Signed Blue Vintage Racing Jacket

For the longest time, I had been searching for a vintage racing jacket when I am out doing my thrift shopping. It took me more than 15 years to finally find one. Here's the story -

I had been running around Stockton one day, for what I can't exactly remember, but when I am in the area I try to search through a couple of different thrift shops when I'm in town. I stopped in at one of the few I frequent, and when going through the mens jackets I just couldn't believe my eyes. As I said, I had been searching for one for at least 15 years. I stopped, took a real good look, and then pulled it from the rack. I was amazed at how good the condition of this jacket was. So I immediately tried it on. "WHAT! It actually fits!" was all I remember that was going through my head. And when I saw the price! "$4.00!" So of course I just had to buy it.

Over the period of about 3-4 years, I had occasionally worn this jacket. I would wear it to car shows, or just when I was out and needed to keep warm. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention this - It's lined with blur faux fur. This jacket was a just too awesome. Then one day it hit me, Maybe I should start getting this thing signed. But by who? Well, at the time, I am always running down to Laguna Seca, wait, let me say it properly, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. At least that's what I had to call it while I spent the four years as a SCRAMP Volunteer, working in the Paddock. But for some reason I just never did get it signed. Then one day last year in February, I had decided to wear it when I went up to the Sacramento Autorama. Yes it was slightly chilly, so I actually was wearing it. During the day I came to find Gene Winfield chilling in his booth. I didn't know he was even going to be at the show! So I waited for him to finish his conversation with someone, and then I started to chat with him myself. I can't really remember what we talked about. But then, wait, I have a video camera. "Hey Gene! Do you mind if I do a quick Interview?" And wouldn't you know it! He said "Yeah! Sure!" So I asked my buddy Alfredo who was with me if he could hold the camera while we chatted. So He helped out. Then, when we were done I decided to ask Gene if he would sign my jacket. And of course he did. But now I wasn't sure if I was ever going to wear it again. Then Gene Showed me his Shop Logo patch. So of course I had to buy it to put it on my jacket. Then that was it. I moved on.
Not too long after the event I went ahead and put the patch on the jacket. And then it was put away as I really didn't want to wear it now that it was signed. It wasn't until November when I went down to Southern California to visit my parents that I pulled it out again. While visiting, I had planned on going to the Bo Huff Rockabilly Extravaganza up at the Riverside Municipal Airport. I had talked with John D'Agostino to verify that he was going to be down for the event, So I wanted to be sure to bring the jacket. I had been seeing John off and on throughout the year, so I wanted to be sure he was going to there. I also had read that Gene Winfield was to be there, along with The King of Kustoms himself, Mr. George Barris. I couldn't miss this opportunity to get his signature on the jacket now could I. So At this point, I decided the jacket was going to only be signed by Custom Car Builders. Why Not! So I when I was visiting my parents, I went to the show.

While at the show I was doing my usual photo and video thing. But then I found John and George at their booth. Gene ended up having another event that he was to be at, so he wasn't at this one. So the first thing I did was said hello to John and decided to hang out for a bit. So I asked John to sign the jacket. Then George. I grabbed pics of the two signing the jacket, and of course I had to get pics with these men myself. Then I just stayed around chatting for the rest of the day. In this time though, I couldn't forget the man that was putting this event on, Bo Huff. So I grabbed a chance to get him to sign it as well, along with a photo with him. It was a great fun day at the event for me. Hanging out with John, since I had gotten to hang out with him a few other times during the year. But hanging out with Mr George Barris for about 4 hours was just too awesome of an experience for me. Anyhow. So far this is all I have to say about my now Signed Blue Vintage Racing Jacket. If I get more signatures on it, I'll be sure to write about it. So I would like to thank you, whoever you may be, for reading my story. Check back often for more cool things I have to share that are in my collection of Automobilia, and feel free to share on whatever Social Media you may be frequenting.

Getting Signed by Gene Winfield

Signature and Shop Logo Patch

Gene Winfield's Signature

MY GENE WINFIELD INTERVIEW

Johnny D Signing the jacket

Me (second from left) John D'Agostino (far right)
and his cousins from down under.

George "The King" Barris
signing the jacket

Me and The King

Bo Huff and Me

My Tag Heuer Dive Watch

About ten years ago, give or take a year or two, my wife and I went away for the weekend to Monterey, California. It's only about a two and a half hour drive from where we live, so it was just another weekend away from home. As far as what I'm writing about, I don't know! Let me just get down to what the title says this blog is about.

While in Monterey we drove down the road from Cannery Row and I came to this Antique Store. So I pulled in and we walked around for quite a while. I happened to go into one section and being me, I have to look over just about everything. I happened to notice this F1 car on the bottom right side of a display case. I didn't know what it was on since it was pretty much buried in a pile of stuff. The F1 car was all I could see. So I reached around into display case and pulled it out from under the other items. I was rather shocked to find that it was a Tag Heuer Watch. It was a good find. Then I saw what the asking price was. WHAT! $27! I just had to have it. So of course I bought it. Along with a few other items. Anyhow, check out the pics and feel free to tell me what you think. Thank you for reading and visiting my blog.

Photo I used on my Instagram

Original Case

Paperwork, Watch and Inner Case, Outer case

Close-up of watch

Close-up of paperwork showing
Ayrton Senna McLaren Honda
Formula One car

Close-up of back of case
showing "Tag Heuer" Logo

A little story about me!

Hello! my name is Todd, I have another blog about events I attend or just fun weekends or trips I take. So, just to do something different than my normal blog, I decided to do another one that shows my collection of various automobilia items. It could be anything from a book about a certain marque, or a piece of diecast in the collection, to a poster I may have found somewhere and just had to buy it. I have been a collector of quite a few things over the years, but always seem to get back around to automotive related items.

As far as my career, I was in various parts of the construction field from about 15 years old, up until about 35. I ended up in retail when I decided to start my own business back in November 2004. To start that venture off, I bought some inventory from a guy that was moving, and changing his business to another location closer to his home. I sold everything automotive related from diecast, posters, books, magazines, to apparel, neon signs, neon clocks, and more. I loved having the business, and it started off fairly well, but after moving it to be closer to my own home, things went south. The town I lived in was not the right location for what the business was. I should have stayed in the original location and just kept on commuting the 30-45 minutes. OH WELL!

After about 2 years of struggling, I shut it down, went back to work, and sold the rest of the inventory on eBay. I stayed in retail, but it was construction as well. Did that for nearly 3 more years. I left that job and was off for a few months when I got my dream retail job. I worked at the Ferrari Store in San Francisco. Things were going great until I met a Car Guy out of Hollywood that I recognized from TV. Fireball Tim Lawrence. We talked for about 30 minutes, and during the conversation I mentioned that I was thinking about going back to school. He then asked me - "What do you want to do?" I then told him - "I want to be a custom car builder." He then stops me before I could even finish my sentence and tells me -"Stop thinking about it, and just do it!" I was surprised, but yet thought it was cool that a car guy was telling me this. So that week I went online and set myself up for classes at the Community College. So, I have recently gone back to school to change my career. I spent all the time needed to get the Certificates for Autobody, and for Paint. I got a job after that, but nearly six months into it, the guy lays me off due to him owing 3 years in back payroll taxes. WHAT THE! How does a business last that long without paying taxes, yet "Payroll Taxes?" Now I have been struggling to get another job. The problem now is I don't have enough experience.

Now that I have been having a hard time getting another job, I have been upping my sales again on eBay. I have been going through some of my own stuff in my collection, but I have also been hitting various places to find things that will make me some money. And, in these places, I come across some pretty cool automotive related items. So, I figure I would share them with the world. These items may be items for my own personal collection, or items I will be selling on eBay or Etsy. Besides selling on those two sites, I have recently taken a welding class at the same Community College, and a class to learn how to pinstripe from the world famous Herb Martinez. I have known Herb for years. I would see him at the local Goodguys car shows, then I started selling his shirts at my store when I had it. So now all I need to do is get some practice time in to get good at that. Besides the stuff I have already mentioned, I also have been an amateur photographer for many years. Recently took up videography and started my YouTube Channel.

Now that I have told a little bit about me, I will be updating the blog with cool stuff that I have found, or what is in my collection. I will add links to the items I have for sale in my eBay store as well. Thanks for reading! And, if you like my blog, feel free to share it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you do your Social Networking.