual is to go over to South Fort Worth to the Busy Bees Bakery, it's not huge by LA standards, just a good bunch of rodders sharing stories.

Another good friend with a stack of cars is Rick Duffin. Here is a newly built gasser using one of the just released repro 57 bodies.

Fort Worth, Texas

Another only in usa shot....if this was Australia, there would be signs, cars front and rear, maybe even only at night, but in good ol Texas, 55mph in the middle of the day....look at the mirrors out there!

Another special invite to an amazing collection of hot rods restored cars, and not only is there three Cobras, there made out of alloy and copper.....can you believe the cost that must have been involved here?

The detail is fantastic...think this is the one that was rebuilt after an unfortunate incident (see it on www.youtube) where the car ended up in the canal in Dallas Fort Worth area.

Once again, special; invite only...can't reveal the address of any of the collections you see on my blog..

This is the 36 belonging to Sid and Suzanne Cruce, just one of many hot rods they own....nicest people you can meet...seems like all Texans are super friendly!!

Sids new project is close to being finished.

Plenty more projects at the Cruces stash. Tim Cruce had plenty to show us in this yard!! (if you ever need a tow truck in the DFW area, call Tim at  Bubbas Tow 817 269 0171)

Managed to find me a pair of 36 radius rods in amongst the spares pile!!

Private hot rod collection in El Paso

We were very fortunate to get an invite to this private collection of hot rods owned by George Zaragoza. George made time from his busy schedule to show us around, so thank you once again.

The quality of cars here is awesome, and the way they are kept in pristine condition is helped by this surgically clean shop!

Hard to pick a favourite here??

But I found my favourite, the car that got me started along my hot rodding interest nearly 50 years ago, and there are plenty of clones, but this is the real one! McMullens old roadster.

The property was awesome, manicured to perfection, and although ultra secure, we were made welcome!...However, this was a one off, a special invite only, and a few friends made this happen, so thanks to all.

Leaving El Paso and looking over at the sister town of Juarez, Mexico, currently listed in the top 6 most violent cities in the world. The freeway from El Paso to Abilene was a treat to drive on, 3 lanes wide, very little traffic, and an 80mph speed limit...we managed to get from LA to Fort Worth in two days and saw so much on the way...too much to list here.

LA to Phoenix, Tucson and El Paso

After the swap....we managed to get everything in and hit the road for Phoenix...couldn't believe how many wind farms have sprung up since I last drove this way in 2004.

First stop, So Cal Phoenix...nice people to deal with, and they had 3 spinner coupes for sale..this was my pick!

At Tucson, we called by The Old Ford Speedshop, and recognised Charlie Durans old 3 window dirt track car, amongst plenty of other projects.

Another of these "only in America" photos...we did see another with 4 trucks mounted behind....and the number of three ups...i.e. pickup truck, towing a caravan, with a boat behind that...how the hell do they back up??

We contacted "Hot Rods Old Vail" before we left OZ, and they said to come by and look at the facility. $12 million spent so far, multiple bars up and down, dance floors, lunchtime eatery,  nightclub,  car show deal with 400 car park spaces, and the back half has a glass wall where you can watch cars being built/dynoed/painted etc. Just south of Tucson Arizona..Call in for a burger!

Some of the Hemi Chrysler motors I bought in El Paso, and had shipped to my container in Grapevine, Texas.

Friend Michael who was our tour guide around El Paso took us to see this nice 40 coupe...shoulda bought it!!

The LA show

The LA Roadster club invited us to join them at the Sat Night B B Q....this club has always welcomed us "aussies", so thanks to all of you at www.LARoadsters.com for making the weekend so enjoyable! Special thanks to Joe, Dave and John for helping us .

The Brisbane Boys.....we all did our bit to help the US economy.....we managed to get lots of parts and a few cars away from US soil and back to Oz...amazing how many foreigners were at this one weekend event.

Deuce parts anyone? There was plenty available, but bargains were hard to find.

Roadsters is what it is all about, but add in the no fenders, hairpins, steelies, no roof.....not many rodders "get" the look, and like Terry says, "There's only so many So Cal catalogs to go around!"

OK, three to choose from....which would be your pick?  

 The swap meet was big as usual, but it was so hot, you had to find some shade. As usual, the decision to maybe buy or not caught me out...if you think it's worth buying, get it, as most desirable parts were gone even on the setup day on the Friday. I still managed to put in about 4 hours of swap Friday, at least 6 hours Sat, and about 2 on Sunday. In between, I did the roadster show and the vendors displays, and I missed completely the cackle cars and the non roadster section., can't believe I didn't get to see everything in the three days. As usual, lots of vendors look after aussies, so thanks to So Cal Speed Shop for all your help, they helped make things "happen" for us.

Lots of nice cars, way too many for me to put on this blog, so check out more at www.deuceslimited.com, www.pewsplace.com, www.hotrodhotline.com,

June 2012..before we went to LA Roadster Show

First few days in LA, we went around the shops trying to beat the rush of people expected ..managed to see Scandanavian Street Rods, Circle City, Poor Boys, C W Moss, Reids Rod Parts, Waldens, Kennedy Bros, So Cal, Hanks, Hugos, Aldans,Team C. etc.

Met good friend, Daul Grau at the So Cal open day, this guy does more miles in hot rods than anyone I have ever met...check his trips on his blog at www.thedeuceguy.blogspot.com

Love to turn up at the T.A.C. with this and ask for rego...funny how this sort of thing is accepted over there..police don't take a second look, but.....would you drive it??

At Waldens, we were shown around by Griff...he brought out one of his deuces on the open day...how cool is this 3 window!

 The chassis work at all the shops is amazing, and lots of new ideas being used. This shot from Scandinavian shows the type of work he prefers...traditional styling!

Kennedy Brothers had this vintage flattie powered dragster in their collection, along with way too many cars and parts to show in this blog..super nice guys, just round the next corner from So Cal.

Saw this completely riveted frame at Waldens, It was being made for a European customer, and the workmanship was incredible....can you imagine the time that went into this, rather than a weld here and there?

We went to the drags at Irwindale and saw this restored old circle track car in the pits. Our hot rod heritage comes from racing...dirt track..drags..dry lakes..so nice to see something like this preserved.

My USA trip June-July 2012

Haven't had much time to blog, so here is a little sampler to start with of the trip les Winter and I recently did........................Found this old 30 sedan on day 2 in Texas/Fort Worth,,so it's now on the way to Aus for me to sell .....want it?? Hope it's all here in time for the Nostalgias in August!

This little coupe is a ripper, I bought this because it was sold as a rust free, non dented driving 29 Ford Coupe....there are some damaged areas on the roof, but basically, it is really good, so much so that I'd like to keep it...just as it is.  Will take it to Nostalgia drags maybe.......In front is some of the goodies I managed to get, including 4 sets 36 radius rods, buick drums, 3 hemi Chrysler engines, lots of intakes and valve covers, pulleys, way too much to list here.

Me...having a "magnesium moment" !!

My fovourite all time hot rod, had to pose for a photo

Then....got to see the genuine one in El Paso, Texas...we were fortunate enough to get the rare invite into the George Zaragoza collection, so thanks to those who arranged this for Les and I. Will post more in the coming days and weeks, over 600 photos to go thru for you'all!!