Rescued Roadster - A True Survivor

[Tetanus Shot]

I suppose its the dream of every true hot rodder to own a car with some history, something built back in the day. for me i had always dreamed of finding a car hidden away, long forgotten but still in tact and putting it back on the road where it belonged. I'm sure we all share this dream, and like me we all think it will stay a dream. something reserved for that lucky bastard who is a friend of a friend who knew a guy that helped a widow clean out her husbands garage only to find a sweet ass hot rod under a pile of tires. well its a funny thing about dreams, sometimes they come true. and sometimes the reality is even better than we could have ever imagined.

proof every dog has his day









built in 1953 by Alden Calkins from Michigan and has been there in storage unmolested for over 40 years. these are the pictures of the car when it arrived in California, as you can see it was in amazing shape. the only thing missing was the shift knob and i have been searching for a suitable replacement.

at first i thought it would only take a couple weeks to get it back on the road, but like with any car it always takes at least twice as long to get the job done. my goal was to have the car running and driving for the the LA Roadster Show. it took every minute from memorial day weekend until 2 a.m. friday night of the show to get the job done, i didnt sleep but had the car there and had achieved my goal.

it was clear after i had pulled the heads and intake that the car obviously didnt have much use and was very well maintained. i have already gone through the entire car to make it safe and roadworthy, still having some ignition issues with the Harman Collins dual coil but im in the process of sorting it out hopefully with the help of the HAMB.

still looking for more history and i would love to find some more pictures of it, if anyone has more info please pm me please! thanks.



a few shots from LARS











and for anyone asking about what my plans are for the car? nothing. once its running properly there is nothing more that i will do, other than wear out the tires.

[Tetanus Shot]

Rods Illustrated August 1959

[Tetanus Shot]

a few shots from today, all i have done cosmetically is dust it off and degrease the engine. and yes i know how bad the new plate looks on there but i had to drive it.

[stude_trucks]

Can I just shoot myself now?

There is no way in f'n hell I will ever find a car as cool as that and certainly not one that will ever be in my price range.

Congrats on that. That car is killer, love it 110%. I saw it posted on one of the LARS threads and was drooling then.

I would not touch one thing on that car either other than maybe get the top remade if needed. That car actually might even look better with the top on which is highly unusual accomplishment. Damn good looking both ways.

Please don't tell me how much/little you got that for. Unless it was a ton of cash and some body parts, I don't even want to know.

[CRASHNBURNS]

Holy shit, that's cool.

[model.A.keith]

WoW, as you say dreams do happen, very cool score,

now just go Drive the damn thing.............


(with pictures of course )


.


.

Keith

[|Tom|]

Neat story!

[Dynaflash_8]

fuck. thats all i gotta say. Fuck

[gnichols]

Just amazing. Take good care of it. Gary

[The37Kid]

Love that car! I saw it in a LARS thread too, thanks for "The Rest of the Story". There were a fair amount of Rods built in the 1950's that tried to look like Sports Cars, none turned out as nice as this one. I'd shop around and find a good upholstery shop that can replace the top and make it blend in with the rest of the car. That would look good on the lawn at Pebble Beach.

[lowsquire]

Amazing.
I love the slightly 'off' proportions, the cycle gaurds, the louver pattern..so many cool details!

In the close up of the tail lights it looks like there is a silver paint job underneath with its own pinstriping pattern? Is this right or am I seeing things?

[gnichols]

A favor? When you can, could you post photos of the lower hood sides? I'm interested in how they fit over the front frame rails and also how they meet at the cowl. Thanx, Gary

[blackjack]

Very very nice indeed - congratulations to the new owner.

Interesting that it is one of those rods with the look of an MG of the period. I wonder whether that's what the original builder was shooting for??

BTW - would love to see some detail pics of the front fender mounts.

[n.z.rodder]

Jesus H Christ thats freakin' awesome. Nice score indeed.
Scotty.

[31whitey]

That is a very well though out old hot rod.I can wait to read the article.Your are friggen stoked man....

[Unclee]

Dig it! I kinda like the boat wheel' but then the Chevy wheel was kinda large, huh?

[bt34]

....perfect...all of it....

[HOTRODSURFER]

awesome score-i like your plan of doing nothing to the car but driving it !! that this is f-in sweet!

[rbantique]

Congratulations ! It is nice to know that there a still a few out there patiently waiting to be put into sevice again. A lot of them still belongs to the original builders who have no interest in selling even though they are put away. Your find will keep the rest of us asking questions and listening to answers about where these old rods ended up. If they weren't parted out , or destroyed they are still out there .

[Ratmotor]

Fantastic story!