History Von Dutch original, Paul Sylva's ARDUN T Modified Roadster

I saw this listed in the RM auctions for the Pebble Beach event and thought others may enjoy seeing this rare survivor



































from Life archives Bonneville 1954

 

That car's a beauty - that ArDun on Nitromethane sounds as sweet as it looks, too . . . hope it'll go to a good home!

 

So dreamy.

 

That is incredible!

 

(QUOTE)
284 cu. in. OHV V-8 engine with Ardun heads and Hilborn fuel injection, three-speed manual gearbox, solid front and rear axles, single transverse semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear, four-wheel hydraulic brakes.
- Historic hot rod with Bonneville history including such names as Paul Sylva, Weaks & Noble and Von Dutch - Hot Rod feature in 1953 - Ardun-Mercury OHV V-8 engine

This handsomely patinated, modified roadster represents everything that’s desirable in an historic hot rod: excellent provenance, important competition history, pinstriping by the legendary Kenneth Howard, aka “Von
Dutch,” and an Ardun-Mercury OHV V-8 engine.


HOW TRUE! Great post , great car, and I really like 'Dutch,s' striping!

 

oh my.

 

Wow!

 

Byron Stack's "Gasser Madness" website has a picture of this car when Weeks and Noble ran it:
http://gassermadness.com/

Look under the Norm Grudem photos, roadsters, and it is the last in the set...

Thanks for posting this story, glad this car is still around.

 

Thanks 296ardun! I had forgot about that one, that is when it had the Hemi.

 

bump

 

very cool

 

wow, im glad i went looking for a certain thread.. would of missed this one.. however, i did not find the thread i was looking for.. i have been rewarded with von dutch goodness.
chris.

 

Yes, please!!!

 

What a beautiful example of what a hot rod looked like in that era. The rear nerf bar is awesome and the recessed Ardun is a real thing of beauty. Thanks Jimmy, you always come through with some good stuff!

 

very cool... that is why I come to the HAMB every day.

 

Yup. thanks for posting. Looks like Von Dutch was at the top of his game...maybe even a self portrait?

 

Indeed!

 

Just amazing

 

cool...thanks for posting it Jimmy B

 

I think so too! I wanted to do something similar to this (and the Beradini Roadster) on my '32 but I am not sure I'll be able to run a hood. We'll see!! But yeah, I love these chunky style licks.

 

Nice piece of history there. I like his striping also.

 

Awesome.

 

I'll second that;without a doubt some of Dutch's finest work.The beauty of it is he knew just how much to use in the design and nothing more.When I see work like this I think of the cartoonist Johnny Hart(B.C.;the Wizard of Id;etc)who was able to capture just the right expression on a character's face with an absolute minimum of lines.They look deceptively simple until you try and reproduce one and they look nothing like the original.Try to reproduce Dutch's most famous image(Harvey the rabbit)and you'll understand.

Thanks for posting the pictures;they are safely tucked away in my morgue file.

 

Wow, thanks for posting. Simply amazing to see the striping, not too much, just enough as stated before. I like the details like the decklid louvers facing inward as well. Not something you see everyday.

 

amazing that this has survived

 

one word " badass"

 

this made my day. thanks

 

You just don't realize what that car does for me.........BOING!!!!!!

 

It'a a miracle this car has survived intact.