North Carolina Automotive Master Craftsmen

Some of the world's greatest mechanics, fabricators, machinists, metal workers, painters and everything else automotive related have worked their magic here in North Carolina. I have been fortunate to know many of them over the last 50 years. The reason we have had so many master craftsman is because North Carolina has been a hot rod haven for over 80 years going back to the board track in Charlotte in the 1920s. North Carolina is the hub of NASCAR racing and the home of many NHRA teams. We have the nicest drag strip in the world (zMAX) and one of the top super speedways. Race tracks draw race teams and master craftsman seem to find their way to those shops. This thread will be a place to honor them, past and present.

I will start this thread with one of the greatest builders in the world and most of you have never heard of him. Ken Thompson started his long career in racing going to work for Holman & Moody at age 18 in 1965 and was part of the team that built the '65-'66 A/FX Mustangs. He has worked for other NASCAR teams and for himself in his small Denver N.C. shop the last 20 years. When a race team needs something made it can't in house they go to him. He is an ace machinist and aluminum body fabricator. I was at his shop yesterday and took these pictures.

This is a twin engine Chevy powered dragster he is building to have some fun with. He is using two 358 cubic inch Nascar engines which are no problem for him to come by.

 

Ken told me this is NASCAR driver Ryan Newman's '50s Plymouth he drove in college before he started winning races. He hired Ken to install the Hemi engine and T-10 4 speed.

 

A couple more cars in his shop for work. He chopped the top, shortened the bed and changed the steering to external link on the Nailhead Buick powered pickup.

 

That's awesome!

 

Frank, Didn't Ken build the one off widened Falcon a few years back??

 

Here he is at his lathe making a part for me. He has been a friend for 50 years. He will turn 66 next month and I asked him how much longer he is going to work and he said he has already started closing at 4. I believe you will be amazed at some of his work.

 

Yes, and was powered by a '60s Ford 4 cam Indy engine. Pictures of it are coming

 

Thanks Frank for the Pictures and update on Kenny. Going to try and stop by his place sometime after the first of the year. The knowledge he has is incredible and he is the nicest guy to talk to. Thanks again for the update.

 

Another master craftsman is Jimmy Tucker, who has worked at Holman & Moody for nearly 50 years. He can do anything they need done. That's him at the rear of a H & M GT-40 at a race in the '60s. He was the crew chief.

 

This should be a really cool thread. I can think of a few guys that blow MY mind from around here including Damon Detmer and Scott Bagshaw.

 

Ralph Moody

 

Frank : This is going to be a great thread..Thanks for starting it off with a tribute to Ken...one of the goals while building my roadster ,was to have some of the local "greats" work incorporated in the car... I was fortunate to get Ken to do several things for me.. He's a real treat to be around and an amazing craftsman..I drop by his shop every so often, and he's always very gracious about showing me around

I'm sure there's lots of other craftsmen around, and I hope this thread gets some of them the praise they deserve...

Here's a pic of Kenny looking over my roadster..Thats the GT40 J-car that he built from scratch, behind him..

 

Peter DePaolo, pioneer race car driver in the 1920s on board tracks and the Brickyard. Winner of the 1925 Indy 500 in a Duesenburg. NASCAR team owner in Charlotte in the 1950s and hired legendary drivers Buck Baker, Marvin Panch, Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and Ralph Moody. John Holman was his team manager. He sold the operation to Holman and Moody in 1957 and retired at age 59.

 

Great idea for a thread. Thanks. That '50 Plymouth is gonna be a treat.

 

Ken Thompson built this chopped and sectioned '48 Chevy Fastback about 20 years ago. He powered it with a Jag V-12 engine with two four barrel carbs.

 

It's the reason I moved here 17 years ago. I was pretty good then. Now I'm 17 years better. Been around some very good fabricators and learned a lot. Those tracks are damn near in my back yard. I think I'll stay a while.

 

Jake King was one of the best engine builders, drivers and crew chiefs drag racing has ever seen. I first remember him building engines masterfully for the '62 and '63 Ford Galaxie Lightweights and the '64 T-Bolts he drove. He was as good a driver as any. But starting in 1965 he was the crew chief for Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin in their glory years. The 426 Hemi engines he meticulously assembled produced enough horsepower to win more than their fair share of races. He was also one of the nicest guys I have ever met.

 

Wow! I was going to say where is that J car from? The original was destroyed, killing Ken Miles. Amazing.

 

The present owner of the original "J" car has offered Kenny $$$$$$$$$$ to restore it but after building seven GT-40s from scratch he is not interested in building any more. By the way, these seven cars are not replicas but have been added to the GT-40 registry. Pictures of those cars are coming soon.

 

Really first class metal work and a true craftsman for sure.

I have always found that if you are talented and know your craft the clients will find you no matter where your shop in located.

Some of the best engines builders have shops out in the middle of no where and they stay busy all the time.

Beautiful work!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jimbo

 

we have one from augusta ga his name is mike laughlin, we grew up one block apart, he built a lot of the nascar cars for many years, in greenvile sc a really good guy

 

Maurice Petty, engine builder for most of Richard Petty's record 200 NASCAR Cup wins and seven championships.

 

I bought a 67 El Camino from a service man that was from Charlotte but stationed near by. Back then widened wheels were very rare. I think they were 8"ers. His uncle was a mechanic for some Nascar shoe. This was about 40 years ago.

 

Just so happens,last week I was in the shop of legendary engine builder Bob " Jungle Boy" Lane..... Back in the day, to have a "Jungle " motor was the real deal.. He's still building engines ( Bob Lane & Sons, Mt Holly NC) althought the son's do a lot of the work..Don't know about recently, but there was a time that a lot of moonshine got consumed there late afternoon/evenings... They say the bench-racing got pretty intense...

 

Here is an update on Ryan Newman's Plymouth being worked on at Ken Thompson's garage in Denver N.C. The Desoto Hemi is mounted along with the Borg Warner T-10 4-speed. Ryan wanted to use the original column shifter but when mentioning it to Ken he said he new that was impossible. Here are recent pictures of the original column shifter with the shifting mechanism Ken engineered. Take time to look at the shifter box and three arms running to trans.

 

Frank : You might want to mention that recently Kenny, "in his spare time" built an Indy car replica.. This was in between all his other projects...He always liked the old Indy cars ,so he pounded out a replica of the #13 Keck streamline car..another interesting story in itself

 

Great thread, keep it going. Let's see some of the pictures mentioned above.

 

About three years ago a retired race car driver stopped by Kenny's shop with a model or picture of the streamliner and he liked it enough he told me he was going to build a replica of of the original car. He showed me the model/picture and I thought, even though he really planning on hand crafting a "to scale" replica, he would get over it. HE DIDN'T.

These are pictures just after he finished wrapping his hand formed aluminum body over his hand made chassis.

 

After following the magnificent restoration of Gene Cromer's Willys I believe Quain Stott belongs on this list. And if Gene lived in North Carolina he would be on it too.

 

Here is the finished streamliner. It is powered by a running era correct 4 cam Maserati V-8 with a Miller supercharger that you can't see much of because of the aluminum cover. It has a '55 Chevy 3-speed transmission and and a Halibrand Champ rear end. It is a true work of art.