"SO CAL SPEED SHOP" BOOK SIGNING SET FOR NOVEMBER 12 AT AUTOBOOKS

AUTHOR MARK CHRISTENSEN: “SO-CAL SPEED SHOP”
TO AUTOGRAPH COPIES OF HIS BEST-SELLER
AT AUTOBOOKS-AEROBOOKS IN BURBANK - SAT. NOV. 12
Alex Xydias, Tony Thacker, and Pete Chapouris All Scheduled to Attend Signing


Burbank, Calif. - - As the song goes: “These are the good old days,”  and they've been going on for more than 50 years now and they don't show any signs of slowing down.   His sub-title The Fast Tale Of The Racers Who Made Hot Rod History is perfect, and in his cool new best-selling book author Mark Christensen walks us through the history of a seminal component of what would become a world-wide phenomena … The legendary (and rightfully so) So Cal Speed Shop.

Oh sure, things have changed (technically): eyeballing that head-porting job is long gone and a computer-operated “CNC” machine now does all the grunt work, precisely, exactly the same every time, without taking a break (but sadly without making any breakthroughs either).  Drivers are getting huge amounts paid them to race, and every go-fast part that can be welded, bolted, brazed, or ty-wrapped to a car has a price and a part number.  Hogging out a housing, or cutting down an axel is almost as behind us as grinding our own camshafts ( … sure they did!)

On Saturday afternoon, November 12, Christensen will be joined at Autobooks-Aerobooks by the founder of So Cal Speed Shop, Alex Xydias, along with the modern day SO CAL guys Tony Thacker, and Pete Chapouris.  Together they represent an unbroken 50 years of the hot rod culture in Southern California, the cradle of the movement.

Xydias went to war a boy with cars on his mind and came back a skilled mechanic who knew what made the dreaded Flying Fortresses' so formidable and how to keep them that way.  Dripping with mechanical talent and enthusiasm for the job at hand,  Xydias joined the Army in 1944, went to the head of the class in every training session, and rose swiftly through the ranks to become a B-17 flight engineer/ball turret gunner, and loving every minute of it.   

When the war was won and this “greatest generation” came marching home, they proceeded to jump into business the way that they went to war, with both feet and with guns blazing.  Alex Xydias started his own hot rod shop right here in Burbank, when almost no one knew what a hot rod shop was or what the heck it was good for.  

This is the inside view of a long-running hot rod phenomenon and one of the true touchstones of the southern California car culture.  Pick a chapter, pick a page, and get ready to settle into simpler times, an era when innovation was ever so much more important than budget.  These rod-benders and gear-jammers did it all on their own nickel.  The old saw: “Speed cost money … How fast do you want to go?” was suspended by Alex Xydias and his merry band of poorboys as they made lakes cars out of drop tanks, and drag racers out of rusted-out prewar hulks.

If anything is evident in Christensen's lively volume, it is that Xydias was the perfect guy for the job.  Enthusiastic, honest, and a true believer,  Xydias was the right guy at the right time.  His major suit was (and remains) his ability to engage and involve people in his programs.  This guy was a quiet leader, but a leader nonetheless.  

Xydias shuttered So-Cal in the early 60's to venture into the world of automotive journalism going to work for fellow hot-rodder Pete Petersen, first as an editor and then as a publisher for some 11 years.  And, while he was at it, he and “Speed King” Mickey Thompson started a little trade show called the SCORE Show that subsequently morphed into the now-behemoth SEMA Show.

The book is peppered with the names and deeds of the pantheon of hot rod cult; in it readers will meet up with the likes of Keith Baldwin, Dean Jeffries, Vic Edelbrock, Ak Miller, Eddie Meyer, Ray Brown, Charles “Kong” Jackson, Bobby Meeks, the Pierson Brothers, Ed Winfield, and more than half a hundred other genuine legends and geniuses of the sport.

The final chapter brings the rodding phenomena right up to date with the 1997 reincarnation of SO-CAL.  Nice guy Pete Chapouris, one of the new generation of hot rodders with his head in the present and his heart in the past, decided to re-establish the brand.  Xydias gave his permission to resurrect the So-Cal name and zeitgeist … The rest is (as you have doubtless heard) is history … Ongoing hot rod history.

The shop is over in Pomona now, and the faces have changed through the years, but the same old “Sure … we can do that!” attitude is as rampant at SO-CAL SPEED SHOP (they're all caps now) as it was more than 50 years ago.  

And they're respectable now, doing special projects for the huge multi-national companies right alongside those for private individuals.  SO-CAL is no longer insider code for “street scofflaw”, it's the new way to live in the very best of both worlds, nostalgic but now at the same time.

This is the true story of a storied time … One that's still happening.  

Join these guys on Saturday November 12, won't you?  Noon to 3PM, at the legendary AUTOBOOKS-AEROBOOKS 3524 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, California (818) 845-0707  (one block East of Hollywood Way)

MEDIA CONTACT:  Doug Stokes (818) 845-0707

ADD STORE BOILERPLATE:  Autobooks-Aerobooks is the legendary bookshop in bustling Burbank that's (almost) totally dedicated to the history and excitement of the automobile.  Airplanes (especially military ones), motorcycles (especially fast ones) and trucks (almost any kind of them) are also part of the wonderful mix of media which includes books, magazines, DVDs, Tapes, paintings, posters, photos, tin signs; and scale, diecast models (hundreds and hundreds of the most accurate, coolest, neatest … gotta have 'em  diecast models).   Of late, increased interest in the classics has given impetus for a good selection of used books on both subjects (car and planes) many coming in from important collections.

Founded in 1951 by racer, track operator (Willow Springs), and former Road & Track staffer, the late Harry Morrow; Autobooks-Aerobooks has been in constant operation ever since, supplying car “lovers” and airplane “nuts” with their weekly “fix” of hot-off-the-press information on their favorite  subjects.  

The atmosphere at Autobooks is very much akin to the old general store, where the latest news and information is always a hot topic.  It's a place where cool street rods park cuddle up next to new Ferraris and well-worn Volvo wagons in the parking lot; and where the great races, drivers, and cars are all still in action (in books, on tape, and in miniature, and in the always-interesting on-site conversation).  

The store features regular book-signings with great authors and photographers and the chances of meeting someone who's a bona fide member of the “I (HEART) Cars & Planes Club” are always high any time that the store is open.  

Autobooks-Aerobooks is located in Burbank, California on Magnolia Blvd. just one block East of Hollywood Way.  Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10AM - 6PM (with a special Cruise-In, mini-car show featuring FREE coffee and doughnuts set for every Saturday morning from 8 - 11AM).  



-Stokes
See you at Autobooks!