Hot Rods Looking for grandpas model a coupe

well I know it's a long shot but it's worth a try so here it goes..... Bare with me since I'm not very good with words but I'm looking for an AV8 coupe my grandfather built in and around 1949/50 it has a few unique features that could help identify it maybe someone on here owns one with these mods or knows of one similar. He owned a gas station/service station a few miles south of Detroit metro airport on middlebelt rd from late 40s threw the 50s and he built it there from the small salvage yard they had out back. It was a 30/31 model a coupe and the modification that would most likely stand out is he flushed the doors so they didn't overlap the 1/4s like all A's do it also had a 49 ford fuel door welded in the 1/4 with the 49 tank in the trunk , auburn dash with 49 merc gauges, 8ba flathead with column shift, 41 front bumper, 41 ford front axle, 36 ford radiator(weird I know) but that's what he had out black. He sold it around 1954? To buy the property he built his house on and always talked and told stories of that coupe as far back as I can remember and he always wanted to find it or build another one just like it but never got the chance to do either so here I am hoping to find that needle in a haystack. The first pic of the coupe painted black with him in it was takin around 1952 and the second pic is from what I think is the car after he sold it I don't know who owned it but the picture was takin at the Detroit autorama circa late 50s? All I can barely read on the club name looks like draggons? Out of Detroit area...... I know it may have been transformed a million times since then or scraped,wrecked, left in a field to rot or whatever but if anyone has a 30/31 model A coupe that has similar mods I'd love to find it. Thanks mikeyjoe

 

Mike, Cool coupe, I posted a bunch of early Pictures on the Autorama thread, but don’t recall any that look like that coupe.


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Yeah there is another pic of it from a different angle when I find it I will post it. I don't know anything about the draggons car club but that's probably the key to locating it's whereabouts if the club or members are still around

 

Bump, good luck and I hope you find it

 

Good luck, would like to know how he sorted the doors out if possible???

 

Wish you luck also.

 

Also contact the Hot Rods of Dearborn site. It was through there that I managed to find and contact the original builder of my brother's '27.

 

I'd say Drag-on's is correct

 

Harms Way posted this a while back in another thread along with the 2nd picture you posted:

 

Its got to be out there I'm sure it survived somehow either the way it was last shown or if it's been drastically changed maybe someone here knows of one with similar mods

 

Here's a former Drag-on member:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/lacros...1568cc5f-f50c-5fbf-9990-6f48a323b182.amp.html

 

I’ll look through the book Car Club Memories, covers a lot of Michigan clubs. Another person would be Harry McAuliffe he knows a lot of Michigan hot rod club history, he usually has a booth at many of the swap meets. Although he is getting up there in age. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and show my dad the photos. I don’t recall any coupes around Detroit with the flush doors, but it could look entirely different.


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I know there is a million model A coupes out there but if it's still out there look for flushed doors , shoebox gas door on 1/4, and it had a complete auburn dash with dual glove box doors but it didn't have the auburn gauges my grandpa welded/leaded the whole 49 mercury gauge cluster in the dash so if it has survived or been transformed over the years those are a few unique features that may have stayed on the car

 

Neat coupe! Looks like Electroline headlights? Good luck with the search...it's out there somewhere!

 

Mike, here's the link to the old Detroit Autorama thread, you should add those pictures there too.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...orama-picture-thread-what-do-you-have.532387/,

 

Mike, look what I found, don't remember where I got this one from

 

Yes that’s awesome!....... I’m sure it survived in some way or another. You can see the fuel door on the 1/4 in that pic

 

@mikeyjoe

Found this in my files:

 

So it was repainted and striped by Dick Dean who had south side customs just about that time in Wyandotte. So it was most likely still downriver then.


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Maybe you should contact Dick Deans son Kieth Dean at South End Kustoms in Hemet, Ca 951 634-3763

 

Stop by Teddy Z's place and show him the picture I posted. He might know something.

 

EDIT: Update: See my other post below this one.

Mike:
Google in quotes "Detroit Drag-ons".
A link to the 11-21-59 edition of the Windsor Star shows up. You need to register to see the paper clearly but the blurry image of the paper shows what maybe the car. While the spare tire is in the wheelwell, the tire appears to have the same cover as the car I posted earlier. The article might give some names.

 

Go to page 5 in link below.. Same car?? I knew Jack Richardson but he was into chopped Mercs then. I heard he did own a Model A at one time. Unfortunately both he and his son Mike are no longer with us so I cannot contact them. Jack lived on Lennane in Redford Twp.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=SAguW2jnL4UC&dat=19591121&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

 

Here's a screen shot of that newspaper

 

That’s crazy! Where did you find that?

 

It's from the link that carcruse posted above.

 

I believe that "Louis" in the article was actually Luigi as that was Jack's brother-in-law. He is also no longer with us. I don't know anything about Jack White.

 

Not to be confused with the guy from The White Stripes band


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Did you find it?