Nice background on a really neat car. I can't wait to see the rest of the story and the continual updates on the car.
awwww shit. Some crazy memories in those pics. The pic of Franco outside that doorway of the garage was a garage a lot of shit went down and got done. There was 25 years of hot rod history in that garage off the alley in S. Austin. That little garage was home to alot of cars and builds that still remain in the Austin area today and many that are gone. That was Franco's home away from home and he flamed and striped many a local car in there. The garage is still there but much quieter now. Some indications that it used to be full of hotrods and customs but all the cars are gone. Crazy seeing those old photo. Spotted Willie B's 54 F-1 in one of the pics that looked like Dirty Martin's Drive In before it got flamed by Franco in that same garage. This is making me want to get the Continental Kid back out and on the road again.....the first hotrod ever to live in that garage and be flamed by Franco in Austin. Stay tuned.
A few more early shots from back in the day... At some point, the old flathead got tired... So Brian took it back to Charlie's and they put a new one in. To finish her off, they put the 3x2 intake on the car that was originally going on Nadine. The result? Flying Brian... Some more random shots for fun and effect: Ohhh... and how classic David Perry is this early photo stream?
I spent 5 hours driving Nick Curran's 65 Volvo all over town trying to find ONE wheel stud for that car when we were thrashing at Charlies trying to get it to the Continental club for SXSW that weekend. Those were the days!!!
The result? Flying Brian... That picture on the drag strip has always been one of my favorites of Brian and the 29.
And I love this.... It was a long ass time ago... El Jefe had just bought the gold car from Franco. Steve and Brian took both the gold car and B's roadster to Paso. By parking next to the (at the time) heralded gold car, B got into Street Rodder Magazine with this shot: Once that issue came out, Steve sent Brian a voice mail: I love Stevo... and I love the fact that Brian kept that voicemail for so many years.
Great history! How long did Mercury Charlie operate out of his home garage? I would love to see some more photos related to that. I can't wait for part 2!
I fist met him in 99, I think? He was working out of his home shop then... But I think we'll before that as well. When I moved to Austin in 2005, he was just moving into South Austin Speed Shop. Maybe Stevo or B can fill us in on the details...
That is exactly the type of car i was lusting after 15 years ago. I love the felling I get when I see these photos, it is amazing how fast time goes yet how good our memories can be. this thread brought me back to the very first time I made it to Paso. I literally felt like I had died and was in hot rod hell, you know the good kind of hell with devils that look like a "Coop" rendering. I was so damn giddy i thouht i was going to throw up from how cool it all was. Im excited to follow along with this next build. Thanks for the rush of emotions!!!
Ah man - this is so great - its like sharing my old high school yearbook or something. So glad that Ryan started this thread - there are so many good, crazy memories I've had with that car - and it starts to tell the story of the Austin car scene I fell in love with here, and the friends I've made and still have all these years later. Man, I look young in those pictures - not a grey hair in sight! I was in my 20s then - and my wife (then girlfriend) looks like a teenager! I don't know how long Mercury Charlie worked out of his house - for many years before I ever met him. There was always something cool going on over there, and you could go by at almost any hour of the day and have a great bull session - someone was always dropping by and the driveway would be filled with great old tin. There was a Lincoln Zephyr that Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers had stashed in the back yard forever - always musicians hanging around like Junior Brown or Charlie Sexton I know Steve built his first Mercury over there - it was a parts car that they put together - he got the Continental Club in 1987 and this was in 1990
In this shot David Perry took driving around with Steve in the gold car cruising down Congress - Note the price of gas at the Congress Chevron was $1.14 and there isn’t a SINGLE CAR ahead of us all the way to the Capitol - Congress was empty - the skyline is so different! look at how few big buildings are down there - amazing. This is what it used to look like not so long ago...
Kontinentals parking down at Fran's Hamburgers on South Congress (RIP Fran's!) Will's truck before it was flamed, the Buzzard coupe, Gary Howard's custom and Krupanut's roadster pre-scallops - I can see Mike Young getting out of his roadster in the background. The Dahlia was fresh on the scene - windshield corners had not been rounded yet
"K"ool roadster, I've always dug that black with flames 50 's look. Interesting to see and read about Austin in the 90's. The genesis of a very happenin' scene.
If you look closely there's another black model A roadster leading the pack and that's the Continental Kid up there and I'll bet Will was driving it cause I had sold it to him.....I had to in order to buy the Golden Rod from Franco. Man we were owning S Congress back then. Runnin the street. Brian's correct it was 89 or 90 when Mercury Charlie showed up at the Continental Club one night and said "Steve, you know what you need?....You need yourself a Mercury" and that's when he and I got started on my first custom that I am still driving around.....the mild 51 more-door Merc.
Brian is so right about the "way it was" in the 90's. I could run down to the Continental Club from Georgetown any time I felt like it and never worry about traffic or a place to park. It wasn't unusual for one of the guys to call me and say we are going to meet at Fran's at a certain time, which was usually 30 minutes from then. I could just hop in my car and be there from Georgetown before they had ordered and still find a parking place. It was a great time to drive our hot rods and customs in Austin. Like El Jefe said "we owned the streets back then"
Here's how we got my roadster and the gold car out to Paso in 2002 - gold car up on a trailer, front wheels of my roadster on the back & driveshaft disconnected - all behind El Jefe's truck. Man, that sucker was a mile long, like driving a locomotive! We loaded up and deadheaded it nonstop from Austin to Lee Pratt's place in LA - that's me and our buddy Joe C. from New Orleans, who owned the Jewel before me
Holy crap! This stuff is priceless! I think there needs to be a book or at least a magazine article(hello Rodder's Journal, Jalopy Journal #4) documenting all of this!!!
Family photo... The Black Dahlia, Auderer Roadster (with Brian applying some speed secrets to the flathead), and The Continental Kid... at Day Of The Drags 2002.
The Jalopy Journal
