Salt Flats Speed Shop Open House is a Time Machine

Posted by Hechtspeed on Sep 5, 2010 in Featured, Vintage Rides | 4 comments

2010 Speed Week Hot Rod Shop Tour

As Speed Week 2010 arrived, one of the events to attend for the local Utah natives and those making the hot rod pilgrimage to the Bonneville Salt Flats is the Open House at the Salt Flats Speed Shop.  Owner Chris Davenport, invited the guys from The Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop.

I arrived around lunch time and chatted with a few of the people who were enjoying the scene that the Salt Flats Speed Shop provides.  Chris has not only been working on his “shop car” 1932 Ford Tudor but has evolved his shop into a piece of hot rod art!

The entire shop is a time machine.  Old metal crafting tools and equipment, vintage gas station signage, WWII type hangar aluminum sheeting and of course, the hot rod projects.

Here’s just one example of vintage signage.  So cool!  Chris was telling us he found a jackpot of a source that will go un-named.

The front view of Chris’ 1932 Ford Sedan rod built in the 40’s and 50’s Traditional Hot Rod style, Chris’ specialty and passion.  Hundreds of individually stamped louvers!  Love this stuff!

Chris gets his hot rod genes from his Dad.  This is Dad’s small block Chevy powered 1932 chop top pickup.  Diggin’ on the 3 deuce carb setup and Corvette valve covers.

Here’s the newly applied Salt Flats Speed Shop decal to the ’32 pickup.  His dad painstakingly measured and checked the location to get the placement of the decal just right.  So that’s where Chris gets his attention to detail.

Just one example of the hot rods that showed up to enjoy the company and cars.  What a beautiful flathead powered roadster.  I eves-dropped the conversation of old boys who were wondering if this roadster body was a steel or fiberglass replica.  We have nothing better to do do we?

More rods showed up as the afternoon moved along.  This light blue ’33 made the trek out from Washington state to attend Bonneville Speed Week 2010.  More photos of this car are planned for a future post.

This lakes modified roadster was one of my favorites.  I heard it has a Chevy grille and hood panels.  I’m not sure the make, but it was different and look better than Ford’s standard issue.  The dark gray/blue paint with the white walls and yellow wires was a perfect match.  Gorgeous!

Guess who just showed up?  That’s right, The Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop and gang of traditional styled Ford coupes and roadsters finally made their appearance.  Here’s Chris Davenport welcoming the Rolling Bones guys to his shop.

Salt Flats Speed Shop was the final stop on their cross country trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats.

This 3 window is a crowd favorite.  It looks like it was just pulled out of Grandpa’s barn and washed and driven.

Chris saved a spot right up front inside the shop for the guests.  I wish I could have stayed longer.  I was out of there not 10 minutes after the ‘Bones showed up.  Luckily I saw them on the Salt and at the Nugget Cruise In later that weekend.

The Salt Flats Speed Shop Open House is surely on my Speed Week 2011 To-Do List.  Keep your eye on Chris’s shop too…  He’s super talented and very passionate about these old rods.  The connections he’s making, the dreams he’s building for his growing list of customers and the near completion of his 1932 Sedan are a great combination to make Chris a household name in the traditional hot rod business.

To see the other Salt Flats Speed Shop Stories click here
To see more Photos of Chris’ 1932 Ford Sedan click here

Salt Flats Speed Shop website