Mean 69
09-21-2006, 10:53 AM
I suppose I could also call this, "why I love my new career." On page 12 of this month's Popular Hotrodding (November 2006), there is a double page photo spread of my very good friend's body, paint, and resto shop down here in Southern California, called Best of Show Coachworks. For me, there's a lot more to this picture than just the picture, or that I know the place, it was a pretty interesting way I found them. This is a little long, but bear with me.
Years ago, out on a Sunday cruise in my 69 Camaro, I saw another 69 Camaro coming down the street, so of course the motorheads that we are pulled over and introduced ourselves, and looked over each other's cars. His car was in the process of being re-done, at that time, it was in primer, etc, but really solid and a great car. We share the same first name, Mark, and my buddy Mark travels for extensive amounts of time pretty often (he's one of those guys that if you ever meet, you'd better say thanks to regardless of your opinions on the world these days, he's a Navy SEAL and helps keep this country safe). Anyway, about a year after that meeting, his car is "almost" done with being painted, the guy he brought it to held him hostage as you so often hear about. It came out pretty good, but he pulled the job prior to getting the stripes painted on it, knowing it would have taken forever.
So, he finds this other shop that mostly does collision repairs, with a really talented painter that works on muscle cars kind of in the back. This guy's name is John (some call him John the painter, and lots of people call him John the grouch). He paints the stripes, and during the job I go over and meet him, knowing I'll have projects in the future. Cool, I finally found a good painter, that is reliable, I'm happy, 'cause I had been severely burned in the past on a 65 Mustang project.
A while after that, I decided to leave my career, and start my own gig (Lateral Dynamics). I found a solid basket case Camaro project that was destined to become a development/show car for the new business, and went to see John the Painter. Umm, this place doesn't look the same, change of ownership, and no John to be found. Great, back to square one. I finally drag out of one of the guys that worked there that John "might be able to be found" at a brand new shop, that wasn't even open yet. No address, no name of the company, just pointed towards the area and gave me vague ideas of where he thought it was. So I searched.
Found them luckily. Saw John talking to some dude, and there was a couple other guys outside this shop. Cool!!! I'm in business, I'll talk to John after he gets done talking to this other guy. Some dude named **** comes up to me and starts chatting me up, but I want to talk to John. After a while, I realize that **** kind of knows what he's talking about, so I propose the project and talk to them about what I am doing in my own business. Their doors aren't even officially open yet, but we agree to bring my Camaro over there to put qtrs on it, and I talk him into letting me do some side work on the car to save some money (mini-tubs).
Now, I'm not a very sociable guy, at all, I prefer to work alone. But, in the course of working with these dudes who I just met, I realize that I am having a great time, and the razzing never ends. We have a saying there, "leave your feelings at the door, because if you bring them inside, they are going to get very, very hurt." Heck of a lot more fun than the stuffy Laser "Professionals" that I had worked with for the previous too-long time.
So their business starts to pick up, so does mine, and we are out at a crusie night on a Friday evening. **** sees an old friend he hasn't seen for years, and bolts off for a while to meet up with him. Enter Dean. Dean's one of those guys you meet about twice, if that, in a lifetime. Probably the best mechanic I have ever met, NOTHING stumps him. He's done it all, really, including spending time with some drag race guy a few years as the clutch man, I guess they won the championship a few times when he was there (some guy named John Force?).
Hanging around BOS is like being in an adult candy store. There's always some incredibly cool car, project, neat thing happening. Their work is amazing, and they are honest and up front, everyone that has had work there leaves completely happy. They have done a fair amount of work on "Penny," and the other cars in the pic are pretty special too. The Camaro is Jeff's car (Classic Chevy 5 Speed) that has a completely custom-plumbed supercharged LS motor, I guess the guys that sold him the huffer didn't mention that no one has ever put on in that type of car before. The red Nomad was a complete build, everything except the interior, and the car will make your knees buckle. Riddler? No, these cars are exceptional, but they are made to be driven and enjoyed too. There's a 69 Camaro in the pic, which is special to me, because it is our first official customer's car. Way in the back is my 68 GTX project, so including Penny, there are 3 Lateral Dynamics cars in the shop, with more to come after these are complete.
Once you get into the hot rod business, you find that it is a pretty small community, you're not too far removed from anyone. But I'll tell you, if I hadn't been driving my car down that road, on that day, I wonder if I would have ever met up these jokers. Fate, I have to believe it.
I'd encourage anyone to stop by and see what's happening there. I have to caution you though, pretty much everyone that just "stops in" decides then and there that they want to build a car, and they want Best of Show Coachworks to do it for them.
Congratulations, guys, you deserve it!!!
Mark
Years ago, out on a Sunday cruise in my 69 Camaro, I saw another 69 Camaro coming down the street, so of course the motorheads that we are pulled over and introduced ourselves, and looked over each other's cars. His car was in the process of being re-done, at that time, it was in primer, etc, but really solid and a great car. We share the same first name, Mark, and my buddy Mark travels for extensive amounts of time pretty often (he's one of those guys that if you ever meet, you'd better say thanks to regardless of your opinions on the world these days, he's a Navy SEAL and helps keep this country safe). Anyway, about a year after that meeting, his car is "almost" done with being painted, the guy he brought it to held him hostage as you so often hear about. It came out pretty good, but he pulled the job prior to getting the stripes painted on it, knowing it would have taken forever.
So, he finds this other shop that mostly does collision repairs, with a really talented painter that works on muscle cars kind of in the back. This guy's name is John (some call him John the painter, and lots of people call him John the grouch). He paints the stripes, and during the job I go over and meet him, knowing I'll have projects in the future. Cool, I finally found a good painter, that is reliable, I'm happy, 'cause I had been severely burned in the past on a 65 Mustang project.
A while after that, I decided to leave my career, and start my own gig (Lateral Dynamics). I found a solid basket case Camaro project that was destined to become a development/show car for the new business, and went to see John the Painter. Umm, this place doesn't look the same, change of ownership, and no John to be found. Great, back to square one. I finally drag out of one of the guys that worked there that John "might be able to be found" at a brand new shop, that wasn't even open yet. No address, no name of the company, just pointed towards the area and gave me vague ideas of where he thought it was. So I searched.
Found them luckily. Saw John talking to some dude, and there was a couple other guys outside this shop. Cool!!! I'm in business, I'll talk to John after he gets done talking to this other guy. Some dude named **** comes up to me and starts chatting me up, but I want to talk to John. After a while, I realize that **** kind of knows what he's talking about, so I propose the project and talk to them about what I am doing in my own business. Their doors aren't even officially open yet, but we agree to bring my Camaro over there to put qtrs on it, and I talk him into letting me do some side work on the car to save some money (mini-tubs).
Now, I'm not a very sociable guy, at all, I prefer to work alone. But, in the course of working with these dudes who I just met, I realize that I am having a great time, and the razzing never ends. We have a saying there, "leave your feelings at the door, because if you bring them inside, they are going to get very, very hurt." Heck of a lot more fun than the stuffy Laser "Professionals" that I had worked with for the previous too-long time.
So their business starts to pick up, so does mine, and we are out at a crusie night on a Friday evening. **** sees an old friend he hasn't seen for years, and bolts off for a while to meet up with him. Enter Dean. Dean's one of those guys you meet about twice, if that, in a lifetime. Probably the best mechanic I have ever met, NOTHING stumps him. He's done it all, really, including spending time with some drag race guy a few years as the clutch man, I guess they won the championship a few times when he was there (some guy named John Force?).
Hanging around BOS is like being in an adult candy store. There's always some incredibly cool car, project, neat thing happening. Their work is amazing, and they are honest and up front, everyone that has had work there leaves completely happy. They have done a fair amount of work on "Penny," and the other cars in the pic are pretty special too. The Camaro is Jeff's car (Classic Chevy 5 Speed) that has a completely custom-plumbed supercharged LS motor, I guess the guys that sold him the huffer didn't mention that no one has ever put on in that type of car before. The red Nomad was a complete build, everything except the interior, and the car will make your knees buckle. Riddler? No, these cars are exceptional, but they are made to be driven and enjoyed too. There's a 69 Camaro in the pic, which is special to me, because it is our first official customer's car. Way in the back is my 68 GTX project, so including Penny, there are 3 Lateral Dynamics cars in the shop, with more to come after these are complete.
Once you get into the hot rod business, you find that it is a pretty small community, you're not too far removed from anyone. But I'll tell you, if I hadn't been driving my car down that road, on that day, I wonder if I would have ever met up these jokers. Fate, I have to believe it.
I'd encourage anyone to stop by and see what's happening there. I have to caution you though, pretty much everyone that just "stops in" decides then and there that they want to build a car, and they want Best of Show Coachworks to do it for them.
Congratulations, guys, you deserve it!!!
Mark