Once upon a time, not that long ago and not so far away either, before Internet-induced antisocialism was common, most hot rodders knew their neighbors and what was on jackstands in their garages. There were little shops in nearly every town where they congregated to get sage advice, buy parts, or just hang out and bench race. The guys behind the counter weren't the same variety of robotic keyboard jockey who inhabit most big chain parts stores; these guys knew their stuff and could guide you with expertise. And as a bonus, some of them even had machine shops in back, making them truly one-stop destinations where you could reach gearhead Nirvana-you know, just like Salem Speed Shop, which we profiled last month.
Real speed shops are few and far between these days, and there's a whole generation of hot rodders spoiled by the instant gratification of the Internet missing out on the character-building experiences and interactions that come with hanging at a speed shop. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are a handful of mom-and-pop speed retailers still out there, in spite of the Internet, in spite of high gas prices, and in spite of huge mail-order stores. You can't dial up their website; you'll actually have to call or preferably hop in your hot rod and drive down for a visit. And that's exactly what we did. We went on the road and found five time warps where grassroots hot rodding still lives.
Bontempo Bros. Competition (BBC)
Mike and Joe Bontempo actually started out as racers campaigning a front-engine dragster in the mid-'70s. The car was competitive and their reputation for building quality spread around the pits. Soon, requests from other racers to build engines and transmissions and dial in their suspensions kept piling up and the brothers decided there was a good business opportunity there. In the early days, they operated out of a car and half garage and continued racing until 1983, when they decided to focus full time on the fledgling BBC. They spent a few years in Roselle, New Jersey, before finally moving into their current digs in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1990. Walking into BBC is like stepping back a couple of decades.
"Guys tell me that all the time," Mike says. "Every new customer who walks in says the same thing, 'Wow, I haven't been in a place like this for 30 years.'"
That's not to say they're stuck in the past; BBC has a fully stocked machine shop, and the brothers are up on all the latest power tricks. How did they survive? Not by giving in to trends-they've never worked on vans or trucks. They stick to high-performance, carbureted domestics only, please. Mike credits their staying power to dedication to customer satisfaction in a business they truly enjoy. To hear Mike tell it, he really has the good life: "We all wake up in the morning to make a living, but it's more than that. I have to tell you, all these years later, I still love what I do." How many of us can say that?
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