Did any of you know Tom McMullen ? I'm hoping to find someone who has some old video of his flamed 32 roadster. Thank's Cecil
Good new bad news Yes i knew him, worked for him in the late 70's early 80's No i don't have any video of his car
Nope its owned by Jorge Zaragoza, same guy as the Calori Coupe, the guy that takes care of his cars is a HAMBER! maybe he will be of some help for you!
last I remember , marshall would not sell it back to mcmullen , he had to build a clone still had the blue cali tags TM 32 , but , I haven't talked to that guy in like 12 years thanks for the info
I almost bought it from Tom back in 69 or 70 for $5000 with all te extra parts. He had it in Hot Rod Magazine for sale after he got hurt on a Bike. But before I could get the money he had sold the motor to one guy and the rest to someone else. I'm still sick over that after all these years. I love that car !!! Cecil
Knew Tom when he worked @ Beckman Instruments in Fullerton. His side line was wiring,used to wire all the cars that my dad and I built. This was years B4 he started Street Rodder. Great guy.
You probably all know this already, but if you track down the PHR and HRM features (two parts in PHR!) from circa 1962, you get details on the car in its final early-Ford gear based form and then in its new Chevy/Klenz running gear. I bought a wiring kit from McMullen's wiring company when that first started up...an absolute disaster of kit and instructions, but a great learning experience.
Yep, knew Tom & Deanna well, especially when he came back into the LAR club after being gone for a few years, we voted him back in. The pix of his later roadster in this thread was when he was running that dual overhead "cammer", Man, that thing was VERY LOUD, when we would be in a freeway tunnel & next to him, WOW!! I used to tease him about his "Cement mixer" noise!! He invited the whole LAR club to his wedding to Deanna, I think it was by Knott's Berry farm, of course ALL the magazine & car people were there too. Another invite was to his LARGE estate in the Fullerton area, where he showed us his own personal "Mine & related items". Traveling to Arizona run one year in our roadsters, saved us from getting a speeding ticket from the CHP,--------But thats just one of the many stories I could relate!!!! ---------Don
Lots of stories about Tom, some good, some not so flattering. I never knew him on a personal basis but spent about an hour aned a half with him and Deanna at the Nationals in Coluimbus the year she drove the little short bus out from California. We sat in the bus talking and both of them could not ahve been more accomodating. I had a bus just like it at the time and was planning a similar build. He incouraged me to document the build and he would put it in Street Rodder. I never did get the project done and when I heard about the plane crash that took both thier lives I was saddened by it. I'm sure that he is like a lot of people that accomplish things a little out of the ordinary, you don't get to those elevated heights by being the proverbial "nice guy" Frank
Don't think there was video when the roadster was first built. 8 mm likely. Knew him when he was running AEE Choppers in Buena Park, CA
He got into the magazine business when CYCLE WORLD and CYCLE refused to take AEE Chopper ads. He and Rose had big cats that roamed the halls at AEE after hours and the smell was worse than 10 litter boxes that hadn't been emptied for a month. I talked to him about the Telluride 4x4 Tour just before he boarded his plane that crashed later that day.
Been to his house a couple times on Ferrarri RD in Anaheim (he named his own street). He was more concerned with his cars being comfortable than himself. Each of his garages, 10 or so? Had AC, soft music playing and expensive oil painings. His dining room table was floor level so you actually ate off the floor? He was a unique individual alright. His death was sad and untimely!
I did not Know the man, but he seemed like an old friend because of the time I spent with him through the pages of SRM. Was also saddened by his untimely death.
Didn't he build three versions of the car? There was the original one that was constantly being changed and upgraded. The last version I remember had a blown 427 FE in it. Then he built the "high tech" clone. And then a reproduction on the mid 60's version of the original car. My favorite version of his roadster. I talked to him at the SRN in OKC one year. He seemed to be a little cocky, but if you accomplished what he did I guess you've got the right. Larry T
http://www.streetrodderweb.com/features/0404sr_mcmullen_roadster/index.html ".......he and his wife of 17 years Deanna would be killed when their airplane crashed on February 12, 1995, near Oklahoma City, OK." Off to work. Larry T
I painted a t-shirt for him at the 1965 "Winternationals" show at the old Pan Pacific Auditorium, prior to his publishing days. He seemed like a happy-go-lucky nut. In a booth right down from mine he had a bed on wheels which he had thrown together as kind of a joke (this was at least 4-5 years before Bob Reisner built a bed on wheels as a Showcar and he was serious!). Then a couple of years later I was able to see him run the roadster at Fontana and pop the chute. Legendary.
Thank's for all the cool old picture's guys !!! Do any of you have any of Tom's orginal one with him popin the chute ?
I worked for Tom at AEE, might want to check out the blog I just started: http://aeechoppers.blogspot.com/
Interesting reading I'm not a chopper guy but I am a lifelong bike guy.I find it interesting that so many car guys look down/shun custom bike guys when quite a few of the biggest car guys came from there.
The Jalopy Journal
