In small towns all across America there are still places where sparks fly, things are handmade and handshake deals happen. It seems that the traditional ways of making and maintaining things is disappearing and instead being replaced with everything that is temporary and disposable. The knowledge and skill set required to work on mechanical based things that don’t require a degree in computers is rapidly fading into the past. Alas, there are people who believe in an honest day’s work and keeping alive machines that were built to last and are still working after many, many decades of hard use.
In the small town of Hanford, CA, a town of roughly 55,000 residents situated about 30 miles south-southeast of Fresno, sits a business named Hanford Auto and Machine, owned and operated by Timmy McMaster. Tim, or ‘The Y-Block Guy” as he’s also known, has amazing stories of the original Hanford Auto Supply and its cantankerous former owner. Nowadays you can hear the sounds of big machines ring through the shop as Mr. McMaster works on all kinds of projects from tractors to historic 4-bangers to hot rodded y-blocks. Talking to Tim his passion for this is clearly evident and his knowledge and experience is invaluable as this expertise becomes increasingly rare.
I was lucky enough to spend a few hours wandering in his shop as I was heading to the annual Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, CA. It was not nearly long enough to capture the full story of this wonderful, history filled location, so I’ll have to return someday to dig a bit deeper. In the meantime, these are a few shots just to get your imagination running. And, if you need someone with the knowledge and the passion to work with you can reach the shop at (559) 584-4487.
At the end of the day Tim was nice enough to bring out one of his cars and we shot a few frames in a lot across the street from the shop. I love my job.
And that time that I asked him to do a burn-out so I could get an action shot and then completely missed the shot. *sigh*
A huge thanks to Tim for taking the time to share his passion and shop with me and my cameras on that beautiful day in October, 2017.