WHEELS IN MOTION

PETE CHAPOURIS . October 04, 2022 . All Feature Vehicles

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Pete & Jake’s 40th Anniversary

Pete & Jake’s 40th anniversary? How is that possible? In fact, how is it possible that Jake and I sold our little Temple City, California-based business to the Slovers and moved it to Kansas City, Missouri more than 28 years ago? Time really does fly, especially in the car hobby and the world of hot rods.

Visiting the Slovers’ sprawling Pete & Jake’s facility today is a major treat and somewhat of a time-warp. Of course, the first thing you see when you walk into the well-appointed showroom are the Pete & Jake’s coupes in perfect shape and totally unrestored. It’s amazing really, considering the multiple cross-country road trips through Rocky Mountain blizzards, Kentucky downpours, Great Plains storms and massive truck ruts on I-40 between Albuquerque and Tucumcari. The cars do look great, thanks to the TLC shown by the Slover clan.

The Slovers (L to R): son Jason, Jason’s wife Tina, mom Peggy and family patriarch, Jerry.

This is early in the morning at the Pete and Jake’s facility before the crowds and cars hit ready to party at the 40th anniversary celebration.

Pete & Jake’s expanded its chassis business over the years, purchasing the Super Bell Axle Company. Back in the ’70s it was considered a sister company to Pete & Jake’s, so buying it made sense. Combining the two companies was also advantageous because the Midwest location offers central shipping coast to coast.

Back to the anniversary: Pete Eastwood, who was the first Pete & Jake’s employee, and I decided we must attend the party. Reservations were made, and as the date grew close we found other Pete & Jake’s pals were coming to town as well. P-Wood and I were joined by Bob Rothenberg, Ken “Posies” Fenical, Ray Lark, “Coyote” Bob Smith, Curt Cunningham, Ed Belkengren, Charlie Smith and Scott Buell, just the right crew for a super celebration.

Check out this lineup spanning 23 years of good taste with what I call, starting with the perfect hot rod platform.

Here’s something you don’t see often: Howard Whitley’s ’56 Safari wagon. Wheels, tires, stance—it’s all right on the money!

On Saturday, the Slovers hosted a 250-car event with a packed house of spectators, and raised $32,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation during the pinstriper’s auction. We had a great time; it was a blast. A funny thing happened at the close of the event; the conversation settled on how many of us would be around for the 50th. It was a unanimous decision: all of us, for sure.