Trident Speed Shop: Nara Prefecture, Japan

I wanted to continue my international hot rod theme of late and share some pictures sent to me by Ken Sakata of Trident Speed Shop from Nara Prefecture, Japan.  We first introduced you to Trident Speed Shop in Tano’s ’26 T roadster feature a few weeks back.  In an email from Ken, he told me that Trident has been in business for 10 years.  He was proud to say that he does not advertise in any magazines becaues he gets his business from word of mouth.

Tano tells me that he takes his ’26 T Roadster to Ken in Nara, which is on the opposite side of Japan from Sapporo, because Trident is the only shop he trusts with his hot rod. 

This black and white photo above is rad!  This is Ken’s roadster built in traditional hot rod style. 

I love these aircraft style windscreen frames, they really give hot rods that 1940′s traditional feel dont they?

Ken says he loves the speed culture.  Hot Rods are very important in his life and he especially respects hot rodders.

Here is Ken lubing crank bearings during reassembly.  Anyone know what kind of engine this is?  4 cylinder, possibly a Model A or B?

I love these old drum brakes.  Form and Function in one object. 

This shot is particularly cool!  Two classic automotive forms of Americana deep inside Japan.  Check out the Japanese writing on the sign and the little kei cars in the background, the only evidence this is not in southern California.
 

This shot is amazing!  Beautiful green Japanese countryside and vintage American hot rod, the perfect combination. 

Ken says “I love Ford hot rods, because I wanna say “Eat my Ford Dust “   haha”.  Ken says driving his Trident Speed Shop built roadster gives him a sense of freedom.  I can see why.  Open top 80 year old hot rod with a dual carbed small block V8 with lakes pipes sounding off, now that’s my kind of freedom.  The only thing Ken is missing is to experience his hot rod freedom on the Bonneville Salt Flats or a California dry lake bed. 

Ken doing his thing.  Freedom needs fireworks right?  Sparks being launched from grinding metal is the only way to celebrate Freedom!  Because they are so far from old junkyards, swap meets or speed parts manufacturers, Ken and other international hot rod builders have to make do with ingenuity, fabrication skills and dedication.

Ah yes, whether in SoCal or Japan, an aluminum headed Flathead V8 with dual carbs is one of my favorite engine choices for a traditional hot rod.

Another artistic black and white photo, this time dig some Lakes Pipes on a Flathead.  Wow!  Rad!

Trident Speed Shop has a Blog of their own, but its all in Japanese obviously.  To check it out CLICK HERE.  Thanks to Ken for sharing your photos and passion for the American hot rod with us. 

I know there’s many more hot rod builders around the world.  If you are outside the USA and build hot rods, customs, tuners, drifters, whatever it is, we want to see what you’re up to.  Email me at hechtspeed@myrideisme.com and we can share your story.

Hechtspeed

Origins of Speed – a Historical Look Back

 

1948 Hot Rod Show display with Jack Andrews, Charlie Nordon and Ed Iskenderian…Pic Courtesy of Ed Iskenderian.  Click to Enlarge.

I know hot rods and customs is what brings us car guys and gals together but, its the people that make this hobby what it is.  Everyone has their own story.  My passion for the automobile started with my dad and uncle.  They have hot rodded off and on since they were teenagers.  It was their hobby, their passion.  It’s what kept them out of trouble when their dad passed away at the age of 15 and 12.  My dad has tons of stories of his ’64 Mercury Comet Cyclone on the streets of Azusa, Calif and the original Irwindale Dragstrip.  My uncle has stories of tearing up GMR (Glendora Mountain Road) in his Nova and Datsun 510.  Most of my close friends are there because of our common interestes in cars.  My brother and I and my cousin have our own stories of cars (and motorcycles) that we have customized that we can share with our kids.  It’s the Hecht pasttime.

 

Gardena Speedway, September 15, 1946 photo courtesy of Don Johansen.  Click to Enlarge!

A recurring theme throughout the early days of speed equipment manufacturing was the dirt track racing with chopped and stripped down roadsters.  This is where you advertised your parts.  Win at the races and sell parts, it was the only formula before the days of engine dynos.

The automobile itself has only been around for the everyday person since the early 1900′s.  That’s really not that long in the grand scheme of things.  But time moves on and documenting and remembering our rodding roots is very important.  So, where are the origins of speed?  When did hot rodding and customizing your car really start?  The heart of that industry has got to be Southern California in the late 1930′s and 40′s.  Soon, hotrodders found the dry lake beds of California and the Salt Flats of Bonneville, Utah where they could let the flatheads stretch their legs…

In this post, the hot rod history lesson comes from one of the coolest automotive books of all time!  Motorbooks has done it again with the introduction of “Merchants of Speed”, authored by Paul D. Smith.  This is a fact based book, a history book if you will.  Photos are from the actual “Merchants” themselves in some cases.  Families and close friends have also proven to be a wealth of information, photos and documentation.

Ed “Isky” Iskenderian with his famous roadster purchased from a friend in 1938 for $25.  Photo courtesy of Ed Iskenderian.  Click to Enlarge.

Above is Ed Iskenderian in his military uniform posing with his 1924 T bucket.  Born in 1921, “he was about 12 years old (in 1933 or so) when he began to notice a type of car that was completely different than the run-of-the-mill vehicles that inhabited the roadways.  These street rods were mainly Model T’s void of all unnecessary parts and propelled with hopped-up four-cylinders.  Ed and his buddies found out they could see more of these cars up at Muroc Dry Lake.”

Like many of the time, Ed served in WWII and doing so, gained many mechanical skills that would serve them well later.  When he returned from the war, Ed wanted to get his roadster back on the road.  That obviously turned into “how can I make it faster”.  His first hot rod part was this 4 carb intake manifold for his flathead you see below.  Ed eventually became the first President of the Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association in 1963.

 

Isky’s first hot rod part, a 4 carb manifold for his flathead V8.  Courtesy of Ed Iskenderian.  Click to Enlarge.

To find out about the “Isky Cams” part of the Iskenderian history you need to pick up this book.

 

Vic Edelbrock Sr. in 1958 with his X-1 6 carb mani on a Chevy 283cid.  Photo coutesy of Edelbrock Corporation.

Edelbrock…just let that name ring in your ears for a second.  Probably THE most successful speed equipment manufacturer to date.  In 1938 Vic Sr. bought his dual-purpose machine, a 1932 V8 powered roadster which became his family hauler/dry lakes racer.  Vic was involved in every type of racing, oval track, midget racing, dry lakes/Bonneville, event boat racing.  There’s so much more, but I don’t have the room here.  Seriously, just buy the book!

 

Edelbrock, a family tradition of hot rodding.  Photo courtesy of Edelbrock Corporation.

In all, “Merchants of Speed” book includes the history of 22 Speed Equipment shops.  You’ll see others like Navarro, Ansen Automotive, Howard Cams, Braje, and more!  This book is insanely cool!  Being into more modern late model Japanese cars, I really appreciated this book.  Paul Smith did an amazing job of finding out the details of these shops and the speed parts that made them successful.  The old photos are great.  This book will be an important part of future hot rodders remembering their origins.  That’s just my humble opinion.

 

In all seriousness, this book is and will be one of my cherished possessions in life.  Sounds lame, but I’m serious when I say that this book will be very important in continuing the memories of the very first hot rodders.

Take a look at these photos and the history attached and think about your car story.  We want to hear yours.  Please share them with us, we’d love to share them with MyRideisMe.com readers.

Thank you Motorbooks and Paul D. Smith and an even bigger thank you to you Merchants of Speed.  I will have an increased sense of respect at Bonneville this year.

Picture coutesy of Paul D. Smith, author

Hechtspeed

Salt Flats Speed Shop: Traditional Hot Rod Builder

Salt Flats Speed Shop in Orem, Utah is run by Chris Davenport, a metal fabrication and finishing craftsman and hot rod builder who is dedicated to building 1930′s traditional hot rods.  Chris has been in business officially for about 2 years now and is attracting more and more customers as the word gets out about his affordable, high quality craftsmanship.

“Need a Chop, a roof insert, fender, or a quarter panel? Well you’ve come to the right place. We’ll fix all your cars issues, and have it looking as good in “bare metal” as it did when it was made.”

Chris (in the white shirt) showing us around his shop in Orem.  This is a customers 3 window coupe with suicide doors.  We dropped in on Chris Thanksgiving week.  He willingly took an hour or more to give us the full shop tour.  He explained all his tools, showed us all his projects and talked shop.  I could tell Chris is passionate about hot rods!

I had emailed Chris letting him know that a friend and I wanted to drop in and check out his shop.  My friend, Gary, has a 1928 Model A Pickup of his own and found Salt Flats Speed Shop on the Jalopy Journal forums, which is where I originally spotted Chris’ handy work as well.

I checked out Chris’ website saltflatsspeedshop.com and was amazed at the craftsmanship and skill involved in the metal repair and custom fabrication I saw in his projects page.

Chris is building his own Salt Flats Speed Shop 1932 Model A Tudor Sedan to show off what he can do.  Please take a few minutes to see his detailed H.A.M.B. ’32 Tudor build thread.  My favorite project at the shop was Chris’ ’32 Tudor.  If you’re subscribed to the build thread like me, you’ll know that he’s planning on taking the car to Speedweek 2010 and actually racing on the Salt.  Chris has period correct frame and body modifications underway, including a 4.5″ to 5.5″ chop top (amount of chop not totally decided), a ’32 pickup grille, schroeder steering box, ’40 Ford steelies with dirtrack Firestones and a hot 8 BA Flathead V8 with a race cam, Edelbrock heads, an Offy 2 carb intake setup and 5 speed behind it (hey, might as well take advantage of modern tech’ for better mpg and driveability).

To build an old school hot rod, you gotta have old school metal working tools.  Let’s take a peek at Salt Flats Speed Shop’s tools of the trade shall we…

Here are just some of the metal working tools used to perform any number of repairs or fabrication.  Close up of an English Wheel (used to put a crown in a door skin or roof insert), standard millin/drilling station and a Lenox Nibbler (Louvers, shrinking and shearing and beads).

I liked this shelf hanging on the wall full of rolling dies in many shapes and sizes.  Chris said he can replicate any body line from the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s with his equipment.

Chris is doing some restoration and repair (R&R ha ha) on a friends Porsche project.  Cool rotissiere stand!  Chris made that too!  Obviously!

Here’s a look from one end of the shop to the other to get a look at some of the project cars.  You’ve got the 32 Tudor, a 3 window coupe, the Porsche, the aluminum 1940 Willy’s (that’s right, aluminum) and another 3 window coupe.  So cool!  Lots of bare metal in this shop!

I believe most of these are spoken for, but that is a nice collection of Model A Pickup cabs ready to be turned into hot rods.

This last picture is cool.  A closeup of the die set on that Lenox Nibbler that will do wonders with a flat sheet of steel.

So there you have a quick glance at Salt Flats Speed Shop.  Check out their website and 32 Tudor build thread.  I hope to bring more of the ’32 Tudor to MyRideisMe.com in 2010.

Go and visit  theSalt Flats Speed Shop Website

Hechtspeed