When I was a kid in the early seventies, I went with my dad to Jim's shop several times and saw both cars. He had a decked out hauler for the Sahara at the time, and his Chimpanzee was a trip...
There are pictures of the Ford Truck on Ricksters site with Watson driving it. The truck is lowered and the paint design is very watsonesque (is that a word?)
Watson, Jeffries, I always get them confused. They were both there at the time for sure. I assumed that if Jefferies did the flames on the Kookie car, he would have done the artwork on the truck. But, NO, you have to point out my mistake.
hey berzerk...is it the chevy apache that had berzerk on the tailgate?? if so post some pics of that awesome truck from its heyday
Yes, Rod. Watson. But I am reading that Dean Jeffries later repainted it with RED flames... Sheesh, Jim Street sure got around! I met him once at Monterey Car Capades...(don't know he had anything entered, he was a nice chap, though. Donn Varner introduced me, I think.
Here are those photos. Rob Radcliffe took them at Watson's Museum... And this photo.... is very interesting since we do see the Johnny Zupan (former Louis Bettancourt 1949 Mercury on the far right of this photo! Would love that those rumors about the car being worked on again would be for real... sure sounds like it is. Hopefully we will be able to see the car in public soon.
In the spirit of all great conspiracy theories, I think John Milner32, with 5 posts, lives in Ohio, and, having seen the cars, and knows who did the controls, is, in fact, the infamous Jim Street himself. Lurking! Naw, that couldn't be.
Maybe not the same guy, but there was a customizer named Sam Gates who worked in Pasadena, CA, I think...wasn't he the guy who chopped the Spencer Murray's R&C dream truck?? Rikster??
I prefer Mr Street's version of the Golden Sahara. The car was not particularly subtle to begin with and he only made a good thing better. I really appreciate also the "everything remote" approach to modern living. Not an easy task to accomplish. Regarding the Kookie T let me say that the dual piecrsut slicks look 1000 times better than the stupid Mickey Thompson pro street balloon tires from the 1980s........
In the back of custom cars annual # 1 there is a picture of mr. street and his chimp. I spent the last half hour looking for my issue and could not find it. anyone got a copy handy to scan for us? its on one of the last pages.
Probably is the same guy. He was older than me, possibly mid to late 40's then. I know he moved to Dayton shortly before I met him and he brought the ford coupe with him. That would make him in his 90's now!
This is a very interesting story... a thread pops up on this every once in awhile. And, now, the addition of a monkey and rumors of work have made it more interesting.
I know someone who might be cloning the first version.. Can't say who.. I was just digging through Golden Sahara pix today at the Barris shop and found a bunch of cool shots of it.. some build pics too.. I'll try to scan some this week..
I have never heard that Sam Gates worked on the Golden Sahara. He might have though. I do know that Bob Metz was responsible for the twin tail fins on the Golden Sahara II.... and that according to Jim, Bob Metz did much more work on this version of the GS than was mentioned back in the day mentions. Bob Metz completely rebuilt the car. Sam Gates indeed chopped the Dream Truck, and he did own a 1947 Ford with a very nice chop. But I'm not sure if this car had a Checkerboard fire wall. However Sam Foose (CA) once built a 1948 Ford for himself that was very much inspired by the Sam Gates Ford, and that one did have a checkerboard firewall. confusing? Sam Gates 1947 Ford (was painted painted dark green) Sam Foose his 1948 Ford looks a lot like Sam Gates Ford... but is not the same car. And to get back on topic... here is a photos of Bob Metz handy work on the Golden Sahara.
ok now this is making sense to me. I was unaware that Barris did the first version and then sold it to Mr Street, and then he updated it, and gets mad Barris still gets credit for it, same really as the kookie t if you think about it. right or wrong. Now what would be cool is take the lightning bug, the kookie clone, both done by Von Franco, and then clone the white with red flamed version and then the dual blower one and display them all at the same time...
I've been doing this all wrong man,I should clone the T with the twin blowers and duel slicks and say it's the real car. THEN I think MR,STREET would get pissed enough to bring the real car out, YEA that's the ticket ha ha ha ha.............
Oh yeah, but for some reason I think it would have the same effect as those electric bug lanterns only it'll be attracting guys in Foreigner T-shirts with flip-flops and hair longer than their jean shorts!
Not that it has anything to do with Golden Sahara, but the '41 Ford is actually on it's way to Denmark!! Klaus
People get into this hobby for a lot of different reasons. Some of us for the love of old hot rods. Others for the fame they can get out of it. And some a combination of a lot of reasons. I think this Street guy doesn't care about the hobby except what he can take from it while contributing little. I don't see that he blazed any trails as did the people that built the cars he bought. He added a lot of aftermarket parts and a paint job to Norms T. Had a lot of gadgets added to a car somebody else built. Hell Roth was doing the same to his creations. Well I hope he is happy sitting around with his monkey and piles of trophies. He couldn't have many friends.
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