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“YOU DON’T WANT A GRILLE THAT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE KICKED IT IN WITH THEIR FOOT”

Dan Baker of Alumicraft Street Rod Grilles jumps from the road home to the Round Six Podcast and talks all manners of turning aluminum chunks into chips. More than that, we talk starting a small business, career transition, life lessons, and bartering work for a Pines Winterfront grille. Heck, we even touch on the demise of some Schwinn Stingray bikes. It’s got drama, heartbreak and Maytag repair. You aren’t going to find that kind of range at twice the price anywhere else.

THINGS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Dan’s involvement in a couple of 2019 Ridler Great-8 cars
• The history of Alumicraft Street Rod Grilles
• Attending the 1971 Street Rod Nationals
• Growing up in the industry
• Starting small in the back room of Dad’s house
• Using a bandsaw and table saw to craft a grille insert
• From Maytag repairman to building custom grille inserts
• The ugly 1937 Dodge sedan that started it all
  Road trip tales of Dan’s first car
• Scavenging parts from a “buck-a-whack” car
• The sad demise of that first car (and some Schwinn Stingrays, too)
• Life lessons and getting priorities in order
• Building everything to order
• Watching the most popular grille go from 1936 Chevy to 1937 Chevy car grilles
• Having your product ripped-off by one of your dealers
• The multitude of grilles for fiberglass-bodied cars
• Making sure that a grille fits when it gets to the other side of the world
• The Pines Winterfront barter story
• When to call in a pro
• Keeping up with trends
  – When discretionary income dictates a trend
• Working with a designer versus recreating a factory piece
• The importance of setting up at shows
• Go-karting
• The WD-40 connection
• Window-licking and wearing a helmet; Brad takes a shot at Brian
• Dan butters us up
• Brian sees his shadow and decrees the start of show season
• Alex explores early-Springtime fashion on the left coast