In recent years the Sherm’s Custom Plating Road Tour has become one of the most popular of the entire season. Sherm’s owner Gary Matranga and his partners Art Holman and Dave Dougherty have been the go-to company for high-quality, award-winning chrome plating. Located in Sacramento, the Sherm’s team has many customers on the West Coast and in past years we have visited some fantastic private collections. The 2016 Sherm’s Tour did not disappoint.
Our first drivers’ meeting was held on Friday evening at our hotel just south of Santa Rosa. We had another huge group and we were up early Saturday to head north for a train trip through the Redwoods. It was a pretty drive north but mechanical problems with the Skunk Train had our plans for Saturday change to some great sightseeing in the area. Sunday we made a return visit to the amazing automobilia and petrolinia collection of Glenda and Steve Castilli north of Santa Rosa. We were even treated to a great meal after our tour of the collection.
Monday we rolled south to the San Francisco Bay area where we visited the expanded auto collection of Al Engel. Al and his son welcomed us and gave us a great tour of the autos and motorcycles Al has collected over the years. It was then onto Brizio’s Street Rods in South San Francisco where store manager Dave Cattalini gave us free rein to check out the large number of projects in the works at Roy Brizio’s shop. We spent Monday evening in the coastal town of Pacifica.
Tuesday we took a beautiful drive along the California coastline on Highway 1 to Santa Cruz and the Canepa Design facility. Bruce Canepa has vehicles on display that are definitely one of a kind and many were for sale. Vice President of acquisitions Sean Chambers gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the collection and then we toured the shop area where rare and exotic vehicles were in various stages of repair and restoration. Many thanks to the team at Canepa for making us feel so welcome. It was a short drive south to the beautiful town of Pacific Grove and we all enjoyed the attractions that the nearby Monterey and Carmel area has to offer.
On Wednesday we drove along what many people consider the most picturesque road in America. The Pacific Coast Highway runs from Monterey to our destination of Cambria. The route winds along the Pacific coast and ultimately takes you right past the famous Hearst Castle. Some of the Road Tourians took a guided tour of Hearst Castle while others relaxed and enjoyed the view of the ocean from our beachfront hotel in Cambria.
Thursday we had our final drivers’ meeting of the week. It was time to get to our destination of Bakersfield, California, and the 25th edition of the NHRA Museum California Hot Rod Reunion. The drive from Cambria east to Bakersfield took us through the wine country around Paso Robles and we drove past the intersection where the crash occurred that took James Dean’s life in 1955. We arrived at our headquarters hotel in Bakersfield later in the afternoon and settled in for what was going to be an exciting weekend of nostalgia drag racing at the Famoso Raceway 20 miles to the north.
The action got started on Friday morning at the track.
Rose Dickenson who heads up publicity for the Wally Parks Motorsport Museum and the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion had arranged a special parking area for the Sherm’s Custom Plating Road Tour group. We were located between the famous grove area and the huge swap meet. The finish line could be seen from our vantage point and we were next to the many vendors that were in attendance. It was another great weekend at the California Hot Rod Reunion. The 25th anniversary celebration brought both participants and spectators to the track in record numbers. It was definitely the place to be that weekend in October.
For expanded coverage of the Sherm’s Tour, go to streetrodder.com. The Sherm’s Custom Plating Road Tour was again a huge success. This tour wrapped up the 2016 ARP/STREET RODDER Road Tour season. The schedule for 2017 is out and we will have 10 great tours to choose from this season. Look at the schedule and make plans. In October the Sherm’s Tour will be back as we spend the entire week in the famous surf town of Ventura and visit collections, museums, and manufacturers in Southern California.
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