Esthetic of Style

Study in proportion and line. These are some of my favorite recent builds. Especially the Astengo Ironhead simply perfect.

Sleepers CC / MC E.L.A.

This was my old mans car  club back in about 1955 when he was 16 yrs.old . He sketched the artwork and made up the name . This artwork would have been lost to time if it wasnt for my uncle Louie Mendez Sr. catching up with someone from the old neighborhood who had the old club plate hanging in his garage. My uncle has been searching for that plate for the last 45 years. My uncle has been building Hot Rods and Customs since he was about 16yrs. Only stopped because of 2 tours in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine. He buys and sells rare and hard to find speed parts from all over the west coast shows and swaps. Getting back to the plate the reason my dad used the name sleepers was  because all the guys lived in what was then called Sleepy Valley which was in East Los Angeles east of Dog Town housing projects, south of El Sereno Hills and north of City Terrace hills along the hwy 10 corridor. My dad cruised a 39 Chevy business coupe.

Mondial

Full Fairing.

Knife at Gunfight

Someone brought a knife to a gunfight. Just kidding I like vettes up to about 69, but that Porsche will do everything a car should in spades yesterday and today.

The Duchess

Me chasing the sun. This amazing photo was taken by Maurice van den Tillaard aka The Flying Dutchman. We scheduled a photo shoot last February , after meeting at my buddy Rene Astengo's home. Photo session produced content for three different magazine articles. Currently in Airmighty spring 2011 issue. More to come on my buddy Rene Astengo's history and projects as well . The story behind the name Dutchess is that a English Duke owned the car here in L.A.

Road to Rennsport

Got back to Ben's for top end assembly. We glued solder to piston dome, assembled cylinders and head rotated motor to crush solder then measure crushed solder acheive deck height. CC'd the heads, measure 62cc did math compression ratio 9.2 to1. Flywheel endplay checked and perfect. Timing cover on, ready for valve lifters and pushrod geometry check.

God Bless U.S.