Hello from northwest of Houston!

I'm amazed by what I have seen on this board since my joining in September of '24. There are truly many excellent craftsmen in the creation of custom cars across many styles and time periods, as well as lovers of correct time period builds, which takes me back to the days of my grandfathers and an uncle, which are my influences in cars.

I grew up in Dallas, Texas. One of my grandfathers lived in Denton, Texas and was a mechanic at Massey Pontiac there. My other grandfather had an eight-car garage behind his house, which at times had up to 12 cars in it. He restored Packards, various Fords including Model As, 50's Thunderbirds, Tudors and a '37 Ford that I remember. He was a member of the Dallas Model A Ford Club and they would drive their cars from Dallas to Pike's Peak, go up the mountain, eat at the restaurant and then return to Dallas, driving their cars, no trailering. Many of these cars won awards and were requested for parades in the Dallas area. Many times, we walked from running board to running board to get to the cars and move them. It was a great treat to go along on these adventures. He was always self-employed; he built and owned some of the nicer bar establishments in North Dallas including Ray's Blue Note, Pilot's Lounge and The Tabu Room. When Coor's was looking for their first Distibutor in DFW it came down to my grandfather and Ben E. Keith, who outbid him, hmm. How that would have changed things.

He and my uncle only built one street rod/show car; it was a three-window Ford called "Color Me Chrome" built in the late '60s while my uncle was in high school. It won just about every show in the DFW area in the late '60s, early '70s. Pearl white paint, white interior and just about everything else was chrome. If my mom and dad could get me to the show, my uncle would have me go up on stage and get the trophy which was just about as tall as I was.

Upon my grandfather's passing I inherited his '68 Mustang as my first car. Prior to that I would visit my uncle who lived in Houston. He would take me out in one of his cars, that's where I learned to drive a manual transmission in a '65 Corvette convertible.

My car is an Off-Topic, 1939 Packard Six Club Coupe Pro Street (I think it's just a cool car) that I inherited from my uncle that he had bought at auction, its great having this tie back to he and my grandfather. Happy rodding!

Me in front of one of my grandfather's restored cars (I was seven years old).


My uncle and "Color Me Chrome".


My '39 Packard Six Club Coupe Pro Street