Celebrating SO-CAL’s 20th Annual Father’s Day Weekend Open House
Our open house just seems to be getting larger—and this time, I think better. Our main obstacle always has been, and will continue to be, parking, for both hot rods as well as spectators. We had over 40 volunteers plus people who spent a tremendous amount of time making the parking run as smooth as possible.
We now block off a quarter mile of Grand Ave., and hire the Pomona Police Department, supervised by retired Detective Wally Berri, to handle traffic, which has proved time and again, to be the only way to really make things run well.
The podcast crew from Shift & Steer was on hand again this year raising a ruckus as usual. Shown here interviewing SO-CAL Speed Shop’s founder Alex Xydias celebrating 70 years of the SO-CAL brand, is also 94 years young. Next to Alex, is R to L, Brad Fanshaw, Aaron Hagar, Matt Andria, and I’m part of the crew but someone had to take the photo!I called a bunch of old pal’s and damn if they didn’t show up and it got CRAZY. Flanked by Limefire and Jim Jake Jacobs, the “A” Panel Truck are L to R, Mike Cardenas, Bob Rothenberg, Adolf “Butch” Severloh, “Jake”, Gary Lorenzini and down in front “Big Joey” Angelo.
This year’s street lineup was three wide and stretched a fourth of a mile for a total of a couple hundred cars. That added to the 130 rides already on the property, putting us conservatively at 330-plus rods, customs and muscle cars. That’s a lot of modified vehicles for just a 5-hour show!
Many thanks go to the Palm Spring Cruising Association for making the thankless job of parking hot rods a walk in the park. They had their part of the gig done in less than 45 minutes. Well done to all, especially the over 3000 patient guests!
One last thing—I’m sharing a few more photos than normal this time around, and if you were there, terrific; if not, enjoy and see you next year!
Have a look at the nicest ’57 Chevy Bel Air 4-door on the planet…this one belongs to “Big John” Struiksma whose grandfather bought the car new in ‘57.That bitchin’ Troy Trepanier prepped ’57 Nomad belongs to rock bassist Michael Anthony. The SO-CAL crew just installed an LS1 to give her a little more power. That cool COE behind the Nomad belongs to Barron Guss out of Honolulu, Hawaii.Local resident and SO-CAL friend, Chris Crum (L), is seem checking out that cool Ryan Reed built Deuce 3-window belonging to Brian Williams, of Newport Beach. Nice car!The SO-CAL shop with this year’s lineup (L to R): John and Sean Devine’s Iridium Silver ’72 Bronco, Robin “Silky” Silk’s Pro-Mod, Bill and Brad Lindig’s Deuce Sport Coupe, the Veazie Bros. Olds powered Hiboy, and Carl Akins “Bad Boy” Deuce 3W Coupe.
Editor’s Note: A version of this article first appeared in the October 2016 print issue of the Drive Magazine.
