Grapevine. Early Ford. Our Catalogs Made the Difference. The Old Ford and Hot Rod News. Catalog #1. Catalog #16

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1 Fall 2016 Early Ford Grapevine The Old Ford and Hot Rod News FollOw the Leader in Early Ford Parts 2016 Bob Drake Reproductions Our Catalogs Made the Difference Since we are celebrating our 45th anniversary this year, we got to thinking about our history and how our catalogs are the thing really setting us apart from the competition. Bob learned in the early 70 s just how important it was for his customers to know what s available. In 1973, with his very first, simple, black & white catalog he saw his business grow, and allow an expansion into more and more new products. This trend continues today. As the business grew, so did Bob s vision. The catalogs became an expression of his passion for early Ford vehicles. Catalogs are Bob s way of sharing beautiful automotive art, photographs, stories, tips & technical info, collectibles and just about anything else early Ford related. What Bob created is more than just a catalog! Catalog #1 The first catalog was a doit-yourself project using images copied from old Ford specification books, black & white photographs and line drawings. Bob hand typed the all the text, which he then cut and pasted to create his layout. Yes folks, he actually cut the paper, applied cement, and pasted it onto a composition board. There were no computers involved in those early days. It was a real education into the world of graphic design and printing. Always looking forward to challenges, having an artist s eye, and the need to create, the catalogs evolved as Bob s knowledge and graphics technology expanded. Bob says catalog #16, produced in 1985, was a real turning point. This was a more expansive catalog, built to organize the parts into related categories and not just part number order. It was much easier for customers to find their parts and related items when they were shown together. The catalog team also took pride in providing more NL16C 22 Pages in-depth descriptions and tips to make parts shopping smarter and more enjoyable. They set up elaborate photo shoots to produce the various chapter themed title pages. A spiral binding helped the opened book lay flay for easier use. This ground breaking project forever raised the bar for our future catalogs and those of our competitors. Catalog # Pages Above: Bob arranging a photo shoot. Below: Bob, his brother Scott Drake and Shannon Fain working on catalog #16. Continued page 2

2 Catalogs continued Catalog # Pages Cars & Pickups Soon the catalogs became full color, were printed on better stock, and grew to phone book size. They became page parts emporiums, you could hold in your hands. Our latest offering, catalog #30, was released in June and has received great reviews from customers. From the beautiful Ed Tillrock painting on the front cover to a celebration of the 1941 Ford s 75th anniversary on the back, it is another Bob Drake work of art. Born of hard work and built on some amazing history, it joins the rest. Our catalog covers have become a museum collection of automotive fine art, but that is another story (perhaps coming soon). Drake s catalogs have now become collectibles, selling at swap meets and on Ebay. Thank you, our wonderful customers, for making the Bob Drake catalogs such a success. Find us on Facebook A Quick look at Some New Books Many of you are familiar with well known rodder, restorer, and author Vern Tardel. His popular Let me Help You series of books are also well known and have earned a place on many a gearhead s bookshelves. Our latest acquisition in this series is Book #8 - Vern s Helpful Restoration Tips. This should be required reading for anyone attempting to work on an old car. The basic theme of this book is how to take things apart without screwing them up and what to do when you do mess something up. I wish I had this book a long time ago, as it would have prevented a lot of frustration. Ask for BK-139 just $11.00 or get the whole 9-book Let Me Help You Series, BK-125-K for only $ BK-139 BK-121 If your a die-hard Flathead fan then don t miss, How to Rebuild and Modify Ford Flathead V8 Engines, another book by Vern and friend Mike Bishop. This is one of the best Ford Flathead books to come along in a while. Ask for BK-121 just $ BK-138 Another new book worth mention is Daniel Sanchez s The Complete Book of Ford F-Series Pickups. All F-Series truck fans should have a copy of this compelling, beautifully illustrated, hardbound edition. Licensed by Ford, this book traces the history of the popular trucks with insight into the many design and mechanical advancements keeping Ford ahead of the pack. Ask for BK-138 just $

3 Looking for a Deal? The Fabulous Fifties are Back at Drakes Bob s Garage Sale always has a variety of good deals on quality products. Three different kind of parts find their way here: Closeouts, Seconds and Overstocks. Closeouts: Sometimes certain items just don t sell enough of to justify reordering. Maybe production or materials cost rise beyond what s reasonable. Other times our vendors go out of business or discontinue certain products. Whatever the reason, we will not be stocking these items again and they go on Bob s Garage Sale for liquidation. When they re gone, they re gone! Seconds: These are parts with minor flaws that keep them from passing our strict Quality Control standards. They are perfectly good parts in terms of fit and function, but are not show quality due to some imperfection. These parts may be great for a daily driver or rat rod but not up to par for concours judging or trailer queens. Overstocks: Sometimes we just have to reduce inventory to make room for the new parts. There s nothing wrong with these parts and they tend to sell quickly on the Garage Sale. So don t wait too long because you never know when this discount will disappear. MADE Click the Special Offers button on our website to find Bob s Garage. You may just find something that interests you and save some cash! Get on the Bob Drake Emai l List You'll get the latest on... Web Only Deals New Products Current Sales & Specials Don t worry. We promise to never share your information with anyone. See for our expanding line of parts. 3

4 Early Ford Grapevine FALL 2016 L.A. ROADSTERS 2016 A report from the land of Swaying Palms and Topless Cars As usual, Roadsters from far and wide rolled into town on schedule for their annual Father s Day celebration. Some sizzling temperatures made their way into town as well. With temperatures reaching 100 +, the beer stands were busy slinging brew and quenching people s thirsts all weekend. Those who weathered the heat enjoyed everything the yearly Show and Swap had to offer this time around. Such a cool show can always tolerate a little heat after all. As anticipated, we passed out our brand new, hot-off-thepress annual Catalog to about 2,000 lucky attendees. We brought a truck stuffed with will call orders and enjoyed passing out the goodies while visiting with our many customers. It s also a pleasure to visit with the other vendors, automotive artists and friends old and new who happen by. Bob with Evan & Josh two of the new generation of Drake sales personnel. Josh from our sales team made his first trip to the Roadster Show. With a great passion for the hobby he enjoyed interacting with customers, learning more about cool old hot rods, and sharing what he knows. He was impressed with the number and variety of roadsters and other beautiful cars, but wishes he could have spent more time checking them all out. Josh was excited to meet automotive artist Tom Fritz whose work he loves. Plus he got to play golf for the first time which he described as an interesting experience. As always, Bob enjoyed looking for rare items and searching for nice samples at the annual Swap meet. He didn t seem quite as bothered by the heat saying it s always hot in Pomona, but he was concerned about fires burning in the hills above San Dimas. Bob enjoyed seeing Did Mr. Brizio forget this was the Roadsters show? Hey, just kidding Roy. We always enjoy eyeballing the beautiful collection the Brizio team brings and these cool coupes were no exception. 4 Drake is always lighting the way as this display so aptly shows.

5 Early Ford Grapevine FALL 2016 another successful catalog debut. Our customers were pleased with this latest offering and we received a lot of positive feedback. See page 8 for catalog ordering details and get one of your own today or go to our website and download it. Parking lots overflowed with topless beauties as the 2016 Roadsters roared into town. Bob seems real happy with this sample of our soon to be released 1937 Grille Fabulous 50 s Charity Car Show 2016 A local Grants Pass, Oregon event, the Fabulous 50 s Charity Car Show is part of our week-long Back to the Fifties celebration. Car enthusiasts from Southern Oregon and beyond converge on our community every year for the car show, cruise and related festivities. With temperatures anticipated to be in excess of a scorching 100, this year s crowd filled the park early for a look at the special collection of cars displayed for everyone s pleasure. The 20th annual Fabulous 50 s Charity Car Show did not disappoint, showing of a wide variety of cars to eyeball and enjoy. If location is everything, then this is one of the ultimate car shows with beautiful Riverside Park for its venue. The heat finally set in by afternoon, but a pleasant breeze picked up to make things a bit more tolerable. As always, we are happy to be a sponsor of this wonderful, local, charity car show. Thanks again to the Rogue Valley Classic Chevy s for hosting such a great event. Below: Another showstopper offering by local car builder extraordinaire, Randy Grubb. Above: A group of Fords on a memorable road trip from Santa Rosa, CA. 5

6 Early Ford Grapevine Sponsorships... Giving back to the exciting Hobby that supports us. Show & Event Sponsorships: One of the great things about our hobby is the wonderful mix of people and clubs, that are the foundation of our exciting car culture. We realize a lot of what the hobby is about is sharing. The focus is the beautiful cars built to be displayed at shows and enjoyed by all. The shows are often hosted by clubs and organizations who donate proceeds to community charities. When we support car shows and events, the car builders, spectators, clubs and communities are all winners. The following is a list of recent or upcoming events we have helped sponsor: L A Roadsters Show 2016 Fabulous Fifties Charity Car show 2016 NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2016 Ratrod-O-Rama 2016 Early Ford V8 Club Western National Meet 2016 Project Car Sponsorships: FALL 2016 Dress Blues 1934 Phantom Pickup This charity carbuild project will raise scholarship money for the children of slain and disabled military heroes. This beautiful 1934 Pickup, built with donated parts and labor, will be toured and promoted across the country and then auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson s Scottsdale, Arizona event. We are proud to support the families of these brave warriors. Go to customclassics.net and click News & Links for more info. Rodding USA 1932 Hot Rod Roadster Pickup This new magazine has impressed us since we first laid eyes on it. Of course we can t help but love their emphasis on traditional Ford hot rods. When they invited us to join the 32 Roadster Pickup project, we jumped right in. See Rodding USA magazine to follow the step by step building of the project. 6 Rodder s Journal Window Coupe This well known, premier hot rod magazine will soon embark on a new car-build project and we have signed-on to provide parts for the exciting new car. We are not at liberty to divulge much about the new project, but you can be sure it will be a first class venture and live up to the Rodder s Journal tradition. You can follow the step- by-step build in upcoming issues of TRJ and on their Instagram and Facebook pages. The Rodder s Journal continues to engage its readers with wonderful stories, articles and awesome photographs that entertain and educate us all.

7 Early Ford Grapevine FEATURED PRODUCT FALL 2016 MADE Patent pending 21A-8600-K Old Style Looks with MODERN COOL Ford Car & Ford Pickup FAN HUB A Smooth Running Modern Unit with two deep-groove sealed ball bearings, high strength steel shaft, and top-grade aluminum body. Finish off your Doors with Drake Quality & Value Door Seals Correct details, as original. C1TZ /1 $55.00 pair Door Storage Compartment Exact copies of the hard-to-find C5TZ originals.. $ pair Custom Cab Emblem Chrome-plated, die-cast emblem, mounting clips included. C1TZ A $20.00 each Pickup Outside Rear View Mirror Stainless steel head rolled over tinted glass. FoMoCo stamped. Includes mounting hardware and rubber door grommet. BAAA $65.00 each Outside Door Handle Plates Chrome finish with black recessed lettering. L.H. & R.H. set includes: plates, rubber pads, buttons and o-rings. C3TZ /7-A $ pair 7

8 Catalog # Ford Car Ford Pickups Now available on USB drive FREE WITH ANY ORDER ON REQUEST Or Just $6.00 Postage USA ($25 to $35 for International) Purchased catalogs include a $10 off coupon for your next order of $50 or more Parts 1937 Car upper GRILLE corner panels Car & Pickup V8 Engine Fan Hub Kit Hand Brake Cable Radiator Oil Pressure Sending Unit Hand Brake Pin Kit Convertible Rear Window Frames 2016 Bob Drake Reproductions