Ryan submitted a new blog post: Ace Auto Supply & Andy Southard Continue reading the Original Blog Post
I did a little research and Ace was located at 5915 Central Ave... So, Andy shot the car in front of Ace. Here's what that location looks like today:
I love a good story and this is a good story. Just imagine the entire Unser Family (racing royalty) being in and out of Ace Auto Supply at one time or another.
@Ryan - Cool post! ... I sure wish we could get Andy (@AndySS) Southard Jr. (and/or his wife, Patty) to post here on the H.A.M.B.
Didn’t it state that it was later stolen. I’ll have to pull my book out. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I miss Ace Auto....was my first choice for parts. They had multiple stores before the chain auto parts stores did them in Sent from my XT1254 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Don't know what happened to the delivery truck but this is the suspension that was under it... chrome '39 transmission too. Sent from my XT1254 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Cool story! We used to have an Ace Auto Supply store in the neighborhood I grew up "Pittman", in Henderson, Nevada. My pops like to go over there because the owner was a fellow New Mexican named Henry. Cool stuff! Love the old pic of Albuquerque...
Here's another piece of the puzzle...when we did our book Scrapbook several years ago, we featured some really neat photos taken by Bob Hellmuth (whose brother ran the Arteaga & Hellmuth Willys) on a road trip west in 1955. Opening spread is the same truck. Here's the spread and the caption...
The hot rod community on Albuquerque is small... I'm a native born boy and so is @metalman. He knows I'm building a '31 Vicky and mentions that he knows where all the undercarriage is from the Ace Auto delivery truck....no way.... Yes way! So the story goes, Ace Auto sold the truck in the late 70's when they closed. The new owner made a 70's build and all this got removed. I'm sure this never happened anywhere else. It had been stored all that time. Maybe @metaman will jump in at some point but this is all I know at this time. Ace Auto had all the accessory kind of stuff you could ever imagine along with parts and they had parts books. They could find you anything. Everything was chrome and I never had any disposable income. The old locals that remember Ace Auto still ask " Have you tried Ace Auto?" if you are complaining about not being able to find a part. Times, they are a changing... Sent from my XT1254 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Very cool score Winduptoy! You know if that drivetrain was sitting on my garage slab, I'm juuuuuust crazy enough to scrounge a Deuce frame, round up a Flatty and RPU body and get to work on a replica...
Can anybody tell if the front tube grille says anything? Its so large, I'm just wondering if it spells out "ACE AUTO" or something cool like that...
Well now, this is pretty cool. My buddy scored all these chrome parts several years ago. He bought them off a guy that had them under a fiberglass T bucket mounted to a really bad home made 2x3 tube frame, he was rebuilding the T with a new Speedway kit frame and using the typical 350/ 350 ect. In other words like so many, throw away cool old parts to build a cookie cutter street rod. No one has any idea what ever happened to the deuce frame or steel T body. Not 100% sure these parts are off the Ace RPU but pretty sure, brackets ect match plus like wind up toy said, this is a small town and very few cars had chrome, especially this much done so... As far as Ace Auto Parts go, shopped there a lot when I was a kid, grew up just down the street. I remember the trailer lot next door, had a cool animated neon sign. My shop today is 6 blocks down the street from that old Ace store building. Besides the RPU Joe Burg also built a 40 Ford "Ranchero" shop truck back then as well to advertise the store. He took a 40 sedan delivery and cut the roof off behind the door at the beltline, welded a 49 Ford F1 rear cab with window in (crooked btw) to a heavily chopped front roof and scabbed in a 50 Chevy truck bed inside the delivery's 1/4s. It had an Olds swapped into the stock 40 drivetrain. A local guy found and bought it out of a wrecking yard 25 some odd years ago. Unfortunately despite my pleads not to and offers to buy it he built a pro streeted modern street rod out of it. Somewhere I have a pic of it as found, I see if I can find it and post it.
Found a pic. The other Ace Auto Supply 1940 Ford delivery turned pick up "shop truck". This was taken around 91 looking as it was found in a junk yard. I've never found a photo how it looked when it was first built.
Well you know...I don't get out much but buried treasure is never far away at this place...here is a textbook example of the wave of Hotrod moving forward blowing apart History and repurposing it into Bigger and Better things... It certainly highlights also when you buy an older Streetrod you never know what might be under what the eye first sees...
Buy the running gear now: https://www.hemmings.com/parts/item...-Original-50s-Hot-Rod-Running-Gear/21117.html