The 20th California Hot Rod Reunion

Left: Ralph Whitworth clearly selected the right team to restore Big John Mazmanian’s “Football” Austin, the stunning little Gasser made its debut at the Doubletree on Friday night, then appeared at the track over the weekend. This is the original body, and original valve covers, though the rest is new or uses parts identical to the original. Left and below: Suede-painted early customs were out in force at Famoso, with a variety of makes to please everyone, just so long as you liked ’em long ’n’ low!

Left: Ralph Whitworth clearly selected the right team to restore Big John Mazmanian’s “Football” Austin, the stunning little Gasser made its debut at the Doubletree on Friday night, then appeared at the track over the weekend. This is the original body, and original valve covers, though the rest is new or uses parts identical to the original. Left and below: Suede-painted early customs were out in force at Famoso, with a variety of makes to please everyone, just so long as you liked ’em long ’n’ low!

The latest from prolific builders the Boling Brothers, is this ’30-31 pickup with Y-block Ford power and period Firestone rubber.

New to us from the Cavaliers out of Long Beach, CA, this Model A roadster featured a unique rearend treatment and welded-up doors.

Not usual R&C fodder granted, but we were at the drags, and who wouldn’t lust after this injected, straight-axle Belvedere GTX?

This ’29 Model A sedan was a newly built and for sale. With a stock body channeled 3 inches over a custom frame with 6-inch front and 12-inch rear kickups, it ran a 350/700-R4/ 8-inch powertrain.

Apart from the chop on this ’54 Chevy, and the frenched headlights and shaved trim, body mods were minimal, though the paint scheme certainly helped it stand out.

The Reunion offers the chance to meet any number of racing heroes, though “TV Tommy” Ivo was unavailable for a while when he was being interviewed in front of his restored dragster.

While there might not be much more than the steering wheel left of the original car, it’s still the Winged Express, and it still performs long, crowd-pleasing smoky burnouts! This was followed by a 7.85/186 pass!