The Lee Pratt ’40

Well, I’m back… Sort of. Back pecking away at this damned keyboard anyhow. In all honesty though, my mind isn’t here with me. It’s still lost. I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing and no real idea of whether or not I’ll ever be “found” again. And for that matter, no clue at all if I can actually write given the circumstances.

I tried to fake it. I tried to write as if everything was fine – as if I hadn’t lost my best friend two weeks ago. I failed miserably. I’ve never been good at faking anything.

Anyhow… In an effort to get out of the house and feel “normal” for a few hours, I called up Lee Pratt last night and asked if he wanted to complete the trifecta of features (Shoebox Ford – ’58 Chevrolet) we started before my life got tossed upside down. He agreed and Tardel and I headed over to the Pratt Estate an hour or so before the sun set.

Originally I had planned to shoot the car in my standard setting, but the sun was getting low and I wasn’t sure we could make it there on time. So, we decided in haste that it would be a good idea to break into the property that houses Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza instead. I’ve never been all that good at breaking the law unscathed, so I wasn’t surprised at all when we were busted by management just as soon as we pulled up. Literally. But to my surprise, the fellas that make some of the best damned pizza in Texas rolled out the red carpet for us and allowed us to shoot on the grounds all night long. Hell, they even served us craft beer while we worked.

Just goes to prove just how full of shit Bill Withers was…

But lets get down to brass tacks here gentlemen. Let’s take a look at Lee Pratt’s ’40 Ford.

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A number of years ago, I drove my ’38 coupe out to a Goodguys show in Del Mar, California. As I pulled up to register for the event, I saw Lee’s freshly built ’40 sitting in the parking lot. In a mad rush, I pulled my car up along side the golden beaut and took a bunch of pictures like a teenage girl would take selfies if she ran into her favorite pop star. I was giddy as all hell.

Some twenty years later and Lee is now a good pal as well as my neighbor. And his ’40 is even cooler than it was all those years ago. It’s got miles on it. It’s lived. And it has those signs of life all over it – some paint is cracking, some is fading, and there is a chip here and there. It’s not a “beater” mind you, not by a long shot, but it looks and feels well loved and driven. When the car was fresh, it was formal and perfect and… almost untouchable. After thousands of loving miles, it’s now a casual hot rod.

And casual hot rods are my thing. I mentioned a few weeks ago that this ’40 is my favorite car in Lee’s stable. It might be my favorite ’40 all together.

Like Lee does with all his cars, he started with a specific time period in mind (I’m thinking mid to late 1950’s on this one) and then built to that period without any compromises at all. From the chrome fender welting to the detailed dual four ingesting and Duntov promoting small block – everything just fits as it should. You won’t find an oversight or a “fuck it, this will do” anywhere on the car.

You also won’t find anything that says, “hey, look at me!” on the car. And ultimately, I think that’s what draws me so much to this little coupe. At one time, it was a show stopper featured in about every magazine and talked about by just about every blowhard in the industry, but Lee doesn’t have an ego. He didn’t let all of that noise get in his way of driving the shit out of this thing. And it’s because of that, that the car was able to age so gracefully.

This, my friends, is the perfect casual hot rod:

Editor’s Note: Given Lee’s attention to detail, I thought it would be appropriate to carry on the same practice with this photo shoot. All of the images above were shot using a Leica 35mm Summilux lens as well as a 90mm Summarit lens – both made in 1957.