Some of our club members traveled to teh big town of Cushing, Ok to visit Dennis Francis' shop, Wheels of the Past. First we stopped in Stillwater to check out Dirk35's project. His 35 Ford pickup His motorvation Then we kidnapped him and headed for Cushing. This is what we saw when we walked in. His mother-in-law's this is the back half of a Franklin. All the wood laying around it is the rest of the car.
Now moving along with the tour. This is a nice Cord that Dennis is restoring. The supercharger sets under the carb. Another engine shot. Love that exhaust. Here's a Packard, the Cord and one of the Diamond t trucks he's redoing. Here's the Pack. Dennis rebuilt everything on this car. This thing is HUGE!
And we're walking,walking. Please everyone stay together. This is the other Diamond T and a Desoto coupe he's building doors for. This is the hand built MG he did for his wife. Hand formed louvers and a small block chevy. This is a Dort that he bought for himself. I'd never heard of one until now. He said it was one of four sports models left.He got it when it was totaled in the Great American Race. This one is kind of blurry, but you can still read it. It was owned by a supreme court judge, that is until he got it rearended.
Is everyone still together? Moving on. Model T speedster. He's just in the wood mock up right now. Soon he will start the english wheel work to build the body. Model A cab he's finishing up. Still has a little woodwork. Then finish the top with the trusty english wheel. And that concludes our tour. Thank you for your patience. Dennis does amazing work and has built cars for people world wide. I don't think there is a piece he can't build on his english wheel. He doesn't believe in bondo. Just a little hammering and some O/A welding. Make's it look way too easy. I know it's not really traditional hot rods, but it's awesome cars built by hand in a little shop in Oklahoma. After the tour, we took Dirk35 back home, drank his beer and headed for the hills! Thanks for going along Dirk35.
Them okies have the dominant car gene. (Ryan is a textbook example) Is that Cord a Glenn Pray Cord? He made maybe 100 of them in Broken Arrow OK, had a blown corvair spyder in them, front wheel drive, parts from everything in the world including VWs, Citroens, AMC, very pretty car but nasty tendency to switch ends on you in the rain if you braked a little intensely. I had one some years back--it would go pretty good when that supercharger kicked in. Pray had a dream of mfg. these and bought the Cord name, plus a lot of parts--the car had the actual bumpers, much hardware, dashboard, etc. Actual production car, but lots of bugs. My boy sold it to a guy in TX. Hmm, got a little nostalgic.
Yes the Cord is front wheel drive. Pretty cool for a car that size. Not sure what engine it is. Dennis didn't really say and I sure don't know. There has to be someone in HAMB land that can tell us more.
I think he said he got the radiator and frame and has to build the rest. I'm sure he could build you one though.
Thanks for taking me Chris! It was sure cool watching him use the english wheel on the panel for the Amphibus vehicle, and watching him shrinking that high spot on the Diamond T fender! His work is amazing and inspiring! Heres the pic I took with my phone of his English wheel. Funny thing, this second pic is what my truck looked like up till thursday of last week before you guys came. What's you guys end up doing after dropping me off? Did you see any scantily clad females walking around the lake on your way back into town? Did you get a pic of his torch holder? That was reall a good idea too!
John, wish I could have gone. The yard and the wife halted my plans, but I scored all of my replacement metal for the bod on that Tudor for 120 bucks! See ya at the Nats, Gabe.
What's you guys end up doing after dropping me off? Did you see any scantily clad females walking around the lake on your way back into town? Nope didn't see any. Did see some guy with really big pants and lots of metal stuff stuck in his head.
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