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A Look Inside Schraders Speed & Style

Posted By Devlin Smith , August 17, 2011 3 comments

Mike Abssy recently changed his shop hours. With summer afternoon temperatures passing the 100-degree mark in Azusa, California, the owner of Schraders Speed & Style starts work as early as 5 a.m. so he can close his doors by 2 p.m. to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat.

Making his own hours is one of the benefits Abssy is afforded by running a one-man shop. He can also work offsite, spending whole days working on customers’ cars at their homes.

“I have 100-percent flexibility,” he said. “I have one client [that has] a beautiful shop and I do work for them at their facility and I charge an hourly rate just like I would here, so that’s one great example of flexibility, being able to go to do work like that.”

Abssy didn’t always have this kind of flexibility. When he started Schraders in 2002, his plan was to create a restoration brand complete with a huge shop, multiple employees, and a line of products and branded merchandise.

“Business at the shop was always steady,” he said. “Almost from the very beginning it seemed like there was a lot of work out there. I started as a one-man show in 1,500 square feet and within two years, I was just bursting at the seams, so I expanded into another unit and I was in 3,000 square feet.

“About a year after that, I expanded [to a shop totaling] 5,500 square feet, and at that point I had a product line [and] I tried to get more involved in setting up online retail because I was a dealer for all kinds of product lines,” he said.

Abssy was also employing four installers during this busy time. But as his business grew, he started feeling it was unsustainable.

“I kept running more and more money through the business and it was less and less profitable,” he said. “I wasn’t really sure why that was happening but it was a lot of a headache and it took the passion out of why I did this in the first place.”

Weekend Car Shows & Events Roundup

Posted By Devlin Smith , August 17, 2011

The annual Woodies at the Beach event takes place this Saturday at Santa Barbara City College.

As thousands gather in Michigan to celebrate the best of the Big Three at the legendary Woodward Dream Cruise, Goodguys hosts the 10^th Great Northwest Nationals in Washington. Don’t have the gas money to make either? No need to fret, there are plenty of other car shows, cruises and events being held across the United States and Canada, including those detailed below, where you can show off your projects, network with other builders and meet new clients. Additional shows and events will be posted on Hotrod & Restoration’s Twitter throughout the week.

The Woodward Dream Cruise takes place this weekend in the Michigan communities of Berkley, Bloomfield Township, Ferndale, Pontiac and Royal Oak. Beginning Thursday, the communities will be hosting car shows, car parades, live entertainment, DJs, family activities, vendors and concessions. For more information, visit www.woodwarddreamcruise.com.

Goodguys hosts the 10^th Great Northwest Nationals Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Spokane Fair & Expo Center in Spokane, Washington. The event will welcome 1,500 rods, customs, muscle cars and street machines through 1972 competing for awards including 2011 Muscle Car of the Year Finalist. The show will feature vendor and manufacturer exhibits, a swap meet, a Cars 4 Sale Corral, a model and pedal car show and live entertainment. A hot rod cruise and kick-off party will be held Thursday, and a TGIF party will be held Friday. For more information, visit www.greatnorthwestnats.com.

Goodguys Announces Schedule for Next Week’s ‘Hot Rod Week’

Posted By Ashley Smissen , August 17, 2011

Shop tours are one of the highlights of participating in Hot Rod Week. (Photo: Goodguys)

Goodguys has announced the schedule for the upcoming Hot Rod Week on its website. The four-day guided tour of shops and places of interests kicks off on Monday, Aug. 22, and runs through Thursday, Aug. 25, one day before the start of Goodguys’ 25^thWest Coast Nationals in Pleasanton, California, which runs Friday, Aug. 26, through Sunday, Aug. 28.

“Hot Rod Week serves as a fun activity for locals as well as out of town visitors attending the annual West Coast Nationals in Pleasanton,” representatives from Goodguys said on the association’s website.

The free tour requires no reservations. Those wishing to participate are asked to meet at the Pleasanton Hilton at 8 a.m. each morning to join up with the tour group. All tours will leave the back parking lot of the Hilton at 8:30 a.m. sharp, according to Goodguys.

Cragar, Hawk Performance to Join Together Under New Performance Products Group

Posted By Ashley Smissen , August 17, 2011 1 comment

Carlisle Brake & Friction has announced the formation of the Hawk Performance Products Group a group that will consist of the Hawk Performance, Cragar Wheels, Black Rock and Unique brands.

The new group was created in an effort to broaden the company’s mission of serving the performance products markets, said Chris Koch, president of Carlisle Brake & Friction.

Hawk Performance, a premium performance brand of Carlisle Brake & Friction, is a manufacturer of high-performance motorsports brake pads for the performance street and motorsports markets.

Cragar Wheels is best known for its Cragar S/S wheel, in addition to many other hot rod and muscle car performance wheels. The brand will be transitioned into Hawk’s new Performance Products Group to address the vintage muscle and modern American performance market.

Bill to Expand Use of Antique Vehicles Signed Into Illinois Law

Posted By Ashley Smissen , August 17, 2011

SEMA announced that Legislation H.B. 3256, an Illinois bill that expands the use of antique vehicles, was signed into law on Tuesday by Governor Pat Quinn.

Under the new law, antique vehicles and replicas will be able to be driven without limitation during the warmer months of the year (April 1-Oct. 31). During the time period of Nov. 1-March 31, expanded-use antiques are limited to traveling to and from car shows, exhibitions, servicing or demonstration. The new law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

The state of Illinois defines an antique vehicle as “a motor vehicle that is more than 25 years of age, a bonafide replica or a fire-fighting vehicle more than 20 years old which is not used as fire-fighting equipment,” according to SEMA.

Sunpro Introduces New Tachometer Cup Kit for Retro Tachs

Posted By Ashley Smissen , August 16, 2011 1 comment

Sunpro has released its new Complete Retro Tach Cup Kits for refurbished 1960s and 1970s Sun Super Tachs. The kits feature a 3-3/8-inch metal chrome cup, two mounting brackets (column and dash mount), attachment hardware, column clamp and protective strip.

In addition to the original Sun Tachs, the kits can be used with the company’s Sun Super 3-3/8-inch Retro Tachometers and Sunpro Sun 3-3/8-inch Retro Tachometers. The Sunpro Sun Super Tach is designed with a 250-degree dial sweep and 360-degree through-the-dial lighting that allows for better visibility at night, said the company. It also features the company’s blue line styling and adjustable red shift pointer.

Eddie Motorsports Introduces New ‘67-’81 Camaro Fender Braces

Posted By Ashley Smissen , August 15, 2011

A complete line of custom billet aluminum fender/core support braces for first- and second-generation Camaros has been introduced by Eddie Motorsports.

The complete fender brace assemblies are CNC-machined from billet 6061-T6 aluminum and are available in two styles: a fixed rectangular assembly and a round adjustable model which incorporates two 3/8-inch rod ends. The fender braces are sold in pairs and can be purchased with a raw machined or polished finish. A variety of Fusioncoated color finishes are also available.

The braces are designed to replace the stock steel components and are a direct bolt-on part with no cutting or drilling required, said the company. They come with all necessary stainless steel fasteners required for installation.

Editor’s Corner: Getting Good Business Advice in Unlikely Places

Posted By Travis Weeks , August 11, 2011 1 comment

By Travis Weeks

My mother always said someone who thinks they know it all is a fool ready to fall, and don’t think you’re so smart because you’ll only end up out-smarting yourself.

When deciding what to write about in this month’s Publisher’s Page, I read the lead story in a recent edition of our weekly e-newsletter. Devlin Smith, our managing editor, wrote about her experience visiting Schraders Speed & Style and spending time with owner Mike Abssy. This was cool because a lot of the shops we feature usually aren’t close enough to Hotrod & Restoration headquarters to visit, although we all love to visit the professional builders in our industry.

During Devlin’s visit, Mike was explaining to her the different things he’s been doing to run his business more efficiently and seemed to talk quite a bit about getting advice from the more-experienced builders in Southern California that he’d become friends with. These guys have become mentors to Mike and he’s discovered that someone with more experience than you has more than likely gone through the same challenges that you’re experiencing and can help steer you away from mistakes.

Featured Vehicle: Resurrecting Gene Winfield’s ‘Bronze Coated Beauty’

Posted By Ashley Smissen , August 10, 2011 6 comments

For years, it was nothing more than a beat-up old 1935 Ford pickup collecting dust in an Oregon barn. From the looks of it, no one would have guessed that the old pickup that wound up in a field in Mist, Oregon, was once the original work truck of a hot rodding legend. Nor would anyone have guessed at that time that the truck would one day be restored to its original glory. Enter the team at Hatfield Restorations.

The story of the truck begins in the late 1950s when legendary rod builder Gene Winfield and his friend Rick Lefelt built the truck and painted it its signature bronze color to be shown at a San Mateo, California, car show in January 1960 to help advertise Winfield’s custom shop. The truck was a hit, even landing an appearance in the October 1961 issue of Custom Rodder where it was called “The Bronze Coated Beauty.”

The truck was modified throughout the early 1960s by Winfield and was painted blue. In 1963, Winfield put the truck up for sale in the classified section of Hot Rod magazine, eventually working out a trade and selling it to an Oregon man who would go on to crash the vehicle and later sell it to Don Epling in 1965. After that, the truck essentially “disappeared” for the next 43 years, sitting in Epling’s barn. Winfield had no idea what had happened to his old shop truck.