My day job is being a finish carpenter for a large commercial contractor. This means I spend a lot of time working out of town , which means spending nights in a motel room remote surfing through a 100 channels of nothing to watch. Well the other night I hit the free on demand button and on the history channel I came across this show with Courtney Hanson and Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods. It also has Troys brother and Kevin Elliott of Rod and Custom magazine as well as Jack Fields of Starlight Customs. They find people they think should be reunited with their ride that for whatever reason got away. It is a new show ,so there where only five shows so far. The only HAMB friendly build was a 56 Merc hardtop , but all but one { a 74 Scout} where 60s era cars and trucks . Even though the mechanical sides of the builds would be deemed off topic here. Troy's designs preserved the original cars essence. No arguing, hissey fits or other drama. A pretty heart warming show { spoiler alert Troy cry's almost as much as Courtney lol } An speaking of Courtney, That girl knows how to twist a wrench or two. From what I can tell it normally airs on Sunday mornings on History channel. I don't waste my money on cable at home so I only see these shows when I am in the motel. Check it out , you might like it Larry
They actually did a build that "somewhat" meets the guidelines here. They built my daughter Bella (an extremely rare Cancer survivor) a '32 Ford Roadster. I haven't posted or brought any of this up because I didn't know where the car actually fit in the world of Traditional HotRods for the strict traditional guys here. If any of you saw that episode, Bella's ROYL Roadster, episode #6, and would like to see pictures of it let me know and I'll gladly post them, Troy is a close friend of ours, and we would not have been lucky enough to have this done for her if it wasn't for him. If you feel it doesn't fit along the lines and rules of The HAMB, I understand, and no harm, no foul. We have been very fortunate (although it really sucks what she went through to be able to experience all that she has) she was a VIP at The Lonestar Round Up a few years ago, Rocco let her take over Austin Speed Shop and played with Ryan's kids at the Salt Lick, had a car show put together for her in the Bay Area, she's always a hit at GNRS, and LARS. So as soon as we get the Roadster up here to Washington, we'll finish up the minor details, wait for the snow to melt and we'll have many miles of fun and smiles.....it really is HER Roadster. Ken
I saw that episode recently. Your daughter is a classy young lady, and the roadster is a classy ride, too. I wish you both many years of enjoyment in that fine machine!
Sounds like your daughter deserves all the good things coming her way. Will say a prayer for your daughter's good health.
Ken , thanks for the info. Your Daughter deserves a little "goodness" in her life, no child should have to deal with what she has gone through. Prayers and Blessings to her, your family and friends.
I started this thread because I thought some of the folks on here might enjoy checking out a nice heart warming show about a subject we all think about. I for one would love to see some shots of your wonderful little girl and HER roadster. If the mods deem it untraditional and take it down so be it. But putting a smile on a girls face that has been through so much pain is about as Traditional as it gets. And hats off to Troy, Courtney, Kevin and Jack and the others for doing this wonderful thing for her! Larry
Good people doing good things for good people, restores a little faith in humanity. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
That was the one episode of that show that I have seen. Stumbled across it once, then forgot about the series. Thought the concept and story was cool. Didn’t realize Ken is a hamber. Best wishes to Bella!
Well I put this thread under folks of interest because I did not know where else it fit. Now I have a wonderful folk of interest. Bella and all the other precious children and folks that suffer with life threating illness before they get a chance at life. So I am adding Bella's story to the title! And Ken make sure you give her a big hug for all of us! Larry
Ok guys, I appreciate all the kind words. I’m doing some repairs around the house, and shouldn’t even be online at the moment (water leak) but I had to look something up and couldn’t resist checking the response. I’ll post the behind the scenes pictures as well. They also shut down the NHRA museum in Pomona to do the reveal and it was very well done. Give me some time and I’ll post what I have. Thanks.
I’ll start off with some work pictures to show you she is actually active in helping me build cars. This is an off topic Manx style DuneBuggy, but she did bodywork with me, lots of sanding and grinding, she mixed the paint, and sprayed the body. The Buggy is Orange which represents childhood Leukemia, and her Roadster is Gold to represent childhood cancer, both are metal flake.
And here at the NHRA museum she got to get up close to Ivo’s T-bucket (my favorite), and she got to slide inside Don Ewalds FED.
That’s all I have here on my phone, there’s s tons of pictures on IG and FB under #ROYLRoadster and #theridethat gotaway and others. Hope you enjoy these. We are VERY fortunate and lucky the HotRod community took her “under their wings” and did so much for her. Some of the friends she made during her hospital stays weren’t as lucky and didn’t make it home. I myself found out I had cancer while she was fighting it, so things have been rough and rocky that past few years. But so many friends have helped us along the way it’s made it a little bit easier. I never would have thought something like this would happen for us, the hospital bills are astronomical so I never thought I’d be able to provide a car for her....let alone a ‘32 Roadster, so I’m extremely very grateful for what has been done. Thanks for the interest in my family’s little HotRod story, Ken
We fathers that have had are daughters work in the shop with us, drive our cars and apply to life what we have taught them are very lucky souls.
That is a good story. Ken is a class act, and he and bella desrve a little joy at the end of the rainbow. Good for you 2 .
Ken, once again a Big Thanks for sharing this. When I was a teenager, a classmate had a much younger brother that succumbed to leukemia. He was like My little brother, so you know that I hurt when I see stories like yours. Hope you both beat it, Carp.
Ken, Thanks for sharing this. I remember watching this episode and thinking how bad it sucks kids have to go through things like cancer. I have walked your path as well, my youngest was diagnosed at 11yo, spent her 12th b-day hooked up to a chemo machine...I totally understand your statements about the friends she met and the bills. People say you shouldn't meet your heroes... my daughter (and all the kids in the oncology department) is my hero. I wish mine (either of them) was interested in cars, but its just not her thing. We do have a common hobby in target shooting so we get some father-daughter time that way. Again, thanks for sharing your story. Hot rodding really is a close knit community. Chappy
That's what life is all about ...... helping each other, we're in this together.. Great job, you go girl!
Finally, found & watched your episode last night. Like everyone else I got a little Misty at times, but I was also smiling. What a composed young Lady, Bella Is a Special one! Dad, Mom and All the others involved in this project should be Extremely Proud. I could gush some more, but I would Love to meet this Lady, she Is an inspiration to others. Absolutely Wonderful, Carp.
It’s called: “The Ride That Got Away” I have seen it listed as “Ride That Got Away” without the -The- in the title.
Hey, Ken; The hotrod is neat, but her helping w/the dunebuggy should make her feel really good, hope she gets to wheel it around. A lot. Light n fun. = huge smiles. W/that n the 32, she's gotta be one happy girl - which will help her w/the after-affects. Glad for her, & you. I wish you well, take care, Marcus...
Yeah that was a fun time. We decided to build the Buggy when she was living in the hospital doing Chemo treatments. I asked her what she wanted to do when she was finished with Chemo (not yet knowing if she would survive) and she picked building a DuneBuggy together. My dad built one in the 70’s and she has seen the pictures of me and him riding in it, and she wanted to do the same. She was diagnosed at 8, and is currently a 3 year survivor at 13. Although makeup and boys are slowly creeping into her interests, she’s still into HotRods.
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