Folks Of Interest RIP ... Don "Rockerhead" Montgomery

I talked to Don several times over the years, usually when I was buying one of his books at an event somewhere.
I was always impressed by his vivid recollections and super sharp mind.
Just seemed like a really nice guy.
God bless you sir!

Mick

 

You can not say enough great things about Don. We are all going to miss him here. A great loss to all who knew him and knew of him. Thanks toHEMI32 for starting this thread to go along with Ryans blog. Very sad news for the entire world of car people.

 

Had mixed feelings when I hit the "Like" button for this thread.. mainly because of the fact that it was a thread about Don Montgomery's passing and it seems that these RIP threads are a bit of a "downer" I guess. But I do like it because of the content of the thread: links to other online stories and photos and personal recollections from those who knew him. So thanks @HEMI32 and the others who have helped all of us learn more about another cool guy we never met.
R.I.P Don Montgomery.
Guess I'll have to make it a point to read the rest of those books now.

 

Don not only lived the early years of hot rodding, knew so many that shaped our hobby, did everything, plus was able to chronicle those times accurately and very interestingly. I got to know him over the years, bought his books, enjoyed his company, and most of all sat in awe as he shared our past in engaging and fascinating stories. W owe him a very deep debt to keeping us aware, informed, and on track. RIP, and thanks ROCKERHEAD!!!!!!!!!!

 

Very sad indeed. I met Don at events several times over the years and he always remembered me and treated me like a friend. He once complimented me on my '27 T roadster and it's '58-'62 style. Coming from someone like him who lived the early years it meant so much. Godspeed Don and thanks.

 

For those of us, that loved his contributions here, and looked forward to his commentary, today is the end of "his" place. That makes me sad. The HAMB is worse, for his loss. Amen.

 

Thanks to all for this great tribute for a wonderful guy. I did not know him or ever meet him but did correspond with him through this forum just months ago and he could not have been more generous with his time. He didn't write articles from what he heard but what he experienced. He lived a great life and rewarded us with his memories. He will be missed. My condolences to all his friends and family.

 

Anybody that has met Don and Claire will tell you he is a genuine hot rodder, racer, husband, father, friend and all around good guy. I am so glad to have known him, I always looked forrward to seeing him and Claire at many events. The Hot Rod comunity has lost antoer great one.

 

RIP Rockerhead.

 

Don visited my shop a few years ago, I was honored to meet him and have him autograph his books that are in my library. What a gentleman, God speed.

 

The real thing and a great guy.
One of the bests.
RIP

 

If you haven't done so already watch HEMI32's posted interviews with Don on post #9. Great stuff. If the interviews were recorded the copyright year of 2012 Don was 82. He could have easily passed for 60!

 

Godspeed” Rockerhead” A most indelible thanks for the photographers before and to you during that great time in the infancy of Hot Rodding.
Without their images and your stories 1st published in Street Rodder Magazine in the mid-late 80’s and the books that so many including myself cherish, we wouldn’t have as great of a grasp of the early days of Hot Rodding!!!!
Thank you for being here.

 

Pretty sure I have ALL of his books.

 

RIP Don, glad that you were here.

 

From Terry Montgomery a hot rodder in Texas you will be missed but legends live forever

 

Once the ice clears, I think I’m going to go out and burn a little Bucron in his honor:

439911.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:23 PM

 

r.i.p. mr Montgomery, you lived it, you wrote it, and you shared it. thank you godspeed.

 

Here's Marc @Lowtech Wöltinger's "LOWTECH LESS IS MORE" Blog from September of 2013:

2013-09-09

don montgomery – hot rod historian



By the end of the 1980s, the soul of hot rodding was on its deathbed: battered by chunks of polished billet aluminum, covered in pastel paint and stabbed into its heart with a tilt steering column.

But there was hope on the horizon.

Young hot rodders were discovering old scrapbooks and scavenging shoeboxes in their grandparents’ attics, filled with faded black and white photographs from the dry lakes and the backstreets of Los Angeles.

And there was Don Montgomery. He also had been searching for old pictures from the birth of hot rodding but from time to time he was publishing them in hot rod magazines. He tried to find as much information as possible and being complemented by those stories, the old pictures came back to life again. Not only the oldtimers loved Don’s articles, so in 1988, he decided to publish his first book: Hot Rods of the Forties.

It was on a Saturday in September 2013 that I got the chance to visit Don Montgomery at his house in Fallbrook, California.



Don, your books are full of inspiring pictures from back in the day. Did you take most of the photos?

»No, I didn’t take a lot of pictures. In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, hardly anyone was taking photos. We would just go to the lakes, work on our cars, make a run, come back and work on the cars again… So, we didn’t have many pictures. In most cases it was either a girlfriend or a friend who had by coincidence taken some photos. A good friend of mine, he was in the Gophers Car Club, took many pictures. He even took my junior high graduation photos.«



How did you come across most old photos?

»When I started looking for pictures for my magazine articles, I asked everybody I could. But experience from talking to a lot of guys was, when they got divorced, the pictures got thrown away. When they died the family had no interest in the pictures and they were thrown away. So, they sat around in shoeboxes or albums and eventually just got tossed out… unless I could save them. And in fact, in the mid-1980s there wasn’t much interest in nostalgia. Nowadays there is.«




What was your goal with your books?

»Well, I had done some magazine articles and then in 1988 I said: Hey, I'll do a book so people can see the old pictures… and hopefully enough guys will buy it. So, I did a book and it sold pretty well. And then guys would show up and say hey, I got some old pictures as well. More and more stuff was coming in and that led me to another book and another book… In the end, I did eight books. And they sold pretty well… I sold around 35’000 books. I had so much fun doing this and I spent a lot of time researching stuff. I’m an engineer so I wanted it to be accurate. So, I talked to everybody and tried to get the correct information which isn’t always easy, you know. There’s a famous saying about hot rodders that goes like: The older I am, the faster I was. So you get an awful lot of that…«


When looking back, what's your favorite thing about doing these books?

»I had a blast doing these books. During all those years, I met so many people and I made a lot of correspondence all over the world… particularly with people from Australia, England, Sweden, and also a few from places like Germany, or New Zealand.«


Your books are an amazing resource, Don.

»Thank you. With all of my books I wanted to be factual. And I think, to a great degree, I accomplished that. I almost never had a complaint of someone.«



NOTE: You can order Don Montgomery's books directly from the author: Montgomeryhotrodbooks.com​

 

Bttt...just a nudge for those who may not be aware of Don's/Hamber Rockerhead's passing...

 

Not to be redundant with the news of Don's passing but Hot Rod Hot Line put the word out also.. passing-hot-rod-great

 

Thanks Tony for a wonderful tribute/memorial to Don Montgomery. I'm sure I speak for Claire and Don's friends and family members in extending the warmest gratitude for the comments in this thread. He deserves all the respect and admiration for what he has done for our hot rod community.
My wife and I met Don and Claire in 1985 and have traveled with them to dozens of hot rod events. He had a booth at the GNRS and the LARS for years. Not to sell books but to talk to other rodders about the history of our hobby and possibly get more pictures and data for additional books. He was always very approachable and knowledgable on a wide range of subjects including WWII history, warbirds, antique radios, antique toy cars and trucks and even antique clocks. If it was mechanical, it held a fascination for him. But of coarse his passion was with hot rods.
He was a D.I.Y. type of guy and always did the majority of the work when building his cars including the paint. He was in his 70's when he put the Willys together. The same guy who lettered his race car in the 60's did the lettering on the car as it is now as a street car.
I think he succeeded in his attempt to get the hot rod history story accurate for those people who want to know how this hobby started and what it means to be a hot rodder.
R.I.P. Don .......I'll see ya on the other side.

 

Daniel Strohl wrote I nice tribute to Don on the Hemming's site.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/...r-dies-at-88/comment-page-1/#comment-10622780

Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

God bless Don and his family, I sold Don my 1937 812 Custom Beverly Cord, I think he still had it. a great person and life long hot rodder.

 

Rest in peace. I am only 64 , but I hope I can still be hot rodding at 89! Sounds like he had a great life . His gasser book is one of my favorite's in my collection. Larry

 

I certainly can't add anything that hasn't already been said. But there's no question in my mind that the current revival of traditionally styled builds owes a great deal to Mr.Montgomery. Godspeed sir

 

Very sad news but I smile knowing his legacy and lifelong dedication to Hot Rodding lives on forever with his terrific books.
25+ years ago, my Dad bought me my first one via mail order as a birthday present. For quite a few years, another book would arrive for my birthday, until I had them all. Absolutely treasure them and have about worn them out from paging through them so many times.
Condolences to family and friends.

 

Don's books are a great inspiration to me. Thank you sir! Rip

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

RIP Don. Thanks Todd for the great tribute.

 

Here is another rare photo of Don's coupe which Larry Shinoda shared with me via photocopy.