Chuck Lombardo

By Gerry Burger

The hot rod and street rodding world lost another pioneer this week when Chuck Lombardo, founder and operator of California Street Rods passed away. We will mention just a few of the many awards Chuck received over his lifetime of hot rodding, but there was much more to this man than a list of awards.

One such award that helped launch California Street Rods into the limelight was building the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winner in 1982. Chuck went on to build numerous NSRA Giveaway cars, serve on the Board of SEMA, win NSRA Industry Man of the Year and was inducted int the Street Rods Hall of Fame, among other awards. His cars were featured in and graced the covers of many rod magazines.

Chuck Lombardo was one of the pioneers of the modern street rod movement. Like so many hot rodders of the sixties Chuck’s first car was a basic ’39 Chevy sedan, not much glamour there, but by the time he was seventeen he was behind the wheel of a black ’56 Chevy with a warmed over small block and a four-speed. The hot rod bug had bit hard. From there he went through a string of 1962-64 Impalas and one of his all-time favorite cars, a 1960 Corvette that he swapped a 409 motor under the hood. He took a job working in sales for a chemical company that eventually transferred him to California, stark contrast to New Castle, Pennsylvania. Finding an endless supply of rust-free cars and a plethora of vintage Corvettes, he began buying, improving and selling fifties and sixties cars. He sold enough cars to acquire a dealer license under the name California Cars.  This was the early seventies, just about the time the modern street rod movement really began to take off. As fate would have it, Chuck was building a ’33 Ford 3-window coupe and the term “street rod” was coined to describe pre-49 vintage hot rods. To show how different things were in the early seventies, Chuck swapped a 6-71 blower set up for the top chop on the coupe, ah yes, the good ole days.

This was around the time Pete & Jakes, TCI, Deuce Factory, Super Bell, Hot Rods by Magoo, Ron Francis Wireworks, Hot Rods by Boyd and others were all getting started. Sensing these early hot rods were coming on strong Chuck changed the company name to California Street Rods where he began building mostly traditional hot rods. And, as they say, the rest is history. With his son Chuck Lombardo Jr. working his way up through the ranks of the company and his wife Linda handling the office duties. California Street Rods went on to build high quality hot rods and even the likes of Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame and Jay Leno were customers over the years.

The National Street Rod Association was really growing with the shows getting bigger every year. Street rod companies were displaying their wares and doing brisk sales. Not one to miss a business opportunity, Chuck had, what was the standard street rod company rig, of a dually truck pulling a trailer. As time went by Chuck became one of the first to roll into a street rod event with a brightly colored, huge tractor trailer rig.

While we are not certain how he managed to do this (although we suspect it happened at the SEMA Show), Chuck managed to introduce Chevrolet and B.F. Goodrich to the world of street rodding. He carried their displays in his big rig and many street rodders still associate that giant B.F. Goodrich inflatable tire with the California Street Rod outdoor display they saw at virtually every major event in the country.

Meanwhile back at the shop they were turning out multiple NSRA Giveaway cars. One of the more memorable ones involved a partnership with Chevrolet when they built the ZR-32 Chevrolet roadster. At the time it was certainly the most exotic give-away car ever built. This would be the first-ever Chevrolet roadster street rod to be an NSRA Giveaway Car. Chuck and his son, Chuck Jr., collaborated on the design and with the help from

Thanks went to Experi-metal for the steel ’32 Chevrolet body and Woody Gilmore working in the California Street Rods shop to complete the custom the chassis work. Chevrolet supplied basically an entire ZR-1 Corvette as a parts donor. From the LT-5/ZR-1, four-cam, thirty-two valve engine back through the six-speed tranny to the LT-1 suspension this Chevrolet roadster was an incredible build to be given away in Columbus, Ohio at the 1990 NSRA Street Rod Nationals. The California Street Rods rig became a staple at both NSRA and Goodguys events.

The builds, the accolades and the exceptional cars continued to roll out of the California Street Rod Shop in Huntington Beach, California. Not long after Chuck Lombardo Jr. took the helm, Chuck felt home calling and moved back to New Castle, Pennsylvania. He opened a small branch shop of California Street Rods there; it was a fine blend of business and hobby. Chuck continued to produce his Back to the Fifties car show in New Castle drawing it to a close after the 37^th Annual show.

In his later seventies Chuck was retired, although never far from a hot rod of some sort. The big west coast shop of California Street Rods gave way to a smaller version where Chuck Lombardo Jr. continues to turn out cool hot rods on a smaller scale. The traveling days are over, but the Lombardo tradition continues.

Chuck is survived by his children, Tamra Lombard (Edward Holsinger) of New Castle, Chuck Lombardo Jr. (Dawn) and Marci Lombardo both of Irvine, California; a sister, Carole Defiore (Fred) of Hubbard, Ohio; and four grandchildren, Alexandra Marshall (Billy Sacco), Lorenzo Lombardo, Massimor Lombardo and Paolo Lombardo.

So, as you can see, Chuck Lombardo was a colorful man, a guy who always made time to talk, generally with a big smile. His cars and accomplishments in the street rod industry will not be forgotten, and Chuck Lombardo, the man, will be missed.