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High Roller Hot Rods

Ken Gross

August 4, 2003

Many hot rodders are top-ranked car collectors. Bruce Meyer of Beverly Hills, Calif., whose well-stocked garage includes a Duesenberg “J” Murphy Roadster, a 427SC Shelby Cobra, a D-Type Jaguar and the ex–John Von Neumann TRC Ferrari, owns several historic rods and underwrites the hot rod gallery at the Petersen Automotive Museum. His friend David Sydorick has an unparalleled collection of Zagato custom-bodied Ferraris and Maseratis. The eclectic Sydorick also owns the Boyd Coddington-built Aluma-Coupe and a radical yellow ’37 Ford coupe, a milestone originally built by Ken “Posies” Fenical.

A Type 35 Bugatti and a highboy, flathead-powered ’32 Ford roadster, originally built in Pasadena, Calif., in the ’50s, share space in Brian Brunckhorst’s St. Louis, Mo., garage. John Mozart of San Francisco, whose classic Type 57SC Bugatti and 8C 2900 Alfa roadsters have each won Best of Show at Pebble Beach, is building a ’32 Ford roadster with painstakingly sought-after vintage parts and speed equipment. His son, Justin, is looking for an early chopped ’50s-era Mercury. Next to the 300SL in the garage of Caesars Palace CEO Peter Boynton, you’ll find a ’32 Ford roadster with a supercharged flathead engine. And these guys will tell you they’d rather be driving their hot rods. To paraphrase cartoonist and rod enthusiast Noel Blanc, driving a hot rod in Beverly Hills gets a thumbs-up while driving a Ferrari gets a different finger.

Early hot rodders did much of their own mechanical work, farming out skilled tasks they could not do, such as machining, upholstering, or painting. Today, individuals who can do most of this specialized work, especially to show-quality standards, are rare. Across the country, shops like Foose Design cater to those clients who can afford the very best and may want to compete on a national level. A number of top-ranked shops across the country have unparalleled reputations and proven track records for completing and fielding a winning car. We took a quick tour through several of the top U.S. constructors’ garages and called others to track the latest trends in rod and custom building.