International Visitors; plus Todd’s Deuce Get An Interior

This hot rod affliction has turned into a worldwide plague. In the last couple of years we’ve been fortunate enough to work with customers from Australia, New Zealand and France – and they’re all building cars that are as cool and traditional as anything you see here. Yesterday we were honored to have a visitor from Japan. Masanori Kimura is a talented fabricator and photographer. His quarterly publication, Frontend Magazine, has been on the newsstands for six years. Loaded with eye candy, it chronicles the traditional hot rod, chopper, and custom culture worlds. Masa dropped by with his “interpreter” Yuri, an absolutely delightful Japanese student from Santa Monica.

Yuri apologized profusely for her inability to translate car-guy and fabricator lingo for us, but it was no problem. Those were the words and phrases Masa fully understood.

We hung around the shop, Masa took a bunch of photos, and we took them to lunch down at the beach in our own cars. By coincidence, Todd Anderson showed up with his newly upholstered roadster just as we arrived back at the shop.

Sid Chavers did the work on Todd’s car. Sid fully insulated the body, then stitched the interior and trunk and capped it off with one of his Bop Tops. The interior is simple and traditional, and like everything that comes out of Sid’s shop, the craftsmanship was flawless. Needless to say, Todd is stoked.

Masa was interested in the mechanics of Sid’s Bop Top. It’s well-engineered, well-made, and designed to fold up and store in the trunk. According to Todd, Sid’s sold a boatload of ‘em.

The roadster is back in the shop for a head torque and a few minor adjustments; it looks pretty good against Jenny’s landscaping.