History Lost Hot Rod- It's alive!!!

How cool is this, congrats Dean. Man what super early shots, love the pix of, off the line and the open chute framing the car. Just amazing, so glad its going in this interesting book. I remember the ride from the Hot Rod feature and has been a favorite of mine since. Thanx for sharing: ~Sololobo~

 

Please forgive my inability to keep silent on this matter. We need to talk about the "elephant in the room".
Some of Steve's friends need to have a "Come to Jesus" discussion and give him some perspective.
They need to explain that it is a greater achievement to return the car to original owner for restoration than keeping it for personal gains.
Since Dean is healthy and able,there is not a acceptable reason to keep a historic car from the original builder /racer. The rpu's historic value and the attention to detail that the original builder can bring to a restoration is invaluable.
I witnessed this first hand,during the purchase of my fathers roadster.The friends of the owner persuaded him that he could not "do the restoration justice and that it belonged back in the builders possession".
I will never be able to thank them enough and feel the best way to repay this act is to keep their idea alive!
The act of knowingly keeping this car from Dean does nothing but prove that this involves real profit... not what is best for the preservation of hot rodding.

 

Thats how it should be,unfortunately,not everyone sees it that way,I know of an old 32 sedan race car,not really worth that much in the condition its in,that was bought at a sale,the guy that raced it and use to own it tried to get it back,then his son wanted to get it back,just to have it as yard art,wanted to pay whatever,just wanted it back for sentimental reaseons to give back to his dad,still no...sadley his dad passed this summer,and not a thing will EVER be done with the sedan,its a trophy in a shed,and will stay there till it rots most likely..I dont get it...

 

Hi Dean, hi guys.
A fellow hot rodder (Matt Farrant) has directed me to this message board so I thought I’d say hi as I’m the one that now owns the RPU.
Here’s, as best as we can remember, the story of how I came to own the car. Thanks to Matt and his brother Malc who were with me at the time for most of these words (and by the way both own bitchin’ Model A’s). Thankfully Matt kept a diary of our trip.
I was looking for a Hot Rod, preferably a roadster of some kind and had a wedge of money burning a hole in my pocket after getting back from a two year tour in Kuwait.
Kiwi Steve and Steve Dennish were hunting down leads for me.
Trawling through the Old Car Trader turns up a '29 roadster that I make arrangements to see in a couple of days.
A trip to Longbeach swapmeet turned up nothing but Kiwi Steve gets a lead on another '29 Roadster.
We head off to somewhere in LA, Phil Zoloski's (apologies if I’ve misspelt that) place and the car in question, a Bonneville roadster called Rockabilly Boogie. By the time we get there it is no longer for sale as Moon have decided to sponsor it again, but Phil is a friendly guy so we get chatting and ask if he knows of any other roadsters that might be up for grabs. “I know of a Model A roadster pickup that could be. Hang on a moment” he disappears into the house and returns with some old cigarette cards depicting hot rods.“There you go” pointing at one of the pictures. Not wanting to be rude but we presume he thinks we don't know what a roadster pickup looks like, after all we are Brits. Diplomatically, we say we know what a roadster pickup looks like. Phil replies “No, it's this actual car! It's an old Hot Rod magazine cover car” This is getting interesting and something is nagging in the back of our minds. I'm sure I've seen this car in a recent copy of Rod & Custom magazine. Gray Baskerville's feature on the 'little pages' where he noted it as one of the hot rods that influenced him to get a roadster. This is getting very interesting. The only thing is, it has to turn out to be true. I mean this sort of thing just doesn't happen or does it?
A phone call to the owner and a misunderstanding over the asking price means it’s way out of my price range, but we still just want to see the car, so a visit is arranged for the following day.
Next morning we find ourselves in an industrial area off Sorenson Avenue outside a line of single story workshops. Steve Dennish is intrigued enough to come with us. The car belongs to long time Hot Rodder and Bonneville racer, Bruce Geisler. He turns up in his GMC pickup that was Gil Ayalas old shop truck and a magazine feature car in the 50's. Bruce is a sharp and witty guy that we immediately take to. We enter one of the workshops where Bruce has laid out all the magazines that have given print to the roadster pickup, '62 Hot Rod & Rod & Custom, El Mirage program and a few others. After taking this info on board, we scoot through a room that looks like workers quarters, beds and all, and enter an old machine shop.
Bloody hell, there it is! Just the pickup cab sat on a pallet. But it is complete down to the tuck & roll Austin Healey seats, ivory vinyl top, SCTA and Road Runners club transfers in the windshield, Hilborn Injection decal on the firewall and Candy Tangerine lacquer covered in grinding dust. This is a goose bumps moment for us all. We are rediscovering a famous old Hot Rod that has laid here in pieces for years. Bruce and me chat and at some point I realise that the asking price is a factor 10 times less than we thought. Meanwhile Matt and Malc stand behind Bruce mouthing to me the words “BUY IT!”, “BUY IT!”. We are then lead around the workshop finding parts for the car. Surprisingly, Bruce shows us a TCI chassis that he says would work well under the body!! I insist on wanting the original chassis. Bruce replies “That crude old piece of iron?” He leads us into a back yard and between a shed and the perimeter fence is the original frame. We drag it out and far from being crude it's a great piece of fabrication by a master of that era, Frank Kurtis.
We treck down to Huntingdon Beach to check out the 29 roadster from the Old Car Trader. The car turned out to be an old hot rod, 29 on 32 rails, 283 and 4-speed, early American mags and an El Mirage timing tag on the dash. A sweet looking car for $15000. The owner had a fine collection of old tin. A full fendered '28 roadster, a '50 club coupe and a lovely 2 door '30 phaeton that had been a 40's hot rod. We chat to the owner about the less travelled sections of old Route 66. An interesting visit but no deals made as I’ve already decided to buy the Lowe's Roadster Pickup.
We also check out an old pre war 'hot iron' T roadster spotted in the window of a garage in Huntington Beach.
A phone call later and we are heading for Bruce Geisler’s house to shake on the deal. Bruce has a garage stacked with interesting stuff. An A roadster pickup that was a 70's Street Rodder cover car, a 1930's caravan, a deuce roadster with a blown sb Ford and the motor for his '53 Stude Bonneville race car. He tells us that he's pushed it to 240mph!! His racing trophy room is an impressive sight. Bruce shows us a Halibrand center section under his bench. It's from the Lowes roadster pickup but isn't for sale. The blown Corvette motor in the Bruce’s GMC pickup is also the original engine out of the Lowe’s car.
After getting back from a trip up to Yosemite Matt, Malc and I head to Kiwi Steve's house. There I find that my money transfer hasn't come through yet which leaves me a little edgy. This ain't in the bag yet.
Friday and we are up early to get the rental truck to pick up the car. My nerves are no better until Steve Dennish calls to say the money is through. All systems go. Off to collect the pile of parts and I seal the deal with a handshake with Bruce. My accomplices capture the moment on film. I’m the skinny twat who looks like he shares a barber with Hitler. In my defence I’d spent most of the day crawling through loft spaces finding RPU parts.



Anyway, back to the Limeworks to celebrate. I buy everyone lunch to say thanks for their help then we head over to Mr Geisler’s house.
Up at the Western Street Rod Nats that weekend we meet Pat Moynagh who worked for Mr Geisler and actually remembers blowing the Roadster Pickup apart.
(“you ain't taking this out of the country are you? When did this happen??”, he asks. “I think it was when we collected the car and took it to the shippers”, our reply).
So what now? For various reasons I got back to the UK with a very uncertain future. I was being made redundant (do you use that expression? Basically, the company I worked for was shedding staff.).
My wife and I completed a renovation on our home, only to sell it and relocate across the country, a couple of years tick by.
Once relocated I have a new job but I have to build a garage and do other renovations on our new home, another couple of years tick by.
In 2002 my wife was diagnosed with cancer, so thoughts of restoring the RPU were not our priority. Thankfully our National Health Service, which despite coming under such criticism, is brilliant when it comes to dealing with the “big stuff” like this that matters. It’s been a long road but my wife is now thankfully in remission, even more years than I’d care to remember have ticked by.
So, I get a call from my brother, who’d got a call from Steve Dennish, who’d got a call from Pat Ganahl who wanted to talk about his new book. So we talked and I sent him the photos that started this thread.
My plan is to get stuck back into the restoration just as soon as I can. I would love nothing more than to actually do what I first intended to do when I bought the car which is to drive it the drags and race it. It has never been my intention just to own the car 'as a trophy'.
One excellent aspect of this thread is all the new restoration material I have with the photos that have been posted here, so thank you all for that. My original intention was to restore the car as it appeared on the HR cover. That was only because it was the most complete set of photos I had of the car. I’m now veering towards the ’63 look with candy paint and 4-71 as preferred by Dean!
Matt, Malc and I have often sat in the pub discussing putting our cars on the boat back to the States and doing a coast to coast road trip. Probably ending up at the Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield; an event that we've attended many times (must be good for the long distance award).

Anyway, this must be in the running for longest post award so I'll leave it there, except to say I’ll keep you all updated of progress.

 

Steve, That was a GREAT story and I'm glad your wife is getting better, have you been in touch with Dean about yours/his RPU?I'm sure he would be excitied to hear from you.Welcome to the H.A.M.B to by the way.

Nick.

 

Hi Steve, thanks for the detailed story.. great drama!
Glad to hear the good news about your wife.
Looking forward to seeing some progress on the car at long last.
Mart.

 

I want to thank Steve for posting the story and picture. I never knew all the details of how my roadster got to England. The picture shows how badly the car was treated during the time it spent at Bruce's warehouse. Kind of chokes me up to see it.

 

Steve, thanks for the story/ update. GREAT news that your wife's health has improved. Remarkable and proof of a strong will in that you and your wife have retained the car till a time you could do something with it. I am sure we all here on the HAMB are looking forward to when your plans become a reality. Keep us posted. Thanks again, Paul

 

This has to be one of the best threads ever on the HAMB. Not very often that we get all of our questions answered by the very people who lived the story!
Steve: Congrats on your wife's restored health! So now the RPU gets restored, right? But by you, Limey Steve, or Dean Lowe???


Scotty

 

the 62 HRM , is my favorite !

 

Just found this HRM pic of Dean's RPU at El Mirage in 1961:

 

WOW!! Such a fantastic read!

 

It's awesome to read about the old cars being taken care of, one way or another.

Note to Ryan: The HAMB is THE best forum on the internet. I remember many years ago when the BBS was a single page operation and it's awesome to see how this thing has grown into a forum that brings so many of the historic cars and people together.

 

Yessir. I agree. RAD.

But seriously.....have it restored by the original owner!

 

@Dean Lowe -

I was just re-reading the history of Ralph Arias' Deuce Hiboy ... Ralph explained that he had obtained his '32 Ford Roadster in 1973 ... via a trade with Bruce Geisler ... the trade? ... you guessed it: a "Riverside Red" '29 RPU (with a white top, bucket seats, etc.) ... which Bruce later used to build his version of a clone of your old RPU.

You can read Ralph's entire story HERE.

 

So is that the one on the cover of Street Rodder mag with the 9" in the bed shot at Currie Ent ??
Did Bruce own this at the same time as Dean's RPU ?
interesting read by the way

 

i hope there is a color change.

 

@Limey Steve, it appeared on the cover of the April 1975 issue of STREET RODDER ... and the issue included a 3-page feature article on Geisler's RPU:


NOTE: Click each image a 2nd and then a 3rd time to read the article's small print

According to Ralph's "32hiboy" website, Bruce still owned the "clone" RPU in 2003 ... so it's quite possible that Geisler was still driving it when he bought Dean's RPU in 1986.

 

Bruce sold the clone"little red" to a mutual friend in Washington state in 2004. It is currently just sitting in storage while a new shop is being finished. I am told by the current owner that it could possibly be for sale as he has too many projects.

 

I have the Deal Lowe 1962 HR cover as my profile pic on Facebook....yesterday Steve added me as a friend and sent me a pic of the RPU....as in totally random add I have already asked if the car is for sale (no fucking hope!!) and if we can go and film it for the next Rad Rods DVD

 

One grand story, to learn more about that Little Red RPU from Cal.
Dean, thanks for chiming in with the details.

 

I am very happy for you Dean, to get this update on your old love. I has survived and if intentions pan out, it well roll again.
Goosebump stuff.

 

wow, dean Im so happy to see that it has been found and will be restored. I hope somehow you can get it back one day.

 

Would be nice, but I don't hold out much hope. Steve seems dead set on restoring driving, and racing it. If he does it justice, and it sees the 1/4 mile again, I'll be happy. Maybe he will make some more history with my old hot rod.

 

At the U.K. NSRA Super Nationals every year a special guest from U.S.A is invited to give a talk and present the prizes, we,ve had some great people over the years.This year it,s the reverand himself Billy F Gibbons.
Wouldn,t it be real nice to get Dean over here once the restorations complete.Hey and don,t worry if Malc or Matt Farrant are involved it will be a great job.

 

Dean - I remember Monogram used to make an A RPU kit very similar to yours, in the pic w/ the Americans and whitewall piecrusts.

Was it patterned after your truck?

 

It could have been. If it was, they never comunicated with me. But then model companies back in the day did a lot of that. They would copy a car 99%, just change it enough to not have to pay royalties to the owner or builder. Monogram sold thousands of model kits of Kurtis midgets and Indy roadsters, and Frank never got a dime off them.

 

When anyone mentions a "Roadster Pickup" I immediately think the of the "Dean Lowe RPU" first.

That truck set a lot of standards of what a hot rod should be to me and I for one am at least happy to see that someone who cares about it's history is the current caretaker. The truck could have met a far worse fate... like an 80's techno paint job and billet wheels... I often wonder how many cool cars from back in the day have lost their history to that sort of lunacy.

I'd bet at some point down the road the two of you will be reunited Dean.

 

having a young family myself.......I have sold a few cars to buy a new furnace, replace a roof, remodel the kitchen. I will never have a car as famous as the RPU, but the fun is in the building, part by part , paycheck to paycheck !

Really enjoyed this read, now return the car to the original owner ! ! LOL

 

What a great truck! Do you have any more color pictures of how it appears on the mag cover with the whitewalls?