Thursday, January 16, 2014

Hooptyrides has moved! Or at least the action has!



Looking for Hooptyrides happiness? Well, I don't blog here anymore! I blog over there! At Coco's Variety, the real life store in Los Angeles and the online home for Mister Jalopy projects and efforts. 

The Coco's site is here
Fleet department information is here
And the blog lives here.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Alfa Romeo Nightmare Project


My automobile tastes have always been modest. Or, rather, my automobile budget has always been modest. Duesenbergs, Pierce Arrows and Bugattis are more interesting than Ford Mavericks, but of the many restrictions on our ambition, pocketbook often rules.

Lately, I have been drawn to stuff like this. Total nightmare project. Deserves the rotisserie resto, but what would be the bare minimum to be able to drive on the street? Drive train is present, but probably seized. Can you imagine the electrolysis that is happening? Makes a stuck seat post in a ten speed seen like an afternoon snack. Dip the entire block in a Kroil tank for a month.

Such a romantic notion. Geo Metro headlight shells suspended by coat hangers. A white plastic lawn chair from CVS as a drivers seat mounted with L-brackets with drywall screws to the chair and self-tapping sheet metal screws to the swiss cheesed floor boards. Maybe there are no floor boards. Maybe the new floor boards are constructed of pallet wood. Maybe the entire interior is pallet wood. Forget the white plastic chair - build a couple of pallet Adirondack chairs. New grill made of popsicle sticks. Windshield is not a problem. Just wear goggles.

How did this thing end up like this? Mom's new boyfriend was going to restore it and stripped bright work off to prepare for paint? Or a romantic engineer whose ambition out shone their skill and it turned out they were better at taking parts off rather than putting them back on and gave up on the project to spend the rest of their life neglecting their parrot?

Case could be that I already have a car like this, the Stude. Better get to work, better feed the parrot.

Alfa on craigslist

Monday, December 17, 2012

Alfa Romeo - Street Racer Starter Kit


I like the color, week-old smashed yam.

Though period, I am not into the wheels. Fake Panasports, lowered, remove bumpers, bullet side mirrors, sheet metal Krylon pop rivet spoiler, old racing seats, rear seat removed, cage wrapped with hot water pipe insulation and 3M professional electrical tape, out of date 5 point harnesses, mismatched era Stewart Warner and Lucas gauges, JC Whitney wink mirror, windshield wipers removed, resist putting Alfa stickers on rear quarter windows, parked on the shoulder of the hairpin on Mulholland...

Will be even better when the rusty trunk lid is replaced with included - sure to be wrong color - replacement. I dig. 

On eBay, no affiliation.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Respect the Corona


This dude is a mobile mechanic that plys his trade in front of the Autozone on Figueroa. Respect.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

David Jordan Williams - Van Nuys Boulevard Cruising, 1974



Details and situation remains fuzzy, but I remember riding with a friend of my dad's in his mild custom van on a dirt road. He was driving shirtless, Coors in hand and eating a pickled pig's foot. Though Southern California, I can't place the scene. Maybe around Sespe or something like that? It was some sort of party, to be sure, as we kept coming to creek crossings which attracted the flip-flopped and bikini-topped. Listening to Fleetwood Mac.

As unbelievable as it sounds, my mom and step-dad would take me cruising on Van Nuys Blvd. A few passes and a burger at Bob's Big Boy.

When I was a kid, I thought this is what it would be like to be an adult. Of the losses, I would say nothing greater than the end of rabbit fur jacket.

David Jordan Williams portfolio of Van Nuys Blvd, 1974

Friday, November 02, 2012