Rudy Rodriguez works completely alone. In the last few decades, he worked as a Volkswagen and Porsche mechanic during the day and built hotrods at night.  Several years ago, the late nights morphed into a full time operation at home. Recently, a lack of space and growing workload have driven him to open a shop.  He was an underground hero to anyone growing up in Orange County California in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Through the 1990’s his work included bikes, customs, and hotrods. Now, he is openly praised by industry heavies like Roy Brizio. Through it all, however, Rudy remains the same humble mechanic he was 25 years ago.

Q: So you’re opening a shop?

RR: Yeah, it was time. I spent way too much time moving stuff around in my shop area at home. I decided I would actually get more done with more space. If a guy needs a break on his project, I don’t need to move stuff around to stay productive.

Q: More done? Is that possible?

RR: I was a production mechanic. Cars came in and needed to be done at the end of the day. If it was a big job they stayed a week. Never more. My hotrods are the same, they come in and I get them done. It looks like I’m turning out a bunch of cars but its really the only way I can work.

Q: Cars and bikes? 

RR: Just hotrods. I just did another bike, a panhead chopper,  but that was a favor. I like hotrods because progress is easy to gauge and I enjoy chopping them more than full cars. I have a 1940 Mercury full custom in the shop but hotrods are where my heart is.

Q: All your cars have that certain “look”, how do you describe that?

RR: I hear that a lot, but they all look different to me.

Q: You have done a lot of roof chops, what’s the secret to a good chop?

RR: Proportions and stance. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hotrod, a custom, a chopper, or a woman. Get the proportions and stance wrong and it’s a waste of time.

Q: Are proportions harder to get right on the bigger cars? 

RR: No, not really, what’s right is right. The hard part is the physical labor of it. My back takes a beating. But when you step back and look at something, it doesn’t really matter how big it is… you just step back a little further. On the 40 Mercury I’m doing now, I didn’t bother with most of the stock roof  because of  how low I went and because the stock roof just doesn’t lay down right no matter how much slicing and filling you do. So, to really see how its going to turn out, I just have to rely on my mind's eye.

Q: So you hand made the roof?

RR: No, not all of it, the front crown and rear window are Mercury steel. The center section and the main transition over the back seat is hand made. I extended the drip rails so the back portion of the side glass would look bigger. That section gets real small when you go real low and it ruins the lines.

Q: Who did the stainless trim?

RR: I did. A friend gave me some pointers and welded a few joints. I learned to control the difference in color from 1940’s era stainless to modern stainless wire with speed and heat. After a while you can get it so it doesn’t look like it was welded or altered at all.

Q: How many 1939-1940 Mercury coupes have you chopped?

RR: This is my third.

Q: Is there a network for you to rely on if you get into a problem you haven’t dealt with before?

RR: No man is an island. I have someone to call for any problem you can think of. My friends are my wealth, I couldnt name one without naming them all.

Q: I’ve noticed that your friends protect you, shield you. Its pretty tough to get in touch with you. Why is that?

RR: I am blessed to have grown up in the heart of hotrodding. Things were special in the late 70’s and early 80’s. We were all part of a cool, private scene. Perhaps my friends protect that memory, perhaps I represent that time to people in their minds. I don’t know, it’s a tough question.

Q: So you recognize that people do it?

RR: Yeah.

Q: You are like a band people love but don’t want to hear on the radio? They don’t want to share?

RR: I don’t know. It doesnt matter now, I have a website with my number on it.

Q: Some of the biggest shops have photos of your cars handy when they build customer cars.  Actually, going further, an entire build style is named after you. What are your thoughts on that?

RR: If you’re talking about the truck, it was the result of the only parts I had left when I shot my load on the house. I sold my Mercury, my Panhead, hell, I sold it all. All I had left was a collection of junk and that truck was in it. People liked it and stuck my name on it. That "Rudy Style" and "Rudy Truck" stuff is silly.

 If you’re talking about the roofs on hotrods, well, they’re pretty hard to duplicate, even for me. If I go real low on a coupe, I slice the cowl apart to get the A pillars to flow instead of just bending them back. It’s a lot of work. I enjoy the 1932 to 1934 Fords mostly because they can be done so many different ways and it doesn’t kill my back like the larger Mercury coupes do. If shops have pictures of my cars in their tool boxes, that’s cool because I probably have shots of theirs. We all need each other.

Q: You recently got the "Rudy"  truck back and restored it, how did that come about?

RR: The owner (Ralph Whitworth) got in touch with me and next thing I knew, it was back. It was fun to have around again.

Q: What do you enjoy most about a build?

RR: Giving an owner his finished car. I do the best I can when I build something. I mean that literally, my work is the best I can do. If someone likes it, it feels good.

Q: So are you only focusing on customer cars now?

RR: No, I will always have my own thing going on. I like building stuff for myself and when it gets far enough along I let it go. Right now, I am chopping a real nice 1934 Ford Three window coupe real low. When the roof  and doors are done, Ile sell it. If the new owner wants to leave it in the shop and let me finish it, great, if not, that’s ok too. I will always be working on something that I own.

Q: If someone wants you to build something that you don’t like, would you do it?

RR: Most people come to me because they know my stuff, they really have never asked me to build anything that doesn’t fit.

Q: Yeah, your “stuff”. Your body of work is just incredible. I don’t really know where to begin.  What are you personally into?

RR: The Good Lord, family, and friends.

Fullerton Fabrication

Rudy Rodriguez

714-992-4963

Read a full in-depth personal story on Rudy in David Perry's book, Hot Rod Kings.

See Billy Gibbons' immaculate Rudy built 1932 roadster in Rock and Roll Gearhead