"Requiem for All Saints and All Souls" (Houma)
November 2, 2010
Karl Frazier
November 4, 2010
Strains of Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild” echo in your mind as you grip the steering wheel waiting for that green light.
You floor it hoping for the perfect burn out and – nothing.
No smoke, no squealing tires, just the smooth acceleration of the modern computerized car.
Despair not, oh aging boomer. Those old muscle cars are still around and being lovingly restored by the Huffaker family at Road Hog LLC.
“My son Scott thought he’d like to work on cars for a living. He was going to Nicholls when we bought an old car on a golfing trip. We came back home with it, restored it and that’s what gave us the bug,” co-owner Rodney Huffaker said.
Scott Huffaker switched over to L.E. Fletcher Technical Community College where he graduated from the automotive technology class, earning his ASE Master Mechanic Certification.
Then in September 2008 Rodney, wife Teresa and Scott opened Road Hog LLC.
“We buy, sell and work on classic cars and muscle cars whether it be engine work, restoration or whatever might need to be done. We also work on the more modern cars as well,” Rodney said.
A muscle car is generally defined as a car from the 1960’s to very early 1970’s that went fast, made a lot of noise and did well on the straight-aways. They weren’t known for their cornering, but they did have plenty of power.
“These were the pre-computer cars. When you get into the 70’s they started installing the pollution controls,” Rodney explained.
The muscle cars were also easy to work on. Ask any shade tree mechanic and they’ll tell you stories of spending the afternoon with their dad, son or, yes, daughter, tearing an engine apart trying to find that ‘something’ that just wasn’t right with an engine.
Pop the hood on a modern car and finding the dipstick can be a challenge.
“Some things about the new cars are easy. You plug it into the computer and it tells you what to repair. But if the computer doesn’t spit out a code, you’re not going to get your car fixed,” Rodney said.
Those nostalgic for the good old days of an engine with recognizable parts often stop by Road Hog just to shoot the breeze.
“We get people that come by and reminisce and look at the cars,” Teresa said.
Classic car fans come from far and wide as do the cars they come to admire at the Houma shop.
“People call us all the time with cars to sell. Sometimes we can buy them, sometimes we can’t. We may buy a car that’s completely restored already or we may buy one that is on a huge list of cars yet to be restored,” Rodney said.
The Houma businessman has a building at home full of project cars and said working on those alone is enough to keep Road Hog busy for years.
Not that it takes the Huffaker’s years to restore a car. The time it takes depends on the amount of work that needs to be done.
“We’ve never bought anything that we haven’t had to do some work to – even if it was a fully restored car. Sometimes it’s just a few hours, to months of work,” Rodney said.
Road Hog can take a car all the way down to bare metal and rebuild it from there.
“Sometimes you can just listen to the motor and figure out what’s wrong with it. Sometimes it’s simple and sometimes you have to rebuild the whole thing,” Scott said.
The mechanical and electrical work is done in house and the body, paint and upholstery work are outsourced.
Finding 30 or so year old parts would seem to be a challenge, but Rodney said the Internet has helped a lot. It depends on the part and what make and model vehicle the part comes from.
“Mustangs, Camaro’s and Chevelle’s are pretty easy. There are people that specialize in those parts. If you get something unpopular like a big four door sedan that would be tough,” he said.
The availability of parts also depends on the popularity of the car. A manufacturer may have built and sold a lot of a certain model, but if the cars weren’t kept by the owners, the parts are hard to find.
“Right now we’re looking for a hood emblem for a Cougar. We can’t find it anywhere. It was a one-year thing they did on that car and you just can’t find them,” Teresa Huffaker said.
Once the Road Hog family is happy with the restoration of a classic car, it’s time to put it up for sale.
“Most of our sales are probably out of area. We’ve received calls from Lafayette and North Louisiana and we’ve had contacts from New Zealand and Japan. We have one car that’s going to end up in Germany,” Rodney said.
Letting classic car enthusiasts know about the south Louisiana business is high on the list of priorities – but it can be tricky.
“Sometimes we don’t want to put our name out there. Other parts of the country see a Louisiana inspection sticker and they think the whole state was flooded during Katrina. We do verify where the cars were during that time,” Teresa said.
Any salesman will say their job is challenging, but the Road Hog crew has a unique obstacle. A very tight showroom.
Getting a car out for a test drive involves shuffling the showroom around.
The lack of display space and only one repair bay in the mechanic’s shop has the Huffaker’s looking for a new home.
“We need more bays so if someone wants a new set of wheels and tires, we don’t have to stop what we’re doing in one service bay, move everything out of the way and then get to work. Right now a lot of our time is just moving things around. We definitely have to do some expansion in the near future,” Teresa said.
That near future doesn’t include retirement for Rodney. When he does retire, he’ll hand over the Road Hog keys to son Scott.
But Scott’s not holding his breath – dad’s not going anywhere soon.
“When you’re doing something you like and it’s fun, you don’t have to worry about retiring. Besides I already retired once and I really didn’t like it. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Rodney said.
Road Hog owner Rodney Huffaker sits in his 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle. The muscle car sports a 496 cubic inch V-8 engine, five spoke wheels, racing stripes and Cowl Induction hood. JENNIE CHILDS
