Jack Calori’s ’36 Coupe

You’ve probably already heard the word: The Jack Calori 1936 Ford three window coupe will be up for sale at Mecum’s upcoming Anaheim auction.

The Calori coupe is pretty darn significant car in the world of historic customs. The whole story has been told before, but here goes a condensed version: Jack was basically looking for a tow vehicle for his iconic side-pipe ’29 A-V8 roadster, and in 1947 he found the very stock 3 window for sale by it’s original owner. It was then handed off to his pal and ace body man Herb Reneau for a significant string of custom work, which included the three inch chop, sunk-in ’40 Chevrolet headlights, ’39 LaSalle grille, Buick fender skirts, ’41 Ford bumpers w/ Lincoln guards, and Hudson tail lamps. She was put on the ground properly with a dropped front axle and Z’d frame in the rear. All of this work, including the black lacquer paint job was completed by 1948. At this point Jack took the full race ’46 Merc flathead motor from his newly-sold Model A and stuck it in the coupe, running 114.5 mph in a 1948 Russetta Timing meet. A year later the coupe was on the November 1949 Hot Rod magazine cover with his girlfriend, which cemented the car as a custom milestone. Soon after, Jack grew frustrated with the engine’s overheating issues caused by the narrow LaSalle grille opening, and traded the car in on a new 1950 Mercury. The car was discovered in 2002 and has since been completed restored to it’s original 1948 configuration, taking top honors in first-ever ‘Early Custom Cars 1935-1948’ class and the Dean Bachelor Award at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. I truly hope that it now goes to someone who has the means to preserve, display and DRIVE this very special car…