CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE PREVIOUS JOE GRIPPO GALLERIES 

Walking into Blair’s is like stepping back into time. Don’t expect a spotless, sanitary white glove environment, this is a hardcore speed shop with oil-stained floors, with boxes and parts everywhere. Various engine builds are lined up and waiting to be paid for and picked up.  We spied a FE Ford ready to rumble on the run stand, a few 351 Cleveland’s and of course a few big and small block Chevys. The walls are lined with chrome do-dads and serious race equipment. Looking deeper we see lots of cool hand lettered sings, and vintage awards and photos from years of Drag Strip activities. Heading to the back rooms we find the well-used machine shop, fully equipped with mills, lathes and other heavy machinery needed to crank out high performance engines. Check out the inventory of cylinder heads, cranks and blocks waiting to roar again. After showing up unannounced, Phil gave us free reign to wander around the entire shop and shoot some photos. It was a great experience chatting with Phil about the old days and hearing a few war stories of all the past names and personalities that have passed through Blair’s over the years. We bought a few t-shirts, thanked Phil for the hospitality and headed out. This experience got me wistfully thinking about my local shop, K&G Speed Associates that closed a few years ago. These remaining speed emporiums need our support, so, when possible, buy local when you can, long live Blair’s Speed Shop!

Our next destination was another Southern California staple of hot rodding, Mooneyes Equipment in Santa Fe Springs. The Moon name and logo is ubiquitous in land speed, drag racing, and all facets of the automotive hobby. From fuel blocks, tanks, and wheel discs to custom accessories for motorcycles, VWs, and trucks Moon Equipment has what you need to add the finishing touch to your ride. I personally have a silver Moon metalflake steering wheel on my race car! The Santa Fe Springs location is part retail store, part shipping warehouse and part fab shop, and part museum. The store is great with so much cool stuff in every square corner. Check out the Ed Roth scale model diorama featuring all Big Daddy’s creations, an amazing amount of detail work is in there. Exiting through the gift shop leads to another room that takes you back in time. Check out the huge display case and shelves full of vintage speed parts and insanely cool artifacts from the history of Mooneyes. And upon turning around, there sits Dean Moon’s personal ’34 hot rod with wire wheels, bobbed fenders, and glowing yellow paint. Adjacent to the roadster is a perfect recreation of the old Mooneyes Dragmaster rail job, complete with a gorgeous Potvin blown little Chevy mill. The dragster was rolled out into the bright sunshine and was simply stunning. The back area of the Moon complex is the shipping and receiving section, nothing too exciting, unless you know the story of Carroll Shelby coming to Moon in 1962 with the idea of building his own sports car. I was standing right where it happened. The lore goes something like Shelby, ever the promoter, was telling all the magazines he had multiple Cobras ready to road test, when he had only one! So right there in in the Moon shop that single Cobra was painted numerous times for the car mag scribes to drive and report on, giving the illusion of a fleet of cars ready to be sold. Wild stuff!

Across the parking lot is the fab shop. Moon tanks and wheel discs are spun, welded and hand finished right there on site. Once again, the laid-back Moon staff gave us carte blanche and we wondered around trying not to bother the dudes actually working. We checked out the machines, tooling, welders and all the other stuff utilized to produce these iconic speed parts. Hanging from the rafters was another complete Dragmaster chassis, and a bitchin’ ‘glass Anglia gasser front end hung on back wall. A few Bonneville and El Mirage running Streamliners with Moon livery were being maintained in house, as well. So much neat eye candy was everywhere.
To paraphrase Ice Cube, “…Today was a good day”.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE PREVIOUS JOE GRIPPO GALLERIES 

Us BangShifter’s need to support these places, as they are truly hallowed ground for us hot rodders, we ended the trip by grabbing a few more t-shirts. I went with the classic black and white Mooneyes tee in double fat!

Join the Blair’s Speed Shop Facebook group to check the history:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1460627117571926

And buy something cool from Mooneye Equipment:
https://www.mooneyesusa.com/

The post An East Coasters Tour Of So Cal Hot Rodding History: Part 2 – Mooneyes Shop Tour Photos From Joe Grippo. appeared first on BangShift.com.

If you look at the lead photo, you are seeing a truck that has broken down in the bayou country of Louisiana. This would have been an area 100 years ago where there were no hotels, no parts stores, no cell phones, maybe no blacksmith for 50 miles, and yet the guys needed to get their stuff fixed and forge on. There’s an element of fun adventure and then there is also an element of unending dread when every day became a plodding slog though muck and crud that was constantly trying to swallow the trucks whole. It would be fun for a little while but not months on end we suspect.

Simple, tough, and cool, these old trucks were proving, one mile at a time, that the USA needed a highway system befitting of its new culture of motorized transport. The guys that made these trips were a special breed and the trucks they made the trips in are the stuff of legend.

Click the images below and then scroll on to see them all – vintage truckin’!

The post The Way It Was: These Photos of Trucks, Roads, and Factories From 100 Years Ago Are Awesome appeared first on BangShift.com.

Can you image being a part of the group riding in the truck that’s pictured here driving up Mt. Washington in 1905?! Mechanical brakes, lord knows what kind of oil spitting engine, and a suspension system that was literally identical to a Conestoga wagon. Speed would not be a concern there but having the guts to actually drive up and then the wherewithal to be abel to slow on the way down would keep us freaked until the trip was over.

There’s a load of great stuff in here. One of our favorite images is the first one below with all the guys assembling the Army truck during WWII. Want to talk about all hands on deck? That’s the look right there.

Click the images below to expand them and then scroll on to see them all –

The post Historic Gearhead Americana: Packard Car Haulers, Army Trucks, Big Rigs, Turn of The Century Car Shows, and More! appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Photos by Wes Allison) – Ed Iskenderian recently turned 102 years old! If that was all I wrote, and we just showed pictures of him actually breathing, you’d be impressed. But the fact that this icon in motorsports is still going strong, and had a killer birthday full of race cars, is pretty badass. Our own Wes Allison was on hand to shoot photos and we can’t thank him enough. When Isky turned 100, the world lost its mind, and I’m not sure folks really thought they have to put on more than one or two more birthday parties for him, but at this point, they better start planning 103!

I mean when a guy like Isky turns 102 you have to do a better job than you did on the 101 party don’t you?

I have some great personal Isky stories and have had some great conversations, gotten him out of hot water, and laughed my ass off with him. The dude is legit and he’s still alive and kicking and we love him for it.

Ed Iskenderian has lived an amazingly impactful life and we thank him for it and appreciate all the folks that came out to celebrate with him. We’ve got a bunch of photos from the show and party, so check out the gallery below.

Hit the images below to expand them and then scroll on to see ’em all –

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE PREVIOUS PHOTOS

The post Awesome Images And Video: More From Ed Iskenderian’s 102nd Birthday At The Lions Drag Racing Museum. Tons Of Rad Race Cars! appeared first on BangShift.com.

If you haven’t been to a Race of Gentlemen event or seen coverage from one, you are missing out. These events are seriously rad because of the period-correct rides, the laid-back attitude of the events themselves, and the competition that is as fun as any you’ll find anywhere. This particular TROG event was at FlaBob airfield in Riverside and the entire look of the event was perfect. Our own Wes Allison headed out and got spectacular event photos from this place like you will never see anywhere else. It truly looks like you have stepped back in time and we love it.

The word Nostalgia, or Nostalgic, is often over used and many times is just replacing the world “old”. That is not the case with The Race of Gentlemen.

There is no other race like The Race of Gentlemen, aka TROG. Each TROG event is a time travel of sorts, to a time when things were simple and racers were gentlemen, or so we thought anyway, and cars and motorcycles were an absolute icon. All the cars and bikes you’ll see at at TROG event are Pre and early Post War and absolutely as authentic to the times as is reasonable. Seeing these things hauls ass down the sand at the original TROG events is great, but in SoCal the airfield at FlaBob is where they run. Man this place is magical.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED OUR PREVIOUS PHOTO GALLERIES

Check out the photos below.

The post The Race Of Gentleman: If You Weren’t There, You Missed A Lot, But We’ve Got All The Photos Right Here appeared first on BangShift.com.

It is kind of funny that these images which really depict some pretty mundane stuff are so interesting to look at now. We’re wondering if people will be doing the same stuff with photos taken today 100 years from now. The shots of manufacturing plants and people at work are perhaps the most fascinating because it really shows just how much the world has changed and how technology and standards have evolved over the years. As cool as the photos are, we’re not sure we’d want to change places with any of the workers in the images. Would you?

We would like to own some of the cars and trucks and a ride in a P-38 would be something else as soon as we get our time machine fixed up!

Scroll down to see the images of gearhead Americana!

The post Gearhead History Americana: More Photos Of Machines, Factories, Cars, Trucks, and More From The Past appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) Over the past few weeks, we have been showing galleries of my Florida vacation photos. Drag Racing thus far had been the focus of the first half of our trip, with the Don Garlits Museum and the NHRA Baby Gators, but now we are switching it up…big time.

When we started planning our winter getaway to the Sunshine State, Gainesville was the main destination, but we looked around for other stuff to do, and as luck would have it, we were going to be down there at the same time the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance was happening. The Amelia Island event is a multiday affair with high end auctions, several different car shows and gatherings spanning almost an entire whole week. We didn’t want to give up a day at drags, so we planned to hit up the Sunday Concours at the Ritz Carlton, it was the highlight event of the show week anyway. Now, we go to tons of car shows and races, but this was a different experience for my wife Stacey and me. First off, it was expensive, like 170 bucks each expensive. Hagerty Insurance owns the show now and as members of their Drivers Club we received a substantial discount, but it was salty, nonetheless. It was, however, completely worth it. The attendees were quite different as well, I am used to car t-shirts, shorts and Vans, this crowd were strolling around with wine glasses, leather shoes and sport coats. Luckily Stacey did some pre-show research and made me at least were a shirt with a collar. Whatever. It was all about the cars for me, and there was some killer stuff to drool over.

Spotlight classes at this year’s Concours included Historic 50’s Customs, Ferrari GT Berlinetta’s, Porsche 959’s, LeMans Corvettes, Lamborghini Super Cars, Fiberglass Dreams (Specials), Board Track Motorcycles, and Cars of the 2023 Honoree Jeff Gordon among many others. 260 cars in total filled up a few holes and fairways of the beautiful Golf Club of Amelia Island on the grounds of the Ritz Carlton Hotel. This was some serious shit, definitely not a cruise night at our local Sonic level. I saw rides I had only read about since I was kid like Lamborghini Miura’s, Peter Revson’s McLaren, a Reading Standard Board Track Racer, a Greenwood Corvette and the Bob Hirohata Mercury and so much more. Really, too cool much stuff to even list in this already wordy blog. So, dig into the galleries for some absolute BANGshift worthy goodness and a bunch of amazingly vehicles you don’t often see on these digital pages. Hope you enjoy clicking through as much as I did clicking on my camera shutter button.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PREVIOUS PHOTOS AND WATCH THE VIDEO!

The post Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance: The Fancy High End Car Show Greatness Continues! appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) Over the past few weeks, we have been showing galleries of my Florida vacation photos. Drag Racing thus far had been the focus of the first half of our trip, with the Don Garlits Museum and the NHRA Baby Gators, but now we are switching it up…big time.

When we started planning our winter getaway to the Sunshine State, Gainesville was the main destination, but we looked around for other stuff to do, and as luck would have it, we were going to be down there at the same time the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance was happening. The Amelia Island event is a multiday affair with high end auctions, several different car shows and gatherings spanning almost an entire whole week. We didn’t want to give up a day at drags, so we planned to hit up the Sunday Concours at the Ritz Carlton, it was the highlight event of the show week anyway. Now, we go to tons of car shows and races, but this was a different experience for my wife Stacey and me. First off, it was expensive, like 170 bucks each expensive. Hagerty Insurance owns the show now and as members of their Drivers Club we received a substantial discount, but it was salty, nonetheless. It was, however, completely worth it. The attendees were quite different as well, I am used to car t-shirts, shorts and Vans, this crowd were strolling around with wine glasses, leather shoes and sport coats. Luckily Stacey did some pre-show research and made me at least were a shirt with a collar. Whatever. It was all about the cars for me, and there was some killer stuff to drool over.

Spotlight classes at this year’s Concours included Historic 50’s Customs, Ferrari GT Berlinetta’s, Porsche 959’s, LeMans Corvettes, Lamborghini Super Cars, Fiberglass Dreams (Specials), Board Track Motorcycles, and Cars of the 2023 Honoree Jeff Gordon among many others. 260 cars in total filled up a few holes and fairways of the beautiful Golf Club of Amelia Island on the grounds of the Ritz Carlton Hotel. This was some serious shit, definitely not a cruise night at our local Sonic level. I saw rides I had only read about since I was kid like Lamborghini Miura’s, Peter Revson’s McLaren, a Reading Standard Board Track Racer, a Greenwood Corvette and the Bob Hirohata Mercury and so much more. Really, too cool much stuff to even list in this already wordy blog. So, dig into the galleries for some absolute BANGshift worthy goodness and a bunch of amazingly vehicles you don’t often see on these digital pages. Hope you enjoy clicking through as much as I did clicking on my camera shutter button.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PREVIOUS PHOTOS AND WATCH THE VIDEO!

The post Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance: Fancy High End Car Show Greatness, But With Hot Rods Too! appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) Over the past few weeks, we have been showing galleries of my Florida vacation photos. Drag Racing thus far had been the focus of the first half of our trip, with the Don Garlits Museum and the NHRA Baby Gators, but now we are switching it up…big time.

When we started planning our winter getaway to the Sunshine State, Gainesville was the main destination, but we looked around for other stuff to do, and as luck would have it, we were going to be down there at the same time the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance was happening. The Amelia Island event is a multiday affair with high end auctions, several different car shows and gatherings spanning almost an entire whole week. We didn’t want to give up a day at drags, so we planned to hit up the Sunday Concours at the Ritz Carlton, it was the highlight event of the show week anyway. Now, we go to tons of car shows and races, but this was a different experience for my wife Stacey and me. First off, it was expensive, like 170 bucks each expensive. Hagerty Insurance owns the show now and as members of their Drivers Club we received a substantial discount, but it was salty, nonetheless. It was, however, completely worth it. The attendees were quite different as well, I am used to car t-shirts, shorts and Vans, this crowd were strolling around with wine glasses, leather shoes and sport coats. Luckily Stacey did some pre-show research and made me at least were a shirt with a collar. Whatever. It was all about the cars for me, and there was some killer stuff to drool over.

Spotlight classes at this year’s Concours included Historic 50’s Customs, Ferrari GT Berlinetta’s, Porsche 959’s, LeMans Corvettes, Lamborghini Super Cars, Fiberglass Dreams (Specials), Board Track Motorcycles, and Cars of the 2023 Honoree Jeff Gordon among many others. 260 cars in total filled up a few holes and fairways of the beautiful Golf Club of Amelia Island on the grounds of the Ritz Carlton Hotel. This was some serious shit, definitely not a cruise night at our local Sonic level. I saw rides I had only read about since I was kid like Lamborghini Miura’s, Peter Revson’s McLaren, a Reading Standard Board Track Racer, a Greenwood Corvette and the Bob Hirohata Mercury and so much more. Really, too cool much stuff to even list in this already wordy blog. So, dig into the galleries for some absolute BANGshift worthy goodness and a bunch of amazingly vehicles you don’t often see on these digital pages. Hope you enjoy clicking through as much as I did clicking on my camera shutter button.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PREVIOUS PHOTOS AND WATCH THE VIDEO!

The post Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance: Real Customs, Real Hot Rods, And Tons Of Exotics! appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) Over the past few weeks, we have been showing galleries of my Florida vacation photos. Drag Racing thus far had been the focus of the first half of our trip, with the Don Garlits Museum and the NHRA Baby Gators, but now we are switching it up…big time.

When we started planning our winter getaway to the Sunshine State, Gainesville was the main destination, but we looked around for other stuff to do, and as luck would have it, we were going to be down there at the same time the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance was happening. The Amelia Island event is a multiday affair with high end auctions, several different car shows and gatherings spanning almost an entire whole week. We didn’t want to give up a day at drags, so we planned to hit up the Sunday Concours at the Ritz Carlton, it was the highlight event of the show week anyway. Now, we go to tons of car shows and races, but this was a different experience for my wife Stacey and me. First off, it was expensive, like 170 bucks each expensive. Hagerty Insurance owns the show now and as members of their Drivers Club we received a substantial discount, but it was salty, nonetheless. It was, however, completely worth it. The attendees were quite different as well, I am used to car t-shirts, shorts and Vans, this crowd were strolling around with wine glasses, leather shoes and sport coats. Luckily Stacey did some pre-show research and made me at least were a shirt with a collar. Whatever. It was all about the cars for me, and there was some killer stuff to drool over.

Spotlight classes at this year’s Concours included Historic 50’s Customs, Ferrari GT Berlinetta’s, Porsche 959’s, LeMans Corvettes, Lamborghini Super Cars, Fiberglass Dreams (Specials), Board Track Motorcycles, and Cars of the 2023 Honoree Jeff Gordon among many others. 260 cars in total filled up a few holes and fairways of the beautiful Golf Club of Amelia Island on the grounds of the Ritz Carlton Hotel. This was some serious shit, definitely not a cruise night at our local Sonic level. I saw rides I had only read about since I was kid like Lamborghini Miura’s, Peter Revson’s McLaren, a Reading Standard Board Track Racer, a Greenwood Corvette and the Bob Hirohata Mercury and so much more. Really, too cool much stuff to even list in this already wordy blog. So, dig into the galleries for some absolute BANGshift worthy goodness and a bunch of amazingly vehicles you don’t often see on these digital pages. Hope you enjoy clicking through as much as I did clicking on my camera shutter button.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PREVIOUS PHOTOS AND WATCH THE VIDEO!

The post Amelia Island Concourse d’Elegance: Muscle Cars, Customs, Exotics, And Classics All In One Place? With Wine And Cheese? Check It Out! appeared first on BangShift.com.