Lake Havasu City, Arizona (on the border between Arizona and California) became famous in 1967 when the London Bridge (Yes! that London) was relocated to Arizona. The bridge was purchased by Robert P. McCulloch and literally disassembled and relocated at Lake Havasu City, a planned community established in ’64. The reconstruction of the bridge was completed in ’71 and links an island in the middle of the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City.
And while this is what makes the town of LHC famous worldwide the other fact makes this town famous in the world of rodding…there are 45 Deuces that permanently reside in this town of 54,000 residents. (That alone is impressive!) Yet, the feeling among many rodders is that there are far more and more coming all the time as many hot rodders move to this area. While the show is known for its tremendous attendance of Henry’s finest…the 1932 Ford in all of its models the show is also open to all pre-1957 hot rods guaranteeing a great turnout with this year pushing 500 hot rod cars and trucks.
The three-day show which begins on Thursday and is hosted by the Havasu Deuces the Havasu Deuce Show begins on McCulloch Blvd. Come Friday it is the Garage Crawl and River Run. All of this is followed up by the big Show ‘n’ Shine in Rotary Park (on the lake and within a short distance of the London Bridge) in Havasu City where the nearly 500 hot rods showing up on Saturday for the fun and raffles.
Major sponsors of the event include: Koul Tools, Sam Nichols Electrical Inc., Frontline Graphics, Boat Brokers RV & Classic Cars, Sepulveda Commercial Development, and Root Brothers. The car club also raises money for the local high school Lake Havasu High School each year for various programs within the school…a great way to give back to the community. And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention all of the volunteer help that it takes to pull off this show. There is the Havasu Deuces staff, volunteers from other surrounding car clubs, and, of course, all of the behind the scenes help from the ladies (wives, friends, and kids) that made sure that all the right strings were pulled and if a knot came up, they unraveled it!
Rotary Park was the site of the Saturday Show ‘n’ Shine and drew 235 Deuces from a number of the neighboring states as well as another 200-plus hot rods of all years, makes, models, and build style.
The Garage Crawl this year included personal collections and shops: On the tour this year was the George Sepulveda Museum, which is something to behold it alone is worth the trip. Next up was the Dick Raczuk car collection and a tour of his shop which is the birth place of Koul Tools, and for those who have used them you get it and for those who haven’t you really should give them a try…amazing addition to any hot rodders tool box. There were three other shops on the tour: Crash Customs LLC (they specialize in small repairs to complete builds and body and paintwork along with upholstery is done in-house), Lakeside Speed & Shine (specialize in body and paintwork, turnkey builds, and service and repair), and Dean Messmer’s Collection, which is located at the Boat Brokers’ facility.
While you could spend an entire day going in and out of these shops and looking at all of the current and soon to be completed projects the reality is you are always within a short hop back to downtown and the London Bridge.
What a great way to spend an early weekend in March…a break from the winter clims and a chance to drive the ol’ hot rod make this a weekend affair to remember. For more information on how to attend the 2019 Havasu Deuces show you can visit their website: www.havasudeuces.com.
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