123. The Pile Up EP11: Odd Rods III

Welcome to the PILOP.

That was my cartoon character landing at the bottom of an Acme branded canyon.

Mine was shooting out of a canyon, but not out of a canyon.

Oh, no, shooting out of a canyon into the canyon, out of a canyon through the canyon.

I slit the sheet of the sheet.

I slit underneath the sheet.

I sit.

Listen, lady with your fast tongue.

Okay.

Happy Wednesday.

Yeah, hi.

It's actually Sunday.

Well, for us, it's Sunday.

We're talking to you from the past.

But you're getting it.

Yeah, you're getting it in the future.

You're in the future.

This is a future-made episode.

Just for you.

Which is good, because we've got some futuristic-looking cars of the past.

We're back with Beatnik, oh, go ahead.

We're back with Odd Rod's part three, because we picked six each.

And it turns out we talked about them so much we couldn't get through them all in

one episode.

I'm pretty pleased with that in the sense that, like, if I were going to talk about

anything, Megacycle was great.

Yeah, Megacycle was really cool.

And oh, that's something I wanted to reiterate.

I said it looked like a fly, but what I meant was it looked like a dragonfly.

Yeah.

Also, I came to think that the quarter panels look like surfboards.

And I was like, I didn't really say anything about the tail lights in the ends of the

quarters that look like surfboards.

Oh, yeah, they did kind of.

Yeah.

It's pretty cool.

Yeah.

I was like, I can't believe that I kind of just, I just saw a photo and I was

like, I didn't talk about that at all.

Yeah, we didn't talk about the rear at all.

And the fact that it's like a two tone, like it's a flip.

It's like a dark blue on one side and a light blue on another half.

Oh, I didn't even notice that.

Yeah.

I know.

It's very subtle and kind of funny.

And like, I don't think we even described that.

Sorry.

Well, we've missed some stuff.

If you all know, just go back to the show notes and you can see it because then

you can describe it for yourself.

Wow.

So we had a nice write in.

Yeah.

We got a couple of nice writing.

Yeah.

Mateo wrote in to talk about how in his childhood his grandfather took into

shows and his grandpa knew a lot of customizers and stuff, but his grandpa worked

on MGs and, you know, he said he grew up like watching Nick at night.

I did too with my grandparents.

Me too.

And I think what Mateo was saying was he has a sort of a love for the old

world and old stuff.

And I of course love hanging out with my grandfather who was a knowledgeable

craftsman as well.

I get that feeling.

He also wrote to say that was part of why he was enjoying our odd rod

episodes and stuff about Jean, the Jean episode, but that he enjoys the podcast and enjoys

listening to it.

And that was so nice to say.

It was a very nice message.

I really appreciate it.

Again, it's cool that anybody's listening at all.

So because you don't have to.

You chose to.

You chose to appreciate that.

Also Heidi commended the choice of the mega cycle.

Oh, I haven't talked to Heidi for a long time.

Hi, Heidi.

She's out there.

And yeah, I expect it is such, you know, if any of y'all don't know who Heidi is, a.k.a.

a cheeky hand on Instagram, she makes these really wonderful flaked badges.

She makes these really wonderful flaked badges for your rides, emblems, emblems.

And you deliver the name and Heidi includes the design of the emblem for you.

That's a part of the product.

And then makes these layered acrylic emblems and signage and display.

It's multifaceted.

It's like whether you're saying something's purely functional or purely art, you know,

that these are both.

So anyway, Heidi is a cool customizer in that regard.

So yeah, check out her stuff.

It was good to hear from her friend of the pod, Heidi, cheeky hand.

Yep.

And we also heard from Greece girl.

Oh, what?

Greece girl.

Yeah.

Goose girl.

New Supergirl.

She's Canadian.

Greece girl.

What?

I think you got it.

I think that was right.

Was that right?

Was that correct?

Okay.

Greece girl.

She just said that she really liked the last episode.

Absolutely.

We really appreciate that, Kristen.

Thank you.

And if you all don't know who that is, check out her stuff.

She's working on a Studebaker right now, I believe.

Or she has many Studebakers.

I think her and her husband live in Texas and have like an airplane hangar or something.

One of my picks sort of involves a Studebaker.

A little bit.

It's an odd rod.

So again, we were talking about non-production bodies, but it's got some Studebaker style.

So I kind of ties in.

All right.

So listen.

We need to get into it because we have been so passionate about these picks and these

cars that last time we got one car each.

Yeah.

And then we just kind of cut it short there because it just, I don't want to short

these, but this next car, odd rod, because I think it's more truck than car is a deep

cut for me.

And I think probably a lot of people out there, but heavy inspiration.

The ice truck from Dan Woods.

Ooh.

Now Emily says that because she has to feign surprise.

We've talked about this thing for weeks.

No, also I'm excited about it.

Yeah.

Is there any surprise over here?

Well, it's okay if you do, but we've talked about it a lot.

We have talked about it a lot.

So what the ice truck is, is a low slung, early body on formula car inspired or Indy car inspired

technology.

So this is something that Rizzo and I kind of laughed about, like that it's like a straight

axle in the front and then a jagged rear end with like independent rear suspension

in the back.

It's kind of funny.

Yeah.

But stylistically, it's a critical choice, but it does some things.

So we're talking about a C cab on a really low to the ground chassis and the C cab shape,

if you're not familiar with it is like a, consider like a 20s beer truck shape.

Like a lot of times wood bodies.

I'm not the definitive source on this, but the C cab is not really like a body style that

just got made.

I feel like they made them out of, you know, a lot of them are wood.

The true like, you know, antique C cab.

There's no particularly like stamped C cab.

What's antique?

Like how old are they?

Like, you know, like 20s.

Early teens.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

And back in the day.

So yeah, there's like a lot of a lot of them are wood because they're trucks and they're

special built, but the C cab is just like, it's open like a carriage so the driver can

get in and out quickly and or easily, you know, and got to open up that door for the

folks in the back.

Yeah.

So imagine a C shape, a Pacman big C shape is the opening for the cab.

And then it tapers back and goes into a box shape for hauling stuff.

And that is true for a traditional C cab.

Well, you know, again, like we'd say like fire truck, beer truck kind of thing.

And then this one is like, we're talking about it's down to the ground and it's very

dune buggy trike-esque.

It's 100 inches wide and 106 inch wheelbase.

But then it's got this wild custom.

100 inches wide?

Yeah.

It's 100 inches wide and 106 inch wide.

Whoa.

So it's almost a little square.

Yeah.

Oh, cute.

It's almost a big square.

Yeah.

That's why Dan Wood said it's like the world's, you know, fastest go cart because it's like

so wide.

He's like, you can't flip it over.

Now, does that with include the wheels?

Yeah.

That's what it is.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

They do stick out a lot.

It's mean.

It looks mean.

Yeah.

It's got a lot of attitude.

And what's really, I think sort of brings it back to earth is that it has the, what that

looks like just a stock Model T windshield.

So it's like, it's got a Model T cowl.

I'm pretty sure that that's also how uncertainty was started was just a Model T cowl and he

built the rest of the body.

And so this is like a Model T cowl.

And then the rest of it is just hand formed, which is kind of just how any C cab gets

made.

There's so many versions of C cabs.

Anybody's welcome to write me in and say like, hey, no, somebody made this one to find, you

know, whatever, if there's more on it than I'm missing, but I don't think there's a

lot of 10 ones either.

These are, this is a fiberglass body.

Like it's a, you know, one off body.

You know, Dan Woods previous cars, the milk truck was also a C cab, but a very

different shape skirted over the back tires.

So it's like kind of a quote unquote fender flare, but not nearly as aggressive as

this.

Yeah.

No, this is real aggressive.

And this rod and custom feature with Newton's artwork is just absolutely futuristic

even to this moment.

It's not outdated to me.

Oh, these aren't photos of it.

No, that's that's the illustration.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Now, if you, I don't know if you're viewing it on like custom Rama or something, but I

am.

And then they're in that article, they included some like very, you know, towards

completion pictures of the ice truck.

So it like wasn't, they weren't just teasing wild renderings.

It existed and it.

So imagine this like, okay, it's a C cab and it's very truck like, right?

It wasn't, it did have a feature in truck and later, I think.

And it tapers to the back, but also you're sitting, the seats are very laid

back and you're basically sitting against the independent rear suspension.

Oh, wow.

Gosh, because it almost looks like you could fit somebody in the back.

Yeah.

So it's got like a little.

But you can't really.

It's a, it's probably like a little package tray, you know, like a little

shelf because the independent rear suspension is about the height of your

shoulders, the way the seats are laid back in there.

You're sunk into this thing.

It's crazy.

But in model T fashion, the steering wheel comes straight up from the floor 90

degrees to the floor.

Well, how are you going to reach it then?

Well, you sit around it.

It's in between your legs.

Oh, because it comes back.

It's back.

It's not by the cowl.

It comes up.

Yeah.

It's in the middle of the seat.

Oh, whoa.

Comes up right out of the seat.

It's like, it's in your nuts.

Oh my goodness.

And does it have like three pillars that it comes out of three?

Like, like a cone shape.

Dan Woods goes to the doctor and they're like, what's with the steering wheel

between your legs?

And he says, it's driving me nuts.

Just come up with that just now.

It's a pirate joke.

Oh, okay.

I don't know why it's a, you know, the pirates got the steering wheel

between his legs.

And then they say, what's with the steering wheel?

Sorry, everybody.

I'm so sorry.

Okay.

Dad jokes over there.

I'm so sorry.

The interior looks plush.

Oh my God.

It's 70s Van Plush.

It's really pretty.

It's like blue.

It's like an ice blue.

And it's an ice blue on the outside.

It looks like, hence the name, ice truck.

Maybe not.

That's probably maybe not.

Yeah.

I would say that's there.

And then it's got gold lettering and gold details.

Right?

It's got some gold striping around there.

Yeah.

It has a silver leaf.

Oh, it does.

Okay.

Then it has a brass.

It's a white.

Yeah.

The radiator's brass.

Oh, the ice looks like it's the fritz.

The photo with fritz and just a body.

If you're on custom drama looking at it.

Again, we're using custom drama.com as research material

because it's a excellent resource.

And we'll put a link to that in the show notes.

Yeah.

Y'all know I love a link to the show notes.

Yeah.

I love it.

Jump on custom drama, support them.

It's worth it.

It's a great archive of very cool stuff.

Wow.

The back of it is incredible.

Just the way it's, what is that shape?

Well, I guess trapezoidal.

Yeah.

It's got six sides.

I mean, yeah.

It's a hexagon.

And then it's pushed out in the center across the center axis.

And that is sucks.

Such a cool look.

Yeah.

That makes it like a portal.

Yeah.

It does look like a portal.

And then the fender flares are super cool, but there's like just straight lines clearing

the suspension and that gives for a really aggressive square fender opening.

And then the radius rods that go into the little sockets up in the body.

Wow.

That is so cool.

I love that little detail.

It's just like, it's just enough for everything.

And that's it.

It's like mechanical cars.

Right.

Which is what's so cool about like uncertainty.

And like uncertainty, he talked about economy of pieces, you know, having the right balance

and things being as simple as possible.

Right.

That's important.

Yeah.

And this has, I mean, I'm not, you know, duh, like Newt is a design master.

Yeah.

Here comes the Ed Newt again.

Yeah.

Designed the little red record.

Exactly.

Yeah, Dan Woods was working for Ed Big Daddy Roth and they were working on Druid Princess,

which is another one that I love.

It's not in my picks for this, but it is an inspiration.

So Dan also like Dan made his own widened wire wheels.

He would buy whole Buick cars just to cut the wheels and like add another wide section

to them.

Oh, wow.

I mean, he's like, these are like 12 inch wheels.

But I think he went way beyond that.

I think 22 at some point he talked about, I don't know, maybe I'm tripping, but.

Oh, you're talking about wheels for the car, not wire wheels that you would use to.

Nope.

Do work with it.

No, like low rider wires, you know, Buick's had them and he would buy a whole car just

for the wheels and then scrap the car.

He said he dragged lots of them to the yard.

But he would, he would go to this machine shop and they would, they'd been, you

know, machine the faces and.

And what would that do to him?

Well, if you, if you put the outside, if you put it inside the jaws of the lathe, right,

the rim is touching.

So then it's flat.

So if you cut the weld, like if you'd cut the wheel off rough, just they are all welded

in the center, typically steel wheels.

And then then you leave some of the weld there and some of the old meat that's

on the opposite side of it.

And then you, you take the lathe and cut it.

Well, when you do that, it's going to be perpendicular to the outside edge.

If the outside edge is seated in the jaws.

Oh, okay.

So you get, you wind up eats the way to true it.

And then you just have it balanced afterwards.

And there you are.

You got a big sick ass wheel.

Oh, and then somebody, he went to a shop and like bug the guy.

It was a wheel shop.

And he bugged him to teach him how to lace wheels.

And he was, you know, just a youngster.

And I think that's an important thing to think about.

If you're someone that wants to like learn a trade, it does go a lot

easier when you're a kid and you're like, I'd like to learn that.

People will feed knowledge to you.

Yeah.

But if you're a little older, they're more apt to be like, hmm.

What do you do if you're older?

I don't know.

Die.

No, you know, you just might have to pay somebody or something.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

I mean, you know, you can always pay for a lesson here or there.

I mean, where, where someone's kind of trade.

If you have a skill where someone's willing to teach it or the truth

part, you know, just prove it.

You have to prove it and show up somewhere.

You know, that's, you can get into a thing like that by sleeping on

someone's porch.

You know, you can be like, well, I'm not leaving.

So you're going to have to put a broom in my hand.

You know.

Yeah.

It works.

Interesting.

But I do think, you know, when you're younger, it's, I just, okay.

So I just had a cool experience this week, a place that rewinds

motors for us.

I said, if I wanted to learn about winding, is there a book

that you would recommend?

And he was like, yes, I'll go get it.

I can't give you this one because my father gave it to me.

And I was like, okay.

And he went upstairs.

He came back down and said, it must be at home.

But I was like, well, maybe you'd send me a picture of it.

And he was like, sure, I will.

The next day, his mother called me and said, hi, we have a

book for you if you come by.

And they gave me a brand new copy of the same book.

What?

And he taped his business card in the front of it because

I was going to ask him to write his name in it for me.

You know, like, yeah.

So, you know, it's really special when people pass down

knowledge like that.

Yeah.

And like when you like, it's like when you're like, now for

me, I'm like, wow, I'm like, might be snagging another

mentor here to learn some stuff from.

So I'm hoping so.

And he was like, you know, he's like, if you picked up

on that, he's like all these, all these electric cars

or electric motors, he's like, you could do pretty good.

He had just explained to me how much sort of like wire

he had left town, but he also showed me his 100 year

old lathe.

Whoa.

And he said they were at a scrapyard in Seattle.

This lathe was flipped over in the mud.

It's huge.

Okay.

I was like, can I see your lathe?

And so it's huge.

And it's like the bell end on the motor was cracked.

It looks like a 75 horsepower motor.

It's huge.

Wow.

It might be lower just because older motors are

huge, but he said, yeah, they had, they

were going to scrap it.

And then his father said, I'll give you $500

for it.

It's fine.

And he said, how much to deliver it down to our shop?

And they said like $300 or it's free.

Oh, wow.

I think they said free.

Whoa.

But then they ripped their garage door off when

they delivered it, so they gave him the lathe in

the end.

It's terrible.

But anyway, he fired it up for me.

It was amazing.

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like, it's like the monarch that we

have that's in the basement.

That's so big.

But it's not as long of a bed, but it's a

bigger lathe.

It's just cool.

I love all that stuff.

So that's a big part of Dan Wood's story is that

he's like, he went to a radiator shop and he

learned how to make those radiators.

Like those big wild radiators on his cars are

like, they're functional and he made them.

Right.

Yeah.

Like he hung around and people would teach

him.

And like he talks about in that thing that's

sort of like granted to young people where he's

like, we put the wheels together and putting

the welds so close to the spokes was a real

task grinding all of the weld away.

And he's like, but again, it only cost me my

time.

Yeah.

You know, and then figuring out how to chrome

them and all this.

And he talks about it.

And he's like, you know, eventually I had a

wheel business for a while.

Like he has a picture of his business card

from it.

He posted stuff on his Instagram and shares

his story.

It's so cool.

Oh, that is really cool.

Yeah.

And he worked for Ed Roth and like it's

always says blue skies.

But in the building of the ice truck, he

got drafted to Vietnam.

Yeah.

So really sad.

Yeah.

Terrifying.

Yeah.

I've read some of his stories about it.

It's pretty, the stuff he posts on his

Instagram is very cool.

It's really remarkable that he was able

to come back and just get right back

into it.

Yeah.

He always signs off blue skies always.

You know, so he's a good, good positive

mental attitude.

And he posted a photo of Gene before he

passed and was, they were at Grand

National, I think.

And he was talking about how cool it was

to just sort of even be in that scene.

And I thought that was really neat.

But yeah, I mean, you know, I've seen it

at Galpin and it's really cool.

I didn't know what it or the milk truck

were or the pizza wagon when I saw them.

I think I've maybe a little bit because

you know, I've always loved zingers

and stuff like that.

I don't think I was totally familiar,

but I was really like, wow, these are

wild.

I mean, I liked, I also like at Galpin

they've got Ed's Rotar and I really

liked the Rotar it hovers a little bit.

Oh wow.

That sounds cool.

I don't know that car.

I was a little more focused probably on

the big daddy cars and little red

records there.

It's sick.

The Pink Panther car is sick.

But yeah, those things are nuts,

the Dan Woods cars.

And the ice truck is just like that blue

is so cool.

A little bit of the backstory of the car.

And I should wrap it up.

I don't want to take too long.

But Dan showed the car

and some people loved it

and some people just thought it was

like a wacky show car.

And then other people thought it was

like the future.

And a young guy working for

Dan at his shop

really took notice of the car

and felt like early bodies

on, you know, high tech race

suspension was like it.

And that was Boyd Cottington.

And so that's kind of like leads into

the billet rod movement.

Like this is, this is all on customer

on month.

This is their writing.

Right.

But I'm just, I'm telling you,

go read the article.

Like it's a good article and support

their website and stuff.

That's good to do.

So

what year was it built?

It came out in 70.

But it was started in 67, right?

You were saying?

I think quite a bit was done in 67

when that article came out

and that rod and custom article came out.

And then Vietnam happened between them.

Yeah.

And what happened is that

the truck kind of sat

and I think people liked it.

But I think that Dan eventually

business was just so busy.

I think one of his posts,

he said life happened,

business took over

and they were building stuff for people.

So it got sold

and then the car got redone

and then was in the show rod,

like the magazines we were looking at,

the show world magazines.

Oh.

It was in that as Blood Alley

because somebody else owned it

and people didn't,

like it didn't mention Dan Woods

and so people didn't know it's the same.

They didn't know it was the ice truck.

And then Dave Shudden went to,

you know, fast forward to like 05

and Dave Shudden didn't know

that it got completed

or anything like that

was going to build a replica

or a tribute.

And somebody was like,

no, I know where it is.

So they made a deal

and he bought Blood Alley

and restored it

and Fritz Schenck painted it.

You know, so that ties back

into the mega hauler or mega cycle.

And so there's a really cool photo

of Fritz doing the pinch striping

and stuff on his back.

You know, it's got the silver leaf on it

and you can see the fiberglass

guts in the car.

It's cool.

Yeah, it's gorgeous.

I love it.

I love the shapes that it has

because it's like kind of curvy

but then also it's very geometric.

Yeah, it's totally,

it's like faceted.

It's flat.

It's monocoque.

It's like a, almost like this.

I just wanted to say cock.

Time.

Sorry.

It's very immature.

No, it is.

Sorry.

It is truly a monocoque design

because

front to back it's the same fuselage.

There's no split,

like there's no bed split off of it

or anything.

That's what monocoque is.

Oh, okay.

Like the VW Rabbit pickup.

Right.

Yeah.

Just one slab all the way down the side.

And I think the Toronato is also

the early version of monocoque.

Not that early cars aren't,

I mean, lots of early cars are monocoque.

But this is even,

this is.

The technical tip,

technical word of the day.

Yeah.

I mean, I think that,

yeah, that's,

it's a part of it.

So,

any who,

Dave did a restoration

and it is miraculous.

It's all aluminum Buick V8

and it's punched big time.

And so it's got a blower on it

and the thing's fast AF.

Scary, fast.

Dan,

people thought it was a show car

and Dan built it to blow the fucking

tires off of it.

Yeah.

He said that he would just go out

behind shows and light them up

and he's like,

because you couldn't flip it,

it was so wide.

So.

Whoa, that's awesome.

I didn't know,

I didn't know it drove.

Yeah.

I mean,

that arrangement with the Model T

wheel between your legs is wild.

I wonder if he ever took it out

or spin like around the block

or down to the burger joint.

Oh, I'm sure.

To the record store.

I bet he did.

Wherever he went.

Yeah.

That would be so fun.

It might have been registered

as a built car.

I don't know.

Yeah, I forget you have to

there's lots you have to follow.

Yeah.

And yeah, I mean,

it's just,

you should,

you got to check the photos out.

You just can't,

it's hard to believe this truck.

It's so beautiful.

The headers,

you know,

the headers are like running boards.

They're,

they're like two inches off the ground.

Oh yeah,

they do look like running boards

and they're so shiny.

There's so much to be seen.

How much do you burn your legs

getting into that?

Yeah.

Probably fairly cool

by that distance.

I don't know.

That's fine.

Who cares?

Yeah.

The radiator is like a reverse.

Fashion over function sometimes.

And the radiator,

viewed from the side,

is like a reverse cow pusher.

It's like,

it would suck a cow into it

if it were a train.

Oh wait,

is the radiator the...

Yeah.

It's like open,

it's like formula look,

you know,

and it's like

to pull air in

but the arrangement,

you've just...

Covered in brass?

Yeah, it's brass.

Like a tee,

a tee would be like that.

It's hard to tell what's going on there

but it looks formidable.

It's a pretty,

it's a pretty stout look.

You know,

without that...

I love the brass.

I mean,

you could have a different grill shell for sure

but you know,

you need some weight on the front of this car.

Like not,

I don't mean literally,

I mean like design wise.

You know,

it looks heavy

and it just,

it balances it out.

And he,

obviously he knew that, right?

I'm not

giving a design lesson here.

But it does have a center console,

which was something that I didn't realize

until they talked about that.

Like when it,

the center console had been modified

or lost or something

during the restoration,

like

that was something they had to,

they had to fix.

Oh yeah, I see that.

Yeah.

I didn't know,

I couldn't even tell from other photos

until they said that.

I wonder,

you know,

about some of these cars,

like what they're like inside.

You don't have a lot of intense,

like you don't see the toe boards

and how the pedals are arranged

and stuff.

Right, yeah.

Interesting.

Photographers.

Well,

and the seats probably don't go back and forth.

Nope.

So you got to just be

pretty much,

you got to be tall enough

or short enough.

Yeah.

It's weird, right?

You're like laid back,

but then reaching for the,

I don't know,

with the steering wheel in between your

no door open,

but also the steering wheel,

like the column

is,

there's three

columns

and they come out in like a pointed,

like an inverted triangle.

It's the spokes,

it's the spokes of the steering wheel.

These are the spokes of the steering wheel

going into the seat.

Yeah.

They go down and meet.

Okay.

But they're,

so there's like

an inverted triangle going into

between your legs.

Well,

your steering wheels already like that.

It's just dished about two inches.

This is dished about 20 inches.

Yeah.

It just seems like it'd be wide down there.

No,

it's probably like

a three inch circle.

Okay.

The spokes meet it.

Okay.

Like any steering wheel.

All right.

Okay.

Post sneezing fit.

Now I'm stuffy

because I went to blow my nose.

Now I'm all stuffy.

Sorry.

I cut it out,

but there was a big sneezing fit.

Yeah.

I don't know if the allergies got to me

or what.

Anyway,

I stuff.

She sneezed like 20 times.

Yeah.

I'm sneeze free,

but I'm going to be really

nicely now.

Oh,

which was already too much.

Okay.

So we were going off probably about

the radius rods

and the way they fit in the body,

the headers,

the shape of the radiator being

a reverse cowl pusher shape.

It's got a blower on it,

which is about three quarters

of the way up the windshield.

As it should be.

The C cab overlaps the windshield

as well.

It's got a Model T cowl.

And then the rest of it's,

you know, scratch built

and it's probably like a

fiberglass body.

It's like basically flat sided.

So it's very true to what

looks like a wood style.

It's not really flat sided.

It's got like,

it's like,

it's peeked in the center.

Yeah.

It's peeked in the center.

Okay.

I think I'm going to,

I'm going to give you the floor

and you should take over.

Well,

speaking of Fritz Schenck,

who painted the ice truck,

as you will recall,

as you just mentioned.

And the mega cycle.

Oh yeah.

Call back to the last episode.

Yep.

If you will.

Great.

Very nice.

He built the Roswell rod

in the early 2000s.

He was channeling his hero,

Ed Roth.

Okay.

What I love about this

is it was built in the early 2000s.

So it's modern,

but I didn't realize that

when I picked it.

I was surprised to see that.

Really?

Yeah.

Because it looks so,

it looks like futuristic

like what the 70s

and 60s would,

would be like.

So he totally nailed it.

The frame is all handmade

in a square tube

with the exception

of a 1970 Buick Skylar front end.

Okay.

Yeah.

So that's already badass.

Yeah.

There's another car

that you have in your list.

A great pick.

You've got the Beatnik Bandit too.

Yes.

And I was looking in the body

and I was like,

oh, this is like a GM

or a Detroit front end.

So that must be a cue

borrowed from another Ed car.

Yeah.

I don't know what clip

he used on that one,

but Gene would do stuff

like that too.

He'd have these big body cars.

You know,

just like big old mobiles

and use them on like

for a fiberglass

Merck body.

Wow.

So.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

But.

I mean,

I think the 64 Fairlane

was the NASCAR front end

for up until

like 20 years ago.

Oh, wow.

So.

Some of those are just like

proven designs.

64 Ford Fairlane?

Yeah.

Till a few years ago?

Yeah.

How's that?

Till the car of tomorrow.

It just became this geometry

that they liked for the arrangement.

I think it's a,

just a coil

and a lower control arm.

And it's just like,

I don't know.

It just works.

It's good geometry.

It has a little bump steer.

It's like highly adjustable

and simplistic.

And so it was just like,

it was the design that they,

the cars had standard

for a long time.

Huh.

Interesting.

So some of these,

so it may be like.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Yeah.

There just may be a front clip

that is like the clip.

Right.

Well for

Shank,

it was the 70 Buick Skylark.

Okay.

That's the one he left.

You can,

I guess you could chop some of that out

if you want.

It's a two-seater bubble top.

And the color is

Roswell radiation flow

orange.

And it was a one off from

House of Color.

It's a really good color.

It is a really good color.

It is bright.

It's like a bright marigold.

It's all Halloween orange

and chimney red.

I wouldn't call that

Halloween orange.

You think so?

Yeah, totally.

If I were going to

print a little pumpkin

and die cut it.

I'd pick that orange

for the pumpkin.

I feel like it's more of

a marigold color.

I was born in October.

It's a

I was born in October.

Listen,

just because orange is your

lost your voice there.

Jack-o-lantern's got your

tongue.

Oh, snap.

What kind of orange

would you call that surf

orange?

I would call it like a

marigold.

I guess he called it

radiation orange.

Yeah,

Roswell radiation flow

orange.

It has candy red scallops

and black, red and white

pinstripes.

Really thin scallops

and like really wild

arrangement where they

change directions.

And so this car

has a super

beatnik bandit-esque shape

to it.

Yep.

Big,

Impala type fin

or El Camino type fin

from the 60s,

like where it overhangs

the back of the car

but exaggerated.

Right,

but they're horizontal.

And then,

is that Impala taillights?

No,

they're Thunderbird.

Thunderbird,

okay.

The steering wheel's

like a boat steering wheel.

I thought it was like a

Star Wars steering wheel.

Sure.

And it was handmade by him.

Sure,

but it's like,

yeah, it's kind of like a

boat steering wheel.

It's a little different,

but call it what you will.

I'm just trying to describe it

for the listener.

Okay.

Well, that was in my

description that I have in

my notes.

Well, does he say it's

from Star Wars?

I don't think so.

It's just said that

it's handmade by him.

Okay.

I don't remember

saying boat.

Well,

maybe.

Like in the reactor,

Gene's got it like he

described it as a boat steering

wheel, but it's like you hold

these two rods like that,

but the bands come across

the top and taper,

whereas Fritz is just the

vertical bars and it's under

your hands.

So it's pretty close to that.

That's what I was thinking.

Just look like the Star Wars

thing to me.

Well, that's fine.

Yeah.

That's fine.

I'm just over here.

Okay.

I don't know.

I don't know what

that means,

but blown.

Yeah.

With the 327,

yeah.

With the 327 Chevy blasting

out of the engine bay.

The whole body's got a

serious rake.

Yeah.

It's got a serious.

It's like a very aggressive

triangle,

like an aerodynamic triangle.

It looks like it's in motion.

Yeah.

It's definitely got a triangle

shape to it.

And there's a little bit

of a face,

a little bit of a bug face

with the eyes,

like the headlights and the

grill.

Yeah.

It's got a cute little

car is actually

and it also has a sharp

beak flying out in the front.

The nose is like it has this

thin,

large oval that goes all the way

across the front and then it has

molded on top.

It has this like sort of like

beak like thing that comes out.

Yeah.

It's it's like a second plane

to what becomes the fender.

Yeah.

And the fins.

It's not on the same plane as

that.

That plane ends on the headlight,

which the headlight is very like

58 Chevy.

Even the fender has little peaks

like the 58 Chevy.

And then I love the floating

fender over the front wheels,

but then the back is totally

encased and it's like a running

board.

It looks really hard to get into.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

For sure.

And also it was supposed to be

the first bubble top

from the East Coast custom.

Okay.

To do it according to the

article I read.

I can't remember which article

this was.

Okay.

Maybe they were telling the truth.

Maybe not.

Yeah, I don't know.

I find it hard to believe.

But also the steering wheel

has a matching chrome shifter.

Yeah.

The shifter like perfectly matches

it.

Yeah.

And it has a Roswell radiation

flow interior with slick white

and red piping seats and door

panels.

Yeah.

It's pretty slick.

I mean, it's it's it's

bright white against that

orange totally molded dash

asymmetrical dash as well,

which does prioritize the

speedometer.

The gauges are in a triangular

arrangement.

They're in like a delta

pinstripe dash.

It is more style in the

dash than it is dash.

There's not some big screen to be

staring at or anything like that.

It's very simplistic,

which is interesting when you

like look at it and you're

like this is to me what

if I were going to imagine a

car that lives on Mars,

you know, Roswell rod like

alien-esque feeling to it.

So it feels almost futuristic,

but it's a past future in the

sense that like it's just a

super simple mechanical car.

No digital readout.

It's needles.

Right. Yeah.

You know, so it's like just

sort of weird cues

combined there.

I love it.

I like the simplicity.

Yeah.

I love it too.

Heavily skirted like

tunneled around the

tail light area and you can

see it's you can see they

had to get pretty low to

get a shot of the rear end

and you still can't really

see the rear suspension that

well.

It just looks like an axle.

It doesn't look like it has

independent rear suspension

or anything.

So it might.

I really can't even tell

from this photo.

It looks like it's an axle

and a four bar,

but I don't know.

And drum brakes.

So I think it's just an

axle.

Nothing wrong with that,

but just an observation.

It has a four link.

So it does have a rear

four link and coilovers.

It's pretty much a

perfect car.

Was it hand-lead fiberglass?

I mean, it's just like

it's all the right elements.

Right.

You know, and those headlights

are Buick Skylark.

Okay.

Headlights.

Okay.

Cool.

Oh, and this is interesting.

The grill is made from two

Model A wishbones.

Really?

Which I didn't,

I looked at that and I

didn't really.

Wow.

That's cool.

Really cool.

That's sick.

Huh.

Yeah.

So a little nod to the past.

Yeah.

I love that.

That's really cool.

I love the astro Supremes.

Really skinny five spokes.

I'm assuming that's what's

on there, which is,

which is cool to have Astro

on the Roswell rod.

Mention the blower again.

Tiny fiberglass car.

It's almost above the bubble.

Tiny, tiny fiberglass car

blown motor.

I love it.

And it has the cheater

slicks on the back.

So I was wondering,

does the car like,

do you think that he's

taking it to the drag strip

at all?

Just one time?

I don't doubt that he's got

hot and heavy with it.

It looks like a manual

transmission, which is pretty

cool.

I doubt it.

If it were me,

I don't know.

I wouldn't want to tear it up.

No, you wouldn't.

It's too nice.

I can't speak for it, so.

Too nice.

Is there any chance that

if you are torquing the

engine that it would crack

any of the fiberglass?

If I was too strong.

Sure.

It's always possible,

but fiberglass is pretty

flexible.

Okay.

It's a neat thing,

but maybe,

you know,

kind of doubt it.

Yeah, it's neat.

It's a neat little

little cutie.

I mean, it's pretty much

a perfect car.

I think.

Yeah, I love the fins

in the back.

Yeah.

I mean, you just look at it.

I don't think it needs

anything else.

No, I agree.

I just,

you could make it into

a Hot Wheels and people

would shit their pants.

Do you think it was a Hot Wheels?

Hot Wheels has done some

knockoff, you know,

bubble top type stuff.

What else you got on it?

Is that it?

Okay.

Fine.

Well, look.

I didn't read much about

Fritz Schenck,

either.

Well,

you know.

By much, I mean anything.

Fritz by Fritz is

embroidered into the seats.

Yep.

That's his,

you know,

his franchise,

his shop name,

uh-huh.

Does he do mostly painting?

Well, it looks like

it shows that he does

everything.

He does, yeah,

fiberglass and pinstriping.

Okay.

Cool.

All kinds of odds and ends

and he makes small things

you can buy.

I think he has a mold

of like halves of bowling pins

and he'll paint and

pinstripe them and sell them

for followers

that love his work

and stuff and makes

like the fiberglass,

like heavy,

like boat flake

fiberglass surf helmets.

Stuff like that.

He's a custom man

of enterprise.

Nice.

Well,

get in where you fit in.

Okay.

We've got to take a detour

because again,

we've talked for so long

about both of these,

but Ice Truck

really deserves the time

because,

oh my God,

it's pretty amazing

and the Roswell rod is,

I mean,

so bright.

I love orange.

Yeah,

it's gorgeous.

I know,

that's your favorite color.

I mean,

it's just a hot wheels,

just sitting there.

I think that's what it,

your car should just like,

you should just feel like

you're looking at a toy.

I feel like,

yeah,

but it's fun

because it's full size

and raw power,

right?

But we're,

you know,

there's not enough time

to cover the next two

because they're both

pretty good stories

and they're both Roth cars.

So,

No,

mine's embarrassed.

Oh,

wait,

no,

mine is a Roth.

I forgot.

We've got so many left.

Yeah.

Well,

and we also,

you know,

got TV and movie cars.

And so I was like,

Oh,

he's going to love that.

We're going to do a TV.

We are going to do TV.

I think we're going to do TV.

Separate and movie car separate.

Yeah,

they're separate because there's

so many.

Yeah.

So,

there's obviously some

bare stuff in there.

That's exciting.

But anyway,

we have been,

we've been in the shop

working on my 67

Econoline.

I've got the windshield out.

So we've been fixing

some rust around the windshield

opening.

It wasn't too much.

Emily's been,

we've been wire wheeling

the crap out of it.

There's been a lot of wire wheeling.

When we stripped that van

before it was mine,

we just like stripped it

with like angle grinders and stuff.

So it was like,

we were pretty hard on the body,

but we didn't strip the nose.

So at least the sheet metal

is not too worn out there.

You know,

when it was John's

and John was just grinding,

they were like,

take the grinder,

the corner,

like,

you know,

thin the corner out.

I'm like,

oh my God.

Anyway,

it's just epoxy everywhere

but the nose.

Anyway,

we're painting,

we're going to paint the dash.

Oh yeah.

Because you filled in

a bunch of holes in the dash.

Yeah.

Somebody had cut the,

that dash has a speaker grill

where like a mono speaker

was mounted.

And somebody had cut

that open to a double den

radio.

And it's just been

an open hole the whole time

I've owned it.

It drives me nuts.

Yep.

She hates it.

And then the ashtray,

so I don't smoke.

So I don't need the ashtray

and that's where my phone

goes.

I have a phone mount there

with the phone mount.

It's just sheet metal right now.

Yep.

But we got rid of the ashtray

underneath of it.

And then I rearranged

the heater controls.

After driving that fan,

I've been driving them

for like two years daily now.

Yeah.

And the heater controls

are too far away

in the middle of the dash.

They were too far.

It's distracting.

Even for your arms.

Well, because I,

you know,

I'll speed it up,

slow it down.

A lot of times in the winter

it's actually checking

what speed it's on

to make sure it is on

because it's hard to hear

whether it's on

or it's the radiator fan.

I have an electric fan

radiator.

So sometimes I'm like,

is it running?

Because it gets cold.

Very cold.

That fan is so cold.

So then

Nothing but air holes everywhere.

Yeah.

Well, it's not insulated.

So it's just

that's part of it.

Yeah.

It's a big part of it.

Yeah, it's true.

So we welded up

all the dash pad holes.

Oh my God.

It looks,

it's smooth.

It looks really good.

Yeah.

And then Rose did

a bunch of like

Yeah.

Did you do some?

We did have to do some shrinking.

Opposite of shrinking too?

Yeah, sure.

Hammer and Dolly.

Yeah.

Stretching it out.

Okay.

She stretched it.

She shrink it.

She stretched it.

She shrink it.

That's pretty much

what you do back and forth.

Yeah.

It turned out really

it was an awesome process

to see first of all.

It was very cool

to see Rose in her element

like that

because I've not seen that

before.

And then just to see

how everything works.

We uncovered a little

damage where there was

all that body filler

and this van

to get it in gloss black

is just piecemeal paint

one panel at a time

which is fun on the

economy.

There seems everywhere.

So you're going to have

to be creative with the

clear lines,

but that's the only way

it's going to happen for me.

Not having a place

where I can just like

leave it inside

and work on it.

So we're going to

do the windshield frame

and the pillars.

So the pillars

will be painted

and then

then we'll go after

the jams

and the lower half

of the nose

and the door frame

where that

where there's a

that.

Oh my God,

that whole corner is so messed up.

Some erectile damage?

Yeah.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Well, yeah,

you can't open the door.

So it's limp, you know.

Well, that top hinge

even broke.

So they're like

you open the door

and it does go limp.

Oh jeez.

Oh no,

we got to open that door

today.

Yep, we do.

We do.

So we're going to paint

that pillar and stuff.

So that's been cool

and fixing the rest

in the windshield frame

is cool.

But then I also got

a little

because I'm

thinking about

building a body

and

somebody gave me

a Cadillac motor.

Yep.

65.

Yep.

340 horse

with the transition

transmission.

Important that it came

with the transmission

because it's its own

two year

or three year

bell housing design.

Well,

I don't know

exactly what that means.

Well, it means it like

we explain it to me.

That bell housing

bolt pattern for the

transmission.

It's not just like

you can just throw any

Chevy transmission

behind it.

It's not that pattern.

Oh,

okay.

So it's good that you got

okay.

It's only that

transmission.

Oh,

it's only two or three

years.

Okay.

I see what you're saying.

Okay.

They did it from

like 65 to 67

or something.

Oh,

okay.

So it's rare.

Or eight.

Yeah.

It's hard to find.

And by 69

just yet,

I'd rather,

as Jean says,

do it then talk about it.

Yep.

So I don't want to

set myself up for failure,

but I got a cowl in

and that's what I want to

start from to get my

proportions.

So I got a Model T cowl.

Yep.

And it looks pretty

good for anywhere

from a hundred to

110 years old.

Oh,

wait,

the cowl is a

new old stock

or old stock.

It's original.

It's an original.

It's what

hot riders would call

Henry Steele.

Whoa.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

So it's like,

is it easy to find?

Kind of.

I think it's like

1913 to 1925.

Yeah,

I had like four or five

to choose from.

Oh,

whoa.

Okay.

They were all about

$110,

120 bucks,

150,

170.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Yeah.

I didn't know

that would be easy to find.

I thought it'd be all like

where you.

Well,

I was trying to buy one out

of Washington

and it like disappeared

like dammit.

It's dumb.

But the,

the one from Georgia

shipped right away.

It's here.

I got it in the van.

And so the Cadillac motor,

the cowl,

I need to get some

two inch by four inch

rail to make some

frame rail.

And then we're

going to start

scheming up a body.

That's going to be

pretty neat.

But we're,

you know,

also need to do

a motor swap

on my

after.

Yeah.

I've got breaks to do

on my Corvette

at some point,

which is never

what it feels like.

Yeah.

I want to do the

astro swap.

So that thing runs good.

It's more little guys

got like a burn valve

or something.

So

it's nice to have two cars

because like, you know,

like I said,

having to do the windshield

in the van at least

I've got something to drive.

Yeah.

So I want to do that swap.

It's, I mean,

the motor was in,

it's what we took

out of the 67.

So that's another

four, three

and runs good.

So it's 40 over.

I've had the heads off.

Oh yeah.

That engine.

Yeah.

I've got two in the shop

and finishing up

like one more set

of bubble windows,

some red gemstones

and I'm like taking

a break from them

for a little bit

to work on this hot rod

project.

And to just enjoy life.

Man, you know,

you're working.

So everybody,

she has been working

so insane.

She works

like a full time job

and then she goes

to the shop after work

and then she works

on the weekends.

It gets old.

Sometimes she only takes

one, she takes one day

off.

Yeah.

It gets so old.

Just having to like.

Yeah.

It's not,

I like making stuff

for people,

but it also brings stress

because eventually like,

you know,

people want their stuff

and sometimes it's not,

you know, whatever like

the heat kept me out

of the shop in the summer.

It just was too hot.

Yeah.

I wind up on like

rooftops

and stuff at work

and out in the sun

and I just don't want

to go in the shop

and sweat

until bedtime.

Yeah.

So I just need

a little,

a little bit of a break.

Again,

it's really cool getting

to use my skills

to build something

for myself.

So it's nice.

It's really cool

working on the van.

And again,

like driving that thing

daily,

the dash is what I stare at

all the time.

So it's nice to rearrange it.

Even like the

trouble light

for my computer

is in a spot

that like I find obnoxious.

Like,

and I mean this

in like a

trying to eliminate

distracted driving

by rearranging

your dash,

you know.

Yeah.

To make it more

for you,

make it more how you

are going to drive

and what you're going to look at.

Yeah.

Did you move the computer light?

I'm going to.

I'm going to put something else.

I welded up the hole that it was.

Oh, okay.

It was mounted

in a dash pad hole

so it's kind of loose anyway.

Okay.

It didn't ground

through the body

so it didn't need to be tight

but it was like flopping around.

It was almost

the same size

as the hole.

It just,

when I did all that,

I was in a rush

when I did all that.

So I just was like,

here's a hole

and just dropped it in.

As you do sometimes.

Here's a hole,

drop it in.

Yeah.

So,

yeah,

working on my fan.

It's cool.

It's been really fun.

Yeah.

I've had a great time.

You know,

I made that roll pan

and then I was like,

oh, I should louver it.

And then I was like,

it doesn't even need

the license plate hole.

I have license plates

and I like it there

because it's got a light

that Ford made for it.

Right there.

Yeah.

I kind of like it.

I feel like,

because if,

yeah,

so,

yeah,

I made this rear roll pan

because the roll pan

is less,

it's more gone

than it is there.

It's basically

the license plate frame

and the,

you know,

the rest of it's gone.

So,

yeah,

anyway,

I made one

and then I was like,

just moved the goal post

twice on myself.

I louvered

and it doesn't need

the license plate opening,

which makes it simpler,

but

the laser files

I have for it

have the license plate cut out.

So I got to make a new file.

But anyway,

working through the rest

on my van,

that's what the story is.

Yeah.

That's what the story is.

We're sticking to it.

But doing the,

doing the cab

is almost like

interior work.

And so I talked to

Rismo

and he is also

interested in making

some seats for me.

And I was like,

well,

Chevy thing that they did

in the 60s,

I think it was Chevy.

And he was like,

oh yeah.

He's like,

I have some orange plaid

that would look.

Guess who's favorite color

is orange.

It's me.

I mean,

I don't,

I guess I don't want to

put too much emotion

into Joe's response.

He might have just said,

oh yeah,

I got some of that.

You can have

all the emotion.

But I was excited

on my end.

So that's kind of cool.

It'd be neat to do that

and be neat to have.

I put a seat cover in

there.

Somebody got me some

and like within a week,

it broke the piping off the edge.

Oh, they were trash.

I feel like

within the first day,

they had rips in them.

Yeah, it was garbage.

It was really bad.

Pretty disappointing,

but really disappointing.

You know,

all the more reason to get

something from Joe.

Yeah.

Those will be tight.

It'll be neat.

It'll be,

it's be totally foreign to

me to have cool stuff

in my own van.

Yeah.

I love it.

Really,

it's coming along.

It's looking so cool.

It's cool to get to

use my skills

so that's if you're like,

why are you making stuff for me?

It's because I'm making some

stuff for me.

I think that's all we have

today.

That's it.

That's the whole,

that's our life right up

until this moment.

Everything that we've told

you is everything that's

happened.

It's all true.

It's all real.

We'll eat roughly

two to three meals a day

from there.

Absolutely.

Just to give you an idea

on what's going to happen

between now and then

the next show.

I usually eat four meals a

day or five.

Okay.

But I'm like,

that's a snack.

Yeah.

You haven't been eating that

much.

One to two,

a number of sleeps,

and then we'll talk to you

again.

Thanks for listening.

Done been piled up.

Bye.

Thank you.

Bye.

123. The Pile Up EP11: Odd Rods III

Ford Model T

Volkswagen Rabbit

Ford Fairlane

Buick Skylark

Chevrolet Impala

Chevrolet Corvette

About this episode

Original notes