Nation Of Go

All around Austin, TX, you see stickers encouraging you to Keep Austin Weird. Driving through town with the gang from Austin Speed Shop you feel like you’re doing your part.

We headed out into the Austin streets with a caravan that included rockabilly guys, roller derby gals and at least one vintage hot rod with a four-foot shifter that was taller than the car’s windshield. Topped with a skull for a shift knob, it was straight from the wild hot rod art of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.



Speaking of Ed Roth, Von Franco was hanging out at the shop the day we rolled through. Franco came up under Von Dutch and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, and today takes that legendary style forward in his art – and in building cars. Franco is a master pinstriper who does custom paintwork for the Austin Speed Shop. We were thrilled when Franco grabbed a couple of Sharpies and drew an original Rat Fink on the van, hitching a ride to Austin.



Nothing seems too weird in Austin. There it was, 2009, and we were surrounded by ’50s greaser hairdos, rockabilly clothes and a couple of honest-to-goodness roller derby gals. Texas Rollergirls’ Fearlyss #14 and Vanna White Trash #28 from the Hustlers team came out for the cruise. There was even a guy named Rocco. It was all so retro that tweeting about it from an iPhone was our only real assurance that we hadn’t accidentally traveled back in time.

Partners John Joyo and Piero Deluca embrace vintage culture, so they set the tone for all this. There’s a pronounced reverence for the past at the shop. “We’re paying homage to the guys who started it all,” Joyo explained. Austin Speed Shop specializes in period-correct American hot rods. They build cars the way they were built back in the day, using parts that the original rodders used to get more GO from their rides. 1964 is the cutoff year for them, so that’s about as modern as you’ll get. They don’t put brand-new Corvette engines into Austin Speed Shop cars. They also go without modern comforts like air conditioning. Never mind the overpowering Texas heat, these purists don’t compromise.







It’s probably that hardcore dedication that attracted the shop’s newest partner, custom bike builder Jesse James. While the shop worked on transforming his ’51 Mercury basket cast, James started coming in to do some of the work himself. It’s the kind of a place where even Jesse James fits right in and they tell us, “He likes just being one of the guys.”



Music is a big part of the scene in Austin and at Austin Speed Shop. “There’s a ‘bluesy’ vibe here,” Joyo told us. They occasionally host musical acts in the shop, with live performances from the likes of Reverend Horton Heat. Away from the shop, the music and hot rod scenes in Austin converge at the Continental Club. Joyo drove us by the private garage of owner Steve Wertheimer before heading over to the club itself.

Tucked back in a mid-century suburban Austin neighborhood, Wertheimer’s dream garage is nearly as big as the original house. We found him working on his personal hot rods and got to learn about the origins of one of Austin’s better-known car clubs, The Kontinentals. Steve started The Kontinentals 15 years ago. “I’d been going to all these car shows in California,” he told us, “and I thought, ‘We need this in Austin.’” He decided to name the car club after the nightclub, changing only the first letter to make a distinction. To give us an idea of their level of fanaticism, Steve told us The Kontinentals have around 20 members “with about 70 cars.” Cruising over to the Continental Club with The Kontinentals and Austin Speed Shop was a definite highlight of our trip.













We wanted to stay longer in Austin. We wanted to kick back and enjoy the band that was warming up at the Continental Club. And we definitely wanted to see how weird Austin gets at night. But we’ll have to save that for next time we drive across the country.