I see no other way of restore for Norm's cool "T",other then as "T" as it was on 77Sunset Strip !!! =The highist point of fame to the world................ Any thing other then that=Would be saying,this is kind of the "T" that was on 77Sunset Strip,but like it was just before,or after,or other BS. That's how I think about it,being I still have my hotrod I built for highschool in 1959. dose mean I was into rods then an still am. It's a view of things over a bit longer time then some. So that's how I look at this.
Was the car ever raced while in the "Kookie Car" phase? I know it could wind up on the Hershey show field some October in the Race Car class in either of the first versions. I've looked but can't find the Little Pages magazine with the car on the cover with Kookie, as I remember the cover it was also in a Fifth version, maroon. Bob
Look at Ryan’s post about time magazine in color Good color shot of Norm racing Tommy I’ve in the car Kookie style
Try and watch "Sisters of the friendless", episode 14 during the first season of Peter Gunn, Dec. 22, '58. (This used to be available free, but now may require a fee) The first couple of minutes show Norm really "enjoying" his Tee! This is how most of us remember this car, along with 77 Sunset Strip, and why it should be restored to this version, imo.
Just wondering don't have a clue but version 4 engine additions remind me of something Carl Casper did, was that setup off of one of his cars? or just similar? I was way off on my prediction. I thought the kookie would bring around $100,000 and the G.S. would bring around $250,000. I was surprised that Kookie brought so much but anyways looks like both cars went to the right people.
Bob ,I think the magazine you're looking for is, RODS Illustrated Aug. 1959, the car Kookie, and Connie on the cover. I don't remember the car being maroon though, I saw it just before Norm sold it, and it was still blue....Rich
FOUND IT! You have to admit that is fairly good memory for a magazine I bought in December 1961 when I'd just turned 11 yeas old, and found it in my basement in less than a day searching. So little of the white paint showed in the photo I thought the whole car was maroon, it has been 57 years hope I can catch a brake there. Bob
Now for some Sunset Strip history, the car was in phase Two at the start of the show, when did the repaint to red & white happen? Bpb
Thanks for that clip. I tried to down load a clip from Mad Fabricators, but couldn't figure it out. It showed more scenes of Norm driving the car.
I wonder if Norm ever slid off the seat? No matter I was hacking a 1:28 model together to replicate the Kookie version but never finished it..Kept dropping it and gluing it back together got tiring..I still have it though, its in the box with the other "builds"..
My favorite is the original lightning bug version but if I paid nearly $450K for it I’d restore it to the 77 Sunset Strip version. Seems like it’d be the only way to recoup your investment. It’d be cool to see if they could find some original blue left on the body somewhere and match the new paint perfectly to the original color.
Tell Von Franco to burn his replica to the ground and we can have another original Kookie T in the world, that Kookie Kar would have way more history with that appearance than this car would if it were freshly restored... Otherwise, keep and clean the aged Watson artwork and have that added history with an already historic hot rod. That will add more value than some asshat, that has nowhere near the fame or history of Larry Watson, restoring it.
as stated earlier in this thread. the car was repainted in 1964, there is no Watson paint. even if there was, there is not one square inch that is not cracked and falling off
All the back and forth about which version to "restore" to relates well to another iconic car...….the McGee/Scritchfield roadster ( and a few others). Bruce Meyer had a similar dilemma. While the various versions that Scritchfield fashioned each had their own notable justifications (model for LAR emblem, supposed first metal flake paint job on a rod, etc.) and were much better known to the entirety of hotrodom, making the car far more famous than the earlier version. Bruce decided to honor the "original", pre-Scritch form. Hard to argue with, though many have tried. Like many here, as a pre-teen in Chicago watching the smallish, b&w screen, the "Kookie car" was one of a few hot rods I'd ever seen, and of course it had a special impact on my hot rod lust. The earlier version though has much appeal for being less about the pizzazz of show biz, and more about hot rod art. Frankly, I could probably make equally passionate arguments for either form (knowing that there were evolutions in form within each of those versions as well). The later versions in white hold no interest for me other than to remind that the indoor show circuit of the later '60s spawned a lot of dubious taste in style. The hard core history lover in me would vote for the Lightning Bug version, the notoriety side of my brain would prefer the even more iconic TV version for it's inspirational impact. Where did I put those dice?
Buy a couple more cad engines and T bodies and Ross will have all the parts to build all three versions. The genuine parts for "Kookie Kar", new parts for "Lightning Bug" and "Streeter"
Oh, I took pictures, Stogy...Eric Rickman was a Hero Photog' to me, so I took local pics of rods & customs. Unfortunately, I married way too young, jealous wife gathered up all my life's pictures and burned them when I was at San Gabriel drags. (1963?) Baby pics and all, ??? Otherwise, I'd fill the anals of HAMB with many Kodak pics... Thank God & Greyhound she's gone! My longtime memory is 20/20, I can remember conversations, cars, etc. Short term is terrible. Someone asked about a Jackson Roto-Faze distributor. My ex girlfriend Carol's daughter had a 'hippie-type' boyfriend, Jason. Jason's mom had an Olds Vista Cruiser that 'laid down' a mile from my shop...Jason was nice, respectful, so I called Big Lou (my tow guy) and had him bring the Olds to the shop. It was an ignition problem, easy fix. I called Jason to come get the car, he was 'stoked'. No charge, my pleasure. The very next day, Jason came by the shop with a box...said "You work on hot rods, I got this a long time ago, please have it." It was a Jackson Roto-Faze ignition, missing one cap. Von Franco flipped when he saw it, so I laid it on him...Kookie kar was not yet finished, my partner Bonneville Butch supplied Frankie with the Cad engine, was just finishing it. Butch also supplied the Horne intake. Frankie gave me his Scintilla Vertex magneto (Olds type, I had it converted to my Chrysler Hemi, by Joe Hunt) We were all happy. The Roto Faze might just as well have come from heaven. What were the chances???
I just saw who bought it. The guy that owns Three Dogs Garage. That is where we went that day. May have to schedule another trip there!
Like I said in the other thread. Build it like Norm did before the movie influence. The version with the top. I always liked it better that way. They removed the top so you could see the actors.
I was going through some stuff looking for something that I never found but I did find this trading card that I thought was cool..... Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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