Folks Of Interest Norm Grabowski's 1954 F100

A recent pic of Norms old truck popped up in the thread "Kustoms at Kustoms at the Sea" and I was surprised to see it again.

Back in the mid 60s until the end of the 70s my dad was really into '53-6 F100s (so was I of course) and he/we were in a club called Classic Pick-ups an offshoot of Pick-ups Limited, the club Norm was in. He was in the Burbank chapter which had very cool clubhouse. One of theses scans shows Norm in his personally decorated area of the clubhouse.

Norms pickup was easily, by far the nicest one around in the early 70s, unbelievably clean. Chopped (I believe he was the first guy to straighten out the roof line as well. Slant cabs roof slightly rise from rear to front) Mopar torsion bar front suspension, jag rear, reworked hood, laser straight body work with black paint. He even showed off his flair for woodwork with the little tire covers in the bed.

The only pics I can find right now are from some early '70s Peterson publications, 'Pickups &Vans and Street Rod Quarterly. Somewhere I have a feature that one of the magazines did on the truck but haven't found it yet and unfortunately almost all of our photo albums from that era, which had some pics of Norm went up in smoke when my mom lost her house in a fire.

Hopefully someone else will have some pics to post.

Norms ride today



Norm at the front of drivers side fender

clubhouse

 

W o W !! Now that is one good looking truck even today......thanks....I have never seen it before.

 

I grew up just down the road from Grabowski's place. A week didn't go by that I didn't see him go by. The Kookie car, the tub, his bikes, especially the Corvairs and this truck. Nice to see it is still around

 

It is nice to see that his old truck is still around. I don't remember much else about the article in the magazine about it but those laminated wood fenderwells are one of a kind and are instantly recognizable.

 

bump to see if any others have some pics

 

Nice truck. Does anyone have pics of his Corvair powered bike?

 

Cool

 

Here ya go. HRP

 

That F100 is sweet, Then the Cycles just jump out out and scream, WFO

 

Holeeee shit that is greatness fellas' !! Excellent bike pics ! That dude was the real deal huh? Damn.......to read is definitely not to see. I would have given anything to see this guy's stuff in the flesh and steel. There is no way in hell pictures do any of these creations justice.

 

Notice too that at least with the first bike "six Pack" it was kick start, no electric starter! The second bike "PP and Vinegar" I believe had a elec starter in it's later form.

When I was a kid we always heard he shot himself in the leg learning how to quick draw for film/tv work. Don't know if its true or not but my dads best friend did the same thing in the mid '50s. I still have the gun.

 

Thanks guys. I'd heard about it, but never seen it. Sorry for the hi-jack. Norm wrote the book on "Overly Talented".

 

.....and buff....dude had some guns 'ay ? Way before Arnold.

 

Wow! this brings back ancient memories. I remember in the 6th grade reading about a corvair powered motorcycle back in the mid 60's. I have always remembered them talking about how well it handled with the corvair motor as in had incredible balance.

 

Hey Rich, I think I have a Quaterly, might be the same one you have.....I'll look for it.....I remember your '56 in high school....That was a nice truck...... Wasn't your dad's '56 Green metallic with some kind of polished stainless on the bed sides? Also, OT, I'm about half way on the Tom Blake kookbox....

 

Six Pack was not kick start. He used to hang out, next door to a friends house, with a bunch of old outlaws. I watched him push start Six Pack. I don't know if it had a dead battery or if that was the usual routine. It had no trans, just a clutch. PP & Vinegar had a kick start HD trans driven by a 90 degree box off of the crank

 

Found this quote from another site, you got me thinking...

“Norm Grabowski”s monster– the Corvair-powered “Six Pack”. Neil East (another rodding icon), owned AutoBooks in Burbank, CA, and Colorado Carbooks here in Denver told me that Norm used to come to L.A. Roadster club meetings on the Six Pack, and he said Norm had no problem kick starting this bike, when it was time to leave. It had no electric starter!” –Irish Rich

 

you have a great memory Mike!
Me with my first '56, 16 years old. Except for the date on the border you'd know it was Summer because our hair couldn't touch our ears at the school we went to, remember? Nazis.
You'd have thought I'd of been smart enough to hang on to at least ONE big back window '56.
Can't wait to see your board.

 

Thanks for the great pics! Norm was off the charts.

 

How short was Norm? I thought of him as tall.

 

I believe time may have dulled Neil's memory. He may have been thinking of the PP bike, which did have a kicker. I had a copy of the magazine featuring the bike, plus I crawled all over it at one of the L.A. Roadsters shows when they were held at the Hollywood Bowl and talked to Norm about it. I'm certain there was no kicker. I can't see one in any of the pix, online.

 

I'm sure you're right. I would have loved to see him kick start the other one though.

 

Norm used to attend an event that we also went to in Rockaway Beach Mo in his Henway. He would tell anyone with an empty beer can [many of which were his] to put them down the exhaust stacks, then he would proceed to blow them out the stacks. Norm enjoyed life his way. I also went to a run on Lake Texhoma that they advertised Norm as the evenings entertainment. I could not imagine how he was going to entertain. He kept us mesmerized with his guitar and singing and whistling. He could really whistle. Quite a guy.

 

I wonder if those neat little inside wheelwell covers were his first experiment with woodworking? I've seen his carving and marquetry since, and I'm curious if it started back then.

 

Dallas Gregory snapped this shot at Kustoms by the Sea. Still clean as whistle!

 

One of the biggest things to note on the truck is the center rib being shrunken out of the hood! Those hoods are a bitch to straighten without taking out the rib and therefore most of the rigidness!
If I remember right, that grill was built for Norm by Von Dutch!
I always wondered where that thing ended up at, as it was always a favorite f-100 of mine from all the ones I remember from the magazines of my childhood!
My Dad has a 53 F-100, and met Norm at a show 25+ years ago. Norm loved my Dads truck, and spent a few hours hanging out with him and drinking my beer. My Dad said he was just a super nice guy. It wasn't until I told him a little more about him, that he realized who Norm was! He said he thought he was just another regular car guy!

 

Gorgeous truck. Anyone have anymore pictures or know what magazine(s) it was in?