hen Alan Johnson builds a hot rod he takes design and functionality into account with every component on the car. Most of the Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop creations are built to be driven. Johnson has faithfully used Walker Radiator Works because of their durable construction and reliable performance. Vernon Walker revolutionized the street rod world with traditional brass and copper radiators that were guaranteed to cool. When Walker Radiator Works closed its doors, Johnson bought the entire operation. All the machines, patterns, and notes came with the purchase, but the name was not available, so he renamed it Johnson’s Radiator Works and moved the operation to a facility near his hot rod shop in Gadsden, Alabama.

Although there has been a learning curve, Johnson and his staff have devoted many hours to dialing in the manufacturing process. All the systems and processes that Walker implemented are still in place but transferring it over to a new facility and new staff took some time. Now the crew at Johnson’s Radiator Works is building up an inventory of cores, tanks, tubes, fins, and brackets, and fulfilling orders as quickly as possible. Every piece of the radiator, apart from the drain petcock, is built by a small but dedicated staff who want to build the very best handcrafted radiators right here in the USA.

n part I we tallied the prodigious Tommy Hrones’ body of work, his apprentice years in his uncle’s autobody shop, his roots in Oakland, and his early customs. Here, the Tommy Show unfolds with theatrical flourishes, his collaboration with builders like Joe Bailon, and a gallery of cars bearing his unique accents.

December 1994. Tommy is closing his shop in East Oakland. There’s one last car being masked for final spray. “Oh, hell, he can wait,” Tommy growls. His office is bare, with an unvarnished desk and a filing cabinet. He pulls out the desk drawer, spreading out dozens of snapshots—all young, very attractive women in ’40s-style Betty Grable swimsuits.

Wistfully, he sighs. “Yeah, we had a good time in those days. Go down to Forest Pool in the Santa Cruz mountains.”

s you get into any metal repair or replacement work on your project you must always balance time versus money. Sometimes you may have more of one than the other (with rarely an abundance of both) but doing rust repair work on a vehicle can eat up a lot of time and money. Luckily for Tri-Five owners, Texas-based Golden Star Classic Auto Parts can save you a bit of both.

Golden Star is a family owned/operated business that sells a huge amount of replacement parts and pieces for everything from old Ford Broncos, Mustangs, Chevelles, GTOs, A- and G-body GMs, to ’60s VW Buses and Mercedes-Benzes, but they also carry a full line of ’55-57 Chevy replacement panels to make repair work more manageable.

ork continues at Ironworks Rod and Kustom on Danny Schaffer’s ’57 Ford Ranch Wagon. The interior of this car has been completely redesigned, from the custom headliner to the numerous CNC-machined components on the dash, doors, and console. Each component is unique but crafted to have an OEM character. Using a ’60 Thunderbird as inspiration, most of the interior was fabricated from scratch, with Tavis Highlander, from Highlander Concept Rendering, making dozens of sketches for details, large and small, before the fabrication commenced. This design utilizes bucket seats both front and back.

A steel Thunderbird dashboard was modified to fit the cowl area of the Ranch Wagon, and all the details were custom designed, including the gauge cluster, the glovebox door, and the bezel for the radio faceplate and center air conditioner ducts. As with many details on this project, the locations of interest were scanned, then the components were designed in CAD and often 3-D printed in plastic for evaluation before CNC machining the final parts from billet aluminum.

The center console was a major project, with an elegantly machined bezel that incorporates the air conditioner controls, the shift lever, the door window controls, and two conveniently positioned cup holders. All of this was fitted above a custom-fabricated transmission and driveshaft cover.

nyone who has been around performance vehicles recognizes the name Wilwood Engineering. Founded by Bill Wood in 1977, Wilwood is a leading manufacturer of cutting-edge, high-performance disc brakes and related components. One of their newest products is the Electric Parking Brake (EPB) system that eliminates cables and conventional actuation levers. Wilwood’s EPB kits include calipers, pads, brackets, hardware, control module, switch, wiring harness, and detailed installation instructions.

It’s interesting how the description of some automotive parts has changed over the years. As an example, the term emergency brake was once used to describe the system that was originally intended to be used in the case of a main brake system failure (not to mention Brennan by name, but lots of older editors still call it the emergency brake). Of course, as automobile technology evolved there was often a change in nomenclature as well and the emergency brake came to be more accurately described as the parking brake for obvious reasons. But regardless of what you call it, hot rods need one. Relying on leaving your car in gear or in Park can be risky. Take it from someone who watched his roadster try to roll away when it was assumed to be in Park and wasn’t as proof positive that an effective parking brake is a wise addition to any car.

he L.A. Roadsters Show, Roadster Show, Father’s Day, Los Angeles Roadsters Show & Swap, by whatever name you have come to call it, there is no denying this local show has national appeal. Hot rod owners from around the country and from oversees come each year to get a “feel” for SoCal rodding. This year’s 57th Annual L.A. Roadsters Show & Swap felt like it enjoyed a bit of a resurgence over the past five or so years.

After the 50th show (2007) there was a noticeable drop-off in show attendance, with the hiccups in the economy and the pandemic creating a downward spiral. But it seems as though there was a marked improvement this year as we could see 300-plus roadsters, over 700 specialty parking hot rods, and over 1,000 swap spaces reminding us of what the show could be. There was also the manufacturers midway. The weather was a classic, thoroughly enjoyable SoCal mild summer day.

Formed in 1957, with the Father’s Day tradition beginning in 1960, the storied history began. This year saw the 57th presentation of the show and swap meet and the 41st year held at the venerable Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California. What started as a single-day show has turned into a two-day affair, Friday and Saturday are the official show days with Sunday, Father’s Day, set aside for being with family.

ome hot rods are just destined for a life of their own. In this case Chuck Vranas (longtime hot rod journalist and contributor to Modern Rodding) has ended up in the history books himself. Well, technically not himself but rather his ’23 Ford T “Lady Luck II.”

It is based on a Total Performance ’glass body powered by a 460-inch big-block Chevy put together at the Wallingford, Connecticut, shop back in 1994-1995. Chuck’s love and fascination of T-buckets was spurred on by Norm Grabowski, often referred to as the Father of the T-bucket, whose T was featured on the TV show 77 Sunset Strip that ran from 1958-64. The “Kookie T,” as it would come to be known, is as legendary a hot rod as there is. Chuck and Norm would later become fast friends, even traveling abroad as special guests to the 16th Annual NSRA UK Hot Rod Super Nationals.

Many early hot rodders will remember the Lady Luck I built by Mickey Lauria of Total Performance in 1993. It too was a lavender-colored roadster but this time Flathead powered. It now resides at the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed. Before its final resting point, it was seen around the country with Chuck’s Lady Luck II.