mikesplumbing
New Member
Hey guys!
Because of a couple service calls that got pushed until tomorrow I was able to visit Darryl , the owner of JW Rod Garage and Bear Fiberglass. It was an interesting trip to say the least.
Ill start by talking about Darryl first. When I first shook his hand I could tell right away he was a class act. In fact he reminded me of my Dad, just an old fashioned guy with old fashioned values. The hot rod industry has really changed over the years and it was refreshing to meet a guy that attended the school of hard nocks. Darryl has been fixing cars, building hot rods and manufacturing parts and components for 40 years and after getting the grand tour of his shop it became obvious he knows a few things about the industry.
For the small size of the building its amazing how many parts are manufactured by his business. As it turns out he has more than 400 dealers with both wholesale and retail accounts. In fact many of the parts that you buy and see advertised by the big boys have a good chance of being manufactured by JW Rod Garage and Bear Fiberglass. He owns the tooling, dies, and investment castings for what seemed like thousands of part numbers. Beyond T Bucket parts he manufactures his own rails, spindles, suspension, and just about everything else for all the popular rods being built today.
He walked me around the plant and I was able to see his welders and fabricators putting together some pretty sweet projects all on the main floor level. On the upper level in the mezzanine all the fiberglass molds are kept and stored and geez does he have the molds!!!
Ill get into the T Buckets in a second but let me just say, he has molds for cars that most people would never think existed. Corvettes from the 60s, Dodge trucks, and even small parts like the old style gasser and drag scoops. Of course his big seller is the famous 32- 3 window and all the other Ford models.
T Buckets are not his specialty and he doesnt really advertise them either, but he does make them and they are just as I thoughtvery good quality.
The best part was he had a Speedway body at his shop so I could look at both bodies side by side and compare the difference. As far as measurements its the same as a standard Speedway body and thats where the similarities stop.
You all know I dont have any experience with T Buckets so I dont want to pretend I do, but I do understand quality and the difference in quality between the two is night and day. From what I understand the speedway bodies are chopped glass and the ones made by Bear Fiberglass are laid by hand. I met the head fiberglass employee and was able to see the molds and how he did his work. Thats all he does is fiberglass and when I was there he was actually polishing the 23 T Bucket mold.
Its worth stopping here and talking a bit about that. As you all know Darryl was unable to have me visit the first time and he did say he was busy but it still struck me as odd. When he showed me his T Bucket body he pulled me aside and said he wanted to explain something to me. He explained that the only thing that matters in his business is quality and because he has a lot of respect for the guys building street rods like us he wanted to make sure first, he had a good chunk of time to spend with me, and second he wanted to review the molds and make a 23 body to inspect and look for errors.
When I got there he was happy to hear about our forum and had the body and the mold sitting there for me to do an honest evaluation. I thought it was pretty nice how much respect he showed towards the forum members by wanting to spend time and showing what was available to us. And when I showed up his employee was working hard to polish and inspect the mold.
The body itself is 5 layers of 1 1/5 oz. cloth matt thats on top of a really nice coat of black gel coat. You can see the parting lines but they are easily sanded and polished out for a seemless joint. Look at the photo of the 32 Ford, thats gel coat thats been polished and looks like it was painted gloss black. Anyhow, Darryl and I went back and fourth between the Speedway body and the Bear body comparing all the differences. One thing that bothered me about the Speedway body was how flimsy the body is. I know from reading the forum that you guys have to reinforce the glass but I couldnt believe just how thin and flexible they are.
On the bear body all I can say is Im glad to of had the opportunity to compare the difference because the Bear body is very strong, even with out reinforcement. I would imaging we would still have to reinforce it but not much because it really appeared tough. I was able to lift the two bodies up and the Bear was much heavier. The 23 body produce by Bear is treated and manufactured the same way as the $10,000 32 Ford body. Darryl made a point to show me the top leading edge rim of the glass on the Speedway body and talked about how chopping the glass from a gun creates thin and thick spots and on his hand laid glass bodies the fiberglass is uniform thickness and the resin level is kept at a minimum. He went on to say the ultimate strength of fiberglass is best when resin is kept at minimal levels and by hand laying the glass they can best control the quality.
As for the outside Ill first start by saying that I have been doing a lot of reading on the forums and from what I have read its normal to have to rework, fill, and level all the bumps and imperfections. Again, I looked at the Speedway body and it became obvious why thats required. On the Bear body it wasnt perfect but it was easily twice as nice and rework is kept at an absolute minimum.
About the only thing left is the floor. The Speedway body he had in the shop had a floor in it and the Bear body does not have a floor. I wasnt to keen on that but after seeing how thin the glass is on the Speedway it didnt bother me one bit.
He offers a 14 and 20 pick-up bed and also a dash and a tunnel.
Ill follow this article up with a bunch of photos but first I need to get them into photobucket.
I want to make a quick note as I finish up. Im not trying to bash Speedway one bit, but the fact is Bear Fiberglass sells the bodies for $499 and like everything in life we all have to weigh the options and choose wisely. Its my opinion that the Bear fiberglass is far superior to the Speedway in every sense of the term. Darryl is the owner of a large company that manufactures and ships parts world wide but when he shook my hand and invited me and the T Bucket forum in his shop he was every bit just an old school rodder, who has personally built many T buckets himself. He is a roll the sleeves up and get r done kind of fella. I liked that and I will be buying my body from him!
Its nice to know we have yet another option for our buckets and if I left out anything Ill try to answer the best I can. If you call Bear Fiberglass/ JW Rod garage tell them your from the T Bucketeers forum, there all a bunch of great people who are more than happy to help you out!!!!
Mike
Because of a couple service calls that got pushed until tomorrow I was able to visit Darryl , the owner of JW Rod Garage and Bear Fiberglass. It was an interesting trip to say the least.
Ill start by talking about Darryl first. When I first shook his hand I could tell right away he was a class act. In fact he reminded me of my Dad, just an old fashioned guy with old fashioned values. The hot rod industry has really changed over the years and it was refreshing to meet a guy that attended the school of hard nocks. Darryl has been fixing cars, building hot rods and manufacturing parts and components for 40 years and after getting the grand tour of his shop it became obvious he knows a few things about the industry.
For the small size of the building its amazing how many parts are manufactured by his business. As it turns out he has more than 400 dealers with both wholesale and retail accounts. In fact many of the parts that you buy and see advertised by the big boys have a good chance of being manufactured by JW Rod Garage and Bear Fiberglass. He owns the tooling, dies, and investment castings for what seemed like thousands of part numbers. Beyond T Bucket parts he manufactures his own rails, spindles, suspension, and just about everything else for all the popular rods being built today.
He walked me around the plant and I was able to see his welders and fabricators putting together some pretty sweet projects all on the main floor level. On the upper level in the mezzanine all the fiberglass molds are kept and stored and geez does he have the molds!!!
Ill get into the T Buckets in a second but let me just say, he has molds for cars that most people would never think existed. Corvettes from the 60s, Dodge trucks, and even small parts like the old style gasser and drag scoops. Of course his big seller is the famous 32- 3 window and all the other Ford models.
T Buckets are not his specialty and he doesnt really advertise them either, but he does make them and they are just as I thoughtvery good quality.
The best part was he had a Speedway body at his shop so I could look at both bodies side by side and compare the difference. As far as measurements its the same as a standard Speedway body and thats where the similarities stop.
You all know I dont have any experience with T Buckets so I dont want to pretend I do, but I do understand quality and the difference in quality between the two is night and day. From what I understand the speedway bodies are chopped glass and the ones made by Bear Fiberglass are laid by hand. I met the head fiberglass employee and was able to see the molds and how he did his work. Thats all he does is fiberglass and when I was there he was actually polishing the 23 T Bucket mold.
Its worth stopping here and talking a bit about that. As you all know Darryl was unable to have me visit the first time and he did say he was busy but it still struck me as odd. When he showed me his T Bucket body he pulled me aside and said he wanted to explain something to me. He explained that the only thing that matters in his business is quality and because he has a lot of respect for the guys building street rods like us he wanted to make sure first, he had a good chunk of time to spend with me, and second he wanted to review the molds and make a 23 body to inspect and look for errors.
When I got there he was happy to hear about our forum and had the body and the mold sitting there for me to do an honest evaluation. I thought it was pretty nice how much respect he showed towards the forum members by wanting to spend time and showing what was available to us. And when I showed up his employee was working hard to polish and inspect the mold.
The body itself is 5 layers of 1 1/5 oz. cloth matt thats on top of a really nice coat of black gel coat. You can see the parting lines but they are easily sanded and polished out for a seemless joint. Look at the photo of the 32 Ford, thats gel coat thats been polished and looks like it was painted gloss black. Anyhow, Darryl and I went back and fourth between the Speedway body and the Bear body comparing all the differences. One thing that bothered me about the Speedway body was how flimsy the body is. I know from reading the forum that you guys have to reinforce the glass but I couldnt believe just how thin and flexible they are.
On the bear body all I can say is Im glad to of had the opportunity to compare the difference because the Bear body is very strong, even with out reinforcement. I would imaging we would still have to reinforce it but not much because it really appeared tough. I was able to lift the two bodies up and the Bear was much heavier. The 23 body produce by Bear is treated and manufactured the same way as the $10,000 32 Ford body. Darryl made a point to show me the top leading edge rim of the glass on the Speedway body and talked about how chopping the glass from a gun creates thin and thick spots and on his hand laid glass bodies the fiberglass is uniform thickness and the resin level is kept at a minimum. He went on to say the ultimate strength of fiberglass is best when resin is kept at minimal levels and by hand laying the glass they can best control the quality.
As for the outside Ill first start by saying that I have been doing a lot of reading on the forums and from what I have read its normal to have to rework, fill, and level all the bumps and imperfections. Again, I looked at the Speedway body and it became obvious why thats required. On the Bear body it wasnt perfect but it was easily twice as nice and rework is kept at an absolute minimum.
About the only thing left is the floor. The Speedway body he had in the shop had a floor in it and the Bear body does not have a floor. I wasnt to keen on that but after seeing how thin the glass is on the Speedway it didnt bother me one bit.
He offers a 14 and 20 pick-up bed and also a dash and a tunnel.
Ill follow this article up with a bunch of photos but first I need to get them into photobucket.
I want to make a quick note as I finish up. Im not trying to bash Speedway one bit, but the fact is Bear Fiberglass sells the bodies for $499 and like everything in life we all have to weigh the options and choose wisely. Its my opinion that the Bear fiberglass is far superior to the Speedway in every sense of the term. Darryl is the owner of a large company that manufactures and ships parts world wide but when he shook my hand and invited me and the T Bucket forum in his shop he was every bit just an old school rodder, who has personally built many T buckets himself. He is a roll the sleeves up and get r done kind of fella. I liked that and I will be buying my body from him!
Its nice to know we have yet another option for our buckets and if I left out anything Ill try to answer the best I can. If you call Bear Fiberglass/ JW Rod garage tell them your from the T Bucketeers forum, there all a bunch of great people who are more than happy to help you out!!!!
Mike
I have to download them, crop them, and put them in photobucket, than post it. I have some really interesting photos, I think everyone will enjoy it.
