Just saw on Instagram Spence Murray passed away. He kept the custom car flame burning thru the sixties and seventies....getting old has its moments.
Condolences to the Murray Family on the passing of Spence...What a life he had, with knowing and working with Winfield in varied builds and so much more...May he Rest in Peace...Spence apparently laid the Flames on This Truck/Hotrod/Custom which are hugely simplistic but really Art Out this Hotrod/Custom which is in essence Art on Art...like Most Hotrods and Customs... 130mph Standing Still... https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Rod_&_Custom_Magazine’s_Dream_Truck Quoted from article at Kustomrama below... "In 1954 the Dream Truck was equipped with one of the first Chevrolet V8’s that left the factory. The engine was installed just before the 1954 Bonneville Nationals. After installing the engine, an before he hit off to the salt lakes, Spence sprayed white flames on the red truck." Credit to Photographer, Owner
Looking at Spence’s accomplishments he was so much more than how we knew him, he lived a full, well rounded life. Godspeed Mr. Murray.
Sorry to read this. I was a young man/boy when I started reading his stuff, and I'm 68 now. Godspeed, sir.
another that helped change the automotive world - sincere sympathy goes out to his Family, friends and fans
All the classic rod magazines disappearing is appropriate. Spence, Tex Smith, etc. being gone yields them somehow inconsequential.
He influenced many a young person in to the world of hotrodding, including me. Thanks for sharing you talent and RIP.......
Spencer's 1941 Chevy Murray's 1949 Chevy Spence Murray posing with the R&C Dream Truck (under construction at Valley Custom)
Spence Murray in his (R&C Project)1936 Ford Custom - circa 1976 Spence was reunited with the '36 R&C Project Custom in 2012 for a Rodder's Journal photo shoot (images by Spike Kilmer)
I read one time that Spence's 49 Chevy ended up in Minnesota and every year I go to back to 50's there is red one that I swear is that car but have never come across the owner to find out. See he made it to 93, hope in his final years he still retained the memories of a fulfilling life. RIP Larry
Spence was a scribe's scribe. Prolific writer, and an imaginative 'wrench' as well. I recall when he pulled the Dream Truck to shows on a tow bar, behind R&C's Cameo. Raining that year in Santa Clara county, Spence and 2 pals pushed the Dream truck in the back door of the San Jose Autorama, (1957? '58?) I was pleased to help wipe the rain off that beautiful lavender Mist paint. (Dream truck had just gotten the quad headlights...) Sadly, a couple issues of R&C (or Car craft) the Cameo blew a tire with Dream truck in tow, was upside down in a Kansas field, the Dream truck on its side with the drivers door torn off. Spence? If you're reading this, thousands of hearts went out to you then...as NOW. Godspeed.
Never met him but followed his work as editor of R&C in my teen years, quite an accomplished man, prolific writer with many interests.