Hot Rods Hank Negley's "C" Class Deuce Roadster 123.79 in 1947 !

[vintagehotrods]

Thanks for a great thread Harms Way! To me this is the quintessential Deuce roadster that says it all about the golden years of hot rodding in southern California after the war. And thanks to Paula for preserving her fathers legacy. Is there any chance there is a good color pic of it that shows the original color?

[Harms Way]

Originally Posted by vintagehotrods

Is there any chance there is a good color pic of it that shows the original color?

Well yessss,..... and nooooo....

I posted another thread that has one of the two color pictures in it,... the car was always a deep purple/blue color,... but in the early color pictures it looks to be a really nice shade of green,... which this car was never painted.

Here is the link.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=707853

[pnegley]

The "Kodachrome refresh" photo of the roadster over at the other thread restores the color to purple (and the grass on the field green), which is the roadster as I remember it. When I first saw the color photos many years ago (actually many, many years ago, but I digress), the color of the roadster was deep purple/blue, but over the decades the color of the roadster started to shade green in the photos, and I think the Kodachrome started to degrade over time. The "Kodachrome refresh" restores the color of the roadster to deep purple/blue. And thank you to the poster who took the time to do that!

[Deuce_Eddie]

Just a quick import of the picture refreshed by Vonzemo on the other topic, to bring some color to this thread:



Looks to have been quite a special colour, can you shed any light on its history, Paula?

Cheers, Eddie

[pnegley]

[QUOTE=Deuce_Eddie;7881771]Just a quick import of the picture refreshed by Vonzemo on the other topic, to bring some color to this thread:



Looks to have been quite a special colour, can you shed any light on its history, Paula?

Cheers, Eddie

Here is what I know about the color of the roadster. At some point, long before I was born, my dad, through one of his many racing buddies, met what today would probably be considered a paint wizard when it came to paint colors for cars. My dad wanted a very deep purple/blue color, and the guy/paint wizard tried several combinations on scrap metal before he found the shade my dad wanted. From a distance, the color almost looked black, but when you looked directly at the roadster, you could clearly see it was a deep purple/blue, and from certain angles or lighting you could tell there was a deep blue, like a midnight blue, undertone, but the predominant color was a deep purple. And if I remember correctly, my dad painted the roadster with more than one coat of the paint, at least two, or perhaps even three or more. He religiously kept it polished with Mothers, and the finish was very hard and smooth as glass. Even after my dad sold the roadster, he kept a quart of the roadster paint on an upper shelf in his shop (never called the garage at our house), with the color recipe written on it. After my dad retired, he was trying to rebuild his old roadster, and I remember he couldn't find anyone that could replicate the paint. Apparently the paint wasn't made anymore. After he passed away, I found that quart can in his shop. Over the intervening decades, the paint inside had dried and was hard as a rock, but when I opened the can the color brought back so many memories of riding in the roadster and running my hand over the paint finish, because I just loved the color so much.

[Harms Way]

Looks like ol' Hank came across a herd of sheep on one of his trips east !!!

[pnegley]

Maybe all those sheep just wanted to get a good look at that cool roadster!

[BobbedT]

Fantastic, Paula, thanks for letting us into some history of your fathers beautiful car. I've always admired it after seeing photos of it in Don Montgomerys books. Does anyone know what speed equipment was used to attain the speeds back then

thanks

Bob

[pnegley]

The thanks really belongs to Harm's Way. So thank you, Harm's Way, for taking the time to post these photos.

I don't know what speed equipment was used to attain the speeds back then. Someone more qualified than I will have to answer that question. But I can tell you that my dad was always working on the engine and "improving" the performance of the roadster. And I remember him always talking with his racing buddies about all the things they did to make the cars run faster racing out at the dry lakes, like El Mirage.

[HELLMET]

nice. im sure he was friends with jack calori. they raced at the same time. billy

[pnegley]

Lo and behold, Jack Calori and his wife, Theresa, are listed in my dad's phone and address book, Billy!

[Rockerhead]

Originally Posted by BobbedT

Fantastic, Paula, thanks for letting us into some history of your fathers beautiful car. I've always admired it after seeing photos of it in Don Montgomerys books. Does anyone know what speed equipment was used to attain the speeds back then

thanks

Bob

One of the photos in my book "Hot Rods In The Forties" shows the engine with a "tall" Weiand manifold and stock heads. Early in 1947 he switched to Cyclone heads. The next changes were to an Evans manifold and a Smith cam. By the end of the season the engine was using Evans heads and manifold and a Smith cam. The engine was shown as a 1942 Mercury.
The color info is interesting because Hank gave me the color photo that appeared green and did not say that the car was purple so I assumed that it was a dark green.
Don www.montgomeryhotrodbooks.com

[pnegley]

Hi Don -- I very recently spoke with one of my father's oldest friends, and one of his earliest racing buddies, and also one of the last original Gear Grinders, Harry Ringer. Harry is in his 90's now, but there is nothing wrong with his memory. When I spoke with him, and told him I was Hank's daughter, he said to me "Oh, your dad had that purple roadster." When my dad first bought the roadster, it was black, but had it painted that beautiful purple color not long after he bought it, probably before my dad went into the Merchant Marines during WWII. Harry recounted a funny story of being in Lake Tahoe in 1947, and seeing this purple roadster going down the street, and knew it had to be my dad's car, because no other roadster was painted that color, and Harry yelled out my dad's nickname to get his attention, which worked, because my dad hit the brakes to see who was calling his name. They had a nice spur-of-the-moment reunion in Lake Tahoe that day, which Harry still remembers. (As I said, nothing wrong with Harry Ringer's memory!).

[J.B.]

This thread is nothing but jaw-dropping in every post...

[sololobo]

Slicker than snot on a glass door knob! ~sololobo~

[Hot Rod Ron]

Very cool thread. hopefully you can get more photos to scan.

[29bowtie]

What a great thread, thanks for sharing your memories with us Paula.

[Harms Way]

So,....... does anybody know for sure who bought this car from Hank in the time span of 1962 or 1963 ?

[madpole]

amazing story and hot rod. great thread. looking forward to more!!

[Harms Way]

Originally Posted by Harms Way

So,....... does anybody know for sure who bought this car from Hank in the time span of 1962 or 1963 ?

Common guys,.... anybody know for sure,... or remember this car first hand ?