SoCalCarCulture

…yeah that’s what came to mind for me too!

Saw this one the other night at a local Cruise Night and had to take a few pics. One of my fascinations with cars is the design of even the smallest details. That’s why the Cars of the 50’s probably interest me the most, every little piece of the car was designed with great care by someone. Look at the taillights, grilles, side trim, antenna mounts, name badges, engine badges, door handles. and of course rear-view mirrors.

While this rear-view mirror was never created at the factory it still has that custom designed touch to it. Like it or not someone put some creative thought into this solution for their rat-rod. Now this is a segment of the car culture that has attracted a lot of attention in the last few years and it’s pieces like this that allow the owners to make their own statement. This builder could probably do well creating sculpture for sale.

Next time you’re at a show, take a closer look at all the details – you’ll be amazed!

Check out SocalCarCulture for more detail pics on thousands of cars.

See you at the Shows!

Dave Lindsay
SocalCarCulture

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending one of my wife’s Aunt’s 80th Birthday party. While we both love her Aunt and had a great time re-uniting with various family members the location, Spring Valley, also offered us the chance to visit one of my favorite car guy places. Simpson’S Garden Town in Jamul, eastern San Diego county. Now I’m sure you’re thinking why is he telling us about a nursery? Well not only is Simpson’S a wonderful nursery with many unusual plants but it’s also home to a wonderful collection of Vintage Cars, Petroliana, Automotive Memorabilia of all sorts, Vintage Travel Trailers and lots of cool old stuff! You can read the full story and colorful history of this establishment on their site, and it’s a great story.

As soon as I got out of the car I ran into Lee Smith, who along with his wife Cathy (granddaughter of the founder) run the nursery, he immediately had to show me what the latest acquisitions were and we spent time swapping stories. One of which was the morning they went to open the gates and found that during the night someone had left a travel trailer parked across the driveway as a donation to their collection. Lee and Cathy also host numerous Car Club Events every year and are the most gracious hosts you’ll ever encounter.

So next time you’re looking for a great drive with a fun destination head out to Jamul and stop by Simpson’S Garden Town to view their collections, all free of course!

Check out SocalCarCulture for pics of this Museum of Americana.

See you at the Shows!

Dave Lindsay
SocalCarCulture

The annual Huntington Beachcruisers Meet is always a favorite of mine. The original idea for this event came after the 20th Wavecrest Woodie Show in Encinitas in 2000. Lots of cool ‘50’s & ‘60’s wagons, VW buses and other non-woodie cars were found parked on the side streets adjacent to the Moonlight Beach venue. The “Woodies-only” meet precluded their participation. So, the theme was set for an all-inclusive event that included all types of “beach cruising” vehicles and Surf City embraced the idea. As a matter of fact, Huntington Beach merchants love this show so much that they convinced the promoter, Tom Long, to make this a two-day event this year! I talked to Tom on Saturday and he convinced me to return on Sunday because this year the City was going to allow some of the cars to park on the pier. You can see from the picture that this was a big crowd pleaser.

Where else can you see Woodies and cool Beachcruisers parked on the pier on a perfect SoCal day? Only in Huntington Beach in March – Don’t miss this one next year! In case you can’t wait that long check out my Events page for upcoming Woodie Shows at Doheny Beach, Ports-o-Call, Lake Arrowhead, Santa Barbara and Encinitas.

Check out SocalCarCulture for all the pics from this show and many more.

See you at the Shows!

Dave Lindsay
SoCalCarCulture

Sad news today, Boyd Coddington died early this morning, of as yet unannounced causes, at the age of 63. Coddington was well known for his achievements in the Hot Rodding world.

Born August 28th, 1944 in Rupert, Idaho, Boyd ‘s first car was a 1931 Chevrolet Truck obtained at the age of 13. He attended machinist trade school at Idaho State University and completed a three year apprenticeship in machining.

The legend of Boyd Coddington and his now familiar and very copied look began in his backyard garage in 1976.The Disneyland machinist had an ability to execute his innovative ideas. It was his eye for color, textures and a smooth high-tech look that were his trademark. The first to machine aluminum parts and wheels for a personalized and functional approach, Coddington built a team to develop his dreams.

Boyd Coddington was an internationally recognized automotive designer, builder, fabricator and television star. He is recognized as one of the winningest hot rod builders of all-time and has been included in many automotive Halls of Fame. The Boyd Coddington company is well-known for designing and constructing numerous show quality custom automobiles for celebrities such as ZZ Top and Michael Anthony of Van Halen. The corporations that have sought Boyd Coddington include Budweiser, White Cap, Sobe, Old Milwaukee Beer, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Hershey. With his name representing companies and products world wide it is not uncommon for the Boyd Coddington name to be found in most automotive stores. His trademark billet aluminum wheels the product that launched an industry are today manufactured under a license to American Racing.

Survived by his wife Jo Coddington and his five sons Boyd Coddington Jr, Christopher Coddington, Thomas McGee, Gregory Coddington and Robert McGee. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Coddington Foundation to benefit a variety of Boyd’s favorite charities. Please address your donations to: Coddington Foundation, 811 E. Lambert Rd., La Habra, California, 90631

Services will be held on Wednesday March 5, 2008, 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 900 West La Habra blvd., La Habra, California, 90631, (562) 691-0533. A reception will be held immediately following the service (Approximately 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.) at the Boyd Coddington Hot Rod’s and Collectibles, 811 E. Lambert Rd., La Habra, California, 90631

This eulogy from the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association is a wonderful tribute to Boyd!

See you at the Shows!

Dave Lindsay
SoCalCarCulture

Special Blog today!

A friend let me know that his Nomad was stolen yesterday, I posted this on my website and on a few other forums to let as many of you as possible know about this tragedy. If you know anything that will help recover his car please help!

Thanks

Dave Lindsay
SoCalCarCulture

I was at the Cadillac LaSalle Club Annual Show the other day admiring all the finned beauties on the lawn in front of the Lakewood Golf Club. There was something there for everyone who loves Cadillacs, from the custom bodied creations of the twenties to a brand new one with paper plates. I love shooting these cars with their wealth of exquisitely designed details. While doing that I saw a familiar car driving in, a beautiful Copper over Gold ’53 that belongs to one of my car buddies, Brian Hermansader. I rushed over to catch it in the light and realized that Brian’s wife was driving it and he was following in a ’49 Sedanette. After they parked and settled in I was talking with Brian about the ’49. He was excited to tell me that this was truly a “Barn Find”, the car had been in storage the past 34 years. He found this one in Oregon and it had been put in storage by the owner’s widow after he passed, but after all these years she reluctantly agreed to sell it. The car has had one re-spray but the rest is factory original, of course the tires, brakes, hoses, belts and fluids were changed to make it drivable once again.

Brian had a little display by the car telling the story and asking us to vote on preservation or restoration, my vote was for preservation as they are only original once and the patina on this one was showing nicely. The outcome of the balloting agreed with my vote so now we have to wait and see if he can leave it as is or if temptation to make it better will win. Either way it’s great to see this one on the road again.

Check out SocalCarCulture for all the pics from this show and many more.

See you at the Shows!

Dave Lindsay
SoCalCarCulture

One of my favorite things about Car Shows is the people, sure the cars bring us together but it’s the people that keep us coming back!

Case in point, I usually attend the local weekly Cruise Night which for me is the Fuddrucker’s on El Toro Rd. in Lake Forest, and over the years have gotten to know most of the regulars. Well one night I’m shooting pics like usual and this guy comes up to me and says, “I understand you don’t know how to spell your name right”. Now this catches me off guard for a moment so I think I said something brilliant like OK. This guy proceeds to introduce himself as Dave Lindsley and continues to tell me I can’t spell my name correctly, now I get it and we continue with small talk. Sometime during the ensuing conversation we start to realize how much we have in common, similar occurrences during our lives at the same times and only a few weeks apart in age, as a matter of fact today is his birthday so Happy Birthday Dave. We have become good friends just from a casual meeting at a Cruise Night and we are still discovering events that happened to us at the same in our lives – twins from different mothers. By the way that’s his Hemi in the pic!

Every show I attend it seems that I hear at least one great story about how people met over a car, the car’s history or something in between.

How many of you have had similar experiences? Well, just click on the comments link and share your favorite story.
Check out SocalCarCulture for pics from last weekend’s shows

See you at the Shows!

Dave Lindsay
SoCalCarCulture

Hi there, Dave Lindsay from SocalCarCulture here.

This week’s big show, the 59th Annual Grand National Roadster Show showcased a lot of great rides. The Ala Kart and the Aztec, both George Barris creations, appeared together again for the first time since their debut at the 1958 show. Joining them was the Sam Barris Merc, the first ’49 Merc to have it’s top chopped. George’s late brother Sam really worked his magic on this one and the exceptionally graceful lines have made it the icon of chopped Mercs. The Ala Kart brought back great memories for me, I first laid eyes on this creation at the ’62 Winternationals Car Show, which was held at the Pan Pacific Auditorium. Sadly, both the show and the building no longer exist, but the cars have survived and all three were back to their pristine show quality after recent restorations.

The big winner of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award was the Rudy Necoechea owned ’32 Ford roadster appropriately named “Undisputed”. The builder is none other than Oxnard’s Scott’s Hotrods ‘N Customs The Suede Palace also saw numerous traditional styled hot rods and customs making their debut at this show and great entertainment was provided in that building all weekend.

The NHRA Wally Parks Motorsports Museum was open all weekend and hosted a panel discussion that included George Barris, Blackie Gejeian and other well known customizers of the era and was moderated by illustrator Steve Stanford who dedicated the event to Sam Barris. The group swapped stories about working with Barris and joked with him all night. The highlight was Blackie and George talking about George drawing the original design for the Ala Kart on a napkin at a restaurant and the resulting execution now a part of history.

Check out SocalCarCulture for pics from this colorful show.

See you at the Shows!
Dave
SocalCarCulture

Hi there, Dave Lindsay from SocalCarCulture here, I’ll be blogging for you right here on Whipnotic a couple times a week. You’ll find all the latest news on SoCal’s Car Culture right here every week. I’ll let you know about upcoming shows, the hottest cruise nights, some of the latest trends and what’s under construction in some of the shops. You’ll also be able to visit my photo albums and experience the local Car Culture vicariously as I shoot as many as I can get to.

Live out of town and planning to visit LA? The Events and Cruise Nights sections of SocalCarCulture will help you find something automotive related to make your visit to LA memorable.

I’m just a gear head at heart having grown up knowing car names practically before I could speak, or so it seems. Everything in the automotive world has fascinated me for as long as I can remember, this fascination spans the various cultures of the hobby/sport and I truly enjoy everything on wheels from Hot Rods & Customs to Street Machines, Musclecars to Exotics, Lowriders to Off-Road, Drifting to Drag Racing and anything in between.

One of the greatest rewards of any hobby is the people involved and the local Car Culture is no different, I make new friends at every show I attend and am constantly reminded of how many great pioneers of this hobby/sport are right here in our backyard. Just last week I ran into Chuck Jordan at a Concours in La Jolla, some of you may not recognize that name but Mr. Jordan was Chief Designer at GM from ’86 to ’92 when he retired at age 65. Throughout his illustrious career he never lost that passion for cars and shares that love today by teaching at the high school level, his choice to “give back” to the automotive world is typical of the many wonderful people in this automotive arena.

Be sure to check here frequently for updates and look at SocalCarCulture to find an event to attend or just to see what’s been happening in the local Car Culture.

See you at the Shows!

Dave
SocalCarCulture