When the sun is out and the air is sweet, it can only mean one of two things: a) the “chemtrail” formula is now fresh and tasty; or b) a Goodguys event is in town.

Over the weekend of May 31st and June 1st, countless works of rolling art parked on the grass and asphalt at the recent 21st Summer Get-Together in lovely Pleasanton, California, just a skip and a jump away from the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association headquarters on Serpentine Lane. You couldn’t have asked for a better start to summer.

Row by row, we sojourned the premises of the Alameda County Fairgrounds, chewing the fat with familiar and not-so-familiar faces. Yet the moment we had been waiting for arrived as we laid eyes upon this roadster, owned by Al Traille and his son Justin. Al is a consummate hot rod guy, always willing to talk and share the story of a build with fellow enthusiasts, and we gladly exchanged contact information to arrange an interview.

Interview

Rod Authority: What was your first car-related memory?

Al Traille: I remember going to the Oakland Roadster Show with my father and uncle when I was young. I quickly got into building model cars and I would often go to school with glue and paint on my fingers. Other times, I remember hanging out with my uncle, who ran a car club called “The Regents” out of my grandmother’s basement. I would sneak around my uncle’s friends’ cars while they had their meetings and would climb inside of them. I was pretty sneaky for a fourth grader.

RA: Who would you say is your biggest influence when it comes to cars?

AT: My biggest influence– I’d have to say the little voice in my head. I never really built a car for what anyone else thought or cared. It was always something that I envisioned, or in the case of the Roadster, Justin and I would say, “This would look good” or “This wouldn’t look good,” regardless of what people thought of the build style.

RA: What do you think about the state of classic car culture? What are some trends that you don’t want to see disappear?

AT: I’m really encouraged by the young guys that are coming in and their fresh ideas. I really like the resurrection of the cars from the 60s and early 70s that are making an impact on the car scene. I still am partial to the older cars from the 30s and the 40s, and I’d hate to see those cars go away, but the later-model hot rods are a good sign that hot rodding is still alive and well.

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Finned brightwork serves as a major eye-catcher on the 32ster.

The Roadster Comes Alive

RA: Let’s move on to the Roadster’s background. Did you ever name it?

AT: We did. The license plate reads “32STER.”

RA: How did you come to own the Roadster?

AT: [It was the mid-90s and] I had a ’49 Cadillac fastback, and Justin was about two years old and able to walk. I learned quickly that toddlers and classics don’t mix well; thirty minutes of him in the garage was about six hours of cleaning, and I was basically a real jerk, you know, “Get away from the car! Don’t touch the car!” And I would listen to myself, and I would think, wow, with that attitude, how is he ever going to become engaged or interested in doing something like this?

So I wanted to build a ’32 roadster, but it took me a while to [juggle working, selling, and making money]. So I…decided to sell the Caddy and build a ’32 so Justin could learn and we could do it together. It went for sale at a Goodguys event up here and got sold in one day. Later, I put the money into a CD and…went to Wescott Auto and got a price for a body. Then I went over to TCI and talked to [Sales Manager Evan Dalley] and got myself a rolling chassis in 1996. This all cost me around fifteen thousand dollars, and by 1998, the 32ster was running under its own power, but it still had a long way to go.

RA: Do you consider the car finished now?

AT: No, it’s not finished…In all honesty, I don’t think I’ll ever be finished. ’36 Ford headlights, Harley Davidson taillights, ’40 Ford rings and caps on the wheels, ’39 Ford steering wheel, there’s a ’37 Chevy heater in it that I converted into a glovebox…it’s kind of like, I see stuff I like and I try to figure out a way to blend all the disparate parts together, but keep it simple I guess. Basically, it’s like a mongrel.

RA: Like a mutt?

AT: Yeah, exactly right! It’s a mutt. It’s simple enough that it leaves some things to people’s imaginations to finish it this way or that way.

RA: Has it ever won any awards or honors?

AT: Yeah. At one point, it was a Rod Authority Top Ten car at the Goodguys West Coast Nationals. It won the Righteous Roadster Award at a Goodguys event a few years ago. It’s won a bunch of awards at other shows–People’s Choice, Hottest Hot Rod–maybe nine or ten awards in all.

RA: It’s gotten quite a bit of attention, hasn’t it?

AT: It’s kind of funny, because I’m not the kind of guy that goes to a show seeking attention, expecting a trophy. I have some friends who, if they go to a show and don’t come home with a fifteen-dollar plastic trophy, their whole weekend is ruined, right? I’m more into seeing people that you see four or five times a year, making new friends, just getting on the road and driving [the Roadster]. If anything happens [at the show], it happens, if it doesn’t happen, I still get to go home…and it’s one less thing to dust. Of all the honors and awards, I think the RA Top Ten honor meant the most to me.

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RA: Can you tell us what the biggest takeaway was from the 32ster? What the car has meant to you, or the impression it’s left on you?

AT: The biggest thing was just spending time with family and friends building it, and then all the new friends that we met going to shows, people asking questions about it, just meeting a whole bunch of good people from all over the place. Eventually, my son will get the car– the one we built together from nothing up. It means more to me than it does anyone else, all the memories that it has given me and my son.

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RA: Are there any special individuals and/or companies you’d like to thank for helping with the build?

AT: First and foremost, my son Justin. He and I made the Roadster pretty much a homebuilt car. But, I would like to thank Larry Fulton from Hot Rod Carbs for setting up the engine, for making it a brilliant, turnkey piece of work. I’d like to thank my buddies Tim Ryken and Rory Pentecost at Unforgoton Customs, for showing me how to do the body work, as well as handling all the paint and pinstriping. Larry Vincent lent a big help to the project too; whatever I could think that I wanted made, we’d make a mock-up out of cardboard or on a piece of paper, and he’d come back with what I wanted in metal.

RA: Al, thank you very much for your time. It’s been a joy.

AT: Thank you! I appreciated talking with you. I appreciate Rod Authority taking the time and recognizing the car, I’m totally honored and floored.

Be sure to check out Rod Authority’s exclusive gallery of Al and Justin Traille’s gorgeous ’32 below. We look forward to running into Al and his son in the near future. With the Goodguys West Coast Nationals just around the bend, we have a feeling it will be sooner than later.