It's funny (odd funny, not haha) that this blog post is the catalyst for more "horse shit" and what's sure to be more (and continual) "horse shit" commentary in other posts. To me, it's poor modeling by @Ryan. This builder, he built what he wanted. If his goal was to be the lowest, it would've been considered contrarian and likely effected public sentiment, for sure, because people have a hard time with change. People have a hard time with different. That's NO DIFFERENT than today. Except most people that whine and gripe haven't done anything to earn a pedestal high enough to preach from. This place is for hot rods... it's not the "goofy shit" that makes this car relevant (or worthy of discussion) it's the proportions, the time period, the attention it garnered (as a hot rod) that brought people in to photograph and want to share it. I respect the young builder. He didn't build it for you or this blog. And, he liked the car and his work enough to keep it as long as he has, that says something. As well, he wasn't chasing after some ghost or history trying to recreate something. He was there, he did it. The "goofy shit" is on us. We're the goofs trying to make our mark on the last truly American art form, traditional hot rods and customs.
I love old publications being featured. I love old pic's being featured. It's pretty cool to be in "the catbird seat"......and I always wait for you to run out of stuff to post....but that sure hasn't happened. Whether cool, ugly, popular or hated......I can always expect something neat to read for the day.....and of course.....plenty of yahoos happy and not. It's all good. This is a daily blessing here. I don't wait on a monthly or a quarterly.....don't even have to leave my chair. Old recycled posts get enjoyed by some, and blasted by others. Pretty funny really. The only "living" encyclopedia of auto lore that I know of....on immediate "tap friendly" status. I don't think he started this joint to fodder the arguers......but to argue the fodder.......that's the most fun......but I only speak for me.....and all of my favorite yahoos. That's a cool ass car.
to get off Rant; here is what i like about it; 1. it looks done 2. it looks like it is done well. 3. period correct late '50-early -60's [my favorite build period] 4. the components, from what i can tell, i would bet all worked well together. 5. fun and quick. [i imagine] 6. [i am guessing] dark maroon?
Some goofy elements but I like it. Time built, budget, vision, skills and requirements for use all unknown as for the why. Other then the mentioned lowness makes it cool in it's own way. I would change the rear stance and bumperettes if I acquired it. If I had built it then and still owned it I wouldn't change a thing.
heres my goofy car, i know exactly where you were going with you blog Ryan, i found this 34 in Wisconsin, where it was originally built, who knows, the first question i got from everyone was "when you gonna cut them fenders off" never, to me thats part of what sets the car apart from every other 34 coupe, they could be a little more gracefull but i dig em, i basically tore everthing off the car from the b pillars forward and completely re-did it, new front end new crossemember motor trans steering etc etc, alot of what was there worked but was kinda goofy, i just refined the car some, fix some of the proportions but continued with the look it had and will always have as long as i own it.
I remember Australian HOT ROD featuring a homebuilt country ( 'outback' ) car under the title 'HE WANTED A ROD'. It was obviously built many, many miles from any convenient speed shop. Hot rod Shops did not exist then. Goofy as hell- a kinda 'T' style C-cab truck. And yet chromed, polished & painted to a point where I've never forgotten it.
I really like the car, stance is great, goofy shit included, especially the bumpers. I can picture a guy scanning every car he sees searching for a set of bumpers to cut down and do something different on his hot rod to set it apart from all others. Would love to see more period features.
I started with hot rods in the 60's,then moved on to drag racing ,followed by pro street cars.I loved the Vern Luce coupe and the smooth look of the 80's 90's and so it was back to hot rods except this time they didnt have door handles.Time and tastes change and since the mid 90's all my cars are more traditional.Ive enjoyed all these cars and trucks and Im glad I didnt limit my interest to only hot rods.I remember the gallons of bondo and engine oil in those first cars.There is a learning curve.But what has been consistent is that I was/am proud of them all regardless of goofiness.
So is the story in life that the person who deserves the credit most, seldom gets it.... and so say it, no good deed goes unpunished. Okay, here's the true scoop from group (old military saying, this is the truth). I went in the business of building hot rods in 1948, which put me at the age of 14. This car was one of my first attempts. The bill of sale was in the name of Robert DeBiasse who was one year younger than me. Now as to the car... the comment on 3.5" chop is correct. The headlights are the required dmv height and bumpers dmv required as well. The channeling is the width of the chassis and a smidgen. The rest of the car evolved as to necessity for it to be a driver. This car made trips to California, Topeka, you name it. On one of the rides from California, we came back through Canada and hit some animal in the road and as noted, the ground clearance at the grill is minimal. We stopped at Ford motor company and asked the receptionist if she could find us a new grill. They did, so that's why that grill looks so good. A little to the mechanics. Had electric door openers. The rear frame that went over the live axle was cut off and replaced with a box frame from a Chevrolet which gave us more travel in the suspension. Had an open drive shaft, Ford made a couple center section banjos that would accept. We merely spread the wishbones and ran them to the chassis with tire rod ends on the end for the pickup point. It did not have a severely dropped axle. Tube shocks were a new item when we built that car and had enough intelligence to realize they should be slanted to keep the car from rolling. The gas tank was two 5 gallon jerry's installed against the rear quarter panels with the openings pointed up towards the top and attached together by a gas line. The roof, which was normally canvas in that year car, made one out of 1/8" steel that could be removed. We also made one out of plastic and I guess it had one of the first moon roofs. You never chop and channel a 3 window. A 5 window allows you to push the seat back to the extent of the roof line and you drive with your legs damn near straight out. Comment to prove the point: High School 1952, both of our girlfriends showed up at the car after school looking for a ride home. We stacked them on the inside and we sat 4 across. Closing the doors was a pleasant problem, but they closed and we were off. By the way, the car still had its floor shift at the time and as I recall, it was a... pleasant experience figuring out how to make shifting work The car was too fucking fast to drive, even with Lincoln brakes. You became mesmerized going across the wide open country at speeds over 125.... the car was just too fast to drive. Is the car still alive? Once Bobby and I separated because we became involved in something called life, I went onto other things in the automotive realm. Bobby put the car in the garage so he might watch it rust. It's still rusting, he just moves it from one place he lives to the next. Quite a while back at a family reunion, he commented how we ought to restore the car and update it. I smiled and said, "You mean "we" like last time? No thanks." That was 1948, and my Corvette was 1954. The Corvette floor shift tranny couldn't handle the horsepower of the engine and the gear ratio limited the top end speed of the car... replaced it with a column shift and overdrive gearbox. You can see the shift lever in the shadow of the interior pictures. 0-60 in a constant of 4 seconds on bologna skins, with a 5th wheel, and a stop watch. Bonneville in 1954, with the car totally taped off did over 180mph. See open roadster. If you notice the slight problem, I could not get the engine under the hood. For someone who will remember, Buick or Rotchester or whoever called them 3 barrels. The back butterfly looked like a barn door, it went all the way across, and with 515cubes of Oldsmobile sucking on the vacuum controlled barn door it was VERY eager to open.
k Not to be a know it all, BUT, Ford drilled a hole thru the axle in that exact place, I forgot what year,must be 1948, first year for tube shocks I think, BTW that axle looks stock to me. Also, with the spring in front of the axle and the rear axle pushed back, I bet its a stock wheelbase, I love it..
Notice the hole for tube shock, on the 1948 axle. I love the HAMB, I have thousands of Hot rods books manuals etc. Wish I could sell them all at once,for a dollar each, I never go to the shelves anymore..
I worked for bobby back in the 60's at park ave garge in Madison nj. last time I saw coupe was blue was one of if not the fastest cars around when built in the 50's motor built by brother dickey [inventor of the single ring piston] not sure if bobby is still alive but last residence was in chatham nj wonder wher the car is now???
Talk about a "cackle-fest"- I like the car myself.( Bolt on stuff can be un bolted if it really gets your knickers in a twist.)God bless J.C. Warshowsky (sp?) that's where I got my SPEED equipment when I was 15.Cheap junk, poorly made, but the chrome stayed shiny for about 10 days, and I thought I was King Shit. Had to have those "curb feelers!"Really made that '63 Valiant haul ass!
Hey One Dark Horse. Welcome to the HAMB! Loved your poop from groupe story! Love the car just as it is, or was! Wish you had gotten to keep it! Your Corvette was KILLER also. Ant the cool thing is it fits in here perfectly! regards and thanks for filling in the story for us! Tony
Damn it Larry it took five minutes to explain to a coworker why I was laughing my ass off. On Manson's that was my thought in that those bumper guard "bumpers" were there to skirt the bumper laws at the time. A west coast car would have had a set of nerf bars instead of those in most cases.
I am thinkin' One Dark Horse built the coupe wishing it was his but it wasn't, now he is modest and doesn't want to say "I built that SOB" cause it was in his buddy's name and his buddy took the bows, I built a few and never got to take the bows for various reasons, mostly it takes $$$. Talent w/o funds will only take you so far, I would have rather worked on it and see it thru, even when I didn't credit. Now, not so much,,, Two people, at least, know who built that car and who had the third hand in it. When One Dark Horse hears "we ought to restore it, and says "we? like last time?" A lot of us know what he is talking about !!! JMT
So I started building a 55 1st Chevy Truck at age 11 with no idea that at 17 I would discover my future wife with it in a manner exactly as described above. The only difference is this was circa 1987 or so... I had a Saginaw 4 speed with one of those funky floor mounted Monza shifters modified to fit in the old truck, and that shifter came out almost from under the seat. This placed the shift ball over the seat and well up a denim skirt in 4th gear! By HAMB standards that truck definitely had some goofy shit going on, but I built it in a horse barn with hay haulin' money and it was fast as hell and looked good enough to get the attention of the grade "A" gals. My still wife of 25 years has requested I build another one of those trucks, and to make sure it has a standard with floor shift. I think I'll keep her
I was in NJ not far from them in those days. Sometime in the ---maybe early 1960s --- I spotted the Olds/vette and went to talk to the driver. He was a middle aged guy who had just bought the car and knew nothing of it's history. He'd come to visit our neighbor across the street. I never saw the car again. I notice the coupe does not have the NJ motor vehicle inspection windshield sticker required to be on the street. These were very hard to get for all of us NJ hot rodders. I managed one about 1958 for my channeled 34 3-window with cycle fenders. And no bumpers. A year later car would not pass inspection. No changes had been made. Such was life in those days. But I'd been on the road for a year. Lot's of good memories.
The Jalopy Journal
