Folks Of Interest Don Nowell Rodders Journal feature.RIP Don.

My condolences to Don's Family. It's obvious that he was very talented. What a beautiful Gas Coupe. I wish that I had sent him a PM to get to know him. He was active on here and gave a lot of good advice

 

I was not aware of his passing. Don and I had several conversations awhile back regarding me painting something for him to give to his good friend Robert Carradine. Don had built a couple of motorcycles for him in the past that had been magazine features and knew the whole family. I should have realized something had happened when I hadn't heard from him in awhile.Rest in peace Don.

 

My condolences to Don's family and friends.
37 Chevy Coupe's have always pulled at the heartstrings but Don's really hit the mark.

You know it's really gratifying to read how damn good of a person he was. I feel really good for those of you that were lucky enough to know him personally. I'm sure a bit of his goodness rubbed off on you.

 

...finally got my Rodders Journal today,..what a great issue as always,...learned a lot of stuff I never knew about Don Nowell,..and his 37 gasser actually started out as a 38,...great article on a true hot rodder,...lots of other great stuff in this issue as well,...every HAMB er should get the Journal.
...condolences to Don's family and friends.

 

Hello,
Don was a Gas Coupe guy that we all know with his immaculate, blue 37 Chevy. But, in reading http://writingdisorder.com/don-nowell/ it gave one of many sides to his history. This was a great article by Don Garson written in June of 2017. I found this section on Don Nowell’s exploits with dirt racing motorcycles. I can’t help but wonder if we did not cross paths out in the Mojave Desert in those zillion “Hare And Hound or European Scrambles” events during the same time period, 1964-67.

“Greeves: Don Nowell: When asked when he got into motorcycles, Don points to 1964 when he bought his first bike, a Yamaha 80 motocross, then wanting more power went for a 175 Montesa for blasting out into the desert and through the canyons. Says Don, “Back then people were running imported Greeves and the Dots (Villiers) fitted with Blooie pipes, basically straight pipes and you could them making bitchin’ music playing off the canyon walls, but then they went to those expansion chambers for more power but they sounded like bumble bees.”

I had a Greeves “Blooie pipe” version at first, then moved up to a 66 Greeves specifically set up for desert racing that had the expansion chambers…Yes, we sounded like a bunch of bees going in and out of the canyons, river washes and terrain.

Thanks for the memories, Don…

Jnaki

We did not cross paths at the drag strip as he was a few years later than our Impala and 40 Willys escapades. He had mentioned that we could have been in the same class: B/Gas Coupes and Sedans all over So Cal. That would have been some exciting racing...

 

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. II Timothy 4:7 RIP, you earned it.

 

That's good to know, thanks.

 

I was looking on Ebay today and found Don's coupe for sale, if I could afford it I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I had the fortunate pleasure of speaking to him over the phone and email a few times, he was incredibly knowledgeable and full of amazing stories.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265257614310?hash=item3dc295fbe6:g:jYMAAOSw9nJhDp0h

 

Attention @Moriarity
Hey Mark here’s another one for your collection.

 

A shame the ad doesn’t have Don Nowells' last name spelled correctly, it says Howell.
I don't know who the current owner is, says Mershons, just another outlet for flippers in my opinion, could have gone through multiple hands since Don sold it, I don't know.
I do know for a fact that Don was not pleased with some of the things that were done to the car or the integrity of the guy that owned/"restored" it.
RIP Don.

 

Then maybe you need more space

 

I was upset about the name typo too. And I remember him telling me about how the clutch linkage got really messed up and a few other things. I believe he said a previous owner told him he was keeping the car so Don sold him the correct motor then the guy turned around and sold the car.

 

I had the same basic conversation with Don.