DINNER WITH BARRY

After the 2000 version of the NSRA Street Rod Nationals, I had the pleasure of dining with Barry Lobeck and a couple of his friends and co-workers. We settled in for a nice big steak, a couple of cold ones and some casual talk with one of hot rodding’s most colorful personalities. Here is the part we could publish.

We’re just about into the appetizers, and I decide to go for a little history. 

GB: Barry, what was your first car?

LB: Well, I had several, but the first car to really get on the road was a 1957 Chevrolet. Jacked up in the front, hot small-block and all that cool stuff.

GB: Lobeck driving a jacked-up car? I find that hard to believe!

LB: Yeah, it was the first and only one. I’ve been slammin’ ’em hard ever since [laughter, high-fives and a sip of Jack].

Next, I went to an old standard.

GB: Where do you see hot rod styling going today?

BL: Well, I think the real hot rod—you know, the traditional rod—will always be a winner. I mean, all the other stuff may come and go, but when it’s time to build a car that always looks good, I like the traditional stuff. My roadster I built in 1977, and that #)#) looks as )%#@ good today as it did back then [laughter].

We’ve been building a lot of traditional rods lately. People like our look. We like building hot rods.

GB: Speaking of looks, what elements would you say make your cars stand out in a crowd?

BL: Well, it’s a lot of little things. Hell, we all start with the same Deuce body, and I’ll sell my chassis to anyone, but it ultimately comes down to packaging. Most of the time, I don’t know what will make the car “right” until sometime during the building process we’ll come up with a series of little things that makes the car different.

We work real hard on giving each car its own personality, from the wheels and tires to the color of the paint. There is a lot of thought in each car we build.

GB: I have always admired the stance you put on your cars. Full-fendered or highboy, it didn’t matter. You always had that great hot rod stance. How do you feel about airbag suspension?

BL: I gotta be honest with you here [if there is one thing this man is, it’s honest to a point of fault—we’re talking way past candid! GB]. We always take pride in making a car sit in that outrageous hot rod style and also be able to be driven. We build cars that work, so when we put the stance on it, the car must also work at that ride height. To me, that was the challenge.

Now, with airbags, it seems guys are driving around with an ugly stance, then come in the fairgrounds or cruise night and park the car on the ground with 15 degrees of negative camber. I just don’t get it.

Having said that, we just installed a set in the back of a customer’s car, and it makes good sense to be able to raise or lower the car according to the load in the back seat. Of course, we’re custom builders, so we’ll install anything a customer wants as long as it’s safe.

GB: Speaking of traditional hot rods, whatever happened to your original roadster?

BL: After I sold it, the car changed hands several times. Now Bruce Meyers owns the car. It’s black with checkered-flag graphics.

GB: Wow, I didn’t realize that was your old car. Funny. Entirely different paint, but the car still has that Lobeck look. Which car was your all-time favorite?

BL: I guess it would have to be that roadster. I really liked my old ’40, and I had a black Deuce sedan that was real nice, and of course I like my Deuce delivery, but the roadster really put me on the map.

He then turned the tables and asked, “What was the first car of mine you remember?”

“I remember the ’40 and always knew it as Lobeck’s ’40. Even after it resurfaced in North Carolina years later, it was still Lobeck’s ’40.”

“Really? Damn, you are an old #**)#@$! [laughter].”

GB: Speaking of old, where do you see the growth of hot rodding going?

BL: You know, all I hear is there are no young people in street rodding. Where are all the young kids? Well, in our area, there seems to be plenty of young guys under 30 getting involved in traditional hot rodding. I’m not one bit worried about the future in our area. We have huge cruise nights, and lots of young guys really dig the early hot rods. It’s happening big time by us.

GB: I always relate Lobeck to Ford hot rods. I remember you built a couple of Chevrolets over the years for customers, but if you were going to build one for yourself, what year would it be?

BL: Hmmmm, probably a 1946 coupe or convertible. I have a vision for one of those fat cars—you know, in the weeds, fenders full of tires, maybe in primer….

GB: You won the “Individual of the Year” award this year, and during your moving acceptance speech [ahem, laughter], you did get serious long enough to thank Ginny for making this all possible. How is it working with your spouse?

BL: Man, it’s the best. You know, she really makes all of this possible. Sure, I’m out there [I interject: couldn’t have said it better myself. Laughter, high-fives] and tend to get more than my share of attention. Ginny is really behind all of this, and she is into the cars just as much as I am.

We just finished up her Vette. It is soooo cool, and she loves driving it. She’ll jump in a roadster and drive to Colorado…you name it, and she is ready to go. The bottom line is we both really love what we’re doing. She makes it possible for me to be me, and how do you thank someone for that?

GB: I know working in a hobby that you love is still a lot of work. Often, we find less and less time to really enjoy the cars. When you get to do some hot rodding yourself, what is the most fun for you?

BL: Man, I still get a big kick out of jumping in a roadster and just cruising. Slink down in the seat, roll into a cruise night and have some fun. On the other hand, when time permits, it’s a blast to head out across country on our Topless Tour. Again, Ginny and I both really love hot rods, hot rodding and hot rodders. It’s what we do, it’s who we are, so we have fun anytime we’re behind the wheel.

I’m casually thumbing through some photographs we had requested from the Lobecks. In this stack are candid shots of 30 years of hot rodding, Lobeck style. We laugh out loud at some of them and marvel at cars in others. I mention to Barry, “A lesser man would never have shown some of these photos to friends, let alone for publication!”

BL: [Laughter] Hey, man, I don’t give a @@#**!!#. That’s the way it was back then—everybody looked the same. How about that shot of me and Boyd with the bell-bottoms? Now that’s cool, huh?

Dinner is over. It’s been a long week at the Nationals, and it’s time to head for home. We’ve enjoyed this time, one-on-one with Lobeck, and hope you have, too.