MTFCA Forum

This is a picture of my father, Henry Rootlieb, myself and Howard Cassia. My father purchased the business from Howard in May 1973. Howard came and worked with us for 2 weeks and got Don Wedin and myself up to speed on making Model T sheet metal parts. My father and mother (Lois) ran the business till 1987, expanding the product line greatly during their stewardship. Then they retired and I took over the helm. Dad passed in 1990 and mom in 2001. I retired in 2013 and since then it has been run by Rod Wood and Michelle Vierra. We all want to offer our gratitude to all the many customers who have believed in our products over the years as we celebrate 50yrs. in business. Thank you so very very much.

Tom Rootlieb and all the staff of Rootlieb Inc.

I picked up Tom’s Model T
C Cab at his shop in California


My Shop Video Visit :

@ https://youtu.be/3NnyWxey0Mg


FJ

Howard Caccia sold me my '15 Touring car 30+ years ago now. The fenders on it were all hand made by him. He was talented and helped me a lot during the early years of owning my T.

Congratulations.
And Thank you!!!

The fenders on my speedster came from Rootlieb 20 years ago. I had some deviations I wanted from the standard production fenders so I called Rootlieb to see if they could make them to my specifications. It was no problem at all. Great people to work with. Congratulations on your many years of success.

Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary. We appreciate all that you do to help our hobby!

Keith

I remember meeting several members of your family at the Turlock swap meet back in the 1970s! I am pretty sure I remember meeting you there a time or two.
I remember the days when the "Modesto As" ran the meet. Swappers in two buildings plus maybe a hundred more sellers on the lawns outside those buildings!

My maternal grandparents had been farming in the Modesto area (out near Empire!) since moving to there in 1928. At its peak, my grandparents had almost a hundred acres of peaches! For my first twelve years, we spent much of the summer at their place helping work the harvest. I was, with some help, driving the Fordson tractors when I was three. I was driving them solo when I was six, and pulling trailers out of the orchards at the end of the day. I was also driving the fork lift by the time I was five, and loading pallets full of peaches onto the truck trailers to head out to the canneries.
When I was twelve, grandpa retired from farming, and sold the ranches. I sure loved that part of my life while it lasted.
My grandmother continued to live in the one old farmhouse (on Yosemite Blvd near Empire) for a number of years after grandpa passed away.
Every year, we made a big weekend of going to the Turlock swap meet! Sometimes just our family, sometimes we invited carloads of antique automobile friends to join in and spend the weekend at "grandma's place"! She loved to have company, and many of my best friends were made welcome there. We would all be up with the morning fog to carefully drive down to Turlock. Spend the day buying junk and visiting friends there. Then back to grandma's place for a wonderful dinner and music sessions! My grandmother loved music. She played the piano, mandolin, autoharp, and sang beautifully. A couple of my friends (one especially!) were also very good.
Wonderful times. But they too had to end. Grandma moved to San Jose where much of the family had wound up.
We continued to attend Turlock's swap meet for some years. The meet kept getting bigger and bigger while there was less and less early stuff like I was looking for.
Other family issues have kept me from going for several years now. But friends still tell me that they find quite a bit of model t stuff there.

For a lot of years, stopping by and saying "Hi" to your family at the Turlock swap has been a part of my life!

Congratulations on the fifty years!

Congratulations on 50 years. I still talk about my private tour of your facility in Turlock CA in 2012, between Christmas and New years . Still amazes me how much hand work is involved to produce your fenders.

Yes, Congratulations. I have enjoyed a number of your products. I also have made my own items. I can appreciate the work that goes into them. I also have some fenders from another vendor (30 years ago) that aren't near as nice as yours.
We are so indebted to folks like you that make these things available. I don't know how you did it.
Thanks
Rich

We would have some very sad looking old cars on the road without the nice new sheet metal that has been available for the last 50 years. Thank you to all involved, and hope the business is passed on the another owner when the time comes !

Congratulations on fifty years, and thank you and your family for all the benefits you’ve brought to the hobby.

Congratulations, you perform a great product and service for the hobby.

I have a set of 1914 Speedster Fenders that were produced in early 1980’s. Never drilled or installed, they have been literally hanging in our garage for well over 30 years. My late father bought them direct from you during a MTFCA Tour and manufacturing demonstration. Guess at this point they would be considered NOS. Lol

I bought my first Rootlieb Speedster Body at the Squaw (spelling?) Valley swap meet when I was about 16 years old! This would have been in the early 1980s. Since the first body, I have bought several Rootlieb Speedster Bodies as well as all types of fenders, hoods,running boards, etc. It has been a great journey and thank you for being there for us. Good times. Cheers. -Guy Z.