About a month ago, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Frings. I had spoken to him previously about his 1944 Chevrolet "bobber" pickup, and arranged to meet him at his shop just north of Concord. I arrived to find an unassuming industrial steel building, but inside was an incredible shop with an astounding array of hot rods in various stages of completion. Looking at the quality and craftsmanship of each rod was second to none! The first rod was a track roadster in full-race dress complete with Flatty, left-side cowl steering and other race-only go-fast goodies. Absolutely incredible!
The second was the previously mentioned '44 pickup. Check out the reduced '56 Ford truck back glass! This is one amazing little truck!
Nearing completion is a painstakingly accurate replica of Parnelli Jones' dirty-track. Mr. Jones himself has inquired about the repli-racer! Unbelievable craftsmanship!
On the lift is a Hudson circle-track "stocker" complete with the Hudson straight 8 and a cool 2x2 intake! It will have a hand-fabbed front suspension and all the other period goodies.
Mr. Frings had already spent a ton of time with us, and I didn't feel like I could ask him to uncover the Kurtis-style track roadster, but I'm sure it's here on the HAMB somewhere.
All in all, I was witness to one of the coolest collections of hot rods anywhere! And what makes it all even more amazing, Mr. Frings does EVERYTHING himself! A true master, and I thank him for his hospitality and time!
I've met with Dennis several times; great guy that marches to the beat of a different drummer for sure. A true craftsman with unique vision. What many may not know about Dennis is; he used to build ASA cars back in the 70's & 80's for the likes Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Kulwicki etc. and was regarded as building the finest late model stock cars in the country.
Oh, forgot to mention....Mr. Frings started as a roadrace car builder in the northern mid-west, word got out that he built good chassis', and started building roadrace stock cars for Alan Kulwiki, Darrell Waltrip, and other big names. Moved to NC to further his NASCAR business. Once he retired, he started building for himself. Man what a talented builder! (In the previous post, Mr. Frings is on the left, I'm on the right.) EDIT: Sorry Rich, simultaneous posts!
Met Dennis years ago at Goodguys SE nationals. Did he tell you he makes his own quick change conversion? The Kurtis style roadster has a ford y block running a marine style intake. You should have pulled that cover back a bit more.Nice post brother.
I have seen Dennis Frings at the cruise night around town. Never talked to him as I have heard that he is a bit of a douche bag but it's cool to see otherwise. His cars always draw a crown at any even he attends. Cool story Brett!
Man, I know people like to knock others and spread rumors, but for someone to circulate a rumour that Dennis is a douche is just un-called for; he's a great guy!
I wasn't perpetuating the rumor at all. I guess it's just one of those things that when someone plants that seed in your ear it sits in the back of your head. I know for a fact that I went to look at that '44 Pickup during the Good-Guys show the first year I moved to NC, the guy who was sitting by that truck (his son?) was in fact a douche bag. I started asking about the wheels he had on there and he treated me like a jerk off giving me one word answers and sort of brushing me off. From then on I guess I just had a bad taste in my mouth and never went up to actually me Dennis himself. Then hearing what I had mentioned before from others just sort of put a nail in the coffin for me. Brett's thread has shown how cool Dennis may be. So the next time I see him at a cruise night, I'll say hello.