The latest on The Goofy Grape

It is getting closer and closer.

We tried to fire it off today but no luck.

One problem was the builder said it was at top dead center, but it was not.

Got that fixed and the battery gave up the ghost.

She puffed some smoke and backfired a bit, but she is waking up.

With the shell and lights is starting to look like a car again.


I want my MUMMY!

I got this from a guy on the HAMB and stripped it and repainted it myself.

Hard to tell in the pic but I fogged the inside of the eye sockets and it looks like it has glowing eyes.


You might be able to see the eyes better in this pic.

It came out good and creepy!



The dash is looking good now.



Tach it up!


Helmeted warriors.


You can't have too many gauges.


Someday these two will rumble down the road together and be full time stable mates.


Every hot rod should come with an accessory guitar or bass.

I have had a 1957 Fender P-Bass re-issue since 1986 and like a dumb kid I put a water slide "Lady Luck" decal on it and never took care of it.

I dropped it once and really put the hurt on it.

At one point I tried to remove the decal and it had ruined the paint under it, and I messed it up even more with a vandalism mark remover that was not supposed to hurt paint but did.

It softened up the paint and flat out killed off what was left of the finish.

I guess I could have kept it all trashy and called it a relic, but instead it will live again as an accessory for the roadster.

You can see the old original green in the coves still.

Some people seem to like it, others think I need to join a funk band with it instead of struggling with surf tunes.

I like it, even if it is a bit "pimp-ish."

I am taking it to Kerry's Guitar Shop for the rebuild and will post it when it comes back from the grave.

Good reading...

I thought I would through some of my favorite car related books on my blog just in case some of you did not know about them. All of them can be bought from places like Amazon.com and so on.



This is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. It covers the infamous Gasser Wars in detail and has all the big names like Big John, Ohio George, K.S., and the Stone, Woods, and Cook crew. It gives you the history, results, and dares to tackle the question, "Why the Willy's coupe?"




Some people like to act all cool and pretend they do not like anybody that is a pro builder and that "rat rod" attitude gets old. I am a huge fan of Brizio and this is a cool little overview of his work. Do I really like "high tech?" Not really, but I can dig quality work. What sets Roy apart is he does traditional well and is often trusted with some of the most famous hot rods and customs because he knows how to do it right.


This is a huge book covering one of my favorite subjects. Thacker knows his stuff and this is a good book that any fan of the deuce should own!



Genet and Thacker's books both celebrate the all mighty 1932 Ford and this is another must have for deuce heads everywhere. (Just buy them both and get it over with, you know you want them!)



Another bit of Robert Genet's work, and I love this one because it covers pretty much the crown jewels of the hot rod world. I know I have said it already, but another must have. (Great pics also!)


I can not tell you how many times I have read and reread this book. In fact, I pretty much have worn out my copy of it. This is a mighty tome indeed!



The history of the lakes and the strips, what more could you freaking ask for?


Even more lake racing. Notice who it is agian? Why it is Robert Genet of course. I would love to meet this guy!


From the fellow that brought you the Gasser Wars we get what followed...The Super Stock Era!


Some of the Motorbooks books get boring sometimes because they reuse the same pics over and over again in multiple books. (I said books alot in that sentance.) Once again it is Mr. Genet at the helm and this particular book has alot of magic to it. I just really enjoy it. The pics, the history, the motivations of Chevy at the time...it is just a dang good read. On top of that Dyno Don turns up in it.



So break out that credit card and support the recovering economy.

United Breaks Guitars...

I don't know how many of you out there have been through similar things but I can say firsthand that most airlines and companies don't care about consumers and that ticks me off!

In fact, I feel this one of the plagues of modern society and is pretty much found in all levels of "corporate" America and "civil" America now.

We live in a world that has bailout money going to companies and they have parties.

Companies and the Government take our money and give no customer service or satisfaction.

We have become pretty pathetic in the US.

Everybody is out for themselves and the all mighty buck rules...damn everything else.

A man named Dave Carroll experienced the worst we have to offer these days, a careless airline that cared little for his problem or his guitar...and I relate.

I am all about cars and guitars and I feel for him.

He is now getting some attention for a great video that puts it all out there and it is freaking brilliant.

Check out the video at this link: UNITED BREAKS GUITARS!

United* says they are going to take care of him and I hope they do.

*Funny how it took massive response to the video for them to step up though...

I hope they learned a great lesson from one hell of a consumer and one smart guy with the guts to do something for himself and for all of us by taking a stand.

On top of that, it is one catchy tune and that really makes it worth looking at!

Fooling around with diecasts and guitars.

The kids are asleep, so I have to keep it quiet but I am bored.

Got out the camera and played with my toy cars and guitars...

Pat Ganahl's Nitti inspired 1932 Roadster.

The Joe Nitti Roadster is a car I have mentioned on my blog before as one of my all time fav cars.

Pat Ganahl has finished a 1932 roadster that is inspired by Joe's car.

The thread came up on the the HAMB recently and hotrod32 posted the pics (and they are his property...dig?).

Check it out by click-N the linky.

Thanks for the post hotrod32, and thanks for building such a cool car Pat!

This is a car everyone should check out!!!!

Linky