Thanks to the people who are emailing about this project. Seems there’s some interest out there in this “unusual” project.

I am working away at the cleanup process (floors, under rear seat, trunk and underside).

More photos will be coming as soon as I have time to format them.

Current stuff HERE

While summer was in full swing in Ontario by mid-May, in Calgary it had
been hit & miss – mostly miss. However, on May 15, the weather was PERFECT
in Calgary with temps in the low 20s with lots of sun. We were in town to
promote The Canadian Hot Rod Tour and take part in The Rod Shop’s second
annual open house.

When we arrived at 7:30 a.m., the early birds were already there and, as
such, the event had started. And, why not, it was a fabulous morning. Over
the course of the day, we were delighted to connect with a pile of people
from previous tour events and from the Canadian Rodder forum. We were also
expecting the arrival of our coupe which was being shipped out to take
part in the Points West tour. It did arrive that morning but, as fate
would have it, we ended up selling it a few weeks later at the Calgary
auction.

Check out its glamour shot..

Like the first open house, there was a great turn out with some very nice cars representing a cross section of the hobby. Classic Reflections
Coachworks drove up from Lakewood WA in the No. 1 CRC based on the ’62 Corvette. The Rod Shop is Canada’s only dealer/installer of the CRC
conversion package.

Entertainment was provided by Eve Hell & the Razors and The Rod Shop arranged for a fabulous pulled pork lunch. It was a fun day.

Check out the coverage in our Album section HERE. And, as a special treat, you can watch a song by Eve Hell &The Razors on our Canadian Rodder You
Tune channel that we filmed HERE.

It was only a day or so ago that I wondered if bad news would come “in threes”. Specifically, we had heard that Ontario car builder Bill Snow had passed and then, suddenly, Jason Challlice – son of Gary Challice. I hoped not but, alas, it has.  Yesterday, on Good Friday (you’re in good company bud), we lost our good friend Dave Roy aka “Davey Joe”. I don’t plan on eulogizing Dave here (you can read what his friends are saying HERE). I simply want to share a few thoughts.

About His Sense of Humour
I don’t have to tell you that Dave had a terrific sense of humour. You have to know that someone who used as his avatar a photo of Tommy Chong in character had an interesting sense of humour. I chuckled every time I saw that avatar. Being a prolific poster on  the Canadian Rodder forum, his humour was everywhere and always spot-on.

About His Generosity
I’ve been told directly, and read about, many examples of DJ’s generosity. When we hear the word generosity, we tend to think about it in terms of giving tangible physical things or perhaps time and support. As I said, I’m aware that, in these ways, he was very generous.  But he also had a generous spirit. I quote from my fourth Canadian Hot Rod Tour article:
“Upon arrival in Kamloops, we made our way directly to The Fortune Plaza. Wow, there were a ton of cars there and they were waiting for us. We were escorted through the crowd to the front of the restaurant where we were greeted warmly by our group and bunch of guys from the Canadian Rodder Forum. Neat stuff and I got another hug – from Davey Joe this time. Memorable moment of the day #3.” I was moved by this simple act of generosity and, of course, “comrodderie” as we call it around here. I had never met Dave or even talked on the phone yet he must have known I needed that hug.

The philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau said “When a man dies he clutches in his hands only that which he has given away during his lifetime.” There’s no way that Dave would have been able to clutch in his hands all that he gave to us.

We’ll miss you bud.

Want to leave a comment? Click HERE or on “Comments” just below this post.

I recently (finally) got around to having a piece of art custom framed. I can’t believe it took me so long but… It’s now hanging above and to the right of my desk so I get to check it out – a lot.

About this piece:
I was working late one night – actually very late – and checked email. An email came in asking if I had a brother. My knee-jerk thought was that it was one of those last name deals where someone who might have the same name could be assumed to be part of your family. I then, almost  immediately after that, dismissed that thought as others with the last name Colgoni are limited to my Dad and Son. And, Colgoni is not actually our name (another story there). In any case, I answered “no”.

A second email come through asking if it would be OK if my “name” was used in an art piece. I should probably tell you at this point that the asker was Matthew Labutte of Brightwork Auto Art fame. I didn’t quite understand what name usage might entail but trusting Matthew I said “sure”. Time passed and I didn’t give it much more thought to be candid. Now, fast forward ahead to a Performance World show.

I’m hanging out at our Canadian Hot Rod Tour booth and Matthew comes by to ask me to come down to his booth when I get a chance. So, a while later, I get that chance and Judy and I set off for the Brightwork booth. Upon arriving there, Matthew is talking to someone so we start checking out all of his cool artwork. We do one wall and turn to do another and I am faced with this absolutley beautiful salt flat piece depicting a ’32 roadster at speed. After that initial overall first impression, I begin taking in the details and…what’s this…”Colgoni Bros.” on the hood! To say I was surprised, elated, stunned, etc. would be an understatement (I hope the big public hug I laid on Matthew was cool).

Does it matter that I don’t have a brother? Hardly. “Colgoni Bros.” sounds cool and, after all, I do have a brother-in-law who’s like a brother. I gave him his own framed version. He digs it very much too.

So, click on the thumbnail above (if you haven’t already) to check out “The Time Machine”. Thanks Matthew. www.brightworkautoart.com

“Deuce Guy” Larry Zilinsky contacted me a while back to tell me about a project he was working on. Larry said:
I thought I’d send some pics of the ’40 Ford pickup I’m doing now. The story is that in the 50′s when I was growing up, my Dad (in the pic) had a business called Parkcrest Heating. So when I decided to build a ’40 Ford pickup rat rod, I thought I’d do it as a reincarnation / barn find /shop truck, complete with Tremclad rust flat black paint polished through – patina’d with SBC, 4 speed, whites, etc. Just a great driver & fun truck! My Dad was in tears when he saw what I was doing! Makes a guy feel good!”

Larry, thanks for sharing. More photos HERE >>