2013 Woodies on the Wharf

So much of an event’s success depends on weather and June in Santa Cruz can be a real crap shoot. Many years we suffer what locals call June Gloom, a condition caused when the valleys inland of us warm up. It pulls the marine layer in over Santa Cruz like a wet, grey blanket. Sometimes it clears up by noon. Sometimes not at all.

We’d had an unprecedented run of brilliantly sunny mornings leading up to the event, and everyone was praying the weather would hold. It did and we enjoyed T-shirt conditions right up to the rising of Saturday night’s spectacular Super Moon. Sunday it rained. Woodies on the Wharf is like that.

The beautiful weather brought out thousands of woodie fans. The number of cars was up, too – somewhere around 180. The event kept me busy from dawn to dusk, but I was able to shoot some photos before the wharf filled with spectators. Enjoy:

The SoCal crew arrived early to stake out their usual turf. The annual line-up of shoebox Fords was featured on this year’s poster.

Longtime member and one of the winners of this year’s Aloha Spirit Award, George Benson can always be counted on for something whacky. This year he made up some early Surfer Magazine-inspired cartoon fins.

This ’36 Dodge from Randy’s Bomb Shop was one of two Low Riders. A first for the event, both were beautifully built, heavily accessorized, and a real hit with the club and crowd.

The oldest and newest:

We lost a couple of important members this year, one was Dave Wilkerson. Dave was an Early Ford V8 club guy, a hot rod guy, and a woodie guy. In his honor the club presented a flathead award. While there were a number of high end Ford flathead motors in attendance, the award went to Hugh Forrest’s ’49 Plymouth. Hugh scrounged swap meets and the internet for the rare speed equipment he used in his build and did the work himself – exactly the way Dave would have done it.

There’s always a mini-show just outside the gate and this year was no exception. The two Deuce roadsters belong to Roy Brizio and Sid Chavers. The all-steel ’29 was an early build (note the spring-in-front axle) and very nicely done. You could’ve driven it off the wharf for $28K.

Kenny Francis was another member we lost this year, it was a rough one. His shoebox was loaded with soul (plus a rebuilt flathead) and he drove the wheels off it. It’s available now as well.

A good example of the “Man, I can appreciate all the work that went into it, but…” kind of car. On a Suburban chassis, the owner told me he’d built five of these.

Some beautifully crafted Street Rod and Phantom Woodies…

… and a honeymoon shack.