History What was your best experience with a famous vehicle?

Had a few cool experiences with famous cars. Got to visit Konnie Kalitta one night with a buddy and worked on the "Bounty Hunter" mustang funny car, got to drive the Dodge show car "Daroo II" into the Blackhawk Museum storage facility, got to hang out with the "Silver Bullet" street racer Plymouth back in the day, got to hang over the fenders of the "Candymatic" drag car occasionally, got to hang out with my neighbor's Chrysler Turbine car when he test drove it. Living near Detroit, my childhood was a BLAST in the car department.

 

I got to lift the ChiZler once, was walking back to my car in the pits at San Gabriel, stopped to look at the new Stuckey-built ChiZler, when Stuckey mentioned to me to join another couple of guys to grab the front axle and lift it up so that the Greek could get under the engine and drain the oil into a pan...we held it up until the last drop came out, then went on our ways...that's how they did it in the old days....

 

I worked for Pete & Jakes for almost ten years so driving the California kid and Jake's coupe would be my best experience!

 

I was at Mud Island when the Memphis Belle (airplanes are also vehicles!) was displayed there ... it was mid-week and thin crowd so the attendant let me get inside the bomber and crawl from the cockpit to the tail .... beat the shit out of loading Don Vesco's bike, passing Bruce Crower the salt and pepper at a breakfast joint or running Parnelli Jones' front bumper on my f-100 .... or a bunch of other seemingly insignificant stuff ..... I love the warbirds!

 

When I was younger I worked at a hobby shop, and got to work on the r/c boat that tows the waterskiing squirrel

 

I offered to paint an Indy car for free...the owner backed out as soon as he figured out that "free" meant I was going to take it for a drive it on the street...Wheee!!!

 

The summer of 1971 when Dr. Williamson spent $65,000 for the Bugatti Type 57SC, and I got to help unload it. Years later it was totally restored and won Pebble Beach. Bob

 

At a showI walked into the batmobile when I was a kid. It hurt. Then my old man smack me that hurt. But that was an experience. lol

 

Some years ago I was on the 'boards at the Wildwood show and I came across Jim Inglese "Full House" just sitting there with all the other cars. No ropes around it or don't touch shit. He drove the wheels off that thing. At a time when billit was still king here was a duece roadster, '40 dash, and steelies with whites, hot 327 w/6 2's and a wicked stance just sitting there. The color was just so early1960's "date night"! Jim trned out to be the nicest guy on earth and continued to help me out with pics and info to build my own.

The best was he showed me that famous guys were in fact approachable and really just motorheads like you and me, (just better at it!). Same deal with the Sunkist T which shows up down there almost every year, Rich just drives the wheels off all weekend and is easy to shoot the breeze with.

 

I forgot, in the late 80s the Delorean from 'Back to the Future' toured Australia, I got my picture taken sitting in it, I was 6 or 7.

 

i got to climb in and all over this car.

 

I got to sit in The Orange Crate, the Doane Spencer roadster, Tommy Fosters roadster, and the Little Deuce Coupe. Got a ride in the McGee roadster, the Henderson roadster and drove Grey Baskerville's roadster about 30 feet. My brother and I helped set up the Deuce 75th Anniversary Show. What a week it was.

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I got two that really stand out:

Working with Steve Magnante on his Wilshire Shaker in our driveway (thats when the neighbors really got a taste of the "new guy that moved in"!)


The other is when Vic Edelbrock stopped into the booth I was in at SEMA a few years back, with my altered wheelbase Dart. All week, he was walking by, on the way to his BIG booth, to talk, sign autographs, etc.. Every time, he'd stop, take a quick look and then walk away. So here comes Friday, and he just all of a sudden shows up, alone, looks at me smiles and opens up the door and hops over the rollbar into the drivers seat, and tells me to hop in!!! We talked for twenty minutes, it seemed like eternity, about so many things, mostly non-car related. I looked out, and this huge crowd had gathered, it was surreal. His "people" came looking for him, had no idea where he went. I think he just wanted to "tune out" for a brief moment, awqay from the hustle and bustle of having to be focused the whole week, and the interior of the "IDENTITY CRISIS" fit the bill. I'll never forget it, wonder if he ever gave it a second thought. He treated me like an old friend in that car.....

 

I picked up the 4 motor car from the NHRA museum with my buddy Tom who used to own it and brought it to the Petersen for a display of the 5Oth anniversary of my club. That thing was heavy, very cool though with the wagonmaster body

 

In the mid to late 70's, I when I was a teen, my family was hitting some garage & estate sales in Grosse Ile, MI. At one estate, my brother and I was waiting outside and a guy came out and opened the garage. I spyed what looked to be a 57 T-bird. I asked the guy, and he said he'd show it to us, but it or anything was fo sale in the garage. It turned out to be the former Nancy Sinatra Yellow Bird 57 Thunderbird. It was mint and still had the yellow stripe tires. Never seen it at any local shows or events.

 

i talked to Don Garlits twice onde in the early 8os in the pits at San Antonio and again in 2001 at his museum. nice guy
i also talked Done Spencer back in the early 90s on the phone. He had another call and took my number and actually called back and talked about an hour about Y block building tips. I had the notes around the house until a hurricanr messed things up. He was verryt knowledgable and took the time to explain things that were over my head. I always try to remember that when people ask questions about my cars

 

Moriarity letting me sit in the Road Agent and close the lid back when he owned it.

 

got to sit in the the "Caballo de Hiero", that was very cool. why were the floor boards riveted under the frame? the driver's needed a place for their balls to hang. epic car.

 

When I was about 18, I, along with some friends, acted as the tow crew for Roger Lindamood's Color Me Gone funny car. The reason that happened is Roger found out we had a pick up at the meet and he needed it. We towed the car to the line with the starting equipment. Then we raced down and retrieved the car at the end of its run to tow it back to the pits.

 

I drove the Khougaz Roadster. Not far, but I drove it. Awesome. Had to get a pic of walter next to it-

 

At Wiskey Pete's just over the border into Nevada on I-15 they have the Bonnie and Clyde death car. After several Heinikens and a huge hot dog I went over the ropes and into the driver's seat. Then I got escorted to the door with an invitation not to come back. It was hotttt and my friends werent done doing what they were doing for another hour yet. It was miserable but I did it.

 

Not sure how famous it is,but I got up close and personal with the 'Metz'. An Auburn Speedster replica basically hand built by Bob Metz. A local lawyer wanted him to build one of the kit cats for him. Mr Metz didn't like the kit,so he used panels and fenders that were close,and modified it to look right. And it did. Built on a Monte Carlo chassis.Red with red leather interior and matching luggage. The guy had a great sense of detail.
When I was a kid I saw 'The Wildcat' ,model A coupe he had built.Dark metallic green,with a green tinted plexiglass roof insert and Buick engine,wheels ,steering wheel and other things from a Wildcat. Always wondered what happened to that car.

 

My wife got to pose with Bad Bob's Merc at Ink & Iron.

 

Don't know if this qualifies or not but....

About 20 years ago, my dad and I bought a derelict 65 Chevelle to play with and immediately noticed that it had big disc brakes and some other unusual factory options.

We called the national Chevelle club....read some VIN #'s to them and the club president offered to buy it, right then, over the phone.

They didn't want to let on about what it was but finally did. Turns out it was a factory Z16. They made 201 of them and about 70 of them were known to exist and a roughly equal amount were known to be destroyed, so the pool of unaccounted for Z16s was getting pretty thin.

The guy was just dumbfounded that this one showed up out of the blue.

To him it was like the holy grail.

It ended up being meticulously restored and was in Hot Rod Magazine....it's yellow with a black top I believe.

 

Out of This World?

1970-73 we were stationed just outside of Pearl Harbor (tough life). One day dad took us to the harbor and in the hanger deck of an aircraft carrier. There in the corner was an Apollo capsule a couple days after a return from the moon. I got to crawl inside. Have no idea which mission. Several of the capsules are at the Smithsonian behind glass. Last time I was there I wondered which one I was in.

 

I was one of the lucky few who had the priviledge of finishing Elden Titus' Vibrasonic. Its on the cover of this months Car Kulture Delux.

 

I got to help Frank Iaconio with the "Banana 1" 57 Chevy, I even got to drive the ramp truck and car to E'Town once.

 

My Grandson and I next to the weinwermobile.....maybe not iconic, but he liked it!

 

A good friend of mine restored one of the Chrysler Turbine cars for the St.Louis County Museum of Transportation. On completion of the task he was given the job touring the car to events. On its maiden around his block I was a very willing passenger

 

Worked for Roy's Old Car Garage in Mead, CO in the early 1970s and Bill Kenz would drop by and talk LSR cars and hot rods with the boss Roy Heyne. We talked many times about a banger he was building and invited me many times to come to Denver and see the Odd Rod and the streamliner. Never went and I regret it to this day.
Regards
Greg Hornbostel