History Clean and Channeled- The DeFillipi Roadster

Before it was the Ricky Nelson Roadster, before it was even Tony La Masa's metallic green show car, it was built by the rarely-credited Ray DeFillipi. I would argue that this cle... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.

 

That's a great looking car for sure! It's got all the right touches and doesn't overdo any of them. Hood's on channeled cars need a little extra attention and this one from what I can see looks like it was handled well.

Side Note: I think Harrel Heads are amongst the most beautiful aftermarket heads made for a flathead.

 

Yeah, Ray never gets enough credit for this car. Was beautiful in red, and one
of my all time favorites. Thanks for the information.

 

This roadster has always been in my opinion the best proportioned channeled roadster around. The problem with channel jobs that are that deep is you run out of radiator area when you start chopping it down to maintain the hood line. This leads many to move it in front of the front crossmember and the resultant pug nosed look that so many deeply channeled cars have.

 

I'm trying to come up with a word to describe it,but I guess I'll just say that I really,really like it.

 

DeFillipi sure nailed stance and proportions, very balanced and purposeful looking.
I can imagine it red with those wide whites.

 

When I first saw the pic, I knew that sucker had to be Red! Love it.

 

is this the car the "toy" NYLINT roadster was modeled after?

 

The other picture...the one with the square mirrors and nerf bars and fenders? OH MY GAWD! GORGEOUS!

 

A couple of shots I took a few years ago at a HAMB get-together of the Ricky Nelson version.

 

The first version looks great, I just wish the belt line continued on the hood.

 

There is as picture of it in one of the Andy Southard booksas it is being pulled into the oakland roadster show.... I love that picture. that car is amazing!

 

what he said ^^^ Damn!

 

amazing..... I think its interesting that the article talks about street roadsters disappearing as early as '52, which is way before you usually hear about it(60's?)!

-Joe

 

Chrome? Red? Street Job?

Oh no! It sounds like an early Street Rod.

 

I wonder if it even runs or gets driven anymore. Sad to see just relics in a museum.

 

Re: Pic # 11. See the chromed '40 column? I want to do that to a '36 coupe I'm building but I wonder how it is done. The top of the column is aluminum and the mast is steel. I suppose you need to seperate the two, but I'd hate to ruin the aluminum bell and it seems to be swedged onto the mast. Who's experienced doing this? Any tips? Thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure the bell is potmetal. Though it polishes up nicely. In any case I polished it and sent the whole thing off to be chromed. Actually in truth I painted the mast and was happy but JeffreyJames wouldn't let that stand and made me get it chromed. It looks badass.

You can kind of see it in these pics:

 

I liked the hood bump on this car before LaMasa cut the air inlet into the front.

 

I'm your pusher man.

 

From an Article in Auto Trader Classics: As their exposure increased, hot rods showed up in TV shows, motion pictures and other forms of media. One of the most popular segments of the weekly “Ozzie & Harriet Show” was an episode in which Ricky and David Nelson wanted to buy a “Deuce” roadster. “No ’32 Ford is worth $3,000,” said their father Ozzie (who wasn’t around when the same car sold for $192,000 in 2004).

Hard to imagine.... Awesome Car, Like it in Green, but Love it in Red.

 

I'd like one of each version !!!

 

The original incarnation was sweet.

-W

 

My favorite hot rod

 

That Cad engine is badass!

 

I recently stumbled upon some photographs (actually digital scans of B&W negatives) of the Ray DeFlippi Roadster among the 4,177 images in "The Robert Canaan Photograph Collection" (within The Revs Institute Archives).

These pics were obviously taken during the photo shoot for the (April 1952) HOP UP Magazine "CLEAN AND CHANNELED" article authored/photographed by Bob Canaan:

​

... Enjoy:

full frame scan of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative



zoom / crop of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative​

 

full frame scan of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative



zoom / crop of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative​

 

full frame scan of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative



zoom / crop of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative​

 

full frame scan of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative



zoom / crop of the 2¼”x 2¼” negative​