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History Looking back - Peoria 1970

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by HOTRODPRIMER, Jun 13, 2015.

  1. A BIG thank you to Photobucket for screwing up another good thread. :mad:

    When I have a few hours to kill I will try to figure out the photo's and repost them from my PC.

    I have been working on getting this thread back up and in order for some time since photobucket blocked the photo's, Hopefully in the near future I will most of the photo's back.


    With the passing of Tex Smith I was reminded of his contributions to the hot rod world with both his published work and his freelancing.

    I also recall that Tex and Tom Medley were both instrumental in getting the first street rod nationals off the ground in Peoria in 1970.

    Hope you enjoy the read. HRP

    1st Street Rod Nationals - The Road to Peoria -
    Written by Dick Martin

    Contributors: Dave Lukkari, Ken Grimes, Andy Brizio How The Biggest Street Rod Event Got Started

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    The NSRA Street Rod Nationals is the granddaddy of events that pulls street rodders together from every corner of the U.S. But did you know that a couple of fishing buddies at R&C kick started the whole shebang?

    The year was 1970. The average cost of a new home was $26,000. Regular gas was 36 cents a gallon.
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    Tom Medley and Bud Bryan stayed at the Peoria Sands, the show's headquarters. At the crack of dawn, the day before the big event, Tex Smith and his late wife, Peggy, motored over to Tom and Bud's digs. To their utter surprise, street rods littered the parking lot. "I woke Tom up," said Tex, "and pulled the curtains of his room open, and, looking out at the parking lot, Tom said, 'Holy ...'" Tex had been the field director with NHRA and Peggy had handled the registration at the drags. Peggy talked to the motel manager, and he had some folding tables they could put up in the motel parking lot. In short order, registration was open. Tom, in turn, had accumulated some catalogs from various West Coast street rod companies, and Louie Senter of Ansen Automotive Engineering had donated some bags that Tom brought along. As the folks registered, they were each given a bag with some catalogs.
    I thought it would be fun to revisit Tom "Stroker McGurk" Medley-since I wrote about the beloved Rod & Custom former publisher in the June 2000 issue of R&C-plus learn, firsthand, from Tom how the Nats got started. Trying to get a straight answer out of a gag cartoonist is another matter. Tom's speech is laced with laughter because he is constantly tickling his own funny bone.

    Tom got involved with R&C in the late '60s after moving over from Hot Rod magazine. He recognized that street rodders had pulled away from the hardcore hot rod racers who read HRM. Tom saw a need to not only cover street rods in R&C, but promote a national car show as well. "Street rodding is practically a religion," Tom declared, and he had the perfect pulpit to spread the gospel: Rod & Custom.

    "Pete (Petersen) asked me if I wanted to take over R&C when I was advertising manager of Hot Rod," Tom began. "He asked me, if I did, which way I wanted to go editorially. I said, no drag racing-that's for Car Craft. Let Hot Rod do the competition stuff; we're going to the street ... street rod stuff. None of those guys had much faith in the street rods. Pete left me alone to do what I wanted to do.

    "We didn't get entirely away from racing," continued Tom. "We still went to Bonneville, covered stuff like the '70 Baja 500 (where rodders like Ray Brock, Ak Miller, and Mickey Thompson competed). Guys who are interested in cars are interested in anything with wheels. We manufactured the Street Rod Nationals. When I had R&C, I had the perfect platform that other publications didn't have. We had a way to the source-street rodders every month.

    "(LeRoi) 'Tex' (Smith) and I used to talk all the time about trying to get a street rod nationals going. We picked out a bunch of guys who were in this car club called the Slo-Pokes in Peoria, Illinois. The reason we picked Peoria was it was almost the center of the population of the U.S.

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    "I had to go back to Peoria a couple of times to talk to the mayor and the city council to let them know we weren't a bunch of greasy fingered motorcycle guys. We told them we didn't know how many people would attend.

    "We couldn't get an OK from the 7th floor (Petersen Publishing upper management), but we were already into this thing so we went ahead and did it. We had to scrape together some money so we could get on with it." Through the cooperation of Gary Magner of the Minnesota Street Rod Association, which jointly hosted the event, the run to "Big P Nats" began to take shape.

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    The Highland Plating Special Track T perfectly illustrates how timeless a traditional car is when done right. It looked great 36 years ago and looks even better today. The radiator "wings" are an unusual, but most likely necessary touch to keep the Flathead cooled with the restrictive track nose.
    Many states were passing laws that were detrimental to the sport. Street rodders of the '60s had become lightning rods, much like the hot rodders of the '40s. The public perception was poor. Tom wanted more than an association dedicated to a yearly car show-he wanted clout.

    "Street is Neat" was more than a catchy phrase coined by Tom. He surrounded himself with a now-legendary staff that was as proficient at changing typewriter ribbons (remember those?) as they were changing a cam in a Riley four-port: Editor Bud Bryan, Associate Editor Jim "Jake" Jacobs, and freelancer Tex Smith.

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    Dave Lukkari of Apple Valley, CA, has made every Street Rod Nationals since Peoria. Dave resided in Southfield, MI, at the time, and his answer to a spiffy SUV back in 1970 was his 283 Chevy-powered '47 woodie.
    "The idea of having a street rod nationals blossomed right in Tom Medley's office," Bud stated. "We all went, "Let's do it!' The sport, at that point, was fragmented nationally. The Midwest and the East Coast guys didn't know much about the West Coast guys, and visa versa. Our plans were to get these guys together. Everybody was talking about cruises, but not many ventured out of state."

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    One of the reasons Tom chose "Jitney Jake" to become a staffer at R&C was he not only had a Ph.D. in early Ford parts, he was a street rodder to the core. "My daily driver was my street rod," Jake said. "I didn't own a store-bought automobile."

    Tex Smith met Tom in 1957 when he was an associate editor with HRM. "We became instant fishing buddies," Tex said. "When Tom went to R&C, I had already left Petersen Publishing, I think in 1963, and began freelancing for a number of aircraft publications. On staff, I was making $125 a week. The year that I quit, I was making over $30,000 freelancing. I was busting my butt, but I was making some bread. I wasn't about to go back on the staff."

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    Fresh off the Road, bugs and all, Jim Jacobs' Ford Panel (which he still owns) was made to order: The Cavernous commercial rod provided ideal to carry camping gear, rusty vintage tin found along the way, plus lots of baling wire. Jim put his '29 to the test on the 5,500-mile round trip from SoCal to Peoria.
    Tex began freelancing in a big way for R&C: "Tom and I were fishing all of the time and we got to talking about where to take R&C. We felt that traditional street rodding was making a move and nobody was covering it," Tex said. "None of the other publications wanted anything to do with it. The advertisers felt that there was no market in street rodding and would not advertise at first. We got that niche and really took it over.

    "We heard about this group in Madison, Wisconsin, that held some kind of event they called The Mid-States Rod Roundup with about a hundred or so rods. That sparked an idea," Tex continued. "Tom and I decided we would have the Rod & Custom Street Rod Nationals, which is what we called it.

    "The problem was, R&C didn't have any feed money to put on such an event. We didn't have five bucks," laughed Tex.

    [​IMG] Streetkhana was Greek to the uninformed passing by. And unless some of the street rodders had a Sprite or Jag at home, so was gymkhana. Tom's play-on-words was a hit with all who participated.
    What the boys came up with was a plan to fund the project. Tex had some articles in R&C, like "How to Start a Car Club," so "when I got the check," he said, "I cashed it and gave the cash to Tom. That's how we got around [the money issue]. I think we had $700 to fund the first event."

    The June '70 issue of R&C began promoting the August event: "It's official," began Tom's article. "All you thousands of street-oriented car enthusiasts are finally going to have a Big Thing all your own. All Roads Lead to Peoria."

    R&C Americruise In The Making
    Excitement and adventure awaited the rodders boogying across the country. Those experiences have stayed with those who went-including Bud, who rode shotgun in Jake's newly constructed '29 Model A panel truck. The two stopped at roadside diners and slept under the stars along the way.

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    "America was different then," pondered Jake. "You could sleep by the side of the road without worrying about getting robbed or worse."

    Jake was a veteran when it came to long-distance driving, having driven to Iowa from California in his Model A pickup two years before Peoria, plus a number of trips with his folks. "I remember riding with my parents back to Iowa when they couldn't wait to get to Vegas. Not for the casinos, but to get to one of the air-conditioned department stores to cool off. I knew early on what it took to drive cross-county. I knew what to take and what not to take. But baling wire was a must," laughed Jake. "I actually wrapped it around the valve stem to keep a tire from going down on the trip.

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    "Every time my foot would slip off the spoon (throttle pedal) on the trip to Peoria, Bud would sit bolt-upright in the seat thinking something had happened," Jake continued. "Bud thought you couldn't drive an old Model A from California to Peoria without something going wrong."

    Bud's reasoning was a bit different-he said the pedal was so "slippery" because Jake was falling asleep at the wheel.

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    Jake hadn't earned the handle "Jitney Jake" for nothing. He spotted a pile of old cars on a farmer's property in the middle of Nebraska. Unfortunately Bud ended up in the hospital in the process. Not from the farmer's blunderbuss either: "We asked the farmer if we could buy some parts," Bud said. "Jake had a couple of shop towel bags. The farmer said we could fill the bags for 10 bucks a bag. Jacobs got a set of original '29 headlights; I got a dash panel and an instrument cluster with a cat-eye glass gauge in it. When I released the pressure in the gas gauge line, it stirred up a nest of hornets in the seat and they stung me on both arms."

    Tex traveled to Peoria pulling a tent trailer with his Chevy Suburban and camped in the hayfield where the event was held, along his wife, Peggy, his three girls, and his son.

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    Ken Grimes of Wellsville, Ohio, (who supplied many of the photos of the first Nats) motored from eastern Ohio to the Nats. "As soon as R&C announced it, me and my buddy Bill Achberger decided we were going," Ken said. "Back then, you built a car to go maybe 20 or 30 miles to a car show, not through several states. We took Achberger's 8-inch channeled Model A coupe with the gas tank in the trunk, so you know how much space we had. Bill still owns the coupe. We didn't have reservations or anything; it was something that we had never experienced before. Seeing cars that we'd seen in the magazines and meeting Tom Medley, Bud Brian, and Jim Jacobs was like meeting your heroes. I met people there I still see every year at the Street Rod Nationals. I know people all over the country because of it."

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    The Nats
    "We're about to launch the most popular hot rodding event ever," Tom wrote in his introductory article publicizing the Nats. This was to be more than a car show. Tom and his staff had an action-packed event in store for the participants. Besides the hayfield that a Mr. Forest Lemmons allowed them to use for the show 'n' shine, a large parking lot was also pressed into service. There was also vintage tin to rummage through at the Swapfest, plus there was a driving rally taking approximately 45 minutes, which was a whole new experience for the majority of the 200 street rodders who navigated the course.

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    "Some of the guys went out and found traffic cones to set up a slalom course," explained Tex. "Tom and I circulated, through word of mouth, to head to the parking lot. A map was handed out for the drivers to follow. We called it a Streetkhana."

    There was a restaurant right next door to the parking lot where the Streetkhana took place. "I went over there the night before and I told the manager that we had a bunch of guys who were going to be at the place early the next morning for breakfast so he'd better be ready for them," Tom recalled. "'No problem,' he said, 'We handle the conventions around here.' Late the next morning, I went over to get something to eat and I thought a bomb went off in the place. There were dirty dishes everywhere and the cook had stormed out and quit. They had never seen so many guys go through the place in such a short period of time."

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    Needless to say, all who attended were not disappointed, and deemed the 1st Annual Rod & Custom Street Rod Nationals a success; 1,200 participants and nearly 600 pre-'49 street rods made the show.

    After the first Nats, street rods were beginning to be looked upon as more than parade cars or wedding fodder. The event was proof you could actually drive the damned things out of state!

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    Life After R&C
    What has Mr. Medley been doing since he retired? "I've been campaigning vintage go-carts for the last five years," Tom said. "I was in Quincy, Illinois. I drove 4,000 miles round-trip with Randy Holtz; they have a class for drivers 60 years and over, and Randy won with my engine. All of the old-time cart drivers going back to the '50s get together out here in SoCal. We're called the Geritol Gang.

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    "I was in Alaska (Tom goes every year) terrorizing the salmon," chuckled Tom. "I was up there for the Fourth of July with my high school classmate friend Ken Eichar. Ken took his mighty Huey helicopter (Ken has a fleet of choppers) and hooked onto an American flag, 25 feet high and 50 feet long. We pulled that thing down over the town of Ketchikan. There were 10,000 or 11,000 people there for the big annual Fourth of July parade. Ken kicked the door off on his side and I rode shotgun with him ... he does this every year."

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    As you can see, the only thing that will slow down Tom Medley is the CHP. No retirement-home living for this street rodder. Stroker-hats off to you, sir.

    Tex splits his time between Kauai, Hawaii, Idaho, and an area of Australia that is billed the street rod capital, Castlemaine. He's working on a number of books.
    .

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    Bud has returned to his roots working part-time at a model train shop (he's a train nut) near Sacramento. But, after going to the Goodguys event in Pleasanton this past year, Bud said, "It got the juices flowing again." He is about to embark on a roadster project after years of being out of the sport.

    Jake had a little business going with a guy named Pete (Pete & Jake's Hot Rod Parts), sold it, and semi-retired to his home garage in Apple Valley, California. I joke with Jake (he's a chum) that he should contact Meals on Wheels and NAPA to make house calls; then he'd never have to leave the premises. Plus, his property is starting to look like that farmer with the stack of old cars in Nebraska-tin everywhere! But you wouldn't expect anything less from Jake.

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    On A Personal Note
    It was important to interview the movers and shakers on Sunset Boulevard who put the Nats together. After so many years, I had to become a sleuth to track down Tex and Bud. It was after many dead ends and a phone call to a publishing house in Australia that I learn Tex was back in the states for Bonneville, where I eventually met with him. The same thing goes for Bud Bryan, until Andy Brizio came through.

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    The gratifying part in locating the old R&C staff was to get these fellows talking to one another after all these years. They had simply lost contact with one another.

    The Rod & Custom Street Rod Nationals got ordinary street rodders like Ken Grimes and his friend Bill Achberger to travel-and not 20 or 30 miles in their rods, but in many cases, thousands of miles to attend a car show.

    Thanks to the boys on the 3rd floor who wouldn't take no for an answer.

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    Gettin' There
    We left California with five cars to drive to Peoria. I had my '23 T-bucket for which I had won America's Most Beautiful Roadster at the Oakland Roadster Show in 1970, and I wanted to prove to people that you could drive those kinds of cars to car shows. Also along for the trip were Lance Miller in a '23 T-bucket with a blown Chevy, George Solomine in a '32 Ford three-window, Bob Burton in a '23 T Volksrod, and Don Specht in a '15 T roadster.

    We left San Francisco and got as far as Reno, where Lance lost a starter and radiator (which fell into the fan). We called back to my shop and had Sue ship a radiator to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Don hooked a 6ft towrope to his roadster and towed Lance 740 miles to Cheyenne doing 70 mph!

    After getting repaired and back on the road, Lance lost the blower. Luckily we had a spare intake and carburetor under the hood of Bob's Volksrod. That was the last major repair we had to do and made it into Peoria.

    After all of this, and driving 2,000 miles one way, a guy wins the Best Car Award with a car that got there on a trailer. -Andy Brizio
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2021
  2. Thanks,HRP. Weird as those times were, those cars had a big influence on a young dude!-MIKE:cool::)
     
    4ever18, HunterYJ and HOTRODPRIMER like this.
  3. 3wLarry
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 12,804

    3wLarry
    Member Emeritus
    from Owasso, Ok

    man, how my tastes have changed over the years. I remember when all those rods were so cool looking when I was young...seeing them here, they look kinda goofy to me now.
     
  4. Some additional photos of the First 1970 Peoria Nationals. HRP

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    Last edited: Jun 14, 2015

  5. Times change but the is no doubt these cars influenced most of us greybeards,,heck these cars were the dreams of many of us 45 years ago. HRP
     
    4ever18, tofords, Kan Kustom and 5 others like this.
  6. lstwsh
    Joined: Jun 4, 2008
    Posts: 440

    lstwsh
    Member
    from Dayton,Oh

    Thanks HRP yes these are the cars that I loved and still do. I was 16 in 1971 but always loved the older cars. These cars were a HUGH influence on me. Frog Follies is the only Rod Run that reminds me of the old days. Thanks for bringing back good memories.
     
  7. Jalopy Joker
    Joined: Sep 3, 2006
    Posts: 31,179

    Jalopy Joker
    Member

    Very Cool - Thanks. lots of members here were not even around back in those "old" historic days. special creation from those days is seen in current thread "Crazy Barn Find"
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2015
    HOTRODPRIMER likes this.
  8. olcurmdgeon
    Joined: Dec 15, 2007
    Posts: 2,289

    olcurmdgeon
    Member

    thanks for the great stroll down memory lane, HRP!
     
  9. Not trying to hijack your thread, Danny, just thought some folks might enjoy these shots from 4 yrs. later. Nats East @ Timonium, Md. Fairgrounds, 1974 before the move to York,Pa. 06132015.jpg
     
  10. That Green '34 Coupe was for sale that week-end for a whopping $5,000.:rolleyes:
     
  11. Danny: thanks for the memories. NO, I didn't make it to "P" but was pretty involved from then on. I recognize a bunch of those cars and will sen a pic of the Gary Kessler yellow '32 highboy. Now owned by Mr. Don Ward. I was at Don's h0me week before last on my Hamb network vacation. Don has owned it a long time. There are several other cars I have pics of but don't want to hijack the thread. Thanks again, in some respects, I enjoyed those days a lot more than the current version of the sport. OK, ever
    ybody can slap me now. Tim
     
  12. Model T1
    Joined: May 11, 2012
    Posts: 3,309

    Model T1
    Member

    Thanks for the trip back in time. I take pride in my good memory. But something just ain't right! I've always said we took my 1939 Ford coupe which was dark metalic green. I do know we went and took one of my old cars. Yet I didn't buy the 39 Ford until 1972. Adding to my confusion my duaghter wasn't born till 1970 and she had a large part in me getting the 39 Ford from a neighbor.
    We lived 10-15 miles south of Peoria. We used to camp where the main event was held. We were there. But my 39 Ford wasn't, or maybe was there with another owner. Another reason we need to save notes and photos of the past. Anyway thanks. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to remember what we actually drove.
     
  13. Model T1
    Joined: May 11, 2012
    Posts: 3,309

    Model T1
    Member

    Please add your photos here or start another thread. This was my first big car show and I need to refresh my memories. Only made it to one Frog Follies years ago.
     
    HOTRODPRIMER likes this.
  14. 40fordtudor
    Joined: Jan 3, 2010
    Posts: 2,503

    40fordtudor
    Member

    It's always good to go back to where a lot of this obsession started, whether in memories or someone elses pictures. Things have changed some when compared to some of the builds today but ALL were done with the same fervor. Thanks to all who provided remembrances.
     
  15. pitman
    Joined: May 14, 2006
    Posts: 5,148

    pitman

    Thanks for the memories Dan. The write up by Andy says it so well. Nothing like seeing Sabie's '36 roadster, (just above Andy's roadster pic) watching him relax, pull out a hibachi and grill up some steaks!
     
  16. dudley32
    Joined: Jan 2, 2008
    Posts: 2,160

    dudley32
    Member

    what a great thread...thanks...brings back a lot of memories...
     
  17. I have no problem with you adding to the content Don,it makes for better reading.

    I'm with you Tim,some of the old days were considerably more fun,but it was amazing to see that many hot rods in one place.

    BTW,You do know that our friend John Collins attended the first nationals.

    Please feel free to add photos. HRP
     
  18. John's been everywhere and done everything, period.
     
    HOTRODPRIMER likes this.
  19. Model T1
    Joined: May 11, 2012
    Posts: 3,309

    Model T1
    Member

    I agree. Keeping things together is better than all of the duplicate type threads members start.
    This was the period of time I switched from restored originals to customs and rods. This is also the time when parts were bought at farm sales, swap meets, and through friends.
    Yes it's beyond the HAMB cut off date but to me it's still when real hotrods were built.
     
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  20. I agree, but I still like the T bucket with the flag paint.
     
    HOTRODPRIMER and Model T1 like this.
  21. Tom davison
    Joined: Mar 15, 2008
    Posts: 6,042

    Tom davison
    Member
    from Phoenix AZ

    I'm lovin' the whole story with details, HRP. Yes, some of the cars were goofy (show me an event now that doesn't have goofy cars), but the best of the best of that time were also there. Only the old guys remember that rod and especially custom activity had nearly died off by the late 60's. Peoria was the beginning point of the comeback. Thanks for putting this up.
     
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  22. Thanks Tom,that's a valid point,being able to walk in a new car dealership and buying a brand new car that for all intensive purpose was a hot rod with creature comforts that would wax any hot rods left running around on the streets during those dark day and was damn near the death nail for hot rods as we knew them.

    Thankfully the Andy Brizio's ,Tom Medley's Tex Smiths and countless other pioneers refused to let this hobby that we all love die and become be a distant memory. HRP
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2015
  23. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    Thanks for the excellent read, HRP. I wasn't there, but I remember reading about it.
     
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  24. oldcars.acadia
    Joined: Jan 20, 2003
    Posts: 213

    oldcars.acadia
    Member

    Thanks for the memories Danny. Wasn't at Peoria but at many of the early east coast runs.
    Still have the same 31 Chevy, currently under going the third rebuild in 49 years.
    Bob 73 Timonium.jpg
     
    T-roaster, D-Russ and Model T1 like this.
  25. Ya Larry. Think how todays ratrods must look to the guys that built those cars. Talk about goofy. I wish the whole ratrod thing would just go away. I would rather see cars built in early 70's style than a ratrod with duelies.
     
    thirtytwo and LOST ANGEL like this.
  26. Kan Kustom
    Joined: Jul 20, 2009
    Posts: 2,739

    Kan Kustom
    Member

    If I had known then what I know now, I would have hoarded all the Goodyear blue streaks I could get my hands on. I still love those tires.
     
  27. eaglebeak
    Joined: Sep 17, 2007
    Posts: 1,269

    eaglebeak
    Member

    Looks like the Uncertain T was there.
    TB34 coupe would be Tom Biles from Tonawanda, NY.
    He had a show car 1957? Ford...Perfidia.
     

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