antique nationals joe mac award

hey guys I'm johnny from Eastvale Cali I am such a proud guy today I just received the Joe Mac award for my 29 roadster thanks so much it means a lot

 

Do you have any idea just who "Joe Mac" is (was)?

 

...Please fill us East Coast rodders in, Don. The person we think of when this reference is made is "Joe Mack Shubert", lifetime hot rodder who was disabled in a motorcycle accident many years ago. Never the one to let things slow him down, "Joe Mack" has continued to be an active hot rodder, builder, and inspiration to countless folks in the Maryland area for decades....I confess I have no idea who the aforementioned trophy is paying homage to....Thanks, Don.

 

Joe Mac founded Ford Parts Obsolete along with a couple of other guys in the early fifties. First "of Los Angeles" and later "of Long Beach". Joe Mac (McClullen, excuse the spelling Joe). Talking to a good friend of his, Dave Drolet, I was told that Joe and Dave were working the counter at a Ford dealer when the company decided to clean it's shelves of all of the early parts. The two went around to the dealers for several nights picking up junk that became the initial inventory for the business. Dave went into the submarine service during the Korean war and Joe started the business. Dave passed away last year. Joe sold the business in the eighties and the new owner(s) ran it into the ground and it is no longer around. Joe was into early hot rods all of his life. Joe passed away about 2 years ago. I remember them both as good friends.

Charlie Stephens

 

saw your rig there.... very nice

 

Congrats Johnny.....your 29 is sweet!

 

I owned Joe Mac's 1928 Model A Special Coupe for a few years - beautiful car. You can be proud of having received this award.

 

....Thanks, I kinda figured this was the answer.....Don.

 

Congrats on a very special tribute award. The roadster is great, keep on keepin on bro. ~sololobo~

 

Old R & C had great article on a Sport coupe he had.

 

i saw you heading back home, just crusin it on the freeway. congrats bro!

 

thanks guys this realy ment a lot I just finished the car and it was only the 2nd time the had been out...

 

Neat car, neat award.

 

Congratulations, well deserved!!

Wasn't Joe Mac the guy that Mark Mortonson referred to constantly as the best builder of early ford rear ends/transmissions? Maybe after he left Ford Obsolete?

 

I think the R & C article said his signature was the way he modified the spare tire mount on his cars. He laid them down a bit.

 

Congrats. There was a good article on Joe Mac in one of the Mark Morton's Hop Up's.

 

I went to Joe's house in Corona one time to buy an axle for my banjo rear end in '06, Joe was a funny character and had a really nice '35 Ford coupe.
Congrats on the award.

 

this is a bad 29 AV8 roadster

 

I used to see him at the Throttlers picnic in Burbank and he always showed up in something bitchin. You should be very proud of that trophy and also get a good idea of who it's named after. Your roadster is really cool, I was checking it out at the show.

 

thx

 

Thats just about it in a nutshell Charlie! I used to buy parts from Joe & Dave & "Kretch" at the old store in the early 60's, they were always very helpful with answers.----Don

 

Ford Parts Obsolete was started by Joe "Mac" Mc Clellend and Gene Valdez. I believe the business started in the early years in a garage and then moved to their permanent location on Willow Street in Long Beach. The store was clearly marked as it had a 1923-25 Model T coupe (orange with black fenders from memory) on the roof that was fitted with 16" wire wheels.
Gene was one of the foremost early figures in the restoration of early Ford V8s. I remember as a kid going to his personal garage seeing all these great restored and near-new original 1932-1937 Fords. Many of his cars are pictured in the Evergreen Press book "The V-8 Affair".
Joe "Mac" on the other hand was an early hotrodder and his interest ranged from fast T and A four bangers through flatheads.
Growing up in San Pedro, I would go to Ford Parts Obsolete as a kid and buy whatever new or used parts I could afford for the Model T Speedster I started building when I was 12 years old. Although people might argue this, Ford Parts Obsolete was the first "real" vintage Ford parts house that had a full catalog and full mail order business long before anyone else did and at one time probably stocked and sold more new parts for T through V8 Fords than anyone else. The store was a typical autoparts store with a counter and shelves behind the counter that went on for miles (at least in the eyes of a little kid!). You went there with your "grocery" list and they got the parts you needed. In the front of the store was all the original "old" stuff which ranged from good used to lots and lots of NOS. I remember when they got several shipping containers of NOS flathead V8 engines and Model B engines from overseas that were war surplus and never used. I remember these engines still sealed with cosmolene. They also had a section of the shop that did rebuilding-engines, starters, distributors, etc. Everyone that worked there was more than well versed on early Fords and were alway helpful. The business did get sold in the 1980s (maybe late 1970s) and did eventually go out of business.
After selling the business, Joe "Mac" actually went back to his original roots and started selling off his personal collection of old speed equipment at the local swap meets. What is really interesting is that during the early and mid-1980s, trends were leaning toward modern street rods and the interest in 1950s cars was starting to build, so Joe was considered a little bit of a dinosaur with a pile of great old and rare hot rod parts that didn't have a lot of followers (hard to imagine that-isn't it????). By this time, I was older and would sit with Joe at his swap meet stall and visit with him for hours, uninterrupted, since none of the swap meet patrons at the time really cared about the stuff he had for sale. Soon after that, I left LA but will always remember being a little kid standing in front of the counter at Ford Parts Obsolete and learning about early speed equipment from Joe.

Anyway, the award won by you and your car should be considered a great honor. Knowing Joe, he would have approved of your roadster and I am sure he is somewhere up there looking down on you-and finding great satisfaction knowing that he pioneered this great segment of the old car hobby that has more followers today than ever before.

 

Not to contradict you, GZ, but wasn't Joe's partner Gene SCOTT? That's how he used to advertize Ford Parts Obsolete in Rod & Custom, anyway...

Great story, by the way. Only got down there once, ('60 or '61) and spent all I had on Joe's 'Junk'!

 

Thanks GZ that's a great story

 

the model T coupe that was on the roof forever currently belongs to my friend in Buellton, it runs and drives and is all weathered from sitting on top forever!

 

Before moving to Willow Avenue in Long Beach, Ford Parts Obsolete was located at 616 E. Florence, Los Angeles. Gene Scott wasn't a partner, he operated Antique Auto Parts/PSI on Garvey in Rosemead, Ca.

 

Yep!---GZ & STU are right on!!!---Good story GZ,---Don't forget to give John Kretzmar credit for his help at Joe & Gene's store on Florence!!!-----Don

 

"the model T coupe that was on the roof forever currently belongs to my friend in Buellton, it runs and drives and is all weathered from sitting on top forever!"

That's great. I'd love to see photos of it. That car is a real So Cal icon. Thanks for sharing that info.- GZ

 

Great stories guys and great history lessons.