1934 Ford Roadster - Jay Leno's Garage

[Music] that's right very nicely [Music] have you ever had this car in any of the TV shows or movies in the area in the old days I used to supply quite a few cars for movies and stuff I was lucky enough to work the first 13 weeks on happy days was this car on happy that this car was unhappy well another episode of Jay Leno's Garage no every father's day here in Southern California there's a big event called the LA roads through show to help celebrate it we want to get a car that was sort of the epitome of what the la rosa show was all about we found this one it's been owned by the same gentleman for over 54 years he's been a lifetime member let's bring him in Bob bond Bob come on in buddy good to see you my friend nice seeing you Jay 54 years yes Wow and how and you've been a member of La roadsters for how long 5050 so you've waited for years before you guys I raced it the first bit and finally cleaned it up and got it in okay so you bought this what in 67 65 65 okay same car you've had it all these years all these years okay okay Wow so what'd your dad think when you bought this was this ah he'd always been into old cars he thought it was a good thing I got several before but yeah I've kept this one this is the one this is the one and how many color changes how many engines transmissions I've had seven different colors on it because the amount of mileage I've put on and probably five motors only because I raced it at Lyon's and that is real hard on oh yeah alliances they're very popular job yes in Los Angeles that's been gone for quite a while right 72 I think yeah yeah yeah okay was this your favorite color combination I think of all of them I actually had a candy red for a while I really liked it but this is probably my favorite well it is funny because I grew up in that same era and you watch cars go through the metal flake period and that look good for a while and I know that then you went to you know the the moon hubcaps and then the mag wheels I mean I think it's great you how many miles you think you put on this this body this coffee when I came back in 76 from the street rod nationals in Oklahoma City I turned a hundred and nine thousand Wow so I'm guessing I've got well over a quarter of a million Wow okay okay well it looks beautiful what was the last time you did this restoration the last time this was actually 22 years ago oh okay Wow it looks beautiful and tell us what the motor is Motors of 350 Chevy okay it has an automatic transmission in it now for many years at ran a four-speed right okay so what made you go automatics getting older and the four-speed has a tendency to make you put your foot in a little right okay did you get many tickets were you or delinquent I got my share yeah you ever get tickets who your dad told you to get rid of this thing no dad probably got a lot of tickets too yeah probably yeah okay well back then we were just known as hot rodders right if you drove something like this you were a hot rodder right you were gonna get a ticket right right so cops would stop you just on general prints and now they'll actually stop stop you to look at them right look at it cuz they remember yeah yeah that's funny now I I see you got the tilt-away wheel that was that was put in later yeah I put that in there it's got a later model steering it's got disc brakes in the front so it's called the senior package that's Co the thing you would hate of the earth oh yeah yeah yeah many times I drove it with just one seat in it racing yeah I don't want to give her that four pounds and it's all steel right it's all steel every fender that came on the car in 34 is on here now so what did you pay for it in 65 thousand looks well that was a lot of money cuz you know I bought a 34 Ford when I was 14 and 64 for $350 and that was a truck with a flat head did it have did it had the flat head or did it have this had a small-block oh so it was already out with a four-speed ok had a roll bar in it oh it was a race car literally raced along as $1,000 would be five or six thousand now at least so that was that was a lot of money I was a lot of money back there because my father saw three and $50 was ridiculous so you $1000 well okay but least your dad was a car guy oh yeah that definitely helped yeah yeah my dad never my dad can never understand why no car cost more the new car doesn't make any sense no why'd you got an old car from 4,000 get a new car for 5,000 you know it just didn't make any sense which mags are those American those are actually real Americans Oh reproductions they are the real mm these and the old cragars with the grey okay can we open the hood see we go there well looks nice and clean laughs air huh he's getting let's steal a firewall I saw that very nice very nice and the stock headers didn't put any trick headers on it I've had headers many many years but they get noisy this is a lock what kind of horsepower you think you're making with this this is probably 350 maybe 400 what's the most horsepower had in this car d I had a 671 blower on a 388 that was probably 455 Wow okay then you've got to worry about getting it to the rear wheels yeah and I've cut the frames all right okay well no it's it's beautiful beautifully done how long you had this motor in here this motors about 18 20 years oh okay okay totally stock anything trick in it let's got a cam and it'll brought carburetor and that kind of stuff right all right tell me about the brakes this the front drums in the back just in the front drums in the back they have the big Buick the beautiful polity these are Chevelle discs they're not extremely large because there's not much weight there right so I didn't need to get the right fancy ones and what drums in the back just standard standard Chevrolet okay all right that radiator looks long what's that from that's a stock 34 Ford radius oh it is the radiators like wow well this has been record several times okay okay and what's the motor from Corvette or just standard job this particular one is out of a Chevelle okay let's see any other modern modifications the headlamps are probably these are the king bees I actually have the original 34 lamps that came on it okay I have the fog lights and the horn I've got it most everything I've got the the piece in the back where you put your spare tire and I just change it around for the year to year so did you ever to hold on to a car for 50 year before years is pretty amazing was there a point where you thought something else I like I wanted we ever tempted to sell did that ever do you ever come close somebody come up with some cash never got to that point I've been very lucky I've usually had several cars at a time right so I just like this one ya know when I first got this car everybody was buying a 32 I bought a 34 and they said well why'd you do that I just it's not like anybody else's yeah and you want a new car yeah 32 he got a bunch of those oh yeah okay no that's great I know you're a lifetime member mm-hmm are you one of the guys that has the car the longest you meet anybody else had a car this many years in the club I don't know there's guys there's one gentleman that's been in Dick Berggren has been in longer than I had he's been in 54 years now but he's gone through many cars okay I think I may have had this car longer than anybody yeah that's pretty amazing and there were no windows in 34 they were the side curtains side curtain we put them in here right snap them here do you still use the side curtains I do but I have set mine up for zippers in the top so it'll air tight in there oh cool when you go on long trips it rains and that just that works out quite well I'm married 50 years after years then the wife ever said honey can't we get a new car what kind of luckily she is into cars like I have a picture that I they took some pictures of of her and myself in that car well let's take a look let's take a look okay and where was that picture taken that was taking him Manhattan Beach prior to the time I got married oh okay I was is that why you're still single so when I was so you did your courting in this car yes in fact when the first time she got in this car she sat on a milk crate because I was racing an alliance and I didn't want the extra that's another dream date with my yeah they have kids nope no kids no kidding me I'm in my 30s well that's great does she still into it so she is oh that's cool right now I've got I bought our nuclear car a couple of years ago and she put purple flames on it oh he's really into it there you go that's what you gotta have yeah did she help pick the colors here as a matter of fact she did yeah we went into a Lincoln dealership yeah and we liked the maroon right and this was just a plain silver well this is active the silvers actually got 10% of the Marine in it oh and when we came out it glowed pink yeah it was only two different good Lincoln's so we did this and right when the Sun Goes Down this kind of would close a pinkish oh okay that's just it's something quite different for most people well then I striped it in the Lincoln dealer misanthrope yeah now we just had a look at the color for that we've done that many many many times can we open the trunk let's see oh it's a mess yeah let's see full of stuff that's what drugs are for so it's a pair of jeans you bought back in 59 59 yes more pictures is that when we saw before this the day you got it the day I bought it Wow and it was missing a hood yes okay had the hood but when I traced it it didn't right right and this is before that was when I got first got in the club that I painted it oh okay that was 67 these are all cool oh yeah that was in Oklahoma yeah drove it to Oklahoma right yeah for the street rod better that's fact I turned 103,000 on there who's that guy with a beard that was me back in the day well not you back in the day is that your wife I know uh-uh no they they had they had they wasn't wanted a Duncan le roadster guys yeah yeah who's that young lady beats me yeah they put her up there with me you a force I was forced into it yeah yeah she looks surprisingly they wanted me to get done not hurt yeah yeah some kind of wet t-shirt something like that uh yes many times jaqen trying to keep you anonymous all very cool and that says your thirty gallon gas tank right that that was put in there primarily for racing right it puts nine pounds of gallon times 30 gallons over the rear-end versus the original gas tank that's back here this is good for having the front go up that's for good for making the car go fast and what was your best time you turned on this 1173 wow that's pretty quick it would be about a hundred and twenty-eight miles it was about a hundred and seventeen oh okay Wow and of course this is I become iconic these are rare the famous license plate what this plate first came out they come out in 1957 but did come out and 57 okay this particular plate is a new one right that we have but it's basically the same roadster the same font in every and how many guys in the club back in the day 25 to begin with okay was that it was a maximum of 25 and how many now 40 oh wow it's going quite a bit oh yes over over 50 years it's going quite a bit you guys they like oh 1200 or something you know really we have some you know you know so she you know 15 guys in 50 years really is not this was a business that wouldn't be grown no no I just the why I thought you're gonna say like oh we have 7000 members there's no way up 40 now that's it very cool okay dual exhaust obviously did you ever run the the lake pipes in the day I did one time we should explain what those are lake pipes who are really popular they came out the side and they had a cap on them so when you uncapped it it bypassed the muffler and you came out the side of the exhaust now they have those ones with the electric solenoid you can hit the button I have one of those on my dodge oh okay okay very cool very cool but this one that you don't have any cutout here no because this has the senior package in your back okay very cool well that's cool can we uh can we take this for a ride sure Oh that'd be an honor have you ever let anybody else drive it when you see how short I am yeah you may have trouble driving no no I think it'd be fine let's close her up and go for a drive sounds good I love the suicide door yes see if you can fit in there oh yeah you put seat belt this thing is you got the senior yep got that whole thing in there all kinds of room in here give her a slam yeah there we go it's a key ignition now the gas is real close to the brake oh yeah big feets put her down a gear down the radio [Music] I gotta ask it about that well I've had this hat actually this one I've had ten years yeah I actually had one from the Chicago World's Fair black tall just like this that was 1893 I got it at the same time I got the roadsters Wow and I wore that from 40 years and it just finally laid down and died and I got this one I'm just known for this all black hat all right oh yeah now the big roses show is coming up what Father's Day right thumbs up every Father's Day this year its June 14th and 15th it's at the Great Western where our Great Western that's where what years ago it's now at the Pomona Fairgrounds Oh lindy room there how many cars show up well at our 50th we had 1173 done finished 36 and earlier roadsters Wow plus another probably 800 to a thousand cars of different varieties then we have a parking preferred parking that is for 72 and earlier and we get some lot a lot of nights there so to be in the rosa show it's got to be a 36 or earlier 36 and earlier oh I'm completely done yeah now how about fiberglass replica cars have they allowed yo yes ok yes unfortunately now there's not that many real-deal steel ones left right right and they're reproducing a very very nice product which the average bear can afford right unlike something like this that's original every slide right with the original owner just about white I'm 75 and not that old well there you go if you had a car for 54 years I think you earned the right to say you're the original pretty much I'm a lot better than probably the guy that bought it man when I get that I got my 1913 Marissa is putting gas in it he's kidding 70 years I think you thirteen you buy a new yeah yeah I bought it though yeah why should rides and drives very nicely what well for a hot rod short wheelbase not much weight have you got other hydrogen's oh it's been this one oh no no I've had many many many over the years right now I have five I've got a Super Stock I Drive in the street Oh what year super stoked 64 oh I love that the already Botwin I know this that is look cool era and it's a 512 inch max width it's a 440 60 over with a half inch stroke Wow okay pass everything but a gas station I used to lose on wedge way you have the push button transfer no I've got to got one on the floor being a Mars in a it's a it's a three-speed it's a 727 set up for a Hemi okay but this one the others come and go you says right but this one you've always kept I always kept this will always like this one because it was different yeah yeah only in the last 25 years have they really got into using 34 prior to that time everybody wanted a 32 right right for many years this was the only 32 down - it would go on Hawthorne Boulevard and cruise mingle exactly who it was so what's the biggest change you've seen in 50 years of doing hotrod is it the fact that things have all gone electronic or what what do you think it is that and the fact in the old days we didn't buy these cars because they were cool we bought them because it's all we could afford right they would cheap right they were cheap and when you get in high school you bought the cheapest thing you could you couldn't afford a 54 Ford or a 62 Chevy back in the day so you use things well it's a bit like a kit now and like I have when I was doing the Tonight Show we had an intern he said I like old carpets ma I know you're like okay we've talked a little bit you know Cindy got a old cars is it oh yeah yeah I said what do you got he goes at 91 be honest because I went well he was born at 90 yeah that's true so they him that's an old car me buying a 54 Chevy Belair you know just make me laugh now the kids don't know how to work on no they can't well you know what's interesting I find when we were kids every kid knew a little something and the ones who didn't know anything faked it yeah they're all slight guys that had cool cars let's otherwise if reason you bought an early car yeah and then plus you know that with the Beach Boys and there were hotrod songs and all that something I find now a lot of kids know nothing about cars but the ones that do oh my god they know everything I mean they've they really know their stuff yes Lee knew the real good machinists and computer guys and whatnot you know it's it's kind of six of one happen of the other two aren't many is is they used to be but the ones that are around boy do they know their stuff you know well just as we did back in the day yeah yeah I mean you had to know how to do stuff and yeah I wasn't you fixed your own car never took anything anywhere if you painted it you painted it yourself and probably the worst time for old cars was probably the late seventies up until the early nineties when there were no parts if now people are God you can buy a whole brand-new interior for a 55 Chevy that's exactly like it was you know I remember going to car shows in the 60s and early 70s and then be Duesenbergs with three white wall tires and one truck tire and you know what's that about well I couldn't get any tired I'm a twin yeah because he had to close a number of original tires and match because nobody made any night [Music] well it has the state-of-the-art suspension for about 1970 yeah put Teflon in this in between the springs I haven't got an independent front end still has an i-beam axle oh is that right yeah twin Leafs on the back would you have little newer for all of the times I've gone back east and around the country in as many miles I've put on tried to make it as comfortable as possible it's still a very short wheelbase and it's a very light car yeah none of which makes it conducive for riding will now do you is anything those Corvette carbon fiber leaf springs I have in some Corvettes they work really well yeah because I can't find anybody the arc Springs anymore in the old days if you had Springs you take together Briard oh yes and you know and they would temper the metal enemy [Music] so just save all the engines and you've done for this car or you know pretty much got rid save them for parts it depends on how yeah how loud the whiz-bang was when it happened I've always sucked a small-block Chevy yeah I've had numerous different carburation and blowers 671 blowers everyone blowers Magna chargers for Webber's yeah weapons always look sexy to be honest all blah and they work quite well at the beach where I was born and raised yeah but if you drive it up to Mammoth you've got a big problem let you bring emulsions right yeah what's the furthest east you've driven this car Oklahoma Oklahoma once we went a little farther back in the 60s and 70s the roads were so bad back there [Music] everybody wanted to put a four inch drop dropped axle but there just wasn't those roads were not made for that yeah under any when I was a kid the big deal with the hologram quick change guys if you come up to the to the race open the back and change it change every gearing when they raise to put the gearing back again and those were all those were always spur gears do they even make those any well yes I used to love all the terrible car movies from that period hot rods to hell yeah yeah those are on it's so awful they're so stupid the lively set remember that oh yeah yeah that was good stuff yeah one other thing with the challah bread with the straight cut gears you could get on it and off of it yeah celebrator and it would sound just like a siren yeah what's the fastest speed you've had this thing up to about a hundred seventeen hundred all quarter mile stuff all portable never ran a Bonneville or any of that no never did been up there several times but never ever ran it no way just in that run drag racing well I was right near Lyons right right yeah growing up in Manhattan Beach I had the surfing culture yeah I had the cruising culture Hawthorne Boulevard the which stand yeah aaaw and racing which went down the street there was lions yeah that was the Golden Age oh yeah about riding a California so what do you think of the modded cars like the Dodge Hellcat like the new 350 our Mustang what do you have you been in any of those I have their horsepower and what they can do is absolutely amazed it is amazing in it but unfortunately we had to make cars do that now you just go out and spend a lot of money right and most of the guys who buy them have no idea what they can do and how to handle them right right well I remember remember the Hemi came with a 90-day warranty and three months and if they thought you a burnin rubber or tracing it you warranty was boy well on some of the Hemi racecars it said no warning whatsoever right right you had to use 112 octane gas right right if they have some now go to the 60 out here no that was we always when we would go to Lions you get off at Alameda and you'd go down to the standard station at the far end and you'd wait to get in line for the 109 octane standard weight club and how much is that a gallon a buck 70 back then Wow really 27 cents a gallon when I worked and worked in a gas station in 57 it was 25 Wow besides your own car this one what's the nicest road you wish boy which I built that one yeah there's some of the 32s and 34s that have been professionally built as show cards are beyond belief the quality of the work material ii comes to mind but every time you go to a show and you think you've seen it all yeah there's another one that's even nicer did you ever at any point run a flat head in this like now I have had many flat heads over the years but I've never had a flat head in this one did you ever have the inkling to do stock you know just go back a nice original 34 Ford or 32 v8 I had a 34 3 window but I bought from original owner that I drove for a while yeah and I knew if I kept it I'd make a hot rod out of it and even back then it just wasn't worth cutting up it was - not a virgin I mean there were so many old beat-up ones out there driving I do I've had a couple of 57s that way that it just I didn't have a heart to change have you ever had this car in any of the TV shows or movies in this area in the old days I used to supply quite a few cars for movies and stuff I was lucky enough to work the first 13 weeks on happy days was this car and happy that this car was unhappy with the Fonzie star no this one was actually they had a drag race and they went out to do this drag race they you know they set it up at Arnold's right and then they went out I forget where they they rented the place but we went out there and the deal was I wasn't driving or anything but they founds II was racing another guy and the cops showed up and everybody got excited and split and this one supposedly backed into the police car Oh which that wasn't true they had three or four guys jumping on it up and down right well yeah yeah that was people remember because of that particular shake normally you never lend your car to movies they do no no I have to be aware of the fact that they spend more on catering than they do on your car and they care more for their food than they do for you why a friend of mine who lantus it your own sf2 movie and they say we will pay for any damage any damage we do we'll reimburse you they thought that was fair he comes he comes in the next day somebody had taken a sawzall and cut out the - to put a camera in it and he said we'll send us a bill I'll take care of it they go well there no car there's no bill you can't ya there no sitter and obsolete people that ask me Bob can can you get my car rented I first help you love your car if they say yes I says you don't want to do it then you're right if you want to possibly make some really good money what do they pay back a day about five hundred a day it depends on whether you were a primary car a car as static just sitting or anything like that it would bury happy days by car drove therefore they paid me I want to say it was $160 one hundred and seventy five dollars a day okay that's the definition of a cruiser in it yeah automatic I'm so old I still I still have a CB give a CB a CBS and they still use your CB no there's not many people out there they all use their phones just look at him on the highway what was the handle what was your hand well when I was driving back east a lot was during the period that we made resto rods that it was painted kind of a chocolate brown with black vendors and orange wheels and orange pinstriping and they called it the little brown joke we got to be one of the longest the owners of a car I got a hot rod right yeah there's we've got a few guys in there that have had the cars as long some of them had coops longer than I've had this but as far as roadsters I think this is one of the oldest owned by the same person roadster this been that long remember big roads to show is June 1 14 and 15 Father's Day Father's Day 2018 and well it's every year father every if you're watching this after 28 June 2018 there'll be another one next year I don't want to thank Bob one of the original founding members goes way back to the first day this car has been in the la Rocha show for the last 50 years and it's good to see that your fire and your passion are just as much today as they were 50 years ago when you were a kid yes I'm dating my friend most welcome Jay another 50 years that the Roadster you've got it you know I think you might make it never know see you guys next week [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 319,943

Rating: 4.8764791 out of 5

Keywords: Jay, Lenos, Garage, 1934 Ford Roadster, hot rod, race, Ford, 350 Chevy, Roadsters, Los Angeles, L.A. Roadster Show, Father's Day, Bob Barnes, 1934, Lions Drag Strip, Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, cnbc, episode, motorcycle, ford, corvette, tour, dodge, lexus

Id: KE3OB2KS7Ss

Length: 30min 46sec (1846 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 17 2018