I met Bernie Couch today at the NA Show in South Central L.A. today. I was taking pics of his 1932 roadster and then he started to tell me about it and how he bought it in 1941 when he was only 16 years old. Within a couple of years he had worked the car over and was racing it at El Mirage. He put the car back together today with the same original fenders he had saved since he took them off in the 40's. Still running the same modified flathead he ran at El Mirage, Evans heads. He showed me his photo album and he had a lot of B&W pics from El Mirage. I asked him if he had the negatives, he said "of course I do".... I'm working on it, I still have a B&W darkroom I can do large prints........ How many people can say they still own an original 1932 Ford from the time they were 16 ?? Here he is today and here are some of the pics he had to share.....enjoy!! He did mention that he used to race against Veda Orr ..........
Hey, That is my 50 ford parked right next to Bernie's roadster. I followed them in to NA's this morning. Just goes to show-you never know who you are standing (or parking) next to. Cool photos he had of the car thru the years.
hagenshotrods, amazing post, we really need to keep this stuff on record for future generations to hopefully appreciate. good stuff. thanks. Al.
History threads are the best,thank you. This deserves a main page feature,and is Mr Couch a HAMBer? Damn we need a "HISTORIC THREAD ARCHIVE".
Amazing post, what a great way to start my day. Bernie is a true pioneer in the sport and deserves the utmost respect.
Great Post!!! It was perfect with my morning jo!!! I love hotrod history, especially when these pioneers are still around to share the stories.
That is fantastic !,. thanks for posting it. After looking again at the pictures, is that the first Dick Courtney 29 highboy next to his roadster in the 3rd picture down ? At Rips Station,... And another cool thing is in the 10th picture down, that's Veda Orr's car in the background.
Bernie is truly a remarkable guy; I have had the pleasure of knowing him for quite some time. He doesn't have a computer, but sometimes a friend will take messages for him. I'm quite a bit younger (72) than Bernie, but grew up in Fullerton and remember Rippetoe's (Rip's) gas station well. It was the place to go if you were a hot rodder and had been since before the war. The roadster next to Bernie's at Rip's may have been Courtney's but I don't ever remember his car having a louvered panel screwed to the sides of his hood. I'm more inclined to think the picture was taken before Courtney's and the roadster may have been owned by one of the Hallock brothers, who lived in nearby LaHabra, since it has the Hallock windshield. Bernie would know for sure. His memory puts the rest of us graybeards to shame.
Another interesting story Bernie told me was that he threw newspapers from this car when he was 16 years old. It's amazing he's kept this car as long as he did.
Looks like a pretty serious rubber rake...like 5.50's and 7.50's. More aggressive than most seen in the 40's. Another cool thing about the car is that it still has the 36 torque tube "lakes pipes" with jerry can caps threaded in. I met him a few years ago at a local roadster run and he had them uncorked. Pretty cool stuff indeed.
I met Bernie some years back, somewhere i have copies of all his Timing Tags he let my copy, a super nice guy ,and a piece of walking history!!
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