Move Aside!

I. “Hi, Ray can’t come to the phone right now because he’s enjoying a bubble bath and a glass of champagne, but if you leave your name and number he’ll get back to you at his leisure. Thanks.�?

In the moments after hearing the elderly woman’s message, I sat in silence contemplating my next move. Should I be concerned? Am I being Punk’d? With my window of opportunity slowly closing, I did my best to collect my thoughts and leave a coherent, polite message directed towards whoever was claiming to be Ray on the other end. Besides, I was trying to talk business.

Little did I know that creativity is Ray Gordon’s business. A commercial photographer by trade, Ray has an eye for bringing together a wide range of elements to create a memorable final product. Voicemails — and gassers — included.

II. I first stumbled upon Ray’s 1951 Chevy gasser while pouring through pictures of the One Motorcycle Show — a Portland-based gathering that brings together dozens of vintage, hand built motorcycles in a gallery-like setting. Although the choppers were killer and the vibes were good, the nose-up Stovebolt latched onto something inside me in a way not many cars have done before.

Like countless hot rodders, Ray had wanted a gasser for as long as he can remember. He grew up around drag racing and got his hands dirty on a slew of cars and bikes before he came across the ’51 in Idaho.

The Chevy became Ray’s summer project, tinkering and driving it for a couple of months. But when the little inline-6 finally called it quits, he decided it was time to transform the car into the machine he had always dreamt of.

“I bought the car with plans of making it a gasser, but I’m not a tech-savvy dude,�? Ray says. “My community was small.�?

After a spur-of-the moment trip to Bonneville with Cody Adams of Hurst Racing Tires, Cody jumped on the opportunity to help Ray with the build.

For almost three years, the car was converted into a machine prepped for both street and strip. Up front, Ray went with a Speedway straight axle to give the Chevy the necessary stance, while a Strange-equipped 9�? with 31-spline axles keeps the Hurst piecrusts inside the radiused rear wheelwells.

The engine has been in Ray’s family for close to three decades, laying on the shop floor waiting to skin peoples’ shins as they trip over it. It’s now been punched to 406 c.i. and is linked to a gear-jamming Richmond 5-speed.

Ray describes the whole setup simply as “terrifying.�?

Though the car sounds nasty and can obliterate the slicks at any given PDX stoplight, the paintjob that sets it apart from the crowd. That, my friends, was the work of Nicolai Sclater — more commonly known as the Ornamental Conifer.

Conifer is a big name in the custom motorcycle world. A sign painting expert and master of typography, his work can be found on everything from European storefronts to hand-formed gas tanks. Ray took notice, and eventually the pair struck a deal where Conifer would paint the car while visiting the States.

Ray’s gasser was the third car Conifer lettered. Other than writing down some of the names to put on the flanks, he told Ray that he couldn’t see it until it was finished.

“When people do what you do well, you let them do it,�? he says. As the car was unveiled, Ray was blown away. He says it was 10 times cooler than he wanted it to be.

III. The ’51 Chevy you see here is different. Its outer appearance is traditional, but features a dab of postmodern flavor. For a creative guy like Ray, that’s the appeal of the whole project.

“It’s polarizing,�? he says. “A lot of dudes can’t wrap their head around it. Dudes like Roth, Von Dutch, Salvador Dali and fucking Jim Morrison would approve.�?

-Joey Ukrop 

Photos by John Humphries