Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

    Of all the hot rod adventures I went on this past summer, Father's Day weekend was high on the list of being my favorite and since the GM Heritage Center was briefly mentioned in the lastest issue of HRM, I thought I would post a story here I originally posted on the HAMB in June.

    For the past few years on Father's Day weekend I would head down to Bowling Green, KY for the Hot Rod Reunion. This year was different for a couple of reasons. The first one being that my Dad was invited to display his car at the prestigous Eyes on Design event on the grounds of the Edsel Ford Estate and I didn’t want to miss that, PLUS the move of the HRR to National Trails didn’t excite me. So I stayed in the Motor City for a weekend of fun car activities and I thought I’d share the weekend's adventure with my HAMB pals.

    Saturday afternoon, after taking Dad to a tasty lunch at a local burger and malt place, OldBobSign and I headed to the eastside of town to a yearly driving event called the Gratiot Cruise. Gratiot Ave was to the Eastside of Detroit what Telegraph Rd was to the Westsiders and what Woodward Ave was to all of us….thee place to cruise, then and now. Lots of cars crusin' up and down a two mile stretch and lots parked.














    Little did this guy know I was going to splash his photo all over the internet. Cool bike and I told him so.


    After a couple of passes back and forth, we decided to stop at my pal Frank's place. He was having an open house with all kinds of food and drink. Perfect stop to cool off on such a hot day.




    He’s one of the nicest guys and readily agreed to look at the front suspension of Larrys new ’32 and give his opinion on what corrections needed to be made.




    Lots of Frank's pals and customers around and some pretty cool looking rides








    I’m going to make a little comment here about not judging a book/shop by it’s outer covering. By looking at one of Frank’s rides you would think this guy does only “streetrods” and some folks might not have stopped or given his shop a second look BUT you never know what’s inside a guy's place and what you can learn from said shop.
















    Another customer’s car. Boy, I’d love to get my hands on this.



    Couple more while we were headed out.





  • #2
    Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

    Back to the house in time to shower and pick up my Dad and head over to what ended up being the highlight of my weekend. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for years but since it is not open to the public, it’s only accessible by invitation, I’ve never gotten the opportunity until now. To say I was excited would be putting it mildly.

    The GM Heritage Center was opened on Saturday nite for folks that would be displaying their cars at the Eyes event the following day.


    We arrived about 6pm and I would say about 50 folks were there. We ran into Guy, AKA GZ here on the HAMB, and had the pleasure of his company while walking around. They had a speaker that informed everyone what to expect the following day, answered questions, then we were on our own to wander around and check out the cars. The speaker told us that only about 10% of GM’s collection is under this roof. The rest are either in other warehouses, at the GM headquarters downtown, or at other car events on loan.

    This greeted us in the lobby




    Once inside the doors….
    If you're not a Corvette fan you might want to just skip ahead little doggie.
    I am, so you’ll just have to bear with me.:D






















    Lots of memorabilia and information on the walls






    At this point I said to the guys I felt like I was inside my hot wheels carrying case. I was shocked how many cool concept cars were there.

















    Wouldn’t this look GREAT in the foyer of DOC’s new pad










    Guy was a wealth of knowledge regarding these cars. This one was driven regularly by a local socialite. It was often seen on the streets of Grosse Point. Was probably my favorite there.








    Notice the lack of people. Most of the folks that were there left after the speaker gave us the info on the next days events. I was shocked most didn’t stick around longer.














    Left to right
    Guy, GZ on the HAMB in the blue blazer; Werner Myer in the yellow shirt, owner of one of the most prestigious Corvette restoration shops in the state if not the country. He’s a retired GM designer. Has some AWESOME Corvettes in his shop. Roadstar works for him. Then my Dad Jim, and then Larry, OldBobSign on the HAMB in the car shirt.


    About this time one of the employees came up and mentioned it was closing time. I was bummed. Took awhile to walk back up to the front.








    I was told they change out the cars every so often. I’m so looking forward to my next visit.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

      Sunday morning was an early one. Anyone who knows me well knows I don’t like to get up early. Dad wanted to leave at 6:30am and he’s the type that if you're not ready he’ll leave your ass behind. Needless to say we were at the end of my driveway at 6:29am waiting for him to pick us up. I guess I can’t complain, even an early day at a car event beats not going at all.;)



      We headed out to the very prestigious, invite only, Eyes on Design Auto Show on the grounds of the Edsel Ford Estate. The show featured more then 200 vehicles and benefits the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, a non-profit group that helps visually impaired people. The top award is given by a group of visually impaired folks who “judged” the cars with their white gloved hands. It’s quite an impressive site to watch them “look” at the cars.

      There is a different “theme” each year for the classes and this year it was Areodymanic so each class was AERO this or AERO that. Each class had about 6-10 cars in it. One of the cool things about this show was the layout. A few of the classes, the “Fabulous Fins” and “something Fastback”, had the cars displayed with their fins and backs to the crowd. Made for a very unique, cool looking class layout. (I can’t believe I didn’t take an overview shot of them:o )

      Just to give you some sort of idea on Edsel Ford’s place. They offer tours of the house throughout the day and well worth the $8 admission price.

      This is one side of the back of the house that faces the water. (Lake St Clair)


      This is the other side of the back of the house that faces the water


      This is the side entrance near the kitchen areas. Probably where the employees entered


      One of the last photos will show the front of the house.

      For those that might not be familiar with Dad’s ’56 Olds….ride height, no bags


      Once inside the show this setup greeted guests


      This firetruck was pretty cool


      Just to the left of the entrance to the estate where spectators enter is the carriage house which is open for viewing. I ended up getting my hand slapped. No photos are allowed inside any of the buildings. The one on the right was Edsel’s car and the one on the left was his wife Eleanor’s. It was specially designed and built so she could enter gracefully with her hat on and didn’t have to bend her head.


      A few paces into the show was a very nice pedal car collection








      The came the tent with artwork that would just knock your socks off






      They also had a pretty cool little model car display




      They had breakfast for all the exhibtors and that’s where we ran into Kevin Tully. I think he was as shocked to see me there as I was to see him. Chatted for awhile then headed out to look at cars knowing we’d see him in the hot rod area near Back Seat Betty.

      This certainly isn’t my fathers Oldsmobile






      These three get me excited every time I have the pleasure of viewing them














      Later in the day they were opened up


      This next generation Camaro has been making all the auto events in the Motor City on the back of a car hauler for almost a year now. It was nice to finally see it on the ground, up close and personal




      A rare B400






      This won its class. It's a Stout Scarab - mid 30's very rare.








      Comment


      • #4
        Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

        This was the Rod & Custom class
        My good pal Rod Dotten’s Rivi. He did all the work himself


















        This was Dad’s spot. He was in the Pro-Touring class. You might notice the Detroit Speed & Engineering sticker in the back window. Kyle and Stacy's shop did the complete drivetrain on Dad's '56 before they moved the shop to NC. If your not fimiliar with their calibur of workmanship, you can pick up the lastest issue of HRM where there is a pretty good article on Dale Jr's Camaro that they built this year.


        Our view from our chairs


        And if you walked straight out…


        The had quite a few sports classes as well




        And race classes




        I think one of the most popular classes, and this is just my opinion based on how many people were milling around the different areas, was the Traditional Hot Rod Class

        My pal Fred Dudek owns the following two


        His wife mary looked so cute driving the roadster in that morning.





        This belongs to Bob, I forget his last name. Nice guys, has quite a few “traditional” styled cars in his stable








        The HAMB was well represented


        The imfamous Back Seat Betty was in attendance….and WON the class!!! Well deserved! Congrats to the whole build team which includes all teh guys that work at Hot Rod Chassis and Cycle in the Chicagoland area. Kevin Tully and Chad Hill own the place and are the salt of the earth. The actual owner of this car unfortunantly is not.














        My good pal Guy, GZ was there with his CA barn find. It was wonderful hanging out with you sweetie. The wine was a nice touch, thanks.




        Dick Forton just finished this. For those that might not recognize the name, Dick Forton is the man in charge of the Detroit Autorama entries for upstairs.




        Toward the end of the day they had the “awards” ceremony. All the picks in the different classes were driven up to the front of the house where they had bleachers set up for viewing. Two MC’s talked a little about each car. Was very interesting. The BEST was Back Seat Betty of course…..good thing I have a digital camera now. I would have spent a small fortune on film processing.


        Kevin waving to the crowd


        They chose a select few to park in front of the house for future promotional shots








        Driving out of the grounds. Yes there were trailered cars there BUT so many were actually driven it was quite refreshing to see at this caliber.


        Eddie Micheal’s Cord took the best of show award or whatever this event calls it




        All in all a most perfect way to spend Fathers Day with my pop.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

          Denise

          is there a cool car event you haven't been to?
          (and taken poster quality photo's while you were there)

          I should have gone to that show, I had my 54 on that side of town about that time too - I was wondering why I was seeing so many cool old cars around - now I know! (a good friend lives at ~12.5 and Jefferson)


          How do the "ratrod" guys get away with straight pipes?
          There's always something new to learn.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

            Fantastic photos! Thanks for sharing. Loved all those factory prototype, one off, and show cars.
            BS'er formally known as Rebeldryver

            Resident Instigator

            sigpic

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

              Originally posted by milner351
              Denise

              is there a cool car event you haven't been to?
              (and taken poster quality photo's while you were there)

              I should have gone to that show, I had my 54 on that side of town about that time too - I was wondering why I was seeing so many cool old cars around - now I know! (a good friend lives at ~12.5 and Jefferson)


              How do the "ratrod" guys get away with straight pipes?
              My life revolves around cars, specificly hot rods, and I do whatever is necessary to make sure I experience everything I can. You will never hear "someday" coming outta my mouth. ;D

              Do you live in the Detroit area?? I'm thinking not because around these parts car folks are pretty much left alone. We have no inspections and for the most part, pretty cool cops around that understand car folks spend lots of money when they cruz so why hassle them. ;)

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                Those pics were the best! The shots of the concept cars at the Heritage center were awesome, I really enjoyed the shot of the winged Chaparrals!

                Thanks tons for sharing!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                  great pictures, can i come hang out with you for a few days? you seem to have a back stage pass where ever you go ;)
                  Never kick a fresh Turd on a hot day.....Harry S Truman

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                    All I can say is "WOW"! :D You really know how to get a gals heart pumping! Thanks!

                    Cheaps 8)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                      Made me jealous again. Wonderfull photos again, can't wait to see what you do next. :D
                      HRPT 2004LH 2007LH 2008

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                        Originally posted by 1cheapstreet
                        All I can say is "WOW"! :D You really know how to get a gals heart pumping! Thanks!

                        Cheaps 8)
                        So, your a gal right? Where do you live?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                          As an old fart (old enough to be YOUR dad!), I can say how lucky your Dad is to have a kid like you. Not just because you're a car person, but also because you realize how lucky you are to share this kind of event with him. I suspect that Pop probably thinks he's pretty lucky, too.

                          GREAT pics and coverage, as usual. Now that I've moved to NC (from Ann Arbor), I realize how lucky we were to have nobody looking at our cars. On the other hand - NO RUST here! (Mostly). And winter is pretty much a non-issue.

                          Come on down to Maxton and we'll show you a great time. And PLEASE bring your magic camera! It's REAL grass roots racing and is TONS of fun. The schedule for next year is on the website <ects-lsr.com>. You can contact me thru the website if you want.

                          Keep 'em coming
                          Dan

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                            I'm glad you guys are enjoying the photos and story.

                            Dan, I'll make sure I tell my Dad how lucky he is to have me as his daughter ;D ;) ;D
                            and thanks for the invite. I do get to NC every now and then and I actually have plans on visiting that part of the country in the near future. I'll be in touch, thanks

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: My Hot Rod Fathers Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

                              Denise,
                              I live in Belleville and work in Dearborn (FoMoCo)
                              I know what it's like to be pulled over for noise, hood scoops, insufficient tread depth on the tires, etc,
                              that was mostly as a kid in IL, however, I have heard guys at work complaining of neighbors reporting them for noise - and some getting ticketed driving or riding (harleys) with loud exhaust.

                              I suppose it depends on the vehicle - but, I would never run a gas car with straight pipes - my diesel however has nothing but pipe from the turbo to the tailpipe - and it's PERFECT that way!

                              where around the motor city do you call home?
                              There's always something new to learn.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X