When I was about fourteen I came across a comic book with a variety of different stories, among them was a continuing series about teen-agers who built and drove cars that were modified like hot rods..... They were my favorite stories.

  I was very fortunate when I was in high school to have my own car, it was a 1936 Chevy coupe. I heard a rumor that Chevy was not as good as a Ford.

  Then one day, everybody went to the class room window to see a car that was parked in front of our school. It was so different, no fenders, no top, no hood, a Ford flathead v-8 engine, dual carburetors, early Ford roadster body, gray primer. I knew a car like that was out of reach for me at the time...........but I wanted it.

  After graduating, (1951) I chose a job as a machinist apprentice because I wanted to learn about working with metal and machines, and it would be useful for my dream. I didn’t know then how I would do it, but I wanted to try. Very soon I found a 1936 Ford four door convertible in the back row of a used car lot in Albany. Well now I had a convertible at last, and it was a Ford! I loved the way it sounded and looked and I couldn’t find a roadster for sale anywhere. I always checked the classified ads in the Oakland Tribune every night, and finally there it was, a 1930 model A roadster for sale, just a roadster body on a rolling chassis.$150. When I got there my heart sank. I had competition, another guy looking at the car. The owner and the two of us discussed how much work there was to be done on this project car. The body was a little rough and many things were missing. The seller said yes it runs, but it has a dead battery. The other guy said it was too much work and he left. I wanted to hear the engine run, so we rolled the car out of the driveway and into the street, push started it and I hopped into the passenger seat, and oh man that engine sounded great ! Short exhaust pipes ( 20“) out of each port, and strictly illegal, but what music they made ! He revved it up a couple of times and popped the clutch, the tires spun and howled, my head bumped against the back of the cockpit ! He shifted into second gear, the tires chirped as it leaped again. I was hooked !! So with complete abandonment and my usual naive optimism, I said..............I’ll take it.

   I realized quickly that the brakes were very poor, almost worthless,(model A mechanical brakes) so I had to be very careful. In fact I learned to downshift to second gear and it was a big help! As it turned out I only drove it once or twice on a Saturday morning. My dad was looking at the car and shaking his head ( with a smile on his face ) when he noticed the car didn’t have any taillights. Then his face grew puzzled and he asked me where are your taillights? Oh I haven't got them yet I said. He thought about it and said, “put that car in your garage and get those lights and everything else it needs to make it legal.” My dad always allowed me to be a free spirit, sometimes stepping in to give me good direction when needed, as it was in this case. I backed the car down the driveway into my garage not realizing that it would be a long time before I would drive it again. You see, once I started I couldn’t stop until a number of things were done, a lot more than taillights.

  For the next few months I spent many hours in that garage, Moose antlers nailed above the side window, radio playing the new songs that are golden oldies now...... Hands cold sometimes bleeding, working in the light of one 60 watt bare bulb on a drop cord, a wonderful labor of love. In a single car garage in the Lakeshore neighborhood of Oakland, a hot rod was being born. I began to take it apart so that I wouldn’t be tempted to drive it until it was right. The most important thing that it needed were hydraulic brakes, but now I saw that the frame was butchered and had to go. Looking in my hot rod magazines, I saw that some rods used a 32 frame with the earlier bodies on it. The 32 frame looked better and was stronger and so I began looking for one. This was a tough decision at the time, I could overlook all the faults of the existing frame and get this buggy on the road, or go for the 32 frame and start from scratch almost. I knew that I would always wish that I had the 32. I unbolted the body and dad helped me carry it into the back yard to rest on the lawn for a while. The next problem, pulling the engine out of the frame. I had no hoist and even if I did there wasn’t a strong beam in the old garage to use. I started taking off the wheels and suspension while trying to come up with a solution. Off came the rear axle and drive shaft, let it rest against the wall in the corner. Next, unbolt the front spring and radius rods, let it rest in the other corner. That’s when I saw the solution.

  It was so simple! Walking around the frame with the engine in it, thinking that the engine should come up and out, there was another way. So I removed the motor mounts, blocked up the engine under the oil pan, and lifted the side of the frame up and over the engine. Eureka! A friend stopped over one day to see the car I had been talking about. Where’s the car? he asked as we stood in the garage. Well yeah, Looks like I didn’t have a car, it was just a bunch of parts in the garage. He looked at me sympathetically, and said good luck! The search was on for the 32 frame, in the meantime, I was busy every night cleaning those parts, getting them ready. With a large file I smoothed down the weld on the radius rods. I wanted them to be chromed. The generator came apart and the case went to work with me. I chucked it in a lathe and polished it using strips of emery cloth, ready for chrome. As an apprentice I didn’t make much money, but I put all I had into my dream. I loved to search for parts at the auto wreckers on Saturday mornings. Some times I couldn’t even wait to eat breakfast, and usually got home starving and with a headache. But I found a 32 frame with four wheels and my dad towed it home from the wreckers with me sitting on a board across the frame to steer. (thanks again dad). I remember treating that frame somewhat like a sacred cow, washing it, sanding it, painting it with a reverence. It will be the foundation of my own rod. It was a part of me...........I was a part of it.

  My “garage full of parts” began to change, there was a feeling of great accomplishment. there was a little more light at the end of the tunnel. Over the phone I ordered a full set of “juice” brakes from one of the salvage yards, they removed them from a 40 Ford and delivered them to my house for $45.00 ! I took the brake backing plates to the chrome shop along with the generator and the radius rods. That’s enough chrome for now, its all I can afford. A local speed shop had brand new high compression finned aluminum heads on sale, $65.oo (a weeks pay) To me they were the gleaming crowns on the engine.

  While I was waiting for the chrome goodies, I kept busy by installing the 40 ford spindles in the 32 axle and pulling the cast iron heads off my 41 Mercury flathead V-8. Looking back now I am so grateful that I worked with people that knew about cars and what could be done with them. One of those guys was Danny Lucero, he was my hero. Danny had a roadster the same year as mine. He took his car to the drags and he was good at it! Later he let me borrow his chopped and chrome windshield, the one you see in the picture. Hot Rod magazine was a good source. Nice to study and drool over the beautiful cars in there. But I didn’t see my car as being all shiny red or black. Maybe I was influenced by that hot rod I saw out of the classroom window.

  I wanted primer...... dark.... “The honorable cloak of dark gray primer.” It had a meaning on the street. The radio played on in the little garage. The brake master cylinder was ready and the brake lines all hooked up. I blocked up the frame and rolled in the rear axle, and with that bolted up, stood back to admire how beautiful it was. ( It was progress ), I knew there was a long way to go. The roadster body was brought in and new holes had to be drilled in the frame. Nothing was going to stop me. I rented a torch to take out something and caused a fire in the garage, that was scary. I heard fire! fire! and when I lifted the welding goggles, Chuck, my sisters wanna-be boy friend got sprayed with a fire extinguisher and it caught him in the eyes. When we found he was all right we laughed and laughed. (in great relief)...The fire was minor and was put out quickly........... (The things your parents never knew)

  At my job as a machinist apprentice, I made a fuel block (manifold), out of solid brass that was finned, it was unique, something you couldn’t buy at any speed shop, and it could serve three carburetors. The parts came back from the chrome shop finally, and oh, they were so beautiful, almost holy. Front axle in, up on four wheels now, I could almost hear it running. So close now. So close I got careless. In hooking up the steering drag link, I couldn’t find the nut to secure it. I searched for a while, then went on to something else, thinking it will show up later, not smart. Fuel lines were hooked up. New brake fluid poured in the master cylinder. I bled the brakes. The radiator was in and I added coolant to it. But I still had work to do on the body. I had cut out the original firewall because it looked ugly, so many holes in it, a battery box welded to it. I moved the battery to the trunk. I haven’t got the sheet metal for the new firewall yet. I took my little 6-volt battery down to Mr. Clary’s Mobile gas station to be charged.

  I wanted to hear the engine run, but it had sat for so long that it wouldn’t fire. And finally the battery was flat again. Back to the station for another charge. In the meantime I was checking wires and cleaning plugs and by the time the battery was ready, it was too late at night to work. Oh Saturday morning ! A warm sunny day. I knew this would be the day at last. My little baby will come to life. I didn’t want to take it out on the street because it had no firewall, there was nothing but air between the driver and the engine.

AND THEN…..