Rod Authority

It was a great August weekend for a car show in beautiful Pleasanton, California! The temperature was in the low 80’s and the sun was shining. The smell of fresh jumbo corn dogs, strawberry-topped funnel cakes, and burned high-octane fuel filled the air at the Goodguys 25^th West Coast Nationals. The hot rod party started on Friday, August 26th and carried through to Sunday, August 28th. The WCN is open to ‘72 and earlier vehicles, but it was an awesome turnout for early iron! The fairgrounds were packed with a sea of street rods, jalopies, roadsters, sedans, trucks and more. There were people everywhere having a great time viewing the cars and enjoying the food, music, and activities.

This 427 Chevy powered '35 Ford was wearing an eye-catching Blue hue!

When you regularly attend events like this you tend to see some of the same cars at every show. The West Coast Nationals seems to be held in the street rod capitol of the world because it never disappoints with a big turnout of new iron in the form of completed (they’re never really finished) and unfinished rides.

Eric Bracher brought out his '61 Pontiac Ventura dubbed Vettura with its Corvette LS1, 4L60E, suspension, door handles, and more.

Matt Martin brought his chopped and fenderless (mostly) '47 Ford pick-up powered by a 401 Buick Nailhead.

This highly modified '61 Ford Econoline belongs to Jim Rien and is motivated by a 250 6-banger and a C4 trans.

The Jelly Belly jelly bean sponsored Anglia is a regular site at Pleasanton shows and it never gets old.

Don and Nancy Wilbur drove their sweet '32 Ford fordor sedan from Washington state and won a Goodguys Builder's Choice Award.

This show was full of new impressive metal. A look at the winners circle on Sunday was proof that there were a lot of deserving high-quality and eye-catching vehicles in attendance. The craftsmanship, artistry, and coolness of hot rods at the show were at an all-time high.

A walk through the Car Corral showed us that there are still some great deals to be had if you were looking for complete and road-worthy street rods to project cars of epic proportions and everything in between. Some of the vehicles for sale were pristine and going for a song, especially on the last day of the event.

This FE powered Galaxie 500 XL Pro-Streeter had a wicked presence and was up for grabs.

We didn't hear it run, but it definitely looked the part.

An obviously abandoned project ‘59 Chevy wagon was stripped down to a rolling shell. The owner filled the entire car with all its parts and brought it on a trailer. By Sunday the price was seriously reduced and would have been a good deal to make a nice cruiser. There were even some really cool pro-street/drag cars up for grabs.

This '59 needed a little work!

There was some nice iron for sale at the event.

The swap meet was full of bargains too. Along with all the hot rod and restoration parts, there were plenty of other cool treasures. You could pick up just about any street rod or drag racing magazine ever printed. There were great hot rod parts and service station memorabilia everywhere just waiting to find a new home. Just like most swap meets, there were a few odd trinkets here and there. The standout weird and cool artifact of the swap meet was the eight foot realistic-looking Frankenstein’s monster strapped to an operating table watching out over a big booth of garage signs.

There were some monstrous bargains at the swap meet. No garage should be without a cool restored service station pump!

There were cool parts and great deals to be had.

The vendors were there in force with cool products and even some great interactive fun. WIX Filters had a really cool booth with a little quarter mile track with a “tree” on the asphalt for the kids, young and old, to compete with radio controlled Dodge Challengers. The theme of the Challengers was part of the WIX promotional tour with a 2010 Dodge Challenger they had completely rebuilt NASCAR Legend Richard Petty’s shop aptly named Petty’s Garage.

The Wix Filters booth had some great R/C racing for the kids...and adult kids!

The Petty's Garage built a great Challenger for WIX Filters and somebody built a clone R/C version. Nice!

While walking around the vendor area we also paid a visit to Flowmaster, Edelbrock, Vintage Air, Baer Brakes, Chris Alston’s Chassisworks, Roadster Shop, and Billet Specialties to name a few. Everyone had some cool new products on display from new Vintage Air control panels, Baer Brakes parking brake assemblies, Roadster Shop frames and IRS suspensions, and more. Flowmaster showed us their HP-2 and Pro-Series mufflers with Cool-Shell technology that can be mounted in tight spaces and very close to the floorboards, which is handy with hot rods with cramped quarters underneath.

The manufacturers were showing off some cool new products!

Lokar had this great flamed coupe at their trailer.

The paint detail was awesome! The Ford powerplant was gleaming too!

One of the stand-out vehicles at the show for us was Eric Zausner’s Moal-built ’36 Ford Roadster named, Aero Sport. It was only unveiled a few days before the West Coast Nationals. Michael Moal told us, “there’s not much left of the original ’36 Ford steel body.” It features man hand-formed aluminum panels including the pontoon fenders, hood, and trunk. The engine is a ‘55 312 cubic inch Y-block with twin Novi superchargers transferring power a De Dion IRS rear via a Tremec 5-speed transmission. The independent front suspension is all custom fabbed for great handling. The interior was reminiscent of art deco merged with a 1940s aircraft cockpit due to some artistic upholstery and metal crafting and a liberal use of gauges from the Moal Bomber Gauge line.

This Moal-built '36 Ford was a work of art!

The craftsmanship was awesome!

The twin Novi-supercharged '55 312 motivated this gull-winged coupe named Aero Sport.

Johnny and Glenda Brazil's '32 Ford 3-window had Speedway Engineering stock-car Wide-5 hubs all the way around for a great vintage racer look.

Something you don't see every day. Greg Selvidge's slammed down LS-powered '64 Citroen was beautifully executed and made an appearance in the winners circle.

One of our personal favorites was this brutal '31 Model A Ford 5-window Coupe owned by Mike Smith. It featured a 350 Chevy topped with a supercharger driven by a vintage triple V-belt drive system, wide-white pie crust slicks, and spindle-mounted magnesium front runners. With power like this, who needs front brakes?!

Overhead view of the vintage 6-71 huffer.

This great looking black '28 Ford roadster with a Demon tri-power capped small block Chevy was really sanitary and included aircraft styling cues, including a bomber-style seat, and 1947 Hughes Aircraft Co. VIN plate, which won a Goodguys Builder's Choice Award.

Moal gas cap, black spokes, and tri-power are right at home.

Periodically we were able to catch some hot rods on the move. Any running engine demanded attention. The Goodguys staff are more than happy to have you cruise your car around the fairgrounds for a little showing off.

Albert Traille's '32 roadster with a triple carbureted 327 backed by a TH350 caught our eye. It has black suede paint, blankets over the seat, and some custom cool touches throughout.

Jorge Zaragoza's black '32 Ford looked cool and weathered.

The Bonneville Participant Crew sticker looked right at home. The Radiator cap was cool too.

Mike Palm's '52 F-1 Ford truck had a little B&M surprise under the hood.

There were great looking sleds and slammed classics parked throughout the fairgrounds. Some wore all vintage parts and some were a combination of new and old parts.

Slammed in style!

More low down classics.

This '54 Chevy lead sled demanded our attention with its low stance, orange suede paint, severely chopped top and white tuck and roll interior.

We don’t know if you call them jalopies, rat rods, or traditional hot rods, but we love them and there were plenty at the West Coast Nationals!

The rat rods were showing off some great attitude!

...more rat rods!

Goran Lassell brought out his '61 Plymouth Fury wore custom paint with lace-paint graphics, fuzy headliner and rolled on Supreme's.

Art Serna's blue '35 Ford caught out attention and held it for a while.

Mor of Art's '35 Ford.

Russ and Lora Fruend came all the way from Idaho in this steet T with pie crust slicks!

Here's a great shot of their gleaming white-painted flathead.

Some cool random hot rods! Al Clark brought his Solo II '32 Ford roadster down from British Columbia. Art and Louise Fortin were showing off their '35 Ford Woodie. The bright colored '29 Ford truck was owned by Jim Whipple. Mike Stierli's '34 Chevy sedan was sporting some big spoke wheels.

More iron that made us pause for a look! A low-mile original '36 Ford ranch truck, a twin turbocharged all steel Willys 77, a '32 Ford hiding behind the scenes, and a bad '41 Willys coupe.

We walked for hours soaking up the sun and taking in the different cars, trucks, and parts. Once in a while you’ll catch the owner hanging out with their vehicle and you can get some cool history. There’s usually a good story with each hot rod and guys and gals are more than happy to share a good story or two. History and awesome iron are what keeps our passion for cars (and trucks) going. Every Goodguys event draws cool cars and trucks, but they also get a few vehicles you just don’t get to see too often. This show was no exception with a Citroen, ’39 Buick Special, a cool 1941 aerodynamic motorhome, and more! Hot rodding is about building different than the next car, either with parts, paint, wheels, stance, or even a rare make and model.

Here are a few cars you don't see often, like a '52 Henry J (owned byGerry and Barb Scott from British Columbia), a cool aero motorhome (the sign said it was a 1941 Brook - Western Flyer) we have never seen before, a hot rod Ranchero (owned by Steve Moal), and a '55 International pickup (owned by Dave and Ronnie McIntyre) sporting an original 6-cyl and a 3-speed.

Dominic Mackey's blue '30 Ford had an evil horn! It was parked next to Jason Frink's '56 Chevy wagon wearing black with black steelies and wide wides!

Some random hot rod trucks!

Two over the top trucks! Mike Cooper's '33 Ford with outrageous fabrication and exhaust...and Tom Pagano's heavily modified '56 Ford F-100 powered by a late-model 4.6L DOHC!

...and more random hot rods!

Harold Wiley of Utah had Kindig-it Design do some seriously great work on his '39 Buick Special. It was in the Winner's Circle to collect the award for America's Most Beautiful Street Rod, chosen by Flowmaster Mufflers. It deserved to be there, that's for sure!

More shots of Harold Wiley's '39 Buick Special. It's immaculately detailed and motivated by an LS2 and a 4L65E transmission.

At the end of the show on Sunday we were tired and hot, but at the same time energized by hanging out with some old friends and by seeing so many cool cars and seeing some great ideas we can incorporate into our future projects. Maybe everyone looking through all of our pictures will pick up a little something too. Like usual, Goodguys West Coast Nationals never disappoints. If you’ve never been, it’s worth the trip…which is obvious, since we saw cars from all over the US and even the far reaches of Canada. If you can’t make it out to the next event, check right here on Rod Authority for coverage!

The Johnson's Hot Rod Shop decal in the front window says it all! They did a great job on Ronald Beasley's sweet '32 Ford powered by a 502 Chevy big block came out from Alabama!