yea he was in the hospital about a month or two ago with congestive heart failure, and actually got married there. I spoke with him as he was riding home from the hospital. People said the last month they saw him,didn't even recognize him. i was told he had an enlarged heart. Sad.
@Andamo , Chick was from southeastern Massachusetts. What a bummer to hear. He was a good dude. Always loved his birthday party bashes.
I knew him when I lived in Boston and he did some crafty work in his shop. Always welcomed me to stop by. He had CSR's 32 Sedan Delivery at one time. He will be missed.
Sad to hear this. My dad took my brother and I to his picnics when we lived in Connecticut. He was always really nice to us and had some cool projects in his shop. Godspeed Chickie.
Chickie was one of the first guys I met when putting my first 32 5W together back in 1978. He was very helpful and supplied many of the parts ( and knowledge) that I needed to build that Coupe. I'd go down to his shop every other week, not only to pick up parts, but just to see what he was working on. You never knew what would be going on next. From fabricating Funny Car chassis, to chopping the tops on early coupes and everything inbetween. He did the rolling chassis that wound up under my Anniversary Deuce, back in 1981. In 1983, when I needed to sell the roadster to buy the piece of land to build my house, one call to Chickie, and he was at my shop an hour later , with his truck, trailer and cash in hand. Later he sold the Deuce to Joe Salami( who still owns the car today). Back in 1964-5, a friend of mine in Rockport bought a 41 Willys coupe body from Chick. I tried to buy that body for 15 years. Couple of months after just moving into my new home, I got a call that the 41 Willys was for sale. I bought it, and it was then that I found out it had come from Chickie. I called him and told him I had purchased it from the guy he sold it to back in the sixties. At that point , he said if I ever wanted to sell the Willys , let him know. Six months later, my new house still needed a ton of work ( and money), a quick call to Chick ,and again, he was here in 1 hour to pick up the Willys. I had paid $1500.00 for the body, and when I called Chickie, I told him he could buy it, but I wasn't giving it away. I had to get $2500.00 ! He instantly sold the car, did one of the most beautiful tube chassis I have ever seen, and later, was lucky enough to buy the car back from the owner, and still has the car today. We had heard he had been sick, and when he did not show up for the Ty-Rod's Hall of Fame dinner, I gave him a call the following day, to see how he was doing. Although his voice was a little weak, he sounded like the same old Chickie. Asked him if he felt like having a few visitors on Friday of that week , and told me sure. Come on down. So, three of us went down, and we sat in his kitchen , talking about the last 35-40 years. He certainly looked frail, but his spirits were great. Was really looking forward to his birthday bash the 20th of this month. We had a lot of laughs , a lot of good story telling, and left looking forward to celebrating his birthday (and new marriage). When I got the call(s) yesterday, it was very sad news. The three of us who visited him that day are so grateful that we did get down to see him, and that we did have that time with him. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Theresa . God Speed Chick.
I still display his shop decal on my rollcage he constructed for my roadster. He did some excellent work on my cars for me. I enjoyed the man's friendship and soaked up as much knowledge from him as a person could. God speed Chickie. The hot rod world will truly miss you.
Had a LOT of good times with Chickie , learned a lot form him and sad to see another New England legend pass . God Speed Chickie!
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