Hot Rod magazine named it the Hot Rod of the Year
by Sebastian Summer
Cars played a pivotal role in Coby “Church” Gewertz’s life when he was growing up in Cupertino.
“My dad was a drag racer in the early ‘70, so I was raised at Fremont Drag Strip. I also went to Pomona a lot, and Sears Point in Sonoma,” Gewertz said. “We’d go to car shows, and we’d stop by, and see the celebrity car builders, and stuff like that.”
Gewertz never lost his passion for cars, even after he began making a living creating movie posters. Last year, his 1935 Ford 5 window coupe was named Hot Rod of the Year by Hot Rod Magazine, and appeared on the quarterly magazine’s Fall cover.
“I wanted to do something that was more creative and less stressful [than designing movie posters],” Gewertz said in explaining what led him to building the car. “So I started a company called Church. I designed hot rod T-shirts and published a little, self-published hot rod magazine. Then, I moved into cars. I started off with a couple of cars whose suspensions I modified and I got new wheels and tires for.”
Gewertz designs his cars on a computer, in Photoshop, before handing his cars to a shop for modification.
“I came out with a 1963 Ford Econoline “Van Go” lowrider. It debuted in 2011 and it’s been in a ton of magazines,” he said. “They even made a toy out of it. It went nuts.”
The lowrider was selected as one of four American cars to be shipped to Japan for a special showing in 2017.
“Going to Japan was amazing,” Gewertz explained. “They treat you like royalty. It was unlike any car show entrance I’ve ever been to.”
Even as Gewertz’s first car was being shown in Japan, he had already begun work on his controversial, award winning hot rod.
“When it debuted it was extremely polarizing. It was probably a fifty-fifty love-hate,” Gewertz said.
“It started at a shop in Santa Rosa. After two-and-a-half years, it was just a disaster. So, I pulled it out of the shop and found another shop,” Gewertz said. “We decided we needed to start over on the car, so we bought a new 1934 Ford body.”
After selling the original parts to fund the new car, Gewertz encountered another massive blow.
“The biggest issue that year was my dad passing before the car came out. He saw it in bare metal, but he passed before it was painted,” Gewertz said. “My friend Bill, whose shop in Northern California built the car — his dad passed while they were building the car too. Both of our dads were huge into drag racing and neither of them got to see the finished product, and that’s been pretty tough.”
Gerwertz named the car “Saint Christopher” after the patron saint of travelers.
“For a car of this caliber, I didn’t know anything about the touring part,” Gewertz said. “So, I offered the car to the builder for a year to tour it.”
“We debuted the car in February, 2023 at the Grand National Roadster Show. The Monday after the show, legendary auto designer Chip Foose deemed it “Iconic”. We took it to Nashville, TN to compete for Hot Rod of the Year, where 32 of the best hot rods from all over the country competed for the top prize, and it won the whole ball of wax.”
“This car has been extremely simplified to represent a drag car from the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. Some of the cars we competed against were $2 million to $4 million cars.”
Despite the difference in investment, Gewertz’s hot rod won multiple awards, including the prestigious Goodguys Tanks Inc. 2023 Hot Rod of the Year award and touring much of the country thereafter.
“Initially, a lot of people didn’t like the car. They didn’t think that the car was drivable,” Gewertz said, “To be eligible for hot rod of the year, you have to 500 miles on the odometer, you have to do a 150 mile reliability run, you have to do a burnout, you have to drag race another competitor in an eighth mile. The car can’t just be a pretty face. It has to drive, and driving is the absolute best part of owning this car.”
Gewertz has been invited back to Japan to show St. Christopher.
“This year, they only selected one car and five motorcycles,” Gewertz said. “I’ll end up signing hundreds and hundreds of autographs. It’s really odd because they don’t realize that back home, I’m just a goof. I’m just a guy who can’t take himself seriously, making wacky cars.”
“I drive it all the time. I’d say every week, or every other week,” Gewertz said. “I try not to drive it too late or too early in the morning because it is rather noisy, but I drive it as much as I can.”
For anyone looking to get into working on hot rods, Gewertz advises to start small.
“Start with a car that you can afford, whether it’s a newer car or an older car. It doesn’t have to be a showstopper on day one,” Gewertz said. “It’s about your creativity and what you want. If you sell that car and make a couple of bucks, then you can get a nicer car, then a little nicer car, and then eventually, you spend all of your money.”
Critics thought Coby “Church” Gewertz’s 1934 Ford was too pretty to be a real dragster. He proved them wrong. Coby “Church” Gewertz’s
Though Gewertz still considers designing hot rods a hobby, he isn’t done creating new cars.
“I’m going to be doing a 1951 Mercury. But, it’s not going to be like any Mercury that’s out there,” Gewertz promised. “That’s what I’ve done with the van, that’s what I’ve done with St. Christopher, and that’s what I’ll do with the Mercury.” ER
