Friday morning i again joined Sean for morning coffee, before he was going to work.
The plan for the day was to go to Sacramento to pick up some parts for one of my Jalopies club mates named Mikael at the SoCal speed shop, then go to Sacramento Vintage Ford and maybe stop by at Blue collar customs, if I found the time.
I headed out of San Francisco, and as I drove through Berkley, I saw one of the freeway exits was called Gilman Street, on which there is a old and famous punk rock club, driven by volunteers - one of the places, I was supposed to visit with Louise in the original plan. I promised my self, if i could make the time, I would stop in on the way back.
As I landed outside the SoCal shop, I was once again surprised over the size of it over here. I was not as surprising as Vern's, but still amassing to see all these parts at one place. I know, it's just a store, but still, that place is worth a visit, if you are the least bit into building old hot rods and kustom cars. Behind the counter was this guy named Paxton, and we got to talking about our different projects. He is trading out a lot of his stuff, as he wants to sort of start over with a hot rod. He gave me the address for Blue Collar Customs, so I could go there after Vintage Ford. I also got to talk to another behind the counter, who owned a very kuul, topchoped Ford '49 shoebox sitting outside the shop on the main street. At one point, Paxton asked me, if I wanted to go with him to a nearby custom shop, as he was heading over there to talk to one of them. I said yes, and drove after him in the rental. When we got there, it turned out to be Sacramento Kustoms, who are building customs on a lot of late '40ies, early '50ies cars. They had a topchopped '49 Cadillac, I liked in particular. Can't say why, it just flows right! As I was there, Mikael texted me and asked, if I could pick up some magazines for him, so I said goodbye, and went back to the rental car. Then my eye caught a kuul '56/'57 Chevy pick up truck in the shop next to the custom shop, and I went inside to see, if that was another custom shop. Well, it was, of sorts, as they are building customized woodings for kitchens and stuff like that. Besides the '56/'57 truck, which had been torn appart to start the renovation, the owner of the wood shop had a nice and completly finished '58 Chevy truck, painted blue and white, sitting in the back, which was now for sale, as he should use the money for the '56 project.
I went back to the SoCal shop, called Mikael to make sure he got the right magazines (might have woken him, as it was around 11:20 pm danish time - sorry, Mike!), and then started talking to the guy with the shoebox. He told me, if I was in to this, I should go and see Vintage Ford, and I told him, I was on my way there now, and then he said, that I should try to stop by Blue Collar Customs on the way, as it was only a two block detour. So I made a detour, and drove there next.
Arriving at Blue Collar Customs, I got up to a gate, that almost looked locked, and I got flashbacks to my Tuesday at H&H. But it was open a little, so i called out and walked in. Inside I met 4 guys working on their client projects, they do amazingly good body work, as they do make all new panels to fit, instead of hammering in the old panels, and using a lot of filer to compensate for missing spots. If you do not know BCC, they are the guys who build the '56 Ford truck crewcab for MetallicA's lead singer, James Hetfield. That car was in the shop for a little refurbishing, and I was so lucky to get to hear it running! Hetfield had just had a '36 custom delivered to him monday, and that car is not filled anywhere, but just painted in clear coats! I saw a few pictures, and it looked awesome!
We got to talking about engines, and they told me, that they uses an oldtimer real close, he had been doing 4-banger work, and he might still have a banger in for rebuild. But as the time was late and I still needed to go to Vintage Ford, I passed the opportunity and headed out of there and on to Vintage Ford.
I had expected a rather large store at Vingate Ford, but again, I didn't expect this. That place was huge, all filled with parts in the back and a lot of old Ford merchandise in the shop. You could find a lot of stuff there, and you could spend a lot of money too! I tried to pace my self, but had to have a newly released dvd, starring Gene Winfield and his builds. As I was leaving, the nice lady behind the counter told me, that as I am in to old, fast four cylindered Fords, I should come back next morning, as the local F.A.S.T. chapter was doing a meeting on their parking lot that Saturday morning. But unfortunately I had agreed to turning in the rental car that evening, and I was also going to another car show in San Francisco next day - but I would have liked to see all those hopped up 4-bangers in hot rods and hill climbers. I left, and drove back.
As I was about to pass the Gilman exit, I decided to drive of and see, if I could find 924 Gilman Street. And it was actually kind of hard to spot, as the only thing revealing it was a couple of flyers in their window - besides those, it looks like all other houses in that neighborhood. I went inside to hear, what was playing Friday and Saturday night, which was some local punk rock bands that evening, but next day they would have a show with some punk-ska and psychobilly bands from the Bay area. I thought of going Saturday, but I didn't, as this was supposed to be a couples-thing for me and Louise, and I didn't wanted to be reminded about she recently breaking-up with me.
So I left, and went back to Sean and Alison's to unload Mikael's and mine SoCal and Vintage Ford purchases, and then I drove out to the airport to deliver the rental car. From there I took the hotel shuttle to the Embassy Suites, where I checked in to my room and went to sleep in order to be ready for the show next day.
