Hot Rods and Custom Cars of the Sacramento Delta

By John V. Callahan

The Sacramento Delta has produced some of the finest hot rods and custom cars ever made. The passion of the area's builders is evident in the incredible cars they created, which drew nationwide attention. Harry Westerguard, who taught George Barris bodywork, worked on the second "America's Most Beautiful Roadster"----a 1923 "T" that was a style-setter for its day. Bob Dron built his first custom when he was only fifteen and a half, and Lenny Byer created his own "Candy Apple Red" in Rio Vista. Detroit might have had its vision, but the Delta region built its own. Discover the stories behind the cars and their builders as author John V. Callahan takes us on a trip down memory lane.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Feb 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781439666067

John V. Callahan

John V. Callahan published his first hot rod articles, the monthly "Callahan's Car Corner," in 2003 with the River News Herald. He grew up in Rio Vista and Lodi and served three years in the U.S. Army before returning home and attending San Joaquin Delta College. He worked for the United Parcel Service for thirty years. He enjoys bird carving, hot rod building and several volunteer programs in Lodi, including being chairman of the Art's Commission in 2005 and 2006. This is his first published book.

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engines.

PART I

THE BUILDERS AND

CUSTOMIZERS

LENNY BYER

LEGENDARY CUSTOMIZER

Lenny T. Byer came to Rio Vista in the early 1950s. He was born in Farmington, Arkansas, on January 5, 1933, and moved to Brentwood, California, when he was eight years old. He graduated from Liberty High School in 1951. He was drafted in 1953 into the U.S. Army and sent by ship from New York to Italy. After Byer waited there for three weeks, the army sent him to Salzburg, Austria, where he was assigned as a chief cook for his unit. Lenny served his two years’ enlistment and left the army as a sergeant. He returned home and married his high school sweetheart, Joanne.

He began working as a body shop man in a car dealership. He learned how to do the basic things everyone in the automobile repair trade knows. One must learn to bring bent, busted cars back to original condition. Along the way, he learned to work with the lead that was used as body filler.

Lenny Byer is remembered as Byer’s, not Byer, by many. Why, it just sounded good when bragging about the work he did to one’s car. It seemed to carry a natural sound when explaining the work done to your ride. It usually started by the nearest primer spot on the body metal. Words were used that you wouldn’t understand unless you dug the lingo. Primered, channeled, chopped, leading, raked and drag pipes were commonly understood, and Lenny was an expert at applying these things to whatever you brought to his shop. He worked in Rio Vista and commuted daily home across the mile-wide bridge, south along the two-lane winding levee road along the Sacramento River. He went along Brannon Island to Sherman Island and over the Antioch bridge to his home in Oakley. At times, he commuted with Doug Morden, who worked with him at Bauman Motors, where he ran the body shop, and again later when Byer had a shop in Brentwood.

He told me that the car pictured below was his first ever custom project. It started as a 1927 turtleback Ford and became an art deco classic. It was a popular style in the ’30s and continued until after World War II. Popular cars of the time like Cords, LaSalles and fabulous Auburn Speedsters are still in style today. It was the first true hot rod he ever built. Those early roadsters were solid yet somewhat bulky in appearance. They needed to be sturdy, as they were also used for daily transportation. The hand-formed front end with its cow catcher–style front bumper and sleek rounded nose flowing to the louvered hood and snap down side panels were all smoothed to the body lines. The interior is a tucked and padded leather rolled over the body and features a huge steering wheel. The windshield had chopped posts that hold the elegantly curved windshield that also matches and supports the curl of the cowl and instrument panel. The turtleback rear end was molded to fit the curve on the back of the T body. Moving down are unique fenders. They cover about half of the wheels and were actually spare tire covers that were customized to follow the theme of the car. Big, fat, whitewall tires and full hubcaps were also blended in to the rest of the car. The frame is visible and very powerful, mounting the chromed wishbone supports that attach to the front and rear axles, keeping it in proper alignment. This is one of the finest examples of the elegance that was brought into the world of hot rods, demonstrating that true style was not just for high-end factory cars. They are numerous, but this was a one-of-a-kind Concours d’Elegance