The California Kid: Profile of a Hot Rod

  "California Kid"

Tribute built to look like the 1934 Ford by Pete Chapouris of Pete and Jake fame...

the details of how and why is obvious the car was made famous in 1973 when Martin Sheen (Charlie Sheen's dad) drove the cops into submission in a movie named "California Kid" (good movie, but slow)

The story takes place in 1958, and involves a town, Clarksburg, California, with a famous speed trap, in which a disturbed Sheriff Roy Childress (Vic Morrow), whose wife and daughter were killed by a speeder, turns bad, with a habit of deliberately punishing speeders by pushing their cars off the mountain highway in his 1957 Plymouth Belvedere.
Challenging the sheriff, who tries to run him off the road. McCord is ready, knowing his car's limits for the curve, and the sherriff is a victim of his own obsession, going too fast to make the deadly turn. He drives off the cliff, while McCord manages to stop.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_California_Kid
Read all about the car:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/the-california-kid-hot-rod.htm

The California Kid's signature flames were applied by Manuel Reyes.

It starred in a television movie, bucked the then-dominant resto rod trend, and played an important role in the founding of Pete and Jake's Hot Rod Repair, one of the first modern professional rod shops.

Thanks to Hot Rod magazine's Gray Baskerville, Chapouris met Rod & Custom staffer Jim Jacobs, who was pounding out his own chopped 1934 Ford coupe at the time. With similar tastes, the pair became fast friends and soon started their own hot rod business.

Pete's hot rod gained its name from a 1973 ABC made-for-TV movie starring Martin Sheen. The movie, along with the motion picture American Graffiti from the same year, spurred hot rod enthu­siasm and nostalgia, and reminded a generation how a hot rod should look and sound.

Pete Chapouris placed a Ford 302-cid V-8 engine in The California Kid.

Pete bought the car for $250 with the top already chopped. He dropped in the Ford 302-cid V-8, FMX gearbox, and quick-change rear end from a previous rod, and had Manuel Reyes apply the prominent flames.
The car originally had a set of Halibrand mags, but they were swapped for red steelies with ­beauty rings for the movie. The movie producers also had the sig­nature "California Kid" lettering applied to the doors along the belt line.
Today, The California Kid resides with Jerry Slover of Peculiar, Missouri, who acquired it in the 1986 purchase of Pete & Jake's business. Jerry was one of P&J's original customers and is a longtime hot rodder.

Movie producers changed the California Kid's Halibrand mag wheels to red steelies with beauty rings.

The quick-change is gone in favor of a Ford nine-inch rear end, and several of the chassis parts have been replaced. After all, the car has more than 90,000 miles on it! Now reunited with another great hot rod, Jake's Coupe, The California Kid has found a good home.