Tommy the Greek - hot rodder pinstriper

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Tommy "The Greek" Hrones of Oakland, California was a legendary pinstriper. He was the eldest son of eight children born of Greek immigrants who settled in the Oakland, California area just after the great fire and earthquake of 1906

There was plenty of work in the motor trades. Oakland’s hot rod and custom car culture flourished as the GIs came home. From the Hubbard Cams shop on Grove Street out to Hayward’s Vic Hubbard Speed and Marine (no relations) there were dozens of speed equipment suppliers. Oakland had been a center of competitive motor racing (open Sprint Cars, Roaring Roadsters, and BCRA hardtops) at circuits like Oakland Speedway and Oakland Stadium. The spotlight ramped up with incandescence in an almost-afterthought showing of contemporary hot rods and customs in the first Oakland Roadster Show, a sidebar display at the January 1950 Imported Car Show at Oakland’s Exhibition Center. Promoters Al and Mary Slonaker knew then that there really was a “There” in Oakland.

The Impact on the Hot Rodding Community

Tommy was There. His sleek, black ’36 Ford Phaeton was a showstopper—no running boards, no handles, seamless fenders, Duvall windshield. During the war years, Tommy built another landmark car: a ’40 Merc convertible featuring a chopped Carson top, sunken tail lights, recessed rear plate, Appleton spots, and moon disc spinners. Painter and custom stylist Joe Bailon, with whom Tommy would have a long and productive relationship, said “I was totally wiped out. That was the greatest car I’d ever seen!”

Tommy became a featured star at Oakland. In 1958, as Romeo Palamides tore down and rebuilt Ken Fuhrman’s A roadster, Tommy did the body ’striping and hood louvers. There was the brush, the car, and the lacquer—all props in the Tommy show.

And it was always quite a show.

11 Tommy working on Joe Castro’s radically redone ’55 T bird “Candy Bird ” 1958
Scallops and ’stripes begin to take shape on Joe Castro’s radically redone ’55 T-bird “Candy Bird,” 1958, one of Tommy’s earliest collaborations with builder Joe Bailon.

In the late ’40s, Tommy created this elegant dark green custom ’41 Caddy convertible for San Francisco society restauranteurs and show producers, Al and Katharine Williams, owners of the Papagayo Room in the Fairmont Hotel. Note the Duvall windscreen and separate passenger seating. Tommy no doubt learned bodywork at his uncle’s garage in Oakland.

Tommy’s Merc, front profile, taken in San Francisco (Life With Father film billboard indicates 1947). Early speed equipment on the Merc’s Flathead included McCollough blower and Federal-Mogul high-compression heads.

Sailor Tommy with his customized ’40 Merc convertible in San Francisco, circa 1946-47. Black and sleek, chopped Carson top, Appleton spots, seamless fenders, recessed plate chamber and rear taillights, this car made a stunning impression on a young and aspiring custom car builder, one Joe Bailon.

Tommy’s flame and motion scallops enhanced Don Ricci’s A pickup in the first Oakland Roadster Show, January 1950. The car placed Third in Originality, Street Division.

Tommy added light accent lines to Andy’s Instant T in the ’70s.

Lee Chappel’s Tornado streamliner at Mojave, spring 1951. At one time Tommy’s shops were close to the Chappel works on East 14th Street. There is no direct evidence that The Greek did Chappel’s streamliner, but accent details reflect his work on other race cars and hot rods in the same time period.

Since the first Oakland Roadster Show, Tommy was close to the Hubbard racing family in Oakland. Here his work graces the nose and body of the Hubbard B/Comp flathead-powered Crosley at Bonneville, 1952. Running a de-stroked motor, the car set B/Comp sedan record at 131.96 and took a second in C/Comp with a 296-inch engine. Those identified include a young Romeo Palamides (’striped shirt) and driver Richard Hubbard (rear of car).

Accentuating motion and body symmetry, Tommy’s spiked flame scallops intimated speed on Hubbard Racing Cams’ fuel dragster at Vaca Valley Raceway, 1958, with Dick Hubbard driving. The DeSoto-powered slingshot was built by Jack Friedland. The car had style and balance but did not perform to class standards.

A similar treatment on one of Romeo Palamides’ showy dragsters from the late ’50s/early ’60s.

Palamides’ “Untouchable” jet dragster gave Tommy a huge canvas to apply his brilliant embellishments. The car is shown at starting apron area Fremont Dragstrip, 1966. The driver is Oakland’s Lon Gredetti, one of Palamides’ daredevil pilots who also raced speedboats.

20 Jim McLennan’s ’34 Ford pickup with a subtle Tommy The Greek treatment in the ’50s
Jim McLennan’s celebrated ’34 Ford pickup, a Champion Speed Shop workhorse, received a subtle, lowkey Tommy The Greek treatment in the ’50s. Note The Greek’s “J/M” flash signature on the truck’s spare tire wheel cover, left front fenderwell.

The Edelbrock-Bosio-Ladley-Edelbrock roadster. In 1956, the black ’32 (above) bearing Tommy’s simple ’striping, won the AMBR title at the Oakland Roadster Show. Then-owner Eddie Bosio, San Francisco, is at the wheel and is joined by his sidekick, premier San Francisco engine builder Charlie Tabucchi. Bosio bought the roadster in the early ’50s from speed parts wizard Vic Edelbrock Sr. and transformed the spare and fast dry lakes racer into this street cruiser. Fast-forward almost 40 years and the car was the centerpiece in a rare gathering of Northern California rodding figures, all now gone. They include Tommy Hrones (at the wheel); then-owner Jim Ladley, Sonoma; in the passenger seat and standing (left to right) Jack Friedland, Oakland; Jim McLennan, San Francisco; Ed Hegarty, Richmond; and Ed Binggeli (Bing’s Speed Shop), Windsor, CA. Ladley sold the car back to the Edelbrock family soon after this 1995 photo and the roadster was consigned to the Roy Brizio Street Rods in South San Francisco where it was restored to its ’40s and ’50s lakes racer trim.

Frank Rose’s ’27 T bore one of Tommy’s more flamboyant scallop treatments when it won the 1954 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award at Oakland. Shown here that year at Oakland’s Lake Merritt, the car featured a tubular frame and fender and hood metalwork by master shaper Jack Hageman Sr., a longtime Tommy The Greek collaborator.

Oakland’s Frank Rose with his AMBR-winning ’27 T roadster in 1954, posed alongside Dick Kraft’s T roadster before the Oakland Roadster Show opening that year. Kraft, of course, made American hot-rodding history running his spare and dreadfully exposed “Bug” dragster at the first Santa Ana drags in 1950.

Joe Castro’s “Candy Bird,” 1958. The reworked ’55 T-bird was among the first Bailon-Hrones collaborations in the late ‘50s and featured daring re-shaped grille bars, slick lakes pipes, and emphatic Hrones accents.