Legends in Hot Rodding: Roy Brizio — Car Crafter Extraordinaire
Sometimes, to recast a cliche, the spanner doesn’t fall far from the toolbox. In other words, who you came from influences who you become. A genetic imperative, as the scientists say. One clear example of this truism is Roy Brizio, the esteemed hot rod builder from South San Francisco. For more than four decades, Roy Brizio Street Rods has built multiple AMBR winners and crafted rods for celebrities, rock stars, and literally hundreds other rodders desiring a well-engineered and beautiful hot rod.
Born in San Francisco in 1956, Roy is the son of the late hot-rod legend Andy Brizio, a proud son of Italian immigrants. Andy’s exploits have been chronicled previously in this column, from his days as a flagger at Half Moon Bay dragstrip, to running his own hot rod shop, offering the Instant T-bucket kit (one of which was crowned AMBR), and serving as a guiding force in the Bay Area hot rod scene, not to mention the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association.
It’s from this cocoon of car culture that Roy emerged. His father treasured a photo of young Roy sitting on the cowl of a ’32 five-window coupe at the 1958 Oakland Roadster Show. He was 18 months old.
As he grew older, Roy was a constant presence at his father’s shop and at the adjacent Champions Speed Shop. Andy took him under his shop coat and taught Roy how to weld and fabricate. In high school, he devoured shop classes in auto, metal, and machining. Then after school he worked for his dad. That’s how a high school kid ends up with his first car being a ’32 Ford coupe.
In 1977, Andy decided to close his shop and get into the T-shirt business. Subsequently, Roy took the plunge and hung out his own shingle – Roy Brizio Street Rods, working in the corner of Champion Speed. Two years later, he moved into his own space in South San Francisco. Word of mouth and quality craftsmanship powered the business, but he also benefited from the emerging renaissance in the street rod aftermarket.
This was an important time in the street rod industry,” Roy explained in a recent phone conversation. “Pete and Jake’s, TCI, Super Bell Axle, Wescott Fiberglass bodies were just a few of the businesses that launched during this era.”
With new companies opening all the time, plus the burgeoning Street Rod Nationals and an expanding media environment – Street Rodder, Road Action, etc. – interest in street-driven hot rods boomed – and Roy’s business rode the wave. But one project in particular accelerated RBSR like a Top Fuel dragster seeing the starting lights go green.
Roy owned an early Wescott ’32 Ford roadster with a chrome Duvall windshield and small-block Chevy. Jim Davis of B&M Transmissions had developed a street-friendly supercharger. To prove its everyday reliability, Davis convinced Roy to mount the supercharger atop the V8 and then drive across the country to major events. More importantly, in a stroke of PR brilliance, they put editors from key publications behind to wheel. Resulting publicity in the supercharger and the car shifted Brizio’s shop into overdrive.
From that year on, the Roy Brizio “brand” grew, attracting a steady stream of customers for the next 30-plus years. Few shops can match the success of Roy Brizio Street Rods. Brizio estimates his shop has built more than 400 cars.
Brizio’s first famous customer was baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. In 1980 the Yankee slugger commissioned RBSR to fashion a ’32 highboy roadster. The late rock guitarist Jeff Beck was also regular customer. “He became a good friend and was a serious hot rodder,” Brizio said. Beck’s album “You Had it Coming” even features a track titled “Roy’s Toy,” as a nod to Brizio.
Perhaps Brizio’s most celebrated and long-standing customer is rock and blues legend Eric Clapton, for whom Roy has crafted 14 cars, a few of them right-hand drive for UK motoring. In fact, the shop is currently putting the finishing touches on a ’41 Willy coupe for the guitar maestro.
Another well-known rock icon, Neil Young, had Brizio redo a ’59 Lincoln Continental – with electric power, no less. Long-term customer Vic Edelbrock Jr.’s garage boasted ten Brizio-crafted machines.
Brizio’s shop has also restored a host of legendary hot rods, including last month’s Gazette Legend, the Jack Calori ’36 Ford three-window custom. His trophy case houses three America’s Most Beautiful Roadster awards and hardware from twice winning the Classic Hot Rod class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The San Francisco Chronicle once credited Brizio with revolutionizing custom car culture and helping to define modern hot rodding while consistently delivering fast and reliable cars that are built to be driven. Hard to argue with that assessment.
In summing up his career, Roy credits his success to his loyal customers, excellent long-standing talented employees, and his work ethic. “I’ve been a lucky guy,” he said.
The industry agrees. Last year Roy was honored with the Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award. “For nearly half a century,” explained Terry Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. “Roy’s custom creations have been synonymous with subtle elegance and his shop’s enduring popularity is the truest sign of his success.”
