I found some new stuff going on...very excited.

First off, the 47 panel has passed on into other hands now. A guy and his dad came by and showed the cash so off it went. They were old chevrolet truck guys so it went to a good home. They mentioned leaving the two-tone primer job so keep an eye out. In it's place is a 1960 Ford Starliner. Very nice. I got it running and did the brakes up, had the worst of the rust dealt with and all of the trim is out at the polisher/chromer as you read this. Juwan has it so pray for me. I'll be cloning the late, great starliner, 'THE GALLEON'. Those of you in the know remember this grand chariot crushing the streets from Fullerton to Huntington and all points in between. Built by Joe Kennedy in '95, it was sadly sold to some rockabilly goof who stashed it in a garage until he hit the lean times and sold it to a car shop who completely tore it apart and made a SIMA sympathy wagon out of it. I'll be slapping a nice white paint job on it. Top to be bronze. White leather interior. Astro supremes to be sure. The Undertaker will be putting the brush to it at some point. The beautiful LeBaron is now officially for sale. 2k for that incredible machine.

Secondly, I have a new guitar from my friends at Hidecore Leather. All class.

Not much going on. I'll work on that.

Dang. The time goes by so quick. I had to back out of the trike build. I gave the front end back to Drews and leaned it up against the wall again. I'm hoping to knock it out next year. There is just too much going on to press the 'build it in a month' button. KrylonJohn and I shot the Biker article at the AvalonBar the other day. Setting that up was a drag. Two models just decided not to show up. One was named Sunshine. She works as a dancer at California Girls. The first scheduled shoot she called up last minute with a story about seeing some girl stab another girl in the head at the club. Ok. Let's reschedule. The day comes. No show. No call. No nothing. Sheesh. Strippers. I was warned. I will say that. Fast forward a month. I put an ad out on Craigslist for a topless model. (surprising how many girls will send nude photos from a random ad) I picked two. The first was a no-show. No call. No response. Nothing. I had all the lights set up and the bike out and in the bar and I wasn't giving up so easy. I called the second girl and she shot out from L.A. in an hour. Got the shoot done. She was great and very cute and photogenic. Tall. Thin. I hope it gets cover. If so, it'll be my second in a row. Can't say for sure yet. Terese still has to sign off on it. I'm not exactly sure what I'll post on here now. I guess if the book gets done, I'll let you know where to buy it. If I finish another lamp I'll post a photo. I am working on the 53 chevrolet truck so I'll take a photo of that. See ya.

Donated front end from Drews

Here is a recent photo of my mock-up on the trike project. I'm feeling the rake now so it's going to stay. It really looks cool up close. The excitement meter has risen by two points.

1947 chevrolet deluxe panel van

New 'old' glide front end ready for modification...

Thanks to Mr. John Candy Edwards for the shaved and filed wide glide trees. He put some hours into these, that is evident. That saves me time and allows me to put more time into the lower legs. The trees were 200 bucks and that is a fine deal. He also put two sets of lower legs into my hands. One an untouched and stock set and one that has been turned down. I want to take material off of a set but need to make sure that the turned set has enough meat left. I'll mic the stock set and put that up to the turned set to tell me the difference. Stuff those into the lathe and see where we end up! I can't wait. I have had a springer and a narrow glide. This is my first wide glide and I think they look good if they are done in the style that I prefer. Stripped and lowered is what I like. Engraved would be nice but I can't afford it on this build. (or can I?) Rodney and I had lunch yesterday and kicked around the neck de-rake and seat frame construction. Stretch, if you read this, please compile some tank-molded-onto-frame trikes and choppers for me, will ya? I need some points of reference on the tank.

Monarch boardtracker is close to completion!

I was able to take a few hot laps on the monarch today. It's fast and it's dangerous! I also got to stop over at a friend's shop for the first time. Holy crap! Is that a B24 engine or something? Incredible stuff when you get up close!

1947 chevrolet panel headliner

I had Tran stitch up a headliner worthy of a deluxe panel. It's not done but I am very impressed with the progress up to now. Junko and the goat are impressed too.

I am adding a photo of the completed interior with t pieces attached and of the fenders painted. I need some new stainless clips to re-install the trim package and then I'm almost done with it. On to the next project. I do really like this panel. Not as much as Grant, Candy, Drews, etc., though. They own it. I'm just fixing it up for them.

Chassis backstory.

This is the chassis I will be starting my build with. The frame came from Walker's Frame Shop at the 405 and the 710 freeway interchange, if I remember correctly. I purchased it a few years ago. At the time, Scott Craig and I were collaborating on a clear outer primary cover and in passing, I mentioned to him that I wanted to build a big twin trike. He told me about a frame that he purchased but returned to Walker's Frame Shop. I guess Walker is quite an abrasive fellow and Scott and he had a few words which, for whatever reason, made him return the frame. He warned me before I made the treck out to the shop that we would get in some sort of argument. I could see where Scott was coming from. Walker started out with the usual "what do you want, kid?" and "that old frame? I can't sell that." We talked a bit and he cooled off. I gave him the run-down of what I wanted to do with it and he agreed to sell it. I think I paid 750.00. As for the rear end, I bought that in a midnight deal at Negotiable Parts in Riverside. 200.00. I had seen it at Long Beach when he used to drive that box van out full of stuff. I got his card and set up a time to buy it out at his shop off of the 91 I think. I was pretty stoked to get that rear end. The chrome isn't good enough to run but it is complete. The rims are genuine servicar. Mason bought those from Ty and brought them over for the project. I think I paid 60.00 for the pair. I guess they are pretty rare and are in great condition. Well, that's my chassis story. Hope you enjoyed it.

I think I'll try one more motorcycle and I'll share it all start to finish.

I've decided to knock out the big twin trike that has been standing up against the wall in the garage for the last two years for one last run at Mooneyes and another Biker Mag cover. That's gonna be it. The next bike I do will be a living room build in front of the wood stove for the kid's college fund. I am looking forward to putting some time in with Rodney again and getting the front end tricked out with John at Banzai Machine. It won't be on such a crazy time schedule like the last but I'm sure it will have it's usual ups and downs. The frame is a stock servicar rear end section mated to a swing-arm neck and downtubes. There is significant rake on it presently but now that I have decided on a front end, Rodney can put it up on the frame table at RSD and kick it back to stock. I was considering running a Indian Chief girder but I just can't get around the single spring. Little things torture me and that spring bothers me enough to abort mission. I have decided to modify a stock early wide glide since this is going to be another 60's flashback. The rear end is a fully chromed stock unit with chain drive and hydraulic brakes. The seating arrangement is going to be totally mental. I'm stripping it down and building my idea of a perfect early custom panhead trike. I'll make my usual lane splitting tiny controls and I would like to get another gsxr master cylinder from Rodney for the brakes so we'll see what happens.

1953 restoration

I have been in the middle of wet sanding the fenders on this damn 53' and shit. What a backache. I have hours left before I get a break. Here are some photos from the day.

central coast run

Junko and I drove the 47 up to Atascadaro, CA for Don Coffin's birthday at the Molochs clubhouse. I packed up the panhead and we drove non-stop and made it in six hours at 55-60 mph or so. I had already changed the rear end gears to a Patrick's 3-55 set and put 16" wheels with 650-16 Cokers the day we split. What a change! I went from 47 mph with a screaming whine to 60 mph with no noticeable sound other than my windows rattling and my door handles jiggling off every hour. The bike fit in with inches to spare after leaning the 1/4 seat forward. Junko posted up in the back in a lawn chair and we rolled out. The last grade into Atascadero, the truck kept slipping out of 3rd but mellowed out on the level straights. I guess I need my syncro's synroed. We pulled in at dusk and got the bike out. Don hadn't ever seen it so I got my hands on Keith's new baby and the crew got a good freak-out on the bike. I got a few jack and cokes under my belt and we were off to Don's for elk chili and a solid pass-out on the living room floor. The morning found us back on the road and a stop off in Pismo for breakfast. We pulled off for a short nap on the grass in Seaside and back home. Lot's of fun and Junko held her own again. She's hardcore. The club guys like being around her.

Completed lamp installation

Here are three lamps that were built for Dwellings Interior Design in Costa Mesa last year. This was a fun project. I look forward to building more of these fixtures.

some random photos from week

I saw this great painting at the Long Beach Antique swap last weekend and I'm glad I shot a photo. It has great perspective. There is also a nice shot or two of Hannah, daughter of Jun and Seiko. She was kicking around on the gym and I took a pic. Also a photo proving that she is taller than a vintage 100 watt Marshall head. There is also one of Tran, the apholsterer for the AvalonBar getting set up for our nightly poker game. The 1932 Ford 4 door was taken at the shop this afternoon. Pokey put that car together in a week.

surf wagon

monarch boardtracker

I am not sure what bars these are off of but I have a similar pair on a tandem I restored last year. They look just right now that I put them on the boardtracker. Joe got me a nice pair of chain tires from Long Beach swap so I'm footboards and a seat away from tearing down main street.

panel progress

Here are some photos of the shop where I spend my days at and of the panel with it's newly restored and apholstered two-piece suburban bench seat. I have two openings on the floor under the seat where I need to add plates so I can mount the suburban seat correctly. The seat's mounting bracket drops into this hole. I went to IMS metals in Irvine and spent an hour digging thru the remnant pile and ended up just going up to the front and buying a new sheet of 26 gauge for 67 cents a pound. They wanted to charge me 24 bucks for three cuts on the shear! DAmn! I'll take it to Banzai Machine tomorrow and use his shear. There is a nice view of the recently painted dash also. It looks like I am going to need to remove the head and take it to a guy in Santa Ana who removes broken studs and taps. A drag but it will give me a chance to spice up the engine compartment a bit more. / So the shear was too weak at Banzai so I had to go back to IMS to cut the plate and damn it if it isn't just barely off and a centimeter too big. Figures. That and Rodney has my hand grinder. My template sucked. That will teach me to measure twice before having something cut. The guy at IMS gave me the Saturday price. 3 cuts for 10 bucks! Alright!