On the way to....

[MK]

Friday night. It was cold and wet. The sun had just gone down and my better half and I were driving over to Bob's Big Boy. No....it wasn't for the mediocre food. We were looking for cars. Not just any cars. I am talking vintage cars. Classic automobiles from the golden era.

Normally the place is packed with classic cars and their proud owners that belong to a club called "The Road Kings". Usually you need a big gun and a lot of attitude to drive through the parking lot, but due to the rain we figured there wouldn't be anyone there.

We were surprised to see a handfull of diehards huddled under the carhop sheet-metal canopy of the oldest Big Boy left in America.

We circled round to see if there was anything that would be worth exposing ourselves to the elements...when I noticed a fine looking car. That was when I noticed the fellow standing next to this fine example of a golden era motor car was wearing a fedora and spectator shoes.

All right. I was sold. I needed to meet this guy. You see....usually the classic car crowd is dominated by guys who were in junior-high (middle school for you youngsters) or high school in the fifties and are reliving thier youth. These guys might like cars from the 30's-40's but they listen to Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys, Bill Haley & His Comets rather than Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey or Count Basie. Instead of fedoras, they have white t-shirts with cigarettes rolled up in one of the sleeves.

Here was a guy clearly into the golden era. He was talking to another guy about fine ride so I took a moment to look at this incredible vehicle. It looked brand new. It was a 1936 Chrysler Airflow. It looked amazing. It was beige, had a fladhead eight cylinder engine and suicide doors. It didn't get much better than this.

The guy's name was Chandler. He was wearing a hand painted silk tie underneath his v-neck sweater. His whole outfit looked vintage.

We talked about his car, hats and the Queen Mary event. It turned out that not only is he the So-Cal director of the Airflow club, but a swing dance instructor too. He said his club would be interested in attending our QM event.

He lives very close to me and he offered to give me a ride in his Airflow.

I plan to take him up on it this week.

Photographs will be taken, of course.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

This was around 4 years ago, but that makes it the better challenge to find those photos!

I have not been to Bob's Big Boy, let alone their car show. There is a place here in the San Fernando Valley called "Cruisers" which is a carwash/diner. Every Saturday they had a car show. I went to one. It's great and so is the diner inside. I do not know if they are still open or if they car show is still active. There is also a cruisin' night in Alhambra on Main St in front of another diner, "Diner On Main". I have seen them arrive but have not stayed. They serve good food and decent enough prices ($4 and up), but the atmosphere doesn't scream "1940's or 50's". It's more modern, but the trip is good nonetheless.

Where is Chandler now?

 

[ITG]

Oh man, knowing MK is in London right now, I was reading this not looking at the dates and I saw him writing about going to Bob's Big Boy and I was thinking, "I didn't know London had Bob's Big Boys there." But I see it's an old thread. Hahaa! You got me there happyfilmguy.