Happy Holidays From Hot Rods & Custom Stuff

Happy Holidays From Hot Rods & Custom Stuff

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everybody from your friends at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff! We hope you all had a wonderful year full of friends, family, and hot rods and have a fun and safe holiday season!

We are very grateful for another year of being able to do what we love and make our customer’s dreams come true. We would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of you and look forward to seeing you all again in 2023!

2022 Cruisin’ Grand is back!!

Cruisin’ Grand Returns! SoCal Productions and the City of Escondido are excited to welcome Cruisin’ Grand Escondido back to our historic downtown. Cruisin’ Grand will kick off on Friday, May 6, from 4 – 9 p.m. and run every Friday night until September 30. All of your favorites will return including live music, DJs, kettle corn, and of course, the best display of pre-1974 hotrods in the country! Something a little different this year is the closure of additional streets to allow enough room for street-side dining and retail as well as plenty of space to display the vehicles and allow for spectators. Each Friday, Grand Avenue will be closed from Escondido Blvd. to Ivy St. and the side streets (Maple St., Broadway, Kalmia, and Juniper) from Second Ave. to Valley Parkway. This event is open to pre-1974 vintage, antique, hotrods, and muscle cars. Visit cruisingrand.net for additional details.

Welcome back!

It’s been a very difficult year and a half for all of us, the world has been changing so quickly around us and as such we’ve all had to make great efforts as a community to adapt and keep on keepin’ on.

We’re very excited to announce that with guidelines being lifted and society returning to normal, we are finally able to open the shop back up fully to the public! We look forward to seeing you all and your sweet rides at the shop very soon, and can’t wait to show you all what we’ve been up to!

From all of us here at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff we want to say thank you so much for sticking with us through this, we couldn’t have done it without you and look forward to better days ahead!

Update to Uncertain Times…

Hello to our valued friends and clients, 

We want to say first off that we’re thinking of you all and hope that everyone is still doing well in these crazy uncertain times. All of us here at HRCS value each and every single one of you.

As we take the well being of human life seriously we want you to know we are paying special attention to the pandemic and the developing effects of the Coronavirus. 

As we have said in a previous blog post we have closed down our showroom and are only taking phone calls as well as seeing our clients by appointment only. We appreciate you understanding while we take these precautions. This way our staff doesn’t become infected and we can continue to be able to build classics in a safe environment.

Of course we are playing everyday by ear and will proceed accordingly by doing our part in following the recommended practices by the CDC by social distancing cleaning our surfaces regularly while providing hand sanitizer.

We are all in this together.

We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and will follow guidance from public health officials and government agencies, so we can continue to support our customers and communities as needed.

For more information about COVD-19 and what you can do to keep healthy and safe, visit the Centers for Disease Control at cdc.gov or your local health department’s website.

Also we will continue to let you know what is going on usually on our social sites or on here but know we will always keep you informed.

Thank you so much!
HRCS 

Covid-19 and how we’re being proactive…

ATTENTION:

Due to concerns surrounding the recent coronavirus outbreak we will be closing our showroom to the public and suspending shop tours until further notice. We will remain open on an appointment only basis and are taking all CDC recommended precautions to keep everybody in our community safe. If you would like to make an appointment we can be reached at (760)-745-1170. We appreciate your business and hope to see you back soon.

Thank you and keep well from the team at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff

Hot Rod Run Down …

Hot Rod shop rundown…

On any given day we get inquiries of what all the services we provide here at the shop. The better question to ask is what don’t we do since that is less to explain. However, we are a full restoration hot rod shop. If you have a classic car that you want us to restore from the bare metal in the Fabrication shop to upgrades on the engine and transmission to a full custom paint and body jobs, to all your final assembly needs are all done in house.

Did you also know we are partners with some of the best fabrication shops in the industry to where your interior is always showroom quality?

Plus, our tech department always keeps your classic cars maintained and fully operational. Our techs are some of the most sought out professionals in the industry because they know their classics will run correct. Actually, all of our staff is some of the most knowledgeable and talented individuals that are working in the automotive industry today.

If there is an off chance, we don’t specialize in a certain area we only work with the best to get the job done correct. We pride ourselves to ensure that our clients are happy and remain return customers.

Our showroom staff is always here to help answer questions on parts to how to get a build started. They will guide you through the whole process of any work you want done to ensure you are clear in what steps it will need to get the job completed.

We look forward to working with you soon and always know..
“We do it all, We do it right.”

Happy Holidays!!

All of us at HRCS want to wish you all a very happy hot rod Christmas!! Or Hanukkah, Festivus, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day and anything you and your family celebrate for the holidays! So in all honesty we hope that your year has been filled with happiness and classic cars and trucks!

This at the shop we enjoyed another year building the classics! We’re looking forward to a new year doing the same and of course we’re excited in what the new year will bring!

Today we had our annual Christmas lunch and would like to share some of our pictures. Randy and Peaches show all of us just how important we all are. It shines through us all in our hard work and daily life with great passion. For that we thank them and you for your support!

Thanks again everyone and remember we have holiday hours for Christmas eve and day!! Christmas eve 7:30a to 3:00p and closed Christmas day. We’ll be open Friday and Saturday at our regular schedule.

Merry Christmas!!

HRCS

Randy with his grandson Luke! We can always count on Randy to liven up any party!

Proud Sponsors of…

We are one of the proud sponsors for Kustoms of San Diego Summer Classic! It will be an awesome awards show with categories for Best Kustom, Best Hot Rod, Best Traditional, and Best in progress! Some of us from the shop will be at the show in a spectator capacity to show our support but come hang out with us! Look at some awesome classic cars, talk about cars and make some new friends or catch up with some old friends along the way!! So mark your calendars for this up coming September 29th!!

Hot August Nights Best in Show!!

Mike with the win!!!

It is a proud honor to announce that at this years 2019 Hot August Nights in Sparks Nevada our 1961 Chevy Impala restoration build won the Best in Show! We are so excited to have seen that Mike’s Swan Song was given such a highly coveted award!

Since the completion of this classic car this build has gone on to win quite a few awards, for instance it won builders choice and was in the top rod of the year finalist at the 69th annual 2018 GoodGuys show Del Mar, plus gaining two other wins of the builders choice at the GoodGuys shows in two other states. At the Grand National Roadster Show it won PPGs Outstanding Paint award. It was 2018s Street Rodders top 100, it won best of show at the Run to the Sun show as well as at the Bishop car show, Forties Ford show (which that one is awesome since they picked a Chevy for best in show at a Ford show) it also won at Mesquite Car show, Pismo beach show and the Riverside show. So let’s say this build has been racking up the awards and then some!

We hope you’ve been enjoying this build as much as we have and we hope that you continue to get the chance to check it out at further shows!!

2019 Volcanoes to Victoria trip!

2019 Volcanoes to Victoria Hot Rod Driving Tour

to Northwest Deuce Days in Victoria, BC, Canada

Northwest Deuce Days is held every three years in the beautiful city of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The event is the brainchild of Al Clark a Victoria hot rodder, drag racer, show promoter, car builder/fabricator, and all around great guy. He and his team of volunteers have made this gathering of “Deuces”, or cars born in 1932, and other cars up to 1951 one of the premier events in the world!

I first attended this event in 2004 and haven’t missed it since. I try to contain my enthusiasm for the event but it spills over and sometimes other folks want to also attend. This year I dubbed the northbound tour “Volcanoes to Victoria” and plotted a route through the “Rim of Fire” that produces the most prolific collection of volcanoes in the United States. Joining me this year were Ron & Terry Paschich from El Paso, Texas in their ’32 three-window coupe. To say that Ron and Terry are “Road Warriors” would be an understatement – they have over 200,000 miles on their coupe! Also joining me were Dick and Lollie Clark of Gardnerville, Nevada in their freshly built ’32 roadster. The car was first started up on Monday prior to to our Saturday departure and it was discovered that there were transmission problems! Tuesday the transmission was out of the car and disassembled. Thursday it was driven on its’ first and only shakedown run! It was successful!

Our first leg took us on the short hop to Lake Tahoe’s north shore and a visit to Sierra Boat Company. They specialize in the sales and care and feeding of classic wooden boats. This is a MUST for all who appreciate a bygone era of aesthetics and craftsmanship. We then got into the back country of northern California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, in the shadow of Mt. Lassen (the first of our volcano encounters) and into Klamath Falls, Oregon for the night.

The next day took us to Mt. Mazama, better known as Crater Lake after the volcanoes last eruption eons ago. Northbound we passed by Newberry, Three Sisters, Mt. Jefferson, and ended the day on Mt. Hood. I picked up a hitchhiker in Bend, Oregon by name of Dave Weil. Dave and I have become friends through a business relationship that blossomed into a personal friendship. Dave was a welcome addition to our entourage, especially on our next leg with his background in aviation and its role in the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest, and his personal experiences on Mt. St. Helens in the aftermath of its eruption in 1980.

Our next visit was to the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automotive Museum (WAAAM) in Hood River, Oregon. This place should be on all gearheads’ “must see” list. It was a distinct pleasure to meet its founder, Mr. Terry Brandt, who is also a neighbor who maintains a residence in Minden, Nevada. What a neat guy and what a neat place! On next to the Columbia River Gorge. Stunning views of the mighty Columbia River and the many waterfalls that cascade down the mountains on the Oregon side of the gorge. Unfortunately we weren’t able to find parking at any of the waterfalls due to the heavy tourist traffic during the summer season so pictures are scarce. We crossed the river near Portland and were reminded of what city traffic jams are like. We overnighted in Kelso, Washington.

It’s a short, east drive from Kelso to Mt. St. Helens. The mountain was enshrouded in clouds during our visit so we couldn’t get the full view, but it was impressive nonetheless. We spent time there in the Forest Learning Center. The Center was built by Weyerhaeuser Company to enhace the understanding of the importance of forestry in the area and the role that they played in the recovery following the volcano’s eruption. Dave Weil had an active role in this effort in the search and rescue and the reforestation effort. It was really neat to hear first-hand stories of that experience!

Then off we went to our ferry jumping off point in Port Angeles, Washington. We passed Mt. Adams and Mt. Ranier on our way north. Our ferry trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca was the following morning. At that point the funnel moving ‘32’s and other NWDD attendees to Victoria was getting smaller and we had plenty of hot rod company.

Into Victoria and the overwhelming sense that something special was happening here! Over the next few days there’d be over 1,300 cars – 650 of which would be 1932 vintage cars! That’s the largest gathering of Deuces IN THE WORLD!!!!! World-Class is an appropriate description!

There were a number of events scheduled for participants including a tour and picnic lunch at Butchart Gardens, a dyno day if you wanted, and garage tours. Also a Poker Run that included over 400 cars! The show day itself on Sunday would see huge crowds of spectators. The ‘32’s are parked meticulously by a volunteer staff that personally guides each and every car into picture-perfect position! The ‘32’s are parked around the Inner Harbour and non-32’s are positioned on the feeder streets leading to the Inner Harbour. This year’s show was spectacular, to say the least! There’s plenty of other coverage on the internet and Facebook of the event showing all of the cars and you just need to enter 2019 Northwest Deuce Days to find a world of photo coverage.

Southbound following the show we split up – Ron and Terry to San Francisco, Dick and Lollie to Ashland, Oregon to visit friends and me, “on a Mission from God” to Seaside, Oregon which I’ll disclose more on later.

It was a fantastic 2,200 mile adventure for me and I thank all who participated with me, those who helped me along the way and in my preparations, the wonderful hoteliers who put us up on our overnights, all the old friends I got the opportunity to visit with, and the new ones I made along the way. I’m sorry that folks who originally planned to be in our entourage and had to change their plans couldn’t make it. I’d like to give a special tip of the hat to Barry Pleasant who was to be in our group but his schedule didn’t quite mesh with our plan. Barry lives in Connecticut, drove his ‘’32 roadster to Los Angeles in June for the LA Roadsters Show, took his car and stashed it at a friend’s place in Reno, flew home for a few weeks, flew back to Reno, drove the roadster to Victoria, attended the NWDD event, then crossed to the mainland and drove TO ALASKA for a picture, and then home to Connecticut!!!!!!! This guy is a monster! Way to go, Barry, you’re my hero!

Thanks to all of you for expressing an interest in this adventure. Here’s a link to my photos, enjoy!

Chick Koszis

https://link.shutterfly.com/htE7iCKhHY

HRCS BBQ

It was that time of year again where Hot Rods & Custom Stuff had their annual BBQ! This is where we gather to show our employee’s and their families our appreciation for all their hard work. It’s also a chance for our current clients to come and talk to us on a personal level. It’s a time that we thoroughly enjoy and look forward to every year. Of course how can you beat having a BBQ at Cruisin’ Grand right here in Escondido CA, surrounded by hot rods that we have either built or worked on in some way or another. Thanks to all that came out and a BIG thanks to our guys who put in countless hours beautifying classics that we all love!