Collegiate Coupe Part 2

So it’s the early 1950’s and our hero, John Labelle, is going to see about a motorcycle. Wait, you know John Labelle – right? He’s the ultimate eccentric and owner of one of the most complete collections of historically significant hot rods and customs today. But that’s modern John, today we are just talking about some punk kid that likes to go fast and look good.

And that’s what was on his mind when he cruised over to Don Williams’ house to see about a scooter. It didn’t take Don long to see where John’s mind was.

“Hey, you wanna see my hot rod?”

Don takes John over to an old shed with huge barn doors. He unlatches the antiquated locks and rolls the door open. As soon as he does, a deuce grille shell pops in the darkness.

“Get in. Let’s go for a ride.”

So the two fire the coupe up and head out on the side roads. Don grabs a fistfull and puts the little car through it’s motions. The rear tires light up on a whim and before John knows it, they are sideways in the median and then sideways on the shoulder. Tire smoke, gas smells, loud noises, vibrations from the deep… all hell broke loose in the coupe that day. Our hero was hooked.

Afterward, John figured out two things. First, Don Williams was of right mind and needed to be a buddy. Second, he was gonna own that coupe someday.

As time went on, John and Don did become pals. In fact, John sold Don a few cars over the years and the two accumulated more than a story or two together. One day, John got a new motorcycle and decided he needed to repay Don for that wild ride in the coupe. With Don securely mounted on the back, our hero ripped ass through town. This-a-way, that-a-way – over 100 mph in some cases.

When the two got back to Don’s house, Don jumped off the motorcycle, started flailing his arms, and cussing up a storm. Confused, John jumped on his steed and hauled ass. Later that day, he got a call from Don’s mother.

“John, I thought you should know… Don has epilepsy and is prone to seizures. That’s what you saw today.”

That explained a lot. See, Don didn’t have a driver’s license and the coupe was almost always hidden. In fact, prior to being featured in Hot Rod Magazine, the state took Don’s license away for having too many speeding tickets and for erratic behavior. They even made him sell the car… which he did, to his aunt. From that point forward, Don hid the coupe and only took it out when he was sure he could get away with it.

To do this day, John wonders what could have happened on any of the wild rides he took with Don. The possibility of an epileptic seizure at any moment brings new meaning to danger in a hot rod. Still, you gotta love the spirit – do what ya love and don’t let anything stop ya.

Fast forward 50 years… John and Don lose touch somewhere along the way, but John can’t stop thinking about that little coupe. He looks for it everywhere, but it’s nowhere to be found. And then… Von Franco and John are cruising a swap meet when they hear word that the car has surfaced. A quick conversation with Aussie Steve confirms the notion and a few months later John owns a dream.

It sits today just as it was on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine. John cleaned it up a little, but did nothing to disturb the originality of the car. Anyone that saw it at Pebble Beach knows that it is in incredible condition for an unrestored car of it’s age. It couldn’t be in any better hands than John Labelle’s… And with some luck, we will get into those hands a tad later.