1933 Pontiac Wins Slonaker Award 2025 | Cal Auto Creations' Andy Leach Talks About What Went Into the Build - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

Andy Leach from Cal Auto Creations describes the work involved with bringing this 1933 Pontiac to the 2025 Grand National Roadster Show.

Transcript

00:00Here we are in the Sloniker building with Andy Leach from Cal Auto Creations, and Andy

00:10you brought this, I had to even ask what this car was, it's a 1933 Pontiac right?

00:14Yeah.

00:15First of all, how many 1933 Pontiacs are there to choose from to build like this?

00:21We laugh because we started the car, the owner just corrected me, it was like 8 years ago,

00:27Bill called and said I want to do a 1933 Pontiac, and it's like a 33 Pontiac, did you just say

00:3233 Pontiacs?

00:33Uh huh.

00:34But no, that's the fun part, if you cut something up enough you can make it cool looking.

00:38That's kind of what we did, this is Rick Ulfers and Eric Hanson, some of the main guys in

00:42the shop, heavily involved in the car.

00:45Who does what then in the shop?

00:47I do a little bit of everything, I do a little bit of everything too, I don't paint, I don't

00:56mind doing body work, but other than that I'm okay with everything else.

00:59So that's very specific, a 32 Pontiac, was that a personal reason for the owner, like

01:09this is a car I've always wanted, my grandfather had it or something like that?

01:14The way I understand it is Bill really likes trains, and he fell in love with the front

01:19end of a Pontiac.

01:20You have to look at the stock one over here, because the front end kind of, it's got this

01:23big shovel thing that sticks out.

01:26Like a cow catcher on a locomotive.

01:27It's actually horrible.

01:28Or you can just go over there and look at the stock one, that's why we brought it, but

01:33he fell in love with that and just basically the lines on it and everything else.

01:38So that's why I was wondering, why start with that and do what you did?

01:41So he had this, I love this particular car, and then from there you work with an illustrator

01:47and then design elements?

01:50So when we got the car, somebody had built the frame rails, they had at least started

01:55them and then we went back and reworked them all, but the frame was there, the basic frame

01:59and then the body shell, and the body shell was a mess, I mean a complete mess.

02:04So it was already cut up and then Eric Black got involved, and Eric Black does a lot of

02:08my design work with me, and we just started cutting the thing up and moving things around

02:12until it's like, oh that's pretty cool, and the big thing is the wedge section and we

02:16pushed the rear fenders up three inches into the body and pushed the back of the body forward

02:21and tipped it so it's more like a Vicky, just kind of softening the lines and everything.

02:26You start getting the major proportions set, then all the little details kind of start

02:30just falling into place.

02:31What's Matt do for you?

02:33Matt does a little bit of everything, so three, a little bit of everything, and then everything

02:37gets done.

02:38Matt started as a high school sweep up kid, and now he's like, yeah he's painting and

02:44stuff.

02:45That's very cool.

02:47A lot of changes in 11 years.

02:49Yeah, no that's great.

02:51So yeah, I heard some of the presentation you did to the judges yesterday about all

02:57the body modifications, and then the color is the huge standout also.

03:03The color, the wheels, the ride height.

03:05We should get Randy.

03:06Randy, why don't you come step up in here.

03:07Hey, how are you?

03:08Yeah, John McGann.

03:09Nice to meet you.

03:10You do excellent work.

03:12Is it a custom color?

03:14Yes.

03:16So what do you call it?

03:18If you were to describe it to people, oh yeah?

03:21Can you say it?

03:22Yeah, you can say it.

03:23Brass hole.

03:28Is this car difficult to paint?

03:30It was actually.

03:31It was very sensitive to dust, so even the smallest piece would just magnify itself.

03:37So you had to be really clean.

03:40Not that you don't do that anyway, but this one was more so for some reason.

03:44That's interesting.

03:46Even within the paint booth, just your normal way you do things?

03:48A lot of cleaning on the booth.

03:50Everything you did, it still wasn't good enough.

03:52They're never perfect.

03:53They're as close as you can get them.

03:55We're always chasing that tail, but you never catch it.

03:59Yeah, I can imagine.

04:01So what's the process of a multi-year build?

04:05You start with basically obviously tear down, and then moving sheet metal around.

04:09Where does the interior fit in?

04:11When do you decide on the color?

04:13All that.

04:14Basically, when we get a car like this, we'll get it on the frame table, get ride height established,

04:18figure out our tire sizes, and build everything around that.

04:21And then move drivetrain to where it needs to go.

04:23Basically, you want to get the ride height set.

04:26Then you get the motor trans up so everything clears and everything looks good.

04:31And then build exhaust and everything.

04:33And then you go into building the floor and starting all the structure and all that.

04:37It's kind of a process, because you want to build the house.

04:40You want to get the foundation set, and then you just start constructing from there.

04:44Get the major things set, and then that's where the fun stuff comes in,

04:48because then the detail stuff.

04:50You step back and you start looking at headlights.

04:52It's like, man, that thing needs big-ass headlights on it,

04:54just to balance out the big fenders and stuff like that.

04:57And that's where all these guys come in, because we all give each other a lot of crap.

05:02But that's where it's fun, and the passion takes over,

05:04because if everybody agrees on it, then it's right.

05:08That makes sense, yeah.

05:10And everybody contributes.

05:13Sometimes I have really dumb ideas and they've got to talk me out of it,

05:16and sometimes they have great ideas and we roll with them.

05:19It's a team.

05:21Yeah, it makes sense.

05:22So, for example, the headlights.

05:24Are you trying different production headlights?

05:26Are you making different things?

05:28For example, those headlights are actually 34 Oldsmobile headlights.

05:32You start studying all the different cars of that era.

05:36You're like, those are cool, that would fit it.

05:38And the taillights, one night, cruising on eBay late night, couldn't sleep,

05:42found these 34 Cadillac lenses, and it's like,

05:45we've got to build the taillights around those.

05:47I don't remember how we stumbled upon the 34 Oldsmobile taillight buckets as well.

05:51I think once you found the headlights, we just started studying the taillights.

05:54But then it's like, well, those two don't match up,

05:56so then we've got to model and machine a bezel that looks like they all fit together.

06:01That's the creative fun side of it.

06:04And then the last thing I wanted to ask you guys about is

06:07the Pontiac engine, which I think is cool.

06:10It's not an LS or something like that.

06:12It's a 400?

06:14Yes, a 400 Pontiac.

06:18So kind of roughly a 70s era Pontiac.

06:20Yeah, exactly.

06:22How much power does it make, and what's the transmission?

06:24A 4L80E transmission.

06:26Power-wise, we're not 100% sure.

06:28We think it's 600, 700 horse area.

06:31You don't need a ton, really.

06:33Yeah, yeah.

06:35Bill supplied the motor, and we didn't get a whole lot of paperwork with it.

06:39So that's where we think it's at.

06:41It sounds great.

06:42It sounds good, yeah.

06:43And the starter sounds cool, too.

06:44When you fired it up yesterday, I was like,

06:46it's like whatever starter motor you guys...

06:48What was that?

06:50It sounded so unique, just a Pontiac.

06:52Oh, okay.

06:53It sounded kind of like a race car,

06:55the way it spins up really fast.

06:57So I was like, that's pretty neat.

06:59I think the car is absolutely gorgeous.

07:02I'm happy to see it here.

07:04And I hope you guys do really well this year in the Salonica Award.

07:07Thanks a lot, you guys.

07:08Awesome.

1933 Pontiac Wins Slonaker Award 2025 | Cal Auto Creations' Andy Leach Talks About What Went Into the Build

Category

Transcript

Recommended