Flames for Dad

I have been playing catch up in my garage trying to get a bunch of little jobs and favors done so I can get my new show car project The "Baja Bandeeto" back in and work on it. One of the jobs is painting a set of Harley FXLR tin for my Dad, Yeah He's 73 and still rides, so now you know where I get it from! I painted a blue base with left over paint and shot the marina blue metal flake. Then I gave it a wet sand and cleared it again, but with a dab of Sherwin-Williams blue pearl in the clear. The pics don't do the work justice but it really "glows". The flames are pretty traditional. Shot a white base with House of Kolor Sunshine Yellow and Tangelo Orange over it. I'm thinking a slime green pinstripe will really be killer on it. One neat thing I like to do is, I took the front fender rivets out and welded the fender right to its mounting bracket, it gives it a clean smooth look!





I have been picking away at the junkyard gigolo a little at a time also. I polished up the lower legs on a baldor buffer I bought a while back. They came out really nice. There are some gouges here and there, but this isn't a show bike, I want a street beater. Got the frame sitting on a milk crate as I dig through the small boxes of parts I got with it, and blast and paint the stuff to bolt it all together. This superglide project is kinda like my therapy. I don't have to do it, I like to do it!



Get out in the garage and build something! Fritz

Bubble Dome Madness - Cosmotron

I get up this morning , make a pot of coffee, and sit down at the computer to read my mail and check up on the world news. Well gang, the best news I got was in an e-mail from England! Seems that about a year ago, Paul Bacon bought my "Build a fiberglass Body at Home" DVD and did just that! He built one bad ass awesome little bubble cruiser. This is the stuff I love, e-mails from fellow garage rats showing what they have going on in their own shops. The crazy projects they do for fun! I'm gonna post his letter also for you guys to read. Like I always say "I think anyone can do this stuff, you just have to try"
Now get out in that Garage and build something!
Fritz

"Hey Fritz,

Thought I'd send you some pics of my project. I started it about a year ago, I bought your DVD and it gave me great inspiration although I used polystyrene to build up the bulk of the body then good old plaster to form the details. The whole thing is based on a BMW Z3 so it should be pretty fast when its finished and I'll stay cool under the dome with the factory air con, mind you over here it rains a lot so I don't know how much I'll need it or how much traction I will get from the cross plys, but hey they look cool so who cares!. I'll send you some more pics when its finished, I got your paint DVD too so you just know the paint is gonna be wild!"

Lovin the blog and all your work,

BIG MESS BIG SUCCESS

Paul Bacon England

San Antonio, Texas ISCA show

Sorry, I have been a crappy blogger these days. Been on the road doing the indoor car shows and I am just getting to play "catch up" now. Here are a few pics from the San Antonio Texas ISCA show. I was really digging the crazy tie dye style paint on the "Summer of Love" front engine dragster. It was in a vintage drag strip display complete with tower truck and other drag cars, including the "Mexican Revolution" and a "Jungle Jim" flop body car!!!!! As far as the motorcycles go, there were a bunch of new bikes : ( but I did spy a nice shovel chop and a neat little jap chopper also! I have been cleaning up my garage, putting stuff away, and getting things ready to work on the "Baja Bandeeto" again. It's been to long, waaaaayyyyyy to loooong! I still have to knock out a paint job for my dad's FXLR. The guy is like 73 and has 5 of these things! Greaser Mike will be sending me his Triumph chopper parts to paint up. So, I have a bunch of catching up to do, not to mention I have been side tracked with the 77 super glide I bought out of a junk yard here in Missouri.
What have YOU guys been doing? I'd love to see some of your bike paint jobs & crazy fiberglass projects from the guys that have bought my DVDs.
Now get out in the garage and build something
Fritz

Remembering "Big Daddy"

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Passed on this day in 2001 March 4, 1932 - April 4, 2001
Everyone has a story, everyone loves "Rat Fink". Like most, as a kid I dug building those slobbering monster models. I loved their out of proportion hot rods, the bubbletop model car kits, and those crazy t-shirts! We all did it.
As I got older and moved into building choppers good Ol' "Big Daddy's" Influence was still in there, and just as strong. One day it all just kind of "POPPED" for me. Something in the cosmos triggered a switch in my brain, and I had to build a car Just like "Big Daddy Roth". So, I built the "Roswell Rod". He was still with us when I started, but not long after that, my little project became a tribute to my hero.
"ONCE A FINK ALWAYS A FINK"
I am pretty sure Ed would tell you just as I do and on this day more then ever,
get out in the garage and build something.
Fritz

The Junkyard Gigolo

About a year ago I bought a 1950 Merc sedan from a junkyard in rural Missouri. The old timer took my junkyard buddy Jack Walker and I into his private garage to show us his unrestored mint 1949 Lincoln sedan. It still had factory tires and all, a neat thing to see. While he and Jack are chatting it up, I'm looking around at all the old furniture that's stacked up and old bottles. Then I spy this old Harley 4 speed swing arm frame on the floor!!! As I'm looking, I see the engine, transmission, forks and so on. I have to ask the big question, "Would you be interested in selling the Harley basket case ya have sitting there?" The says "Make me an offer". So I say $750.00, thinking I'll start low and haggle with him. "SOLD" he says, and we load it up in the back of my truck. I always read about the fantastic score (like your doing right now), but it rarely happens to me. On that day, it did! So I have been messing with this 1977 superglide every so often in my garage. I had the frame sand blasted and I blasted the swing arm and small stuff myself. I got the frame painted last week, and have been putting pieces together here and there when I have a chance.

As I found it in the old man's garage.


I got overspray all over my glasses painting this thing,


After a few pasess with clear.


What I plan on doing is not dumping a ton of money into this thing, used parts are fine by me. There will be no trips to the chrome shop on this project, a brillo pad and the kitchen sink will take care of the old bright work. I just want an old school build that I can beat the hell out of, and have a good time to get back and forth to work on.
A trick I learned from an old tech article in a 1970's issue of Easyriders magazine, was to drill a small hole on the mounting surface side of the neck cup almost to the edge. This will allow you to take a small punch and drive the old neck cup race out! I spent $12.00 bucks at the NAPA auto parts store for new bearings and races. I tapped the new races into place, drove the neck cups back into the neck of the frame, and I am back in business!




So, what have you guys been up to?
Out in the garage building something I hope
Fritz

Detroit Autorama 60 Years And Counting!

To me Detroit is the show to do, the place to be, the big top! And like a dumb ass I didn't take any pics. I wandered around with my coke and salted pretzel looking at all the great stuff, saying hello to guys and shops i only get to see at shows and just got so caught up in chatting & looking that I plumb forgot to snap off some pics. once the show got going, and it was PACKED folks! I was busy at my booth with the "Roswell Rod" and that was that. I am sure that every car web site has a ton of pics for ya to scroll through anyway. and I promise to be on my toes for the next few shows that the Roswell is a feature at. My Wife Carrol did have it in her mind to be smart enough to get some pics of the art work & stripping i do in the both before people bought it and I never saw it again so at least I can share those pics. a few pieces did get paid for and left before we got pics but we did get some shots of the 5 gallon gas can with "drink refreshing BURP cola" painted on t and a Mountain dew can with a rat fink. I ran out of stuff to paint on so I was digging in the trash cans pulling out empty soda cans and painting little monsters on them for 5 bucks a piece. we sold everyone of 'em!





Get out in the garage and build something.
what have you guys been up to?
FRITZ

Kansas City World of Wheels

It's not often I get to do the ISCA world of wheels show in my own back yard, I am usually off at a differant show in another state, but this year The "Roswell Rod" was a feature car at the Kansas City show. My wife Carrol & I set up with the Roswell and my panhead the "Margarita Chiquita" to vend our DVD's and other trinkets. K.C. is a real car town! The midwest has it going on for customs & hot rods, more than SOCAL, one of the big reasons I moved out this way from NYC.
I snapped a few pics of stuff that I liked, and figured I'd post them for you guys to see also.

I have a soft spot for 28-29 Ford pick ups, even though there isn't a bunch of room in them, they just catch my interest.


I always stop off at the bike section, I usually see a bunch of stupid looking Evo's, but a few bikes stood out.
The green swing arm Harley caught my eye cause it sports a vintage "Crazy Frank" rear fender.
The black & white Pan, well, thats something I'd ride to work everyday
The '42 Knuckle is a real deal barn find from the area, I dont know about you, but every time I get to go inside a barn I find bird shit and empty beer cans!