Bud Crackbon

Postwar Northern California hot rodders were as active and creative as their counterparts in Southern California. This is one of many Bay Area hot rods that was quite well known nationally, appearing in color on the June 1952 cover of Hop Up magazine in a photo with the Golden Gate bridge behind the car in the distance. It is a 1925 Ford Model T bucket and pickup bed on a 1932 Ford frame. It was built between 1950 and 1952 by owner Bud Crackbon and members of the San Francisco Ramblers, one of a proliferation of active, organized hot rod clubs in the area at the time. The pickup is powered by a ’40 Mercury V8 bored .060 over to yield 248 cubic inches, and utilizes a Winfield full-race cam, Edelbrock 8.5:1 heads and a Navarro dual intake. The Ramblers entered seven of their hot rods in the 1952 Oakland Roadster Show, including the Crackbon car. It won the coveted America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award, cementing the street cred of Northern California in the hot rod universe. Becoming part of the 3 Dog Garage collection in 2025, the car remains unrestored and just as it was built, still wearing most of its original 1952 “Hawaiian Blue” paint.