Been There, Done That – Five Minutes with Tony Thacker
It’s tough to place Tony Thacker in an industry category – hot rod enthusiast, journalist, author, marketing pro, or historian. He’s done all those things, but it’s probably best to simply call him a hot rodder through and through, as few people have been as entrenched in the modern rodding world.
There wasn’t much of a hot rod scene for Tony growing up in Kent, England, and he was just never interested much in F1 and road racing. He worked his way into UK hot rodding magazines early on and eventually made the move to Southern California to kick off a career as a hot rod author, speed shop marketer, museum director, and land speed car and vintage hot rod owner and historian. We caught up with Tony as he was preparing to head to Bonneville for the 2024 SpeedWeek.
GG: Growing up in England, how were you introduced to Hot Rod Magazine?
Tony Thacker: In the early ’60s I had a paper route and somebody on that route took Hot Rod Magazine. I was never smart enough to ask who or why, but I’d sit on the curb surrounded by gray cars and gray skies reading about red and yellow cars under blue California skies. It was mesmerizing.
GG: You worked at a couple hot rod magazines in England. What was the scene like there?
Thacker: I trained as an engineer but never really enjoyed it and then in the early-’70s along came Bike Magazine and Custom Car Magazine. I had no relevant training, couldn’t spell, couldn’t punctuate – still can’t – but enthusiasm and pretending you know what you’re about can get you hired. I joined Hot Car in 1978 but soon moved to Hot Rod & Custom UK and then Custom Car in 1982.
The UK scene was very different from the US scene. Apart from Anglias and Austins, we had little domestic raw material – very few ’32 Fords and fewer ’33s or ’34s. So, we built a lot of odd rods that rarely worked. And it was almost impossible to get things done. You could build an F1 car easier than you could build a Deuce coupe.
GG: You came to the US in 1988, largely without a plan. How did you end up working for SEMA News?
Thacker: After a photo shoot that got rained out, I’d had enough of the British weather and jumped a plane to Los Angeles. I was already good friends with Pete Chapouris, who was VP of Marketing at SEMA at the time. Pete invited me to lunch and to start networking. “What the heck is networking,” I wondered? I had lunch with Pete and Dick Wells and was hired on the spot and started editing what became SEMA News. I certainly got to understand what networking meant and met everybody from George Bush to Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top.
GG: How did you get involved with SO-CAL Speed Shop?
Thacker: Eventually, I worked myself out of a job at SEMA. I was antsy to do something else. I tried my hand at automotive book publishing. David Fetherston and I published some books and one of them, Hot Rods by Boyd, was for Boyd Coddington. Unfortunately, it landed just as he declared bankruptcy, putting David and myself in a very sticky situation.
Meanwhile, my friend Chapouris was about to re-launch Alex Xydias‘ SO-CAL Speed Shop. I knew and admired Alex from my SEMA days and it seemed like a no brainer. Chapouris was great to work with and we enjoyed almost 10 years together building the SO-CAL brand.
GG: And from there you became a museum director?
Thacker: In 2006 we put together a 60th Anniversary SO-CAL display at the Wally Parks Museum with almost no budget. It was very successful, and I was invited to become the museum’s director, which is really a misnomer for the ‘guy looking for money.’ Running the museum was the best and worst of jobs. It was great to be involved with all my drag racing heroes and the two Hot Rod Reunions, but it was a very complicated situation.
I was headhunted to move to Portland, Oregon, and build a museum for the late Dave Bany. Again, I had no real qualifications beyond enthusiasm and the American way of saying yes. So, I said yes and worked on World of Speed for three years. It was a fantastic opportunity but sadly, after I left, Dave died prematurely and that was that.
GG: You had your hand in marketing roles for several builders in the 1990s. Do you have a favorite car from those days?
Thacker: I owe the marketing roles to Tim Sousamian of Trader’s Truck Accessories, who mentored me in how that business worked. He nudged Boyd Coddington into giving me a job and I worked with Chip Foose in the design studio. Boyd would often send me on photo shoots with their creations. Driving the Boydtser II up a mountain with dodgy suicide doors was nerve wracking but I loved the car.
While at SO-CAL I bought the Thacker and Shine Roadster from Kiwi Steve Davies and that has to be one of my favorites. With Jimmy Shine at the wheel, we eventually got into the 200 MPH Club.
GG Any new books coming out soon?
Thacker: I love the process of putting a book together, and I think I’ve just completed my 30th – I’ve lost count. I finished a top chop book for CarTech as well as a Hot Rod Mavericks book for Motorbooks.
GG Is there anything you haven’t done in this industry that you’d like to try?
Thacker: Funny you should ask as I told my wife, ‘I’m done. There’s nothing else I really want to do,’ and then in the last couple years I restored an old barn find hot rod, a ’27 roadster on Deuce rails parked since 1958. Through my friend Geoff Stilwell, I acquired the old Dos Palmas Machine Spl. AA/Gas dragster from 1963. We got it running and I shipped it to Santa Pod in England for its 60th Anniversary. I also got to go to Brazil for the Santa Catarina Custom Show and Yokohama for the Mooneyes Show. So, I was wrong, it’s not over yet.
