Spokes & Solids

School is back in session, the tourists have hit the road, and right on schedule, summer has arrived in Santa Cruz. Overcast mornings give way to sunny, warm, windless days; it’s perfect hot rod weather. Clay Slaughter and Tim Edwards took the opportunity to celebrate the season, along with Clay’s birthday, by organizing the first annual Spokes & Solids run. A 50-mile jog up the coast and into the redwoods ended at a barbecue and body drop (more on this later) at Clay’s home in the Soquel hills. Invitations went out and approximately 40 cars participated. These were some of our favorites:

This real-deal three window from Chualar was a knockout. Peering through the hood louvers it was hard to tell what it was running, but it looked like it could be a Cad or an Olds.

Marc Kaplan’s ’39 coupe and Legendary Lars’ new Deuce roadster.

The tudor hiboy is host Tim’s latest project. The Ply coupe is my brother Mike’s, it runs a flathead six with dual carbs and split exhaust manifolds.

Bob Achterburg is one of the more knowledgeable and experienced builders in the area. Lucky for me he lived three doors down when I first moved to Santa Cruz. This Merc convertible is his go-to ride when his other cars are otherwise incapacitated. It’s perfect.

The five window was piloted by John Galli’s son Mike. The cool Chevy sedan delivery belongs to local surfer/rodder John McBride.

Use an accordion, go to jail…

Time to put on the fun tags…

… and hit the road.

After the morning’s spin through the mountains, we stopped to use the bathroom at some guy’s used car lot in Scotts Valley. Our stuff looked good out front:

Pachi Bengochea and his wife Nikki drove their black, home-built ’29 roadster all the way from Winnemucca for the event, that’s about 12 hours each way.

Farmer Joe missed the morning run, he’d stayed up late the night before celebrating a victory at Watsonville Speedway. Joe met us midway in his ’35 roadster. Dennis Kingston’s Uncle Louie built the flattie-powered roadster pick-up years ago, Dennis has been the caretaker for quite awhile.

Clay’s newly-mowed pasture provided picturesque parking for a bunch of period-perfect jalopies:

This barn-find Deuce roadster was uncovered on Oahu and brought to the Mainland for a freshening up. Local hot rodder and B’ville XF/VFALT record holder Paul Heady spent a lot of time in Hawaii in his younger years. He recognized the car and is helping the new owner track down its history.

Legendary Lar’s latest is this fuel-injected, Ardun-headed, center-steered, T roadster. Tim, along with Mark and Taz Nelson, fired ‘er up for an appreciative crowd.

After the day’s drive, a tri-tip barbecue, and a couple of kegs, how do you liven up a bunch of mellowed-out hot rodders? You drop a race car from 50 feet.