A visit to Tardels's 'Flathead Ranch'

[41PICUP]

First day of Hot Rod Week included a visit to Vern Tardel's

 

[41PICUP]

Some more pictures

 

[bonesy]

I've the B/T book cover to cover five times. That place has got to be the coolest on earth. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[hbleadsled]

41 pick boy I would love to go through that place. is it in El Cerrito. nice photos. Harold central coast Ca.

 

[34flathead]

i was up there for last years hot rod reunion, it is a cool place.
rich

 

[sturgis 39]

What is the history of the ranch? Does he sell stuff? Where is the ranch located? Who is the owner? Does he like visitors? How do you contact him?

I can only hope my place looks that good some day.

 

[Brendan]

what is hot rod week?

 

[fordcragar]

I was there a couple months ago, well worth the visit. Nice people!!

 

[Payne]

what is hot rod week?

It a week long tour of Northern California shops and sights put on by the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association leading up to this weekend WestCoast Nationals in Pleasanton, CA.

Here the information from the Goodguys Rod & Custom website www.good-guys.com

Hot Rod Week is here! Four jam-packed days of hot rodding fun will feature shop visits, lunch stops and kickin’ tires with rodders from around the globe! No registration is required and there is no fee. Just show up at the Pleasanton Hilton at 8am each morning this week, get a map and head off to join the fun! All tours leave the back parking lot of the Hilton at 8:30am sharp!

Monday 8/23 – North Bay Area
Hot Rod Week 2010 starts off with a bang, heading to three of the North Bay area’s most treasured stops. We’ll start the day in historic Santa Rosa with visits to Fred Stoke’s Old Gas Station & Oil Can Collection and Vern Tardell’s “Flathead Ranch.” Opening Day will conclude at Steve & Glenda Castelli’s auto and memorabilia collection in scenic Healdsburg. It doesn’t get much better than this folks!

Tuesday 8/24 – Sacramento Valley
Day two will head east to visit California’s Capitol City, long a hot bed for hot rodding, with stops at John White’s “Rams Head Auto Collection” –which features some of the rarest and most pristine Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge automobiles you’ll ever see, So-Cal Speed Shop and the day’s final stop - the Taj Mahal for traditional hot rodders – Sacramento Vintage Ford!

Wednesday 8/25 – South BayArea
The Hot Rod Week tour moves to the Silicon Valley for day three with the first stop of the day at Larry Carter’s Car Collection featuring an eclectic blend of American and foreign autos. From there we’ll head deep into the Santa Cruz Mountains for a scenic drive and a stop at Canepa Design (home to some of the world’s most exotic race and sports cars) then back over the hill to San Jose for the day’s final stop at historic Goodie’s Speed Shop – former home to Lew Arrington’s Brutus Funny Car as well as the legendary “Jungle Jim” Liberman car.

Thursday 8/26 – North Bay and Wine Country
Wrap up Hot Rod Week 2010 with a visit to Al Engel’s car collection in Richmond featuring a wide array of classic cars and some great memorabilia. Then it’s up to the beautiful Sonoma Valley to the B.R. Cohn Winery for a visit to the exclusive wine property (which holds weekly classic car shows) and a look at proprietor Bruce Cohn’s private vehicle collection. The final stop for Hot Rod Week 2010 will be at Robbie Azevedo’s Pacific Coast Customs in American Canyon for a look at what this hard charging young customizer and his team are working on!

For more information contact Fred Zimmerman - f.zimmerman@comcast.net

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

Looks like an awesome place to visit. I'm also wondering about the location and can anyone just visit his ranch at any time? I may be in CA this October and sure would like to visit Vern Tardel's Ranch.
Is this picture below possibly a picture of the famous AV8 from the Bishop & Tardel book...."How to build a traditional Ford Hot Rod"? If so, did you take more pictures of this car, and if you did, would you please post them here? Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!!

 

[Displayman]

Awesome pics. I would love to visit that Ranch.

Bob-Hampshire, Illinois

 

[Uncle Bob]

Looks like an awesome place to visit. I'm also wondering about the location and can anyone just visit his ranch at any time? I may be in CA this October and sure would like to visit Vern Tardel's Ranch.
Is this picture below possibly a picture of the famous AV8 from the Bishop & Tardel book...."How to build a traditional Ford Hot Rod"? If so, did you take more pictures of this car, and if you did, would you please post them here? Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!!

The picture you copied is a '32 so not the famous AV8, though the colors are very similar.

Here's a link to Vern's site:http://www.verntardel.com/ If you look on his contact page he's got an address and a fax number, as well as commentary about purposely NOT giving out a phone number because it gets in the way of work. Might be a clue there for unannounced visitors.