Folks Of Interest RICK YOUNG ( WALRUS MACHINE ) HAS SAILED WEST R.I.P.

To all of the H.A.M.B. UNIVERSE out there and especially to those of us, here in the Pacific Northwest.

At 4:53 AM this morning, Rick Young, AKA as "Wally Walrus" or just plain" Walrus"
passed away from a massive cerebral hemorrhage.




Rick Young, was a well known machinist and hot rodder, especially when it came to Ford flat head powered machines. There isn't enough words, to fully illustrate, the immensity, of the wealth of knowledge that he had, about all things mechanical !

I was so fortunate to get to know Rick, on a variety of different levels, and I met a lot of cool people, that hung out at his old shop when it was in the Fremont district of Seattle.




As much as Rick was into old cars and trucks and all things of a mechanical nature, his true passion, was for sailing on his sail boat, "HARLOT" out on Puget sound.



I was lucky enough to get to know him over a period of time, that I was invited to be a part of his crew on Friday's in the summer, when there was wind. He would close up the shop and at 6:30 PM we would meet up at " L" dock, out at Shilshole bay marina.

Sometimes it would just be me and Pete McCleod as the crew, and other times, we would have a lot more people on the boat enjoying libations and shooting the breeze about everything. We would stay out on the water till midnight sometimes, and it was always a great experience!


The cares and woes of the day, would fade away when Rick was at the helm of "HARLOT"



There is so much more that can be said about this amazing man, I invite anyone that knew him, to please feel free to add to this thread, and share your stories about Rick Young.



Fair winds and following sea's to our good friend, Rick Young "WALRUS"

Thanks from Dennis Hicklin.

Our friend Rick Young, has sailed west!

 

Well said @41 GMC K-18. My Friend Ed started telling me about Rick and how I had to meet him when we were probably in out late teens or early twenties. I remember helping him move the Yoder back after the corvette nomad bodies he was making were done. I think that was the first or maybe the second or third time I'd been over there. I'm pretty sure Pete was there that night too. Anyways. After that any time I had a major problem I'd take it down to Rick. One time, I sheared my steering box bolts on my 72 blazer off while wheeling and had broken remnants of the bolts in the box to remove. I had no garage and a small amount of tools at the time, I don't think i even had a drill yet. So I took the box off, and threw it in my back pack and skate boarded down to Rick's. I lived on 73rd and 23rd nw at the time. Right on the spot he tig welded a bunch on the broken bolt. Grabbed it with vise grips, and it came right out! It took me longer to skate board there! I was amazed! Right there I know Rick was " The guy", not that it all wasn't painfully evident by the quality of his work. I think the thing that amazed me the most was the row of Bridgeports all set up for specific things to save the time to reset the machine for each operation. How many does a guy need? The answer. Infinite.

And that was kinda Rick's attitude anything was possible. I remember when I got my coupe and told him about it and showed him pictures. And when I got my truck done he helped me with advice on front end set up on that too. Anyways. I never got that chance to learn a ton from him. But I definitely soaked up as much as i possibly could have. Just enough to be dangerous.

I know you and Pete and Ed, myself and anyone else that knew him will miss him. He built some cool stuff. And he was a cooler guy to boot.

 

Rick Young, indeed, was the genuine article !
Cool @Hitchhiker that you got to meet him, and experience his mechanical skills.

 

A good friend and a great machinist, that’s a combination hard to beat.
Godspeed Walrus.

 

Condolences to family and friends.
Bless The Walrus.

May I?
In the spirit of celebration of Mr Rick Young's life, I offer this to all who knew him. And I hope you deem it appropriate and enjoy the intention.

 

I didn't know him, but he looks like my kind of people. Godspeed Mr Walrus sir!

 

Sounds like Rick was a stand up guy.RIP sir.

 

Sorry to hear, my condolences to his family and friends.

 

Condolences to family and friends...

 

Damn, whenever I was in Seattle I always found my way to the Fremont district to pop in and see Rick. Always had fun and learned something that I didn't know that I needed to know. R.I.P.

 

I first met Rick in 1976 when he ran Garfield machine and I got a job at Mikes Auto Rebuild right next door , great place to work as there was always lots of hot rod stuff goin on
He helped me on many different projects and I put lots of hours into his 29 pickup
Back in the 80’s/ 90’s we sailed on Elliot Bay most Sunday’s
I have too many stories to list here
He will surely be missed
RIP Wally
B

 

Coo Coo Ca Chew. May the weather be fair. Farewell, Rick!

 

R I P

 

God Speed...RIP

 

Prayers for his family. One thing though, if he was the walrus who was the egg man?

 

Rick had no family or any living relatives that I knew of.

 

That was a real nice write up and good pictures, GMC. It's good that people who've gone to the Great Beyond are celebrated.

 

Just a little Rick Young trivia
Back in the late 60’s early 70’s Rick was the manager of a very popular large old North Seattle Tavern/ music venue called the Aquarius Tavern previously and later to be known at Parkers ballroom
At the time he had an enormous moustache shaped like Walrus tusks, hence the nickname

 

@F-head
I have heard some amazing stories from Rick, about the days when Rick used to manage the "Aquarius Tavern".
During that time period, I think it was one of the larger venues when it came to square footage. That place actually started out as Parker's Ballroom in 1937, and in the 70's, it became the Aquarius Tavern.


One hell of a dance hall and music venue for sure.

Now if you want to see a piece of "vintage" WALRUS memorabilia, these matches are from back when Rick had his shop on Greenwood !

 

Sounds like a full ife well lived. Condolences to friends. RIP

 

Well Dang, sad to see that, I didn't know him from the car side but am pretty sure that we shared several boat friends. I have friends with sailboats at Shilshole some having been there since the 1990's or before.

 

@Mr48chev .
Photos of a test session, from about 20 years ago, out on Lake Washington, with the "Miss Thriftway" Hydroplane.
That is Rick Young in the cockpit looking down.

 

Just a heads up to all that were following along on this thread.

On January 12th, 2022, at Ricks old shop in the Fremont district of Seattle, there was a big gathering, as a type of memorial for Rick Young.



The old shop is now Ballard Pizza, it started out as "FRELARD PIZZA", but the owners decided to change the name, as to keep people from thinking that the pizza was FREE and it was all LARD.
For those of you that don't know, "FREELARD" is the area between BALLARD and FREMONT.

The above poster was on display that I had created, I gave it to the pizza shop owners about a year and a half ago for their wall, so that the customers would know what the place used to be.

I made a big book of pictures that was a 30 page book, which in actuality was 60 pictures, of days gone by, of the good times in Ricks past, it was there for people to look through, and the book was donated to John Harwood, a long time friend of Ricks.

There was a great turnout of "WALRUS MACHINE" Alumni, hoodlums, gear-heads, pseudo redneck intellectual's, hot rodder's, boat owners, fabricators, and a variety of other types, too numerous to mention here!

A good time was had by all!

The entire event, was put on by Scott Anderson, and there were copious amounts of Pizza and libations consumed. Thank you Scott.

I also made 100 "RYSL" buttons " I'M ON RICK YOUNG'S SHIT LIST FOREVER " I gave away over 80 of them and kept a few for those that were not able to attend.

Those button's put a big smile on everyone's face that knew Rick Young.

Thanks from Dennis Hicklin.

 

The buttons came out great Dennis! Glad we could collaborate on those

 

Thanks Matt, it was those cool buttons that your friend made for the
"HOODLUMS AND HAMBURGERS " Gatherings, that was the inspiration for the Rick Young
"RYSL" buttons.
Thanks from Dennis.

 

R I P

 

Dennis what a great write up. I just now saw this and Ricks many friends who have all joined in to celebrate His sharing of friendship and knowledge with us all. I live a just a few miles from Him and saw Him regularly. I first met Him in 1967 I was a junior in high school and had a 1957 Ford with a built 312 and a 4 speed. Rick also had a 57 Ford with a 406 Tri Power 4 speed we raced and He left Me in the dust! Both cars were jacked up in the front with teardrop hoods, no splash pan or bumper. Mine was burgundy His was flat black. I did talk to Him a bit He was a machinist at Bills auto parts in Lynnwood on hwy 99. After I got out of the service in 72 I got reacquainted with Him again He lived behind Parker’s. Then Garfield,Leary way, Everett and lastly here In Stanwood. I will miss Him. Sail on Brother

 

Hey @FEDER
Give me your mailing address and I will send you one of the RYSL buttons, if you want one!
Always a pleasure to hear from one of the "WALRUS ALUMNI"
Thanks from Dennis.

 

I missed this earlier. I met Rick at a Ron Covell class back in the early 1990's. After that we became friends and attended other metalshaping classes and events together. When Rick bought the 3 power hammers from California Metal Shaping, I bought the Pettingell 2 hammer from him. He kept the Yoder LK90 and Pettingell 1. I asked him at the time if he wanted to keep the bigger hammer, but later told me he should have kept it. I spent a lot of time at the Ballard shop, then he moved. He hosted a metalshaping class taught by Peter Tommasini about 10 years ago. Used to talk to him weekly, he is missed.