Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Roadsters Don’t Melt

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

This weekend is “The Grand Daddy of Them All,” The Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS). It’s arguably the best show of the year, with the possible exception of Detroit’s Autorama. Traditionalists still call it the Oakland Roadster Show, although that title is fading since it has been quite some time since the show was actually held in Oakland. It will be tough to top last year’s show, which featured 58 of the 75 Most Significant 1932 Fords, voted on by industry experts. What I am looking forward to the most this weekend is the debut of the fully restored Ala Kart, originally built by George Barris. This Kustom ‘29 Pickup is one of the few cars that has been awarded America’s Most Beautiful Roadster twice in the past.

The Rodder’s Journal has entered it’s ‘32 Ford Roadster into the GNRS this year, and publisher Steve Coonan and Editoral Associate Geoff Miles are driving it from San Francisco to the show in the LA area today. It should be a fun road trip except for one thing: it’s pouring rain. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, it’s about a 7 hour drive from here to the GNRS. It’s true Roadsters don’t melt, although the occupants of that roadster do become extremely cold.

I will update you on the situation, and try to get some pictures of their departure from TRJ Headquarters in the rain.

-Jerry

TRJ

After Holiday Sales!!

Friday, January 4th, 2008

What is better than the holiday season? All of the amazing “after holiday” sales of course!! TRJ is proud to announce that we will be having upcoming sales on our merchandise starting the weekend of January 11, 2008. This also happens to be the same weekend as the San Francisco Rod & Custom Show located at the Cow Palace arena. We will have our booth set up with all of our products so you can purchase which will save you shipping costs. We will also be able to answer any questions you may have or even set up your subscriptions to The Rodder’s Journal. We will also be at The Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA from January 25-27th. At both shows, our Publisher Steve Coonan, will have his black ’32 Roadster in our booth for viewing! Definitely come check it out and say hello to us! If you’re unable to make either of the shows, take a look at our online store or have us send you a catalog of everything TRJ has to offer. You can contact us for any purchases, questions and/or concerns via email – customerservice@roddersjournal.com, telephone – (800) 750-9550, fax – (650) 246-8927 and/or our website. Keep a lookout for our upcoming sales and Happy New Year!!

–Ashley

TRJ now offering “Custom Coats”

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

We are hoping that by now most of you have taken a look at our 2007 merchandise catalog. It is 28 pages and printed in full color, so it is quite a step up from the holiday brochures that we have done in the past. We’re pretty excited about the new catalog from both a presentation as well as an expanded merchandise line point of view. If you haven’t seen the new TRJ catalog you can take a look at it on our website. It is in PDF form so you can down load it and even print it out if you would like. Or, you can email or give us a call and we’ll put one in the mail for you.

The catalog was a lot of work, but we think worth the effort. It was art director Suzi Hutsell’s last big project before she left TRJ for a job with a large advertising company. With much thanks to Suzi, and talented photographer of the photo shoot, Charlie Nucci, we now have this amazing catalog that is just the start of our development process!

Our main hot items this holiday season are all our TRJ jackets featured on page 7 in our catalog. The great thing about these jackets is that we can custom-make them just the way you’d like it! We’re able to mix and match different colors and/or logo styles to fit your preference. Basically you have the ability to “Build-Your-Own-Jacket!” We can add your name, car club name, and choose between chain stitching or embroidery to the front or back or both. Chain stitching is a hand-made process that creates a traditional chain link look to the jacket. Because of the manual labor and time constraint, it is a little more expensive. The embroidery look is made by machine and produces more of a straight-line stitch.

One of our new jackets is the car club Throttle Coat. It is 100% wool and comes in black with red writing saying “Throttle” on the back of it. “Throttle” was the very first magazine about cars and hot rods back in 1941. The production didn’t last too long, however we are extremely excited to announce that we will be making a hardbound book of the issues that were published. We proudly welcome “Throttle” in being a part of the TRJ legacy and hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.

Similar to the style and material of the Throttle coat, we also have the TRJ Car Coat. We carry it in a navy color with our script logo chain-stitched in white on the back of the coat. This is one of my many favorite coats. It’s warm and perfect for the winter cold, and it also has this “old-school” look about it. With a quilted lining in the inside and a 1950’s persona you’re sure to be the trendsetter at the next car show!

Another cool and very comfortable jacket is the TRJ Dickies Eisenhower. This is our only jacket that zips up, where as our others only have buttons up the front. This jacket resembles “mechanic’s” style jacket, it is the perfect fit for the everyday casual person. It is embroidered on the front with our TRJ shield logo in red. You can also find other items with our shield logo such as a hat and t-shirt to complete the look.

Last but certainly not least are the most popular, the TRJ Letterman jackets. One that has been around for a little while is our black “Classic” letterman with a wool body and leather sleeves. On the front and back is our logo embroidered in white with red detailing. The other new jacket we have is similar to the “Classic” but with a slight twist, is the TRJ Maroon Letterman. It is also embroidered but with a cream color with our TRJ “script” logo on the front only or on the front and back.

If you want to get a custom ordered jacket, we suggest that you give our customer service department a call and our representatives will gladly assist you! Please feel free to check out pictures of the jackets and other merchandise we have to offer and join the many others in keeping warm with TRJ this winter season!

Happy holidays and happy rodding!!

–Ashley

Craig Smith’s Roadsters for Sale

Thursday, November 1st, 2007

As many of you already know, fellow Hot Rodder Craig Smith died tragically this past July, in Phoenix, AZ. Craig was a helicopter pilot for the Phoenix TV Station ABC15. He was involved in an accident that took four lives, when 2 news helicopters collided covering the same police chase. Craig was an avid hot rodder, a Goodguys member, and a H.A.M.B. member. On the weekends, you could catch him proudly displaying his roadster at Phoenix area car shows.

I have been contacted by his brother, Bryan Smith, and he is looking to sell Craig’s Roadsters for his parents. The first one is a purple ‘32 with a flathead. Bryan doesn’t have a spec sheet for this car, but it did grace the cover of Rod & Custom in February of 2007. Goodguys Gazette Editor Jim Aust decribed it as “flawless and timeless.” If you would like to know the specifics, bust out your copy of R&C, I know you still have it. I also included pictures below.

The next roadster is Brookville bodied, and has a 327 Chevy Small Block. From what I can tell by the pictures and the information from Bryan, the car is 90% complete. It needs carpet, and door panels. It is painted ‘58 Olds Sea Foam Green, with an original ‘32 firewall and a ‘32 chassis. I have a little more information on this one. If you are interested in owning a new roadster, and would like to help out the family of a lost Hot Rodder, email or call me for more information. I can get you in contact with Bryan Smith

-Jerry - (800)750-9550 - jerry@roddersjournal.com

0702coverzoom.jpg
craig-smith-32-roadster.jpg

grean-rdster.jpg

exterior2.JPG

exterior.JPG

TRJ Winter Catalog

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Winter comes but once a year, and now it’s almost here! TRJ has the perfect gifts for the holiday season! Especially for those of you living where the winters get cold, check out some of our new jackets we have available. Similar to our Classic “black on black” TRJ Letterman jacket we’re still selling, we now have a TRJ “maroon on maroon” Letterman jacket with a wool body and leather sleeves. Also new, the TRJ Dickies Eisenhower jacket. This one comes in all black with our TRJ Shield logo in red, much like our black hats. Another great gift idea is our TRJ Car Coat that comes in a all navy color with our logo chain-stitched on the back. This is one of my personal favorites because I really like the “peacoat” kinda feel that it has. The great thing about all these jackets is they’re very versatile and will look good on both genders!

Our most popular t-shirt, the men’s “weesner” is now available in six different colors! We still carry the black and white, now you can also wear it in army green, blue, cardinal red and maroon. Perfect colors that are in style year round and would make a great stocking stuffer!

Not much longer!

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

We’ve got alot of new and rockin’ stuff coming your way! The Rodder’s Journal is working on numerous projects that’ll be available for you all within the next month or two. First off, TRJ’s Publisher, Steve Coonan, is “leaving on a jet plane” this weekend to make sure our new 28 page catalog turns out perfect for our customers. We are getting so much new product in stock the staff here can hardly wait! The inside of the catalog contains never before seen t-shirts, car club jackets, and kid’s clothes. Of course I’m very anxious to have more of a variety of women’s wear too! We really hope that you are just as excited as we are!

Our next issue #38, is printed and will be available to TRJ readers in a short amount of weeks. TRJ never disappoints to provide extremely entertaining, well-informed stories and without a doubt cool cars! Inside the new issue are full spreads of the famous Orange Crate and Sam Barris Merc, as well as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the L.A. Roadsters Club. I actually had the privilege to look through many old albums of people, cars and history that was of key importance to the L.A. Roadsters Club and Show. I was able to read really old letters and notes from club meetings and see the faces of the people that started such a wonderful tradition. It was truly amazing to imagine the decades I was unable to be a part of. Look for some of these pictures featured in the upcoming issue!

I have received many questions about when we will be obtaining more copies of the 50 Years of Rod & Custom Book and I’m happy to announce that we are in the process re-printing! We’re now taking orders and recommend the sooner you order, the better! Sign up and be the first to receive your book within 30 days after it comes into our warehouse. You can contact us for your order via phone, Email and/or website. After selling out completely in the first round of copies, we’re definitely hoping that history does in fact repeat itself!

–Ashley

0505rc_fifty_z1.jpg

New Stuff

Monday, September 24th, 2007

The holiday season is quickly approaching, and The Rodder’s Journal has some great new merchandise for yourself or your favorite Rodder. We have created a couple of new Fall lines of T-shirts, jackets, car club plaques, and hats, as well as new womens shirts and stuff for the kids. We also will have new colors for our most popular shirt, the Weesner design T. Look for these great new products on the website in the upcoming weeks, or check out our new catalog that will be available this fall.

Speaking of our catalog, Art Director Suzi Hutsell and the TRJ crew have been hard at work putting it together for the past few weeks. Our photo shoot for the catalog was yesterday at Fred Stokes’ Ranch in Santa Rosa, CA, and we would like to thank everyone who participated. Many friends of TRJ showed up with their cars and families, and a good time was had by all (Besides the 3 AM departure time, that is). It was a great location, and ranch owner Fred Stokes has some serious stuff. On his 7 acre property he has a barn, barber shop, antique gas station, and a chapel. He also has American nostalgia filling each building, such as old signs, milk/oil cans, tractors, gas pumps, license plates and more. Some of Fred’s cars include a Deuce Roadster, 2 El Caminos, a ‘54 Olds Coupe, a 30’s fire truck and gas truck, and no less than 20 Deuce pickups in various stages of completion. The best part of the whole shoot was that Editorial Associate, Geoff Miles, and myself were privileged enough to drive Publisher Steve Coonan’s Deuce Roadster to the photo shoot. Driving the Roadster across the Golden Gate Bridge was a fantastic experience. You will be able to see all of this in our new catalog and the great new products we have this Fall.

-Jerry

P.S. Come find our Booth and say hello at the NSRA show in Sacramento on October 5,6,7 and the Hot Rod reunion in Bakersfield on October12 and 13!!!


My Catalog Photo Shoot pics:
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Welcome

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Welcome to The Rodder’s Journal Web Log. This will be used to give our valued customers an inside look as to what actually goes on here at TRJ Headquarters. We will update you on what our staff is doing, what stunning custom is currently in our studio (Sam Barris Merc), and what to look forward to in the future. Let us know what you think.

-Jerry

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

About

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

For more information about The Rodders Journal, please visit the About the Magazine page on the main Rodder’s Journal web site. That page is located here: http://www.roddersjournal.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=6&chapter=0