The Life Of Bloody Mary

Back in 2014, Joey wrote a little feature on Barrie Neff’s ’39 Standard coupe that was featured in the October, 1963 issue of Popular Hot Rodding. Shortly thereafter, contemporary pictures of the car were posted and it’s history unraveled. At one point, Barrie Neff himself showed up, answered questions, and provided more context.

Like any old hot rod, the car has gone through a few iterations. The 331 Cad was replaced with a  more modern overhead, the hydramatic was ditched, wheels have gone back and forth, etc… But ultimately, the car has remained in remarkably original condition.

Anyway, in 2016 the car was sold to a guy named Keith and a representative of his starting posting his restoration progress on the forum by way of some really great photography. Everything was going just swimmingly – Barrie Neff even made another showing offering his support and excitement.

And then, somewhere down the road the wheels fell off the feel good story. History collided with fact. People collided with people. And, shit happened. What “shit” I’m not exactly sure of, but ill will all around for sure.

Barrie has posted extensively about his disagreement with some of the reported stories. So much so, that a few posts had to be deleted for the health of the thread. For the most part, Keith’s representative has kept quiet, ignored the drama, and has nobly continued posting updates. Even so, the thread has this weird feeling to it now.

Normally, I’d ignore the fall out and just hope the thread’s momentum could carry it through the bullshit. And honestly, it seems like it has. But I also see this mess as an opportunity to prove a point of sorts:

Cars don’t screw up stories. People do.

And by that, I mean that sometimes it’s easy to forget why we are all here. Perspective. Priorities. Things like that… I’m not going to take sides on this one and neither should you. We don’t know the whole story and pretending too while taking a stance just leads to more senseless drama. None of it is important

What is important is the car. How it got here is best judged by historical photos and articles. How it goes forward is best judged by the car itself. Letting personalities get in the way of that would be on us, not the car…

So today, I’m coming to you hat in hand and asking you to ditch your ego… ditch your righteousness… and just read the story of how this car came to be. It’s really, really interesting from all kinds of perspectives.

It starts here.