Frank Hanrahan's Fab Shop
3198-L Airport Loop Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-957-1869
Email : FH3567@aol.com
As a child Frank was always asking his Dad if he could weld something in his shop. That soon led to welding local kids bike frames, fixing broken down lawnmowers and building go-carts to race up and down the street. After many years of learning from Dad, Frank got his first major Fabrication Job in 1988 working with Coast Fab. Soon after working with Coast Fabrication, Bill Stroppe brought his Class 7 Ford Ranger Project into the shop. This was a dream come true for Frank having been attending SCORE Races since 1984. Roughly a year later Frank was working on complete fabrication of Vintage F1 Aluminum Monocoque, Indy Car Suspension Systems, Stainless Turbo Headers, Repairing aluminum race bodies and much more.
In 1998 Franks Fab Shop was opened! He decided to take all of his skills and experience and do his own thing. This allowed him to have the freedom to build what he wanted and also work on personal projects. Early in 1999 Frank was side tracked and started racing 800 Horsepower Sprint Cars. That turned into a full-time job on top of also trying to work on his various Fab Shop customer vehicles and more. Racing Sprint Cars was exciting and helped his skill level grow even further. In 2001 Frank turned his attention back to his Project Blazer and focused more on his other fabrication. The first few versions of this project worked well as he would chase and prerun many courses for his racing friends.
2004 rolled in and he decided it was time to teardown this once 1976 4x4 Chevy Blazer and beef it up! This time he set a goal, he wanted to race 1450 Class and win! Below you can see the truck in its current state just about ready for sand blasting and paint. Soon it will be a bright orange 1450 race truck!
Now that you have heard a little about Franks past
allow me to comment further. The first thing I noticed when pulling up to his shop was the
rotisserie style cart. I have seen these on TV before in HOTROD shops but never in a
Offroad Fabrication Shop. I have a feeling that after people read this article, we might
be seeing more of these type of carts. We were able to spin the truck completely around
with barely any effort stopping it at any angle. Talk about making welding and fabrication
a little easier!
Don't let the random spray paint fool you when this baby is painted,
assembled and prepped its going to look gorgeous. Frank can throw some pretty good tigs
down if you ask me. It is not hard to see that he has experience and has built racecars
before. A major part of the process when building ground up like this is planning. This
truck seems to have been planned out very well and should be ready to go by April.
NOTE: This is a part of a new section here on
Jordansrealm.com. This project will be updated as the truck is updated. I will be
returning to Franks Shop after the truck returns from paint to snap some more pics. Then
again during assembly and again during testing. Please come back and visit this page to
check for updates.
If you have any further question about the truck feel free to email myself or Frank. If you would like to inquire about having work done by Frank please email him at FH3567@aol.com and he will be able to answer all your questions. Stay tuned to Jordansrealm.com for another one of Franks creations. A 4-linked Ford Ranger coming soon to a race course near you...enjoy the pics!
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