THE THIN LINE

Love, hate, confusion, disgust-this very different hot rod gets every reaction.

- BILL GANAHL

This is not your ordinary hot rod, and this is definitely not going to be your ordinary HOT ROD article. For one thing, I'm about to break every rule of proper journalism; I am anything but objective, and I'm definitely not supposed to be speaking in the first person. You see, I built this car, and the owner is a good friend of mine, so I might be a little biased. But I'm also able to tell you a very personal story about this unique hot rod and how it came to be. I'm hoping you'll forgive a few journalistic transgressions while you read this story. It's a long one, so buckle in. I think it will be worth it.

The owner of this beast, and my confessed friend, is Coby Gewertz. If you haven't heard his name before, there's a chance you've heard of Church Equipped, his "side-hustle" company through which he creates and sells T-shirts and smallformat automotive photography books. Or maybe you've seen his green '63 Econoline van named "Van Go," which took the vanning world and the 2011 Grand National Roadster Show, where it debuted, by storm. But Coby's path seems as though it was always going to end up here, with the incarnation of this car, in this crazy and unusual style. I almost don't think he had a choice. Allow me to explain.

Coby's family is steeped in drag racing culture. His father, Bob Gewertz, grew up in Fremont, California, and was a fixture at Baylands Raceway in the '50s and '60s. He became the flag starter for the track between '62 and '64 and campaigned and drove his own Top Fuel and Top Gas dragsters from '64 on, winning BB Gas at the Winternationals in 1970. Bob continued to work for the NHRA for decades in addition to his job as a high school teacher, and Coby was raised in this drag racing environment. He traveled with his dad and brothers to races all over the country as a kid, absorbing the culture and becoming infected with the hot rod bug.