When first built, the car was owned by Doug Wilson, a member of the Highwaymen car club out of Kitchener Ontario. Here's an archived photo from the club of the 55 Ford next to a Ford T. I know that some club members had a hand in building the car in the late sixties. I believe the car was sprayed by a famous painter from Hamilton who went on to paint motorcycles. Car was then sold in the early seventies to Doug's nephew, Ray Belecque. The local newspaper ran a story on the car's homecoming.
The car was shown a few times and did win some trophies. The nephew then sold the car to his buddy Maynard Webber and the car also had a few colour changes. The car was then sold several times after that and even ended up at a used car lot. I bought the car after a twenty seven year chase from Roger Forest. Bought it site unseen in 2005, and this is what I discovered
Tarp come off and was truly disapointed to see what had happened to the cool car I had seen 27 yrs earlier. I had just driven more than halfway across the country so I was somewhat committed. Here's a pic of a happy new owner ( I think ) Back home and started to gut the interior and scoop out about 5 pounds of mouse shit.
Even found a dead cat in the engine bay. It's not in the photo by the way. Well after alot of work I now have a top notch drive train and running gear. A bit of bodywork and I'm well on my way to having a streetable machine. This old custom will finally see some miles this summer.
Neat car....did the grill surround get changed somewhere along the way? Seems like it used to wrap around with cleaner lines in earlier versions of the car....it seems a bit disconnected right now.... edit, the rest of the pics showed up....seems like it has the same lines once you look at it with the grill removed....maybe the grill is just jacked...
Actually, the biggest part of the cat that was left was the tail. The rest was just a few bone. Maybe the cat tail custom is born.
I'm gonna bump ths back up. Very cool story! and man am I glad you fixed the quarter windows! Drive it down to waterdown this spring. Norton
any custom with history is great! not sure what your upset about finding? anything sitting that long could have been stripped, smashed or rotted. think you made out pretty damn good! which color are you go with? good luck, jerseymike
Ya, that quarter window is one thing i couldn't live with. I will definately drive it to some south Ontario shows. Plans are to try and make it to the Hunnert car pileup and Michigan Billetproof. I just hope this 7 1/2 month strike at my place of work ends soon.
Looks like the hood had been changed somewhere in its life...the hood emblem is on in a couple of the pix... Nice improvement on the quarter window...and I hope you plan to paint it...a kustom always looks better shiny... R-
The Catrod is born !!!!!!! That is just too good. Good luck on the car and that's cool history you shared.
wow thats a cool story, are you going to slam it? i think it would look even cooler on the ground. but thats just me. thanks for sharing!
I already have cut coils and spacer block in the front and de-arched springs and 4" lowering block out back. The car is sectioned below the doors giving the impression of sitting alot higher.I may run lakes to fill that gap, I don't know. Gil
Very kool project and your fortunate to be able to find it. Good luck with the project. Your a lucky guy being able to restore a 60's survivor. Happy Trails, Mick
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