Our main focus here at Eastwood is to make products that the DIY guy or gal can afford and can produce pro quality work with. In order for us to be sure our products are good enough for you at home, we like to get our products into the hands of high end shops so they can put them to the test. This means our Eastwood “stuff” get used on some pretty high-end vehicles built by these shops. This year the Grand National Roadster Show was chocked-full of EXTREMELY high end vehicles, many of which had Eastwood products used on them! We decided to post up about our three favorite cars by some shops that we’re honored to say use Eastwood products in their builds!
Chopit Kustom is the epitome of a family oriented hotrod and custom shop. Gary Chopit and his son Nick and Fabian quietly work in their shop in Staton, Ca putting out some of the best Kustoms in the world. This year one of the cars they brought was a ’27 Ford Model T roadster project they’ve been building for a couple years for a customer. This car is as clean as a whistle, and has been completely restyled, including a hand-built aluminum front nose by the eldest son, Nick Chopit. These guys were front and center in the running for AMBR and were definitely our vote! We’ve been watching this beauty come together, and it’s really cool to see it done and getting so much attention! Chopit Kustom uses a lot of Eastwood metal working tools and it’s really neat to see what they put together! Check out the little interview we did a couple years back with Nick and Fabian and a little sneak peak of that front nose of the Track-T!
(Pic: Rod & Custom Magazine Facebook)
The problem with when someone gets a TV show in this industry is that a lot of people only associate what they’ve done with what they see on a show. Rick Dore has been designing and building wild custom cars for many years and most recently has been partnering with the legendary Marcel’s Custom Metal Shaping to put together coach built perfection. The “Black Pearl” was a hit the past couples years since it was debuted at the GNRS and we recently caught up with Rick at SEMA 2014 for a video interview (see it below). Their latest partnership was another elegant car for Metallica frontman James Hetfield. “Aquarius” was based off of a 1930’s Delahaye design and has curves that would make a pinup model jealous! Rick has been using Eastwood products both on and off his “Lord of the Car Hoards” show and this car was no exception. We were able to get our new Eastwood Solid Rivet Kit out to Rick for the detail pieces on the custom interior. This car was one of the biggest attractions for the show and had a crowd around it non-stop. We can’t wait to see it close up!
Pics: Rick Dore Instagram
Proving this must have been the year of bare metal, our friends over at Hollywood Hotrods brought out a selection of bare metal projects for everyone to lust over. Another car under wraps for a number of years was their “Mulholland Speedster”. This car was handbuilt off the shape of a 1930’s Packard and an E.Black design 1:1 rendering they had hanging on the wall. We’ve watched this car come together over the years and it’s hard to take in all of the design details on this car, all the way down to the chassis, brakes, and suspension. There’s more detail work into the suspension and chassis on this car then some “show cars” have throughout. This car hit it out of the park for us, with its perfect stance and flowing lines, it’s hard to find anything we don’t like on it! The car is still a project, but Troy and the guys decided to flex their metal-finishing muscles a bit by polishing the bare metal.. we’re not worthy! These guys have been using Eastwood products for years, and our bullseye picks get daily abuse from the crew, with them being used up to the last minute on the speedster! Rumor has it their also building the 2015 Street Rodder Road Tour car and we’re lucky enough to sponsor the build again, so we’ll be sure to keep you up to date on that build!
Pics: Hollywood Hotrods Instagram
Another GNRS is in the books, and we can’t wait to see what comes up next year, this show is by far one of the best in the country!
-Matt/EW