I was browsing the "one that got away" thread on the H.A.M.B. a few weeks ago and stumbled upon a post by Tom Davidson featuring shots of this killer Corvette. I've been obsessed with the car ever since. Tom only owned the car for a year and the p... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Go Speed Racer Go! That tangerine colored profile shot speaks directly to my inner toddler....Just wanna do some teething on it's candy colored deliciousness like a first hot wheels car. Asymmetric styling......Each side is good in itself, but I like cars that chew evenly on both sides.
I'm not a fan of the asymmetrical thing, but it does have a cool look! practically any non stock vette is way cooler than a restored one
The car was purchased by Ron Ortner, a show promoter from Huthinson, Kansas in the late 60's. He was friends with Darryl Starbird and in 1966 he took the car to Darryl's shop (where I worked at the time) and Darryl painted the car candy blue. There are a couple of shots on the net of the car just painted. I'll try to locate them. The car was later sold and repaint hugger orange. I don't remember the owner but the car sat in my back yard on a trailer for over a year in Wichita. I loved that car. Ron Ortner p***ed away a few years ago. Carl
Where does it show as asymetrical? Isn't that just camera angle? Or did I overlook the obvious again.........
practically any non stock vette is way cooler than a restored one[/quote] and so are thier owners. ray's corvette is the kind of car that would leave corvette purists gasping for air the first time they saw it! i applaud anybody that takes a perfectly good corvette and customizes it to the way they like it. and i'm not talking about the gold chainer owners who catalog accessorize, i'm talking radiused wheel wells and tunnel rams or whatever else blows your hair back! these are the cool vettes!
I'll take any or either from 56-67...! Hell I just pulled this out of a Barn 2 weeks ago and I'm just as excited about this car as I would if I'd found an old drag or custom car! 63 Corvettes were pure *** in stock form... and I had my share of Race Vettes but it's nice to see an "Unmolested" stocker from time to time! This car IS an all original Fuelie 4 speed with 40,000 miles on it!!!!! You should see the NOS set of 2-bar knock-off wheels.. (in boxes no less!)!
I'll take any or either from 56-67...! Hell I just pulled this out of a Barn 2 weeks ago and I'm just as excited about this car as I would if I'd found an old drag or custom car! 63 Corvettes were pure *** in stock form... and I had my share of Race Vettes but it's nice to see an "Unmolested" stocker from time to time! This car IS an all original Fuelie 4 speed with 40,000 miles on it!!!!! You should see the NOS set of 2-bar knock-off wheels.. (in boxes no less!)![/QUOTE] so when are you taking me for a ride?
Wow, just wow! Kind of a shame that that coupe wasn't properly abused throughout it's life, but I guess it's nice.
I remember when Ray died: http://www.legacy.com/kansascity/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=15451192 Local boy... when he got his first driver's license, he and a friend switched places and took each other's tests, then swapped paperwork just before they got their pictures taken for them. I got to hear stories from a dude in Omaha that used to run with him about them turning their lights off and bumping their friend's cars at night after sneaking up on 'em. LOL! I remember well the commercials for his car show when I was a kid... "WHEELS, WHEELS, WHEELS!!!! See Adam West and the Bat Mobile! Free T-Shirts for the first 500 kids! This weekend, the Ray Farhner Hot Rod/Custom Car Show! See hot rods, customs, choppers and more! Be there!" ~Jason
I love that car, too. I had the pleasure (?) of working with Ray a few times on some art work. I spent a lot of time hanging out in his Raytown, MO shop. He had quite a few pictures of that car (as well as his other creations) on the wall behind his desk. I asked him about it once. He just filled his coffee cup with booze, grunted and said "Let's talk about the art you're doing for me". He was a strange cuss, but kind of endearing at the same time. I got the impression he was sad that he sold the Corvette. I wish I could find photos of some of the cars he had around the shop at the time. The X-Ray, some weird T with money all over it, a few odd ball projects and a weird coach (somewhat like the Boot Hill Express meets Roth's Druid Princess) were all there in his shop when I was hanging out, but it seems that he's been forgotten on the 'net. I can't find photos of his stuff anywhere. Anyone know of a site dedicated to his work?
At the end of the commercials, you'd always hear Ray's gravelly voice saying "It's a Custom Autorama Production!!" I remember those well.
Other than this: http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookID=4999357383736 And a few book mentions, there's really not a lot out there. Whoever has the Boot Hill Express should totally so a site on it... one with LOTS of close-ups. That thing rocked! ~Jason
You should see the NOS set of 2-bar knock-off wheels.. (in boxes no less!)![/quote] Any chance seeing of pictures of the Knock Offs and boxes?
Sorry to hear of Ron's p***ing. I bought the car from him, spring of '71 as I recall.. It was just an impulse purchase for me because he wanted only $1000 and I couldn't p*** it that up. That was a good deal even then. The problem was that the original ***ymetric hood was missing and the frame had been butchered by someone trying to install a hemi, according to Ron. After a year or so I realized that I didn't want to spend the money or effort it would take to get it road worthy and sold it to Ray Boyles just to get my money out of it. He operated a Corvette repair/sales company in Raytown, Mo. (where Boyles, Farhner and I all lived at that time). Whoever he sold it to put it on a tube ch***is (chomed along with everything else) and showed it propped up with the wheels off and all, a full bore points-winning ultimate showcar. Somehow it wound up as the property of Robert Peterson and the Museum shows it in its full showcar regalia as the definitive example of a car of that era. I recently saw a photo of it in the ba*****t there, and with the hood closed you can see that the ***ymetric peak on the replacement hood doesn't slope properly, but lays flat. As I mentioned in Ryan's original article, I would love to see it restored to one of Ray's earlier versions. As a nineteen year old, I hung out at Ray's shop all the time and contributed ideas to the styling when he was building it. He let me spray the first paintjob, which was a light pearl blue (lead photo), with darkening blends on the lower areas, under the raised fender-top peaks and then lighter pearl highlights on the upper portions, accenting the shape of the car. It looked like one color but not always. Ray sprayed the Candy Red version then I sprayed the weird green-gold candy fade later. All of this happened 5-6 years before i actually oned it. Anyone who knew Ray will testify as to how unique and charismatic the old paratrooper was. He also promoted shows from Memphis to Seattle and that's where most folks know him from. He mentored a young Doug Thompson in his old shop and they built Ray's Eclipse Showcar '32 RPU together, with Doug supplying the bulk of the styling ideas. It won the national Sweepstake Award at the NHRA show in Detroit in '60. The prize was a new Ford Convertible, to my knowledge the biggest prize ever given to a car for winning just one show. The Eclipse is now a part of the Winnemucca collection and is perfectly restored. The Corvette was finished in '63 and featured in Rod & Custom shortly after, its only magazine coverage. Surely, someone here would have that issue. I was present for Grier Lowry's photo shoot for the article, which was located, believe it or not, in the middle of I-70 in Kansas City, near where the Royals Stadium is now. That section of I-70 was nearly finished at that time, paved and all, but not yet opened to traffic, so we positioned it right in the middle of an empty freeway with an empty onramp looming overhead. It was a pretty dramatic location, as I recall.
Thanks for some great info. I worked for Starbird in the 60's and remember all the activity in KC at that time with Doug, Ray and others. I believe Ron had someone, possibly in Hutchinson, install the 392 Hemi in the car as it was in there when it came to Darryl's for refurbishment and paint. Darryl also built a custom interior for the car and I don't remember who trimmed it out. It was done in diamond tuck pearl white. Ron showed the car for a time and then sold it. I don't remember who bought it but I stored it for them for quite a while in my back yard. When they came and got it I never saw it again until it showed up at Petersen Museum. I don't even know if it still has the hemi in it. It was one of the most awsome cars I had seen in my young life and I still have quite a soft spot for it. And thanks Ryan for this thread... great memories.
It had no engine when I got it from Ron. My impression was that the plan was to install a hemi, but if so, the hemi must have come and went by the time I got it.
I beleive this is Farhner unloading his newest creation at that time a 32 pu then called the blue angel. I shot the pic around 1960 in Tulsa.
Thanks for the old pic. That's actually Ray's brother John. It was called the Blue Angel for a short time.
I hope the Rodder's Journal does a feature on Ray the way they just did Dan Woods. I think he is way overlooked as a builder. I am kind of partial to his style and the fact that he was from the midwest, which adds to the fact that he never seemed to get a whole lot of credit the way the west coast guys did....
The Jalopy Journal
