Peter Koning in USA Peter is a long time hot rodder and supporter of Let's Go Cruisin. He's left his business, Hoppers Stoppers in the capable hands of his staff to travel the US for 12 months. Sure makes some interesting reading!

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Three Aussies cause havoc in San Francisco

Hello from three of us this time.
I arrived in the RV Park on Monday, and Pat O'Connor, and Dennis Bradley flew in on Wednesday.
 It has been raining there almost non stop for 8 weeks and the RV park is getting very soggy and flooded, and too wet on the roads to tour in the 36  very far away, but great to see some things locally. We spent Thursday seeing a few sights, in particular we were told by the locals to make sure we went to Arlen Ness's Motorbike shop and right next door there was a specialist hot rod / muscle car dealer called Kassabian Motors, see  www.myhotcars.com , they had about 60 or so great cars on sale. Photos follow, if you are up this way make sure to see these shops, Arlen's choppers are amazing.
Luckily Friday dawned dry and we were able to take the 36 into the big city and take our booked tour of the San Fran city and Alcatraz without getting wet.

Rain came back Friday night and didnt let up on Saturday and so we went out ot the Fairgrounds next door to see only a few die hards trying to keep dry. That didnt stop Dennis and Pat making a few new friends and by end of day I had to almost drag them away from the beer supply being provided by the friendly locals. Sunday dawned dry and all the cars came in on schedule, still probabaly only a thousand or so, and way too many very late models like Monaros / GTO's  and Silvderado's etc. The swap meet was now well partonised and all went pretty well in the trader stand areas, Pat and I bought most of the things we had planned like airconditioners etc. A few a Tee shirt bargains etc too. We got to meet a lot of locals, in particular Pat got talking with Art Himsl and another guy who was wearing a club jacket from a club called the Renegades who had been going since the 1940's.

Monday was time to pack the RV and put Chevy on its trailer for a trip south towards LA, but not before we detoured a bit to Roy Brizio's Rod Shop in South San Fran near the airport. (We had met them at the run and were inviited to see their work). And what great work they do, in the shop were many excellent examples of their craft, the 46 Chevy woody and green 52 Chevy Pickup are owned by Eric Clapton, the truck in RHD. Also see the 4 door RHD 32 Vicky they were buillding for Clapton, converted from a regular 4 door sedan, to ahve an English look. The metal work on this and all of their projects was incredible, almost good enough to paint with no fill at all, almost impossible to see the joins. They may charge a lot but they do give their clients what they pay for.

Dennis went for a short walk and found Sanderson Headers right next door, the owner spied him and said to make sure we had a tour as well. Not a tidy as some but they had a huge amount of work on, dozens of little Mexicans cutting and bending pipes, welding, Jet Hot coating etc all under one roof, and I must say they do seem very nicely made.

Next a big drive down Highway 101 to Hearst Castle. We had planned to take the No1  coast road down but landslides had made it impassable. After that another few hours driving to a place I knew called State Beach near Ventura where RV's are allowed to stop on the side of the road about 20 feet from the waters edge. No facilities but great to hear the ocean almost splashing on the RV. This morning drove the rest of the way to my favourite RV park in Pomona for a couple of days in LA, but thats another story.
I'll tell that soon.
Peter

Pleasanton

san-francisco