After the car was back to a roller it was time to load it up and off to the body shop. Up until it was time to buy the actual color for the car, we were going back and forth of painting it blue or going black. We wanted a color that could easily be touched up or repaired. So we would go up the dealership road in Beaverton and look for factory colors on cars and see what drew our eye. The color we picked just screamed custom when we spotted it on used car lot.
Then the slow process of reassembly. The interior was done by a long time friend of CJs, Jim Enger. Sadly this was one of the last cars he upholstered before passing away. The minimal pinstriping was done by "Spirit".
@Taboo56Chevy you are doing a fantastic job and what a meandering journey...very glad it's all coming together...thanks for the in depth detail...
After exhaust it was a mad rush to the car done for the Portland Roadster Show in 2014. Had to wrap the car up and create a 20x20 display. Got everything done and made the show. Had lots of help from friends set the car up for the first time. From borrowing a trailer to helping polish, couldn't have pulled it off without them. First show out and the car came home with 5 awards. King of Kustoms, Best in Class, John D'Agostino Pick, Sunset Napa Pick, Outstanding Individual Display.
Sorry I broke the post flow......great story and back stepping restoration...your old friend is back to little page status again...thanks again for sharing the experience. That last photo is pretty wild...congratulations on the awards as well...
Did a few outdoor shows that summer with the car. Did the NSRA event that was held in Ridgefield Washington and the Forest Grove Concours D'Elegance. Car won at both shows. Though the big surprise and award we are still shocked we won was at the Concours. You all know a Concours is restored, original cars. The show had added rods and customs a few years prior so we took Taboo, where it surprised us and won Peoples Choice at the show.
For 2015 we both scratched a item off our bucket lists. Showing a car in the GNRS. Hauled Taboo down and put the old Oregon custom against some very tough competition. Our goal was to hopefully place at the show, the class (Taboo runs in Full Custom) was shrunk to just 1955-1957 cars. Even with that there was still over 10 cars in the class. most were pro touring style builds. When awards rolled around and they call out third and we didn't place, we though oh well and began to see if could make our way back to the car. We were floored when we heard CJ's name being called for 1st place. We never though that it was possible but Taboo once again did what she has always done and win.
The cars next really big achievement was in 2016 where the car was inducted to the Portland Roadster Show Hall of Fame. This was a dream for both Ron and CJ to see Taboo added to Hall of Fame alongside other well known Northwest Rods & Customs such as Orange Crate, X-51, Russ Meeks tilting Model A, etc...
The most recent exciting things the car has done was be photographed by Chadly Johnson for the last issue of Traditional Rod and Kulture (Issue #52) He did an amazing job with the pictures.
That's the history of Miss Taboo. Still showing and enjoying the car, starting to drive the car more now that we are pretty well indoor showed out on the car. We will have it out this summer. Going to be going up to the Goodguys Puyallup show this July. Apart from the pictures here are some miscellaneous videos of the car at different stages of restoration.
Awesome car, thanks for sharing the whole story. It's a long haul, but you guys should bring it to Indy for the Custom Car Revival.....prefect show for a fantastic car!
D: What a great bio of the car.You and CJ have a right to pat yourselves on the back,with such a great story and of course an outstanding car.
This was one of Ron's favorite picture of Taboo. He always had to show it off when ever he talked about the car. The story behind the picture is this: At Portland International Raceway in the late 80's, early 90's there was a weekend car show called Super Cruise-In. It was weekend full of various events from a regular car show, drag racing, "spear spuds", fire drill, and loads of non car related events for kids. In 1991/2 CJ had just sold Taboo back to Ron and they had started going to shows together all over the NW. So in 1992 at the Super Cruise-In Ron was putting Taboo through her paces on the drag strip, and admittedly Ron was no super shifter with a 4 speed and kept getting beat by this fairly new Turbo Bird that a family member of his had. Ron felt that Taboo should be easily beating that car so he asked CJ to get behind the wheel and see if he could beat the Bird. The lights dropped CJ got the hole shot and the procced to blow the doors off the bird with each gear grabbed. Ron took few pictures of the pass mainly to gloat that the old 56 beat the new car.
This is one of my personal favorite pictures of Taboo. This was taken at the World of Wheels show in Salem, Oregon back in 1995. Taboo was fairly fresh off its 93 makeover and CJ had built a 55 Chevy Pickup custom show truck as well as a scaled 34 Ford Roadster painted and upholstered to match for me to show along side his truck. The weekend at Salem we had won 1st in out class with each of cars so we of course all had to pose for a picture. For about 4 years the truck (named Terminator) my roadster and Taboo showed together all around the Northwest.
Forgot I scanned this, right after the Taboo's restoration was finished Kustoms Illustrated snapped the car for the cover, full feature, and trading card for Issue #40. We were really surprised and honored for the selection.
Found the little write up my grandmother did for when they owned the car the first time. At that time a lot of the story was just guess work. I did a lot more research when we got the car back and having a lot of conversations with Ron.
The Jalopy Journal
