Hot Rods Take Over NorCal

Calling all mid-century hot-rodders! It's time to get your souped-up vehicle of yesteryear out of the garage, shined up, and back on the road. 'Hot Rod Week' is back in the Bay Area!

No registration, no fees. Just show up in your vintage ride and cruise with the pack.

Hot Rod Week is a popular, volunteer-led tradition for car enthusiasts, borne out of the Bay Area success story that is the Good Guys West Coast Nationals. This year, in a break from its 16-year tradition of geographically oriented rallies leading up to Nationals weekend, one of Hot Rod Week's four tours will be structural in theme.

The tour schedule for August 18-21 calls for destinations in the Sacramento area on Monday, Solano County on Tuesday, and the East Bay on Thursday. On Wednesday, however, "The Bridges and Tunnels tour will be a lot of fun because in involves a lot of California history. The route is really neat," said Drew Kristal, local events marketing manager for Pleasanton-based Good Guys.

All four tours are docent-led and begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Pleasanton Hilton. The Bridges and Tunnels Scenic Tour will proceed through several tunnels, across bridges in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Rafael, and conclude at the home of a private auto collection in Marin County.

It will not, however, include Lombard Street in the City.

"We wouldn't be able to take them on that," Kristal laughed. "That would back up like no tomorrow. These guys, they take their time."

The tours are designed to get participants safely back to the hotel before rush hour—unless you decide to linger along the way. The other three days will include visits to Sacramento Vintage Ford, the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fairfield, Moal Coachworks in Oakland, and a tour of Good Guys headquarters.

For more information about Hot Rod Week and the 28th West Coast Nationals at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, click here.