Street Rodder Road Tour–1951 Ford

Almost a year in the making, the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour car is complete! We thrashed to get it finished in time for the Hot Rod Power Tour’s visit here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then put the finishing touches on it before it headed out to St. Paul, Minnesota for its first true outing.…

Read More

Measuring Wheel Backspacing

We get all sorts of questions here at the Speed Shop, and one of our most common questions involves fitting custom wheels and tires. To get the right look, you really need to study your car, and make some important measurements. It’s also important to know the particular measurements if you’re planning to do your…

Read More

Hot Rod Reunion–Gassers Galore!

We love sneaking off to hot rod events near our headquarters here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We’re just a couple hours away from Atlanta, a couple from Nashville and a little over 3 hours away from Bowling Green, Kentucky, home of the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion at historic Beech Bend Raceway Park. It’s an incredible event…

Read More

Street Rodder Road Tour–Custom Trim

With the big stuff out of the way (top chop, body channel, and other body modifications), we could concentrate on some of the smaller details on the car, such as the side trim. In the Eric Black rendering, a thin piece of trim is shown running down the side of the car, with a stylish…

Read More

Power Tour Leaves Its Mark(s) in Chattanooga

Wow, what a day! Thursday, June 6th, was quite a busy day here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Hot Rod Power Tour came through town, with an official stop at Chattanooga State Community College. Thousands of hot rods, muscle cars and trucks came out to the campus, along with a number of parts vendors, including our…

Read More

Visitors from Canada, eh….again? In the same day?

Yep, we had two totally separate visitors from Canada on the SAME DAY! Toward the end of the day, Tom Sorenson and his son, Skylar rolled into Chattanooga, Tennessee in this awesome ’54 Buick Special station wagon. These guys are dedicated hot rodders, all the way from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. They actually flew down…

Read More

Visitors from Canada, eh!

It’s not often we have guests from Canada, but we were delighted when Jeff and Lori Yorke pulled up in their 1929 Essex hot rod. This husband and wife traveling duo are accustomed to loooooong road trips, and they’re pulling a doozie of a trip as we speak! They are from Nova Scotia, which is…

Read More

Down and Dirty F-100

Just wanted to drop a note on here to thank Dennis Valentine and Tommy Lingenfelt for taking their day off from work to visit our place. Dennis is the owner of this ’56 Ford F-100 pickup, which he admits is a bit dirtier than usual…but he has a good excuse. He drives it! The truck…

Read More

Young Rodder Builds a Cool Pickup

As hot rodders, we’re constantly wondering where this hobby will go when the new generation comes into play. Every now and then, we receive a breath of fresh air, when we run across a hot rodder who is young and enthusiastic about building hot rods. Today, we met a new friend and rodder, and his…

Read More

Street Rodder Road Tour–Top Chop

In typical hot rodder fashion, we took the only rust-free part of the 1951 Ford Street Rodder Road Tour car, and cut it all to pieces! We gladly broke out the sawzall and cut off wheels to whack a few inches out of the roof of this Shoebox Ford. It was no easy task, but…

Read More