Looking for picture...Sebastian Rubbo Roadster

I seem to remember reading in Rod and Custom that he had "quick change motor mounts" and could go from flathead to SBC quite quickly. It may have been a joke, but sounds like a cool idea.
Chris

 

Always get a chuckle at the 30 year old historians. Interesting comments though. I always think of it as an early east coast modified stock car / roadster / custom. Remember seeing a very similar car at the old Plainville racetrack...the car was old at the time and showed it...don't think it was the same car, but who knows....

 

Here is a picture taken by me in 1976 of our friend Sebastian and Tiny Arnold in Tiny's bathtub trailer... sadly they are both gone.... (Sebastian is the one on the left)

 

Here are 2 more. One is from Boston Area Roadster Show (10 yrs ago?) and at the Saratoga Springs Auto Museum a few years ago.

 

How can you put "All" Eastern Style Rods in the same category? Can we see a picture of your California Style Hot Rod???

 

I have fond memories of Sebastian and his roadster. We would see them both at all the runs our club attended up and down the east coast! I remember him as a very pleasant and cordial person. He and the car are considered icons around here in Maryland

 

I grow increasingly weary of the closed mindedness of folks who feel that West Coast hot rods are the only ones that have any valid place in the hot rod world.East Coast tastes and execution comes from different influences.It's not wrong,it's just different.Kinda like going to someone's house for dinner,it may not be how your wife cooks it.It's still edible.Who knows? Maybe East Coast guys are just too polite to say what they really think of West Coast cars?

BanjeauX Bob

 

One of the legendary New England cars, and not the least bit ugly. The parts all flow nicely together. One needs to see it in person, not just in photos. I think I have a old pic of it, if I can locate it, I'll post it.

 

Its been a hotrod sense 1946.

 

I saw it at the first Street Rod Nats in Peoria in 1970. I thought it was one of the coolest cars there. It's one of those cars that looks better in person, the photos don't do it justice.

The story goes that he wanted a Ford roadster ( rarer in New England than in the south or west). He found a 36 Ford that had been in a wreck, the front smashed. The frame was beyond repair so he bought a 1940 Mercury and put the roadster body on the Merc frame. But the Merc frame was longer and the motor set farther forward so the front sheet metal wouldn't fit (it was smashed up anyway) so he go a Ford truck grille shell, made a hood, and cut down the 36's spare tire ring to make front fenders. Voila, instant hot rod!

 

Come on Muttley post a picture of YOUR Left Coast Hot Rod we are all waiting to see what you got!

 

I see someone brought back an old thread. I'm sure the builder was a fantastic person. That said, it sounds like some folks are confusing criticism of the car's styling as criticism of the builder when that's not the case.

I'll also say that just because a car is an old build it is not automatically traditional. Personally I think a set of stock front fenders would enhance the looks of that car.

Sure sounds like Sebastian knew how to have a good time with his car. That's definitely traditional.

 

Exactly!!! Well said Banjeaux Bob!!

 

you can see it in HOTRODZOMBIES movie "A SWEET SICKNESS".cool car with a nice flat motor.

 

I dont currently own anything that I would classify as a Hot Rod. I dont dislike everything from the East Coast, but there sure seems to be a disproportionate number of ugly cars from back there.

 

another good thread laced with drama.

 

BTT for Sabie...enjoy some real rodding history. The guy, like Norm, was prince!

 

Fuck the car that is a attitude now a days from all the young uns, I met Sabby at 74 Nats him and Skip made a impression on this guy they could not have been nicer guys pull up your pants the guy was a hot rod hero oh I for got their all on tv now the made up hotroders not the real ones!

 

rockfish said it best above in post #42.

Just because someone thinks a car is ugly doesn't mean they don't think it was significant....or that the owner/builder wasn't a GREAT guy.....or that it's not traditional.....or that the build quality wasn't top notch. It just means they don't think it looks good.

Personally, I think this car is kinda ugly, but big deal. The world would flat out suck if we all liked the same shit. I think if someone feels EVERY traditional car is gorgeous, then they're too closed-minded....or a liar.

Regarding this particular car, if it had full front fenders, I think I'd really dig it.

 

Tommy,
If you were at the local cruise weekend, and next in, is a smiling, laid-back, fully coiffed! Sabie...driving, in gloss black, a early Ford hybrid of a streamlined roadster,
bathed in road dust and rain spotted, seeing it would take your breath...and you'd smile in return.
We all appreciated His sense of roadworthy style. One of a kind he was.

 

pitman, I don't doubt that for a second! I have a tremendous amount of respect for traditional hot rods and the men/women who were instrumental in this hobby that's engulfed our lives. Had I ever had the opportunity to meet Sabie, I'm sure I'd have thought he was a fantastic guy. But I would've tried to convince him to do something different with those front fenders.

But that's okay. We all have different tastes. Like I said, just because a car isn't built to our own preference doesn't mean we don't have a world of respect for it and its builder.

 

Sometimes day slowly breaks, over a Marblehead. I recall in watching as
Sabie would arrive. And as the clouds parted, and he gave us a view;
of earlier times around Boston, of the days described in Cool-cars & Square-rollbars.
I'd no more dare, to walk up and suggest he change his perfectly period piece. It was a work out-of-time, sweet sounding with a Smitty-toned rap.
He and some SYT (last word is: thing!) along, he'd pull the Hibachi
out of his trunk and grill up a fine-feast of a lunch. Later, they'd head off for a cruise on the way home.

 

i love what he did with the car---what he did to it not so much---sorry flat boys but it often ran an overhead ---followed this car in the mags for 40+ yrs---iconic by definition

 

I had the pleasure of meeting him at the Detroit Nats in 1972---Neat guy!

 

I've heard so many stories about him over the years and even had the pleasure of working on the car.The car is what it is and around here its history.