History The last Hot Rod, A tribute to Dad

1962 was a big year for Dad. He opened his own shop and for advertisement he built a 40 Ford pickup.
This wasn't just your run of the mill truck either. This one was decked out. He even did a custom paint job on it to let people know what he could do. The truck was a big hit. Everyone loved it and his business was off to a big start.

In the last picture you can see where a deer had run into the rear fender. Luckily nothing else was damaged.
Something else pretty big happened in 1962. Bill Lehr, one of dad's buddies, approached him about starting a Rock n Roll Band. Dad must have had boundless energy because he took him up on the idea. They named the band, the Shadows. They began practicing and looking for band members and before you know it, they had a gig at a local club. They went over very well and as time went on they were playing every weekend in an ever increasing area. They also played a Proms and other functions. In 65' they released a single. They were becoming pretty famous locally and dad started having trouble keeping up with work and the band.
This is a picture of the "Shadows" playing one of their first gigs at The Club 21. Dad played drums.
Here's a picture of the Shadows in the back of the 40'. This was taken around 65 as a publicity stunt. Dad stuck with the band for another year or so and then bowed out of the band to follow his love of cars. The band kept going for a few more years as the Shodows and then Bill changed the name to the Repertory Company and then in 81 he and Steve Cabot formed a band that many of you have probably heard or at least, heard of. Phil Dirt and the Dozers. They are still around today.

 

This is gold!

 

Thanks! I'm glad so many people are enjoying this. I have to locate and scan some more of his pictures from the 60's. Dad knew I was a photography buff and would occasionally bring a few of his old photo's or negatives over for me to scan and then he would take them back. I didn't realize how many photos he had until after he passed and we went through his stuff and started organizing them. There were pictures laying around his shop, his house and stashed in boxes that he probably hadn't even seen in years. I usually save scanning old pictures for the dead of winter. It's good therapy. While going through and separating pictures I found some that would fit perfectly into the mid to late 60's part of this story. I will make an exception and scan those before I go much further. My wife and I went to my mom's house this weekend for her birthday and I wasn't able to get too much done, but I did go through a bunch of old memory cards for the digital era and found some awesome pictures that I took of his shop and cars that I took over the last 12 years. But for now, it's back to the 60's!

 

Man I'm lovin' this. Heard the Dozers several times when they were doing the county fair circuit down this way. Top notch act. The connection with your dad is really cool.
Keep the pics & stories comin', great stuff.

 

It's not too late. You and your Wife should work on photoshopping a superimposed silhouette of him into the pic. The sun setting on him with his Roadster.
What a fantastic story about an incredible guy and his life of cars. Thanks for sharing.
If you haven't done so, maybe post a few pics in this thread;

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/family-photo-album.1027947/

 

When dad started his business up he tried to stay current with what the next trend was going to be. The 40' pu was the first of these, then in late 68' early 69' he built this van. It was finished just in time for a trip to the west coast. Dad had been going to the Winternationals with Clark Rader for several years and he wanted me to experience the American West. This is probably where he got the idea for building the van. In late June of 69' we headed west to California and Baja Mexico on the maiden voyage. The van ran hot at first, do to it having a fresh 283 in it. It never overheated and eventually calmed down. For me, it was the beginning of my love for roadtrips. These pictures were from the following winter when dad took one of his buddies on the same basic trip.
It was an instant hit and got him plenty of recognition locally for his business. The went back to fast cars for a while after this build. It seemed that through the early 70's he was too busy fixing other peoples cars to build many for himself.

He built this "VETTE" in 73. This was the last car he would build here for many years. I couldn't find any pictures of it from when he built and owned it. I was going home from work one evening in 2007 and saw this car parked at a local Goodyear dealer, I had to stop and grab a few pictures. This car still had the same tires on it as it had when dad sold it. I later found out that the guy who bought it was afraid of it and put in storage after a few years. He was finally selling it and had sent it to have new tires put on it. These pictures were taken 34 years after it was built.
In 75' he closed his shop and went to work for a local dealership. He got news of a job opportunity in Wyoming and in 76' he moved west. Then in 78' he moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I wasn't too far behind him on this move. Within a year we had a shop to work out of and we were back to building older cars again.

 

After we had spent our first winter in Colorado, dad got to know the owner of the local junkyard. Not long after that and we were moving into the old Highway Dept. building. The owner of the yard had a long term lease on it and had been using it for storage and said that there was plenty of room left if we wanted a place to work. The best part of the deal was that if we did a little work for him, it was rent free. The guy loved his 55, 56 and 57 Chevys. I thought I was in heaven. I had a 56 Chevy pickup that I needed parts for and he had them all. We did a bunch of small jobs for him and he was as happy as we were. Things went well for us there for several years.
In 1985 my grandpa started having health issues so dad decided to move back here to Ohio to help out. When dad moved back here he already had a name for himself from the cars he had built when he had his shop. People started approaching him right away with cars they wanted to have him build. He rented a small garage a block from my grand parents house in the same neighborhood that he grew up in. He worked there until his last day. Over 31 years. This is where he became a prolific Hot Rod builder. I spent the last few days going through pictures, again. I can't believe how many cars he actually built in that little garage.
For now, here are a few pictures from the Colorado years.

The copper and white 56' was one of the cars we did for the owner of the yard. The truck he built and used to make the move back to Ohio. The log building is the old Highway Dept garage we worked out of. The blue and white 56' dad got as payment foe some other work he had done there.

This is a picture of the 56' before dad got it.

This was one of the last loads he took on the move back here. He made pretty good money on those rust free truck beds when he got them here. Notice the one piece bumper on the 56'.
The story and pictures will get much better from this point on. I promise!

 

Thanks for the trip down your memory lane that keeps on happening...Zombiecat. Front row seats to so many Hamb caliber rides. I will enjoy seeing this hotrod story evolve right here. Great stuff...thanks for sharing...

 

You've got my attention, Thanks for sharing!

 

WOW! Thanks so much for sharing the photographs and story and history of your father. Very interesting to follow! Joe

 

What a fantastic tribute to your father, thanks for sharing.

My dad is the same age as you and we lost his father this year as well. Sorry about your dad, he seems like he was a hell of a man with a load of talent.

 

Nice, I got my Five Window "the hard way" too

 

I'm not real sure where to start this part of the story, so I'll start with a few shots of the shop. It is part of a complex of buildings that, over the years, served many functions. As a young boy I spent a lot of time in that neighborhood. I remember semi's going in and out of the complex, but that's about all. Currently, the first and largest building there is a machine shop. Dad was always doing favors for them so if and when he needed a favor, they were happy to oblige.
I'm not sure exactly when this first picture was taken, but it wasn't too long after he moved into this shop. I can tell, because he still had the Benz. My guess would be mid to late 80's. It was taken from the back steps of the machine shop. Dad is in the center and the guy sitting on the trailer holding his head, no doubt he was hung over, is one of dad's best friends. He is a member here.
I'm also not sure who took these pictures, but there is a recurring theme here. I'm guessing these next pictures were taken around 2005.


Now that you can see the shop, imagine that he is only renting half of the building. Next I'll add a few pictures that I took just a few months before he passed away. He had the inside sectioned off with cars in each of the sections. in the middle of it all is where he worked. He would move a car out to work on it and put a different one in it's place. I'm not quite sure how I'm gonna work it but I can't think of a better way at the moment. Anyhow, here is the inside.

I really hope this wasn't too many pictures.
I was just trying to give you the scope of what went on inside this little garage over that past 30+ years.
As you can see, he was still going balls to the wall right to his last day. I went over to the shop when we left the hospital after he had passed and the lights were still on and the radio was still playing.
Don't worry, I still have tons of pictures and more stories. Maybe I can get John and Jared to chime in too.

 

Quite the legacy so awesome that you're sharing with us all


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I"m just happy that so many people are interested. I always thought that dad needed to be recognized for what he did but he didn't really like being in the spotlight. Actually, I don't think he cared to have his picture taken. He was just happy that everyone loved his cars. I would watch him at car shows and he would stand back and watch as people stood around and admired and talked about his cars.

I'll put a few pictures of this T pickup that was in the group picture from the early days. In going through his pictures, I found quite a few pictures of a model T pickup that were taken at the 69 Winternationals. It must have been something he wanted to build for some time. He built this one for himself but as with all of the others, he sold it. He said that it was still around east central Ohio. He had a thing for pickups. I remember when I was 9 or 10, he had 2 model A RPU's in the basement garage at home. They were in pieces. I think he traded them for the 40' Ford pu.

And here's the rare picture of him in the car.

 

I'll add more stuff when I can dig the stuff up.. But the T pickup is owned still by the guy who bought it off him all that time ago.. Lives in Newark Ohio.. It was at goodguys Columbus this year.. The owner wasn't sitting around as I wanted to tell him that he had passed..

He had put some different wheels and tires on it but it still was in great shape.

 

Great pictures Ron. For all the years I was around the shop I have not seen most of them. Yep, that's me sitting on the trailer nursing a case of the brown bottle flu. I think Rob Dile took that picture. The guy in the red hat is Bob Bosson, that is his 34 3 window. My 57 Porsche was inside on jackstands and didn't get in the picture.

 

Thanks, John. There are plenty of pictures to come of cars that went through the shop before I moved back to town in 2004.
I went over to the shop to do some much needed maintenance today and took a few pictures of old stuff. One thing used to amaze me every time I went into that shop, it was like walking through a door into the past. Everything in there was, and for the most part, is, old. There are things in there that were in the shops he had when I was barely old enough to remember. It also, always smelled to same as it did 50 years ago. It was like revisiting very familiar place from your childhood that was full of wonderful memories. It's just a little different now though. Here are a few pictures I've taken of old stuff in there.
These were just the ones I had that were easy to get to.
I swear, every time I go over there I find something that I've never seen before.

 

I tell ya I look at those things and think you must have a void and feel very close almost feeling your dads presence in there. I lost my old man years ago and still have an email from him and a few boxes of his pictures and things but you have his space and all that was his and you grew up in it. Life has its twists. Whats cool is you are interested in his stuff and he will rest easier knowing that. Have fun there in your discovering and remembering.

 

THANK YOU SIR I LOVE THIS STUFF VERY COOL

 

Here is a picture of the T pickup, with dad standing by it, that I somehow overlooked.

And while I'm at it, here is a little tid bit that I managed to overlook in the early part of the story.
Sometime around 1956 or 57 dad and a few of his car buddies started the first Hot Rod club here in Coshocton. My mom gave me this newspaper clipping many years ago. Dad's real name is Raymond Dunlap.

I've been busy scanning pictures for a family reunion this weekend. It's my grandma's family. I've never met any of them before, just heard stories over the years.
I'll be back to scanning more Hot Rod pictures real soon!

 

This is a little lakes roadster that dad built out of leftovers. He had a little 60 out of a Matford that he built for one of his buddies, some left over model T parts and an idea. He had a lot of fun building this one because he was working completely out of the box. Anything was possible and he loved that freedom. He worked on it when he would get burned out on the other cars in the shop. I think it helped him to clear his head.
He never finished this one. I went over to the shop one day and it was gone. I can't begin to count the cars that he sold before they were done. If someone came by and offered him enough money for something, he wouldn't hesitate to sell.
Something that you will notice in the shop is that almost everything in there has wheels on it. He worked by himself for years and in order to move things around, when he wanted to, he made everything, mobile.

I'm not sure where this one ended up. Anyone seen it around?

 

I believe that motor is a 59a since it has a mag setup that came off of a 32 roadster he got running again for one of the ungurean's due to the harmon collins magneto that is on the motor.. If I'm not mistaken

The mag was sold couple years back on eBay and I believe the T was sold to tom hardman.. The guy who bought the F1 off him also thy came from the fire truck that conkles had.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

A quick few that I have saved on my phone of ones he did

That ford GP he restored.. Has to be the car he owned the longest.. Lol I think he said about 35 years


And the f1 that I think you had brought the bed back for..


That he wasn't ready to sell but as ya said in your post.. Tom said he had to have it and he put a price on it and Tom bought it haha.




Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Which with l believe just a little paint work became this


Which when I bought it off Tom it had put about 22,000 miles on it and I put another 7,000 or so in it without any issues..

And I snapped a picture almost exactly 3 years ago of him working.. Always inspiring



Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thanks for sharing your Dad's life with us. I would have liked meeting him. Your pictures and stories transported me back to a time period I could Visit, however briefly.

 

Thank you for telling your Dad's story. It's really good to see that his legacy is so far reaching.

My condolences and all the best to you and your family ....

 

Amazing, thank you for sharing.

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

 

Great pictures and stories..Keep it coming, lots of cool memories.