Yes, Larry did it no favors, it is now owned by another Tulsan who has restored it to Tom’s perfection. So we have two Prufer builds here in Tulsa.
It was May last year, I was mucking round in my shed like I often do and I heard a rumbling sound out front that stopped. Thought I better pop out the front to see what was making the harmony. Low and behold it was Greg in the Cop Shop Coupe. Absolutely made my day seeing that car, especially in little old Bay View, NZ. Thanks for the info about Tom and his past, I am keen to find out more about him, what a great man.
Hello, We have followed Tom Prufer’s cars in various cl***es. His drag racing scene was beyond our participation. But, impressive to say the least. I was drawing a modified 29 roadster with a stock grille and wire wheels for a full bodied altered or modified roadster cl***. The headers were out and swooping back below/past the doors. But, I was at a standstill. Something was not right. So, when the Tom Prufer section came along, I made a few changes and the 29 roadster became my version of the cl***ic 29 roadster with flames. (I liked drawing the flames ) So, with a few mods, different wheels/tires, plus those lakes pipes headers, the new Tom Prufer version stood out on the art board. Jnaki I also have the chopped 3 window coupe already in a similar state but not with the Tom Prufer Flames. That was going to be another drag car with a big 671 sticking up and outside the hood. (the Dave Bell artwork is so inspiring…) So, we shall see how that one moves along with the other art projects already started but stalled at the moment. YRMV
Here's a (circa 2010) video clip of Prufer's "****er & Nitro Billy's Power King Too" AA/Top Fuel Dragster. Tom (red shirt) is seen test firing the car for a "Kacklefest" exhibition at the 14th Annual SO-CAL Speed Shop Open House: NOTE: Fellow HAMBer @RodPowell punched the louvers in the tins of this FED (see his August 2008 Louvers / Working with an old friend. thread) ... Rod also gets credit for most (if not all) of the *****in' flame-jobs on Tom's iconic Hot Rods!
Just a bump of this little tribute to Tom Prufer ... 'cuz I finally found my copies of the '94 American Rodder & Street Rodder magazines and was able to update post #57.
Just another bump of this little tribute to Tom Prufer ... 'cuz I just realized I never posted pics of Tom's other Red 1932 Ford 3-window Coupe (most likely because I’m not a fan of its painted wheels) . . . anyway here it is at the 2014 GNRS: snapshots by me This Deuce 3wd ended up in the Richard V. Munz Collection . . . and was SOLD at the Kissimmee, FL auction on Friday, January 17th: . . . and here's the write-up from the auction listing: THE STORY Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame member Tom Prufer balanced a long career in the San Francisco Bay Area with Lockheed Aircraft working on secret projects while making a parallel effort as a noted Hot Rod builder and Top Fuel Drag racer. Prufer’s many cars included frequent GNRS entries. His roadsters and coupes were unmistakable—cutting-edge cool, technically interesting, well built—and several of them were featured in major magazines. Tom Prufer’s cars always set high standards. They have been admired and imitated for years. This car is no exception. In 2005, inspired by a Dave Bell cartoon image, Prufer built the famous “Cop Shop” ’33 Ford Coupe to much the same pattern: big rake, mean chop, no fenders, flashy flames and external headers. But he liked keeping functional parts like handles and hinges. That was a formula that worked well for Prufer, so he repeated it, but he always changed the elements just a little so his cars were never quite the same. You can see the family resemblance to the “Cop Shop Coupe” in this car, but there are many different details. Chopped, channeled and raked, this 1932 Ford 3-Window, one of a memorable series of Prufer-built hardtops, debuted in 1999 at the 50th anniversary Grand National Roadster Show, which was held that year at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The mean-looking 3-window packs a m***ive 427 CI big-block Chevrolet V-8, with distinctive Limefire-style four-into-one headers, riding on a custom ch***is by Ron Attebury. The body was extensively modified by the Renteria brothers; the roof was filled, and the hammered 3-window was dramatically flamed by Rod Powell. Dan Fink fabricated the custom louvered hood and filled-grille shell. The car’s original E-T knockoff wheels were initially painted red. When Munz bought the car, it was fitted with traditionally finished and polished alloys. He re-installed the red E-Ts, of course. From its aggressive, bull-dogged front end, tiny headlights and hairpin radius rods to the abbreviated track roadster-style side nerf bars and the rolled rear pan, this coupe has many of the distinctive styling and flame-painted elements that Prufer loved and included in many of his cars—especially those “crab claw” fade-away flames in bright yellow with sharp red tips. Over the years, Tom built a number of progressively tough-looking coupes. Writing in The Rodder’s Journal, Pat Ganahl, who’d earlier edited Hot Rod magazine and Rod & Custom, called Prufer, “the inimitable, indefatigable, 100-proof Hot Rodder.” Referencing Tom’s cars over the years, Ganahl wrote, “… a real Hot Rod has to be low, powerful, sinister, swoopy, clean, understated and brutish, all at the same time. [With Prufer’s cars] … no two are exactly alike. There are some themes and similarities, sure. But there’s no formula, no template. Just the right stuff.” Commenting on Prufer’s work in 2012, a H.A.M.B. member with the handle "@Flat-N-Low" commented, “I always thought Prufer had a keen eye for proportion. His cars were always proportionally correct—the right chop, the right stance, the right color and the right wheel/tire combo.” Munz added, “This is what I would call a real Hot Rod with a lot of provenance.”
This is a hyperlink to the ad here on the HAMB. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1929-ford-tom-prufer-roadster.1333217/
Yes, sir, I copied that and pasted. It came out as the link, not the text and link. I should have clarified, but the basic info was there.
If Pete Eastwood didn’t build this Ch***is Tom Prufer sure paid him a lot of money for doing nothing this is the file on the car that Tom Prufer gave me
I was so proud when I finally talk Tom into selling me this car. I told him I was going to take it to Auto Arama in Detroit and I was wondering who did what on the car. And he gave me the list that you see that’s written on the grill shell that I had made and I sent him a picture of it, for Tom to say I really like that I thought it was amazing.
I'm old and I've killed a lot of brain cells, still, I really don't remember building this ch***is for Tom. Tom and I were very close, hell he left his last roadster to me in his will. I clearly remember the other cars I built for Tom, but not this one. I'd really like to see pictures of the underside of the car to ID my ch***is work.
Rest in Peace Tom. I missed this post when it came out. I happened to mention Tom to a friend of mine today and he told me he thought Tom had p***ed away. I met him by chance in the 90's. He was in my town doing some QC work for his employer at a company here. He called me blind out of the NSRA Fellow Pages looking for someone to meet up with and see some hot rods. We got together and became friends. I worked the gate at Fremont a couple years for him and went To Brizios shop once. with him. He was good company and always had a good tale to trll.
@Charlie Chops 1940 , when I used to travel for work, I often did the same thing. Met some really nice people all across the country.
Since my little tribute to Tom was bumped earlier today ... I guess I'll update it with the news that Oklahoma HAMBer @Keith Hill is the new caretaker of the "Cop Shop Coupe":
Celebrating the life and memory of Tom Prufer - The Definitive Hot Rodder . . . at the 2025 Gathering At The ROC:
Well it has been just over a year since I sold the Cop Shop Coupe back to the USA - Keith Hill. I just found my p***word for the HAMB so here goes. I really gotta thank Chuck & Marsha Rodgers for the amazing opportunity to own the Cop Shop Coupe. Usually these cars are reserved for very wealthy guys with extensive car collections and get slotted into the car collection and never really seen again. So for me to get this opportunity was pretty darn amazing. And I guess that was the problem. The car was too iconic and way too special and valuable to be enjoyed as the bad*** hot rod it is. My yellow roadster is inspired by many iconic cars and I built it to be a bad*** driver. The responsibility of owning the Cop Shop Coupe was truly next level. There is a whole new emotion of care required for such a car. I owned the car for nearly two years and most of that time the car was here in New Zealand. Upon realising how much the car owned me with its iconic status, I quickly came to the conclusion that the Cop Shop Coupe was better off in its homeland - the USA. Had I had alot of money I would have retained ownership and left it at SO-CAL Speed Shop storage and flown up to use it. Keith showed interest in the car and he owns one of the Prufer roadsters so it all seemed like the right home. Do I miss the car - YES but am I happy with the decision to send it home to the USA? YES. I am very proud that a normal average income guy like me could own that car and bring it out to GNRS for all to enjoy like we did. The bigger picture conclusion I come to though is when I think of the era the car was built. Guys like Prufer and P'wood and Pete & Jake and Bauder, Fat Jack, ****era etc it seems like they all just wanted to build cool as bad*** hot rods. I am glad that they did. The problem though is that over time those guys and their cars all reached icon status and deservedly too. But the icon status pushes cars like the Cop Shop Coupe from being a cool as bad*** hot rod for fun to a valuable icon with a great deal of responsibility to not F&%K it up. The value pushes the fun factor out for regular guys like me and then it becomes a stressful ordeal. We gotta keep it FUN - it was fun but bough it was a tad stressful too. RIP Tom Prufer - you bad*** cool cat of a hot rodder... P.S. - I hope to get to see the Cop Shop Coupe again and maybe go for a ride in it one day...
So glad to see you posting again Greg, thanks for the update, good on you for doing what is the right thing for you. Looking forward to more posts
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