Time was, the moment a stock old car was altered, its value plummeted. But for the last few years, at the annual Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale and the RM Classic Auction in Monterey, professionally custom-built or restored rods and customs have sold for unprecedented sums, some topping six figures. (Click image to enlarge)

Hot rodding today is a participant sport. Contemporary rodders think nothing of driving their cars thousands of miles to attend major events. The National Street Rod Association’s annual meet each year in Louisville, Ky., attracts upwards of 12,000 cars. Typically, the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, another affinity group, will have over 4,000 cars on display at many of the nearly two dozen annual gatherings from Pleasanton, Calif., to Rhinebeck, N.Y. Although the youngest attendees tend to be men in their mid-40s, participants are not usually the former ducktailed-haircut, pegged slacks-wearing, shop class refugees popularized in plays like Grease. Today the most notable new rods are often owned by successful men who either had a rod or a custom in high school, or who always wanted one. Although these born-again hop-up fans (sometimes called “checkbook rodders”) may not do a lot of the work on their cars themselves, they often have a clear vision of what they want built, and they compete intensely for awards and recognition for their cars.
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.
Roy Brizio’s 12,000-square-foot shop in South San Francisco is a beehive of activity as work proceeds on a dozen new and old cars. Brizio’s style could be defined as traditional: He likes to build ’32 Ford roadsters with steel reproduction Brookville bodies on jig-built, strengthened frames created right in his shop. He prefers modern Ford V-8 engines and drivelines with 5-speed manual T5 gearboxes (versus the ubiquitous Chevrolet V-8s and Turbo Hydra–Matics found in a majority of homebuilt cars). Brizio cars have a reputation for utter reliability, and many a Brizio-built rod has been successfully driven cross-country to an event just after the car has been completed. Brizio himself loves long hauls and appears at events on both coasts, often after driving thousands of miles in an open roadster.

Brizio’s team is currently restoring three hot rod classics: a chopped ’36 Ford three-window coupe originally owned by Jack Calori (an early Hot Rod cover car); a ’32 roadster, with a blown Chevy engine, first built by the late rodding legend Tom McMullen; and the George Barris–built Ala Kart ’29 Model A–based show car, a two-time Oakland Roadster Show winner of the sought-after America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy. Hot rod veterans Calori and Barris are advising on restoration details. Brizio is also restoring Vic Edelbrock Jr.’s ’32 Ford, which was originally built and raced on the dry lakes by Edelbrock Sr. This ’32 is Edelbrock’s seventh Brizio-built car in 20 years.

“We prefer the nostalgia look,” Brizio says, “and so do a lot of people these days.” Brizio is also completing a full-fendered, big-block Ford ’32 roadster and still another ’36 coupe. “That ’36 has a complete late-model drivetrain with a six-speed, but it will be painted Pagan Gold with steelies [original style steel wheels]. About half of what we do is repeat business,” he says. Brizio’s customers include rockers Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, former ballplayer Reggie Jackson, and venture capital impresario John Mumford. Brizio also services what he sells. “A lot of these guys won’t even change their own oil,” he says, “so we make sure their cars are in good shape.” The waiting time for a Brizio-built car is about six months, and many customers say, “let’s do two,” to hold an additional place in the line. The cost is about $150,000 for a basic ’32 roadster.
Pete Chapouris’ So-Cal Speed Shop in Pomona, Calif., builds and restores cars for a variety of clients, including Bruce Meyer, and it takes six months to get in the door at So-Cal, too. The shop is very proud of a ’32 roadster completed last year for Kirk F. White of New Smyrna Beach, Fla. This dark green, Brookville-bodied, fenderless two-seater, on a So-Cal-built replica ’32 Ford chassis, boasts the last engine (a full-race 302-cu-in Ford V-8) built by rodding legend Doane Spencer. White’s roadster has a distinctive sports car flavor, thanks to a rakish split windscreen designed by George DuVall in the 1930s, an instrument panel from a Pierce-Arrow, 18-inch Halibrand alloy wheels with vintage Dunlop road racing tires, leather spring gaiters, Lucas driving lights, and a Ferrari steering wheel. There is even a fashionably low folding top.

Although So-Cal has built several new roadsters with the same basic componentry as Kirk White’s ’32, it is encouraged by customers who want “to tweak the look,” says So-Cal’s Tony Thacker. “Guys can personalize their cars with vintage pieces, different engines, trick exhaust systems, and so forth.” Thacker also notes that demand for roadsters has remained strong.

Trends at So-Cal also mirror a return to traditional hot rod values. “We’re actually ‘de-Boyding’ cars for a number of people,” says Thacker almost sheepishly. Boyd Coddington’s ultrasimple, modernized rods defined the leading edge of hot rodding in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and Coddington is still seeking distinctively creative directions. Says Thacker, “Our guys want steel wheels again, not billet rims, and they’re having us convert their cars back to a more nostalgic look.” Thacker advises clients who want traditional roadsters to buy the best stock old Ford they can find. “You can sell the pieces you don’t need to a restorer or a rat rodder [guys who build very traditional ’40s-era rods]. You’ll save on hundreds of hours restoring old sheet metal or prepping a modern reproduction body.” (Click image to enlarge)
Dave Simard restores vintage hot rods and builds turnkey hot rods in a small but immaculate shop in Leominster, Mass., an hour west of Boston. “I think we’ve run the gamut on high-tech stuff,” he says. “It’s unbelievable to me how many people in their early 50s and 60s are looking at nostalgia cars. I think guys who have had Corvettes lean toward high-tech, independently suspended cars with polished everything. But today, most guys want old-style cars.” Simard recently finished restoring a channeled ’32 roadster, with a body dropped over the frame for a lower silhouette, that topped 140 mph running on California’s dry lakes in the late 1940s. A link long missing from rodding’s past, the car was built by Jim Khougaz of Van Nuys, Calif., retired in the early ’50s, and subsequently stored in Khougaz’s shop for a half century.

“That car was really a pile of pieces,” says Simard. “All we had to go on were period photos. So we trial-assembled it first to see what it should look like, then took it down to the last nut and bolt. We had to fabricate a complete belly pan that stretched from the radiator all the way to the tail panel.” After more than 3,000 hours of work, the restored roadster won the sought-after Bruce Meyer Hot Rod Preservation Award at the San Mateo Grand National Roadster Show last January. The car’s owner, Dr. Mark Van Buskirk, a dental surgeon from Crown Point, Ind., is thrilled. “I’m living my dream,” he said enthusiastically, after winning the hot rod class at the Amelia Island Concours. He plans to show the completed Khougaz roadster (hot rods always assume the name of the original builder) at hot rod events throughout this year, including the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. (Click image to enlarge)

Steve Moal’s shop in Oakland, a three-generation family effort, has turned out award-winning, cutting-edge cars for TV star Tim Allen, Harley guru Bob Dron, and Bay Area–businessman and motorized-model-racer expert Eric Zausner. Moal is a matchless metal fabricator. Zausner’s “Torpedo” blew rodders away last year with a sleek body that borrows cues from a ’32 Ford roadster and a vintage Ferrari Barchetta. With its handcrafted tubular chassis, Ferrari 456 GT running gear and V-12, custom instruments, and cool interior details, the Torpedo starred in both sports car magazines and rod periodicals.
Moal’s shop is currently building a limited series he calls Championship roadsters. These Indycar-influenced rods feature all-steel, replica Brookville ’32 Ford roadster bodies, tubular chassis using 4130 chromoly tubing, torsion bar suspension, and solid front and rear axles. Although some modern rods feature independent A-arms, Moal believes “real hot rods should have beam axles.” Fitted with a coveted Moal signature plate, these cars are mainly differentiated by their unique engines. “We’re doing one with a Ferrari V-12 for Chuck DeHeras, another with a rare Gurney-Weslake Chevy for Bob Everts, and another with a blown Ardun overhead valve conversion on a Ford flathead for Eric Zausner,” says Moal. “Eric’s car will have a piano-hinged hood, a grille that resembles one from a classic Miller Race Car, Halibrand brakes, and real Indy wheels. All these cars will have full belly pans, fuel cells, and power steering,” he adds. “They have a low [center of gravity], nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution, and stretched cockpits. We put the emphasis on comfort, ride, and handling.” Each one will cost at least $200,000.

Moal has long been known for the unusual. “We’re fabricating a full-bodied, pontoon-fendered special right now that resembles a classic car, like a small Delahaye or a Talbot, but we’re not trying to copy anything specific. It will be a unique, coachbuilt car in the old tradition, but with reliable modern Ford power. We want to show people that craftsmanship is alive and well—and it’s not just in Italy.

“There’s no end in sight,” Moal says enthusiastically. “Some of our clients are guys who can buy million-dollar cars. In that sense, our coachbuilt hot rods, with all their handmade parts, are a relative bargain. And we’ll take care of these cars for our customers.” One of Moal’s next projects is a circle track–inspired road rod for former racer Bobby Rahal. “If someone has an idea for a car,” he says, “we can start right away, gathering pieces, building up a frame on our special fixtures, and then scheduling in the really special work.”

Hot rodding has come a long way from ’40s-era stripped-down Fords built with grenade-fragile engines and junkyard parts. Today’s high-end hop-ups meld fine craftsmanship and modern motivation with each owner’s desire to personalize his ride. Picture yourself cruising in one of these beauties, then get out your checkbook.