Projects A late introduction-Junior Conway coupe build

We've been here before but, this feels so much better.

 

After all the dust that's been raised over the place the car was in I have to make a confession. I'd appreciate it if we could keep it between ourselves. If I would have accepted Stardirds offer to be in his show I would have discovered after I arrived that I don't have a proper display for this car. I could have come up with one for Dallas in a morning after looking at what was there. But not Starbirds. You could've told me this.

Knowing that I have to put together a display means that it really has to continue the theme of authenticity that this car and time represents. Jr. at Barris Kustom in the late 50's. That uncompromising tyrant raises its head once again. One type of display could be a look at the front of the shop and parking area. The car would look like its parked and Jr. has come to work. This would have a lot of impact if it was done in a way that looked 'authentic. Blow up pic, air brushed rendition etc.. The big downside is it would have to be a corner display to work right. The ability to get a good look at the car would be severely diminished.

Another idea would be a simulated working shop with the car in the center. There are a lot of original pics of the shop (inside and out) floating around the internet. I could do a display with pics of the shop around the perimeter of a 20X20 display that would have period tools scattered around the car. I need to find out about copyright stuff. I suspect that it’s doable.

What do you guys think?

 

Jer,

You need to step back. Take a breath. You are done!!! I don't know what you need to calm your nerves but you are off the chart man.

Do the following:
--Take a shower
--Nice clean clothes
--Grab keys to Jr's car
--Get in said car
--Back car out of garage(open up door first)
--Drive it with the windows down


You are going to drive yourself nuts man. Stop before you get kooky!

 

X2 Jer.....but I guess that's easy to say if from day one our build was always going to be a driver...
Randy

 

Jer, I have read and re-read this thread and have to say that your stamina and focus is incredible. The car looks fantastic and is a wonderful tribute to a young man and his custom automobile. If you still intend to sell the car, wouldn't a hard bound book about Jr., his car(with the old pictures) and your story and build with the new pictures be a great way to permanently document the journey of this automobile and you and your sons and everyone who helped y'all along the way? It seems that you ended up somewhere that you didn't expect to with all of the attention the car is receiving, almost like you found the original and restored it as the current caretaker of the car. I think it would be an incredible tribute to you and your sons' efforts and I for one would love to have a copy of such a book. There are several people on this board who have built some incredible vehicles and yours is at the top of that list. Sorry for the long post, but this story deserves to be around for a long time.

Just an admirer of old cars and customs and the people who build them.

 

We've made this recreation of Jr's cpe as authentic as possible. We can't take this car out of its original environment (new, smooth, L.A. streets and driveways), put it in Fort Worth and jump in it and cruise. It would be in a situation were it would be damaged immediately. Like in L.A. it's probably illegal at the height it's at now. Could we raise it up to where it would be practical and safe? Sure, but it no longer is Jr's car. So you see the dilemma that I find myself in. My neighborhood has new asphalt streets. I can jump in it and go anytime I want to. I like it. It feels good.

I've registered the car for the Lone Star Round up. I can't just gas the car up and head for Austin. It won't work that way. I have to trailer down to where it's practical to drive into the Roundup area. What a PITA. But I knew this when I signed on to this deal. I have asked for some guidance from the Round Up crew but I've not heard any thing as of yet. I'm learning that if things aintt right, I aint goin'.

I do appreciate the concerns for my (mental?) health. But lets keep things in perspective. This display part aint no big deal. It's just another part of this deal.

Thanks Truk for the intriguing proposition. It will have to percolate awhile. This has morphed (once again) into the care and feeding of the Jr. Conway classic custom era coupe. Having this thing underfoot, in the garage and the occasional trip around the block is a bit much. I'll talk about this a little later.

Now, how about that display? Can you see it?

 

I think you are on the right track with the shop front, if it can be done. That would lend a tremendous amount of personalization towards Jr. when he originally built the car. If you could get a couple of other vehicles that might have been parked there as well to be part of the diorama, it would make an incredible display. Again, your building of this car seems to have grown much bigger and apparently people are really intrigued by your efforts as well as Jr. and his car. A larger than life display/tribute is warranted in this particular case in my opinion. Just the opinion of someone who is watching from the sidelines. Congratulations again on an incredible build.

 

Makes sense to me...

 

I vote for the shop front. Looking at Piero's cool photo, it seems to me that it does not have to be in a corner. Maybe just the end of the building, like the photo?

Mighty cool, Jerry . . . the KI feature, the Santa Maria poster, all the GNRS buzz. Got yourself a star! Kudos.

 

Hey, great news, Piero tells me that he's spoken to George. He (Geo.) thinks it's a great idea. I need to get some kind of a statement from somebody at Barris about this. This protects me if something happens to somebody. You now, accident, health crisis (or worse). Just so that whoever might be left can't say, I don't remember that. I need to start the conversation with my graphics guy.


Oh by the way, I've been asked for my autograph three times now. I heard some where that George on occasion gets $20.00 for his. I'm thinking $1.00 on mine to start out. My wife says .50 (she knows too much).

 

And you only thought you were finished. It looks like only the beginning. After a project like this, your autograph should be worth as much as anybody's. Anyone can build a fresh car, but I think it takes real talent and stamina to duplicate a car exactly. Congratulations again and I will be looking for that book.

 

Truk, you are a very dangerous man. I guess I've got to be more careful with my sense of humor.

 

Sorry about that Jer. It's just that there are so many talented folks here that deserve the congratulations and credit for the work they do. Plus, I am partial to the shoebox Fords. All of the famous guys started out as someone who wanted to build a car, no different than anyone else. Oh, wait a minute, you are one of the famous guys now. By the way, what are you going to build next? Maybe I will get to see y'all in person one day. The panhandle of Florida isn't that far from DFW. Maybe we can get to a show that you will be attending one day.

 

I hate to keep repeating this, but I'm as amazed as everyone else how this has turned out. Never in my wildest imagination could I have envisioned what's happened with this build. Recreating Jr's car is one thing, being able to possess it is quite another. I want to believe that this car is an example of what one would occasionally see (back in the day) driving the streets of so cal. Especially in the Barris Kustom shop neighborhood. I want to think that there were a lot of cars that had colors (exterior/interior) that worked like this. Frankly, after doing a fairly diligent search I haven't found that many.

My drive to recapture all those old feelings received almost immediate gratification. They all came flooding back, stronger than ever. As I write this I'm reminded of the time when I had to sit myself down and ask, what is it going to take to fix this life long all consuming problem once and for all? We agreed that doing this car would probably be the answer. This was back in the 80's. I couldn't have been more wrong. This is just as powerful, if not more so than it ever was. This didn't fix; anything. There were many times when I had to acknowledge (self talk) all the passion and power and sense of privilege that was present during this build.

Now that it's finished I'm experiencing something completely new and different. Now I'm telling myself this is what it must have felt like owning/driving this car. I have to ask Jr about this. Was he really aware of all this? Was this type of awareness commonplace amongst his peers? Did these guys know that they were famous or near famous? Probably not. They were on their way (hadn't arrived yet) there at the time. I know in the 88' Street Rodder interview he talks about the feeling that you still get when you see these cars.

Hey! I just realized that Jr's hood scoops were in the Kopper Kart hood too.

 

Those are some great pictures and hopefully you can get a display built that you like. If it didn't fix anything, does that mean you are going to build another car? I always had a thing for the Dream Truck and the Ala Kart myself. These vehicles possess some strong power. Can't wait to see what the next chapter brings you.

 

I love the pic of Jr's car and Andy Southards' 58.You can see the Cali and NY plates

 

Jer,
I just got back from California as we had our son's 21st birthday at the NHRA museum. I talked to Hersh (my father-in-law) about it. He is as excited about the car as you are. He was very impressed with it. That says a lot when he is impressed. I think he was very honored by it as well. He showed me some of the pictures of the build the last time we were down. You did an awesome job! I wish we could have made it down for the show! Congrats and drive that thing and enjoy it!!!

 

Wow. There you go. This story just keeps getting better.

 

Hey Wolfie, thanks for checkin in. I haven't talked to Jr. since the GNRS. I'm putting together a list of questions for him to answer. I'm very glad to hear that he's pumped about this car. He deserves anything and everything good that comes his way.

He's so hard to nail down that I thought I might have to have him arrested to make sure that he showed up at the car location. Dick Jackson was my ally in communication with him. Little did I know that he had his posse (that made contact with me while Jr. was signing autographs) as well as his wife and son and daughter in-law poised to come over with him. My wife encouraged Sharon (his wife) to get in the other side and slide over like she used to in that car. He apologized that his daughter from Utah couldn't make it. They couldn't have been more gracious and caring. They spent a long time there. It couldn't have turned out better.

In my many conversations with him he would mention from time to time the mustang that he was doing for his grandson. This must be your son right? I m saying this on here because I think everyone would like to hear anything about Junior the person. Did that car get finished? If yes would you by chance have some pics of your son (grandson) and the car? One might say imagine having a House of Color car at a young age. But it did kinda happen before (in the 50s) didn't it?

 

He did finish it. We had his surprise birthday party at the NHRA Museum last Saturday for him. About 120 people showed up. What was nice was some of Jr.'s friends showed up. George Barris (he's know Mike since he was little-hell he's know Jill since she was little!), Jesse Lopez, Dick Jackson, Dean Jefferies, Joe Perez (he did the interior of the 'stang) Reed Jensen, Pat Ganahl, Dennis Rickles, and a few others. What a great present for a 21 year old!!! Fortunately my son appreciates things like that. Hersh is a great guy. Very approachable. Couldn't ask for a nicer family for inlaws!!!

He gave me a couple of the post cards of you car. It turned out bitchin'!!!!

Here's a few of the Mustang, a before and a some afters. It was Jill's when she was 16 so between Jill, Hersh, and Mike, it'll be a three generation driver.

Sorry for the large pictures, i'm kind of a posting tard!

 

Some more.

 

Ain't it the truth? Very nice Mustang too.

 

Boy, I mean!! The cool meter is redlining.

 

Next to the Bullit Mustang that is the baddest Mustang I have ever seen.

 

LMAO...If you make a "Flat Jr" you may have to make two as my wife would want one for our house so she can talk to her dad!!!
We can put it next to our wall of fame.

 

We got the ok from George. Thanks Piero for the help.. I think we're going to do a "flat "Jr.

 

No problem Jerry... glad to be of service!

 

Well, they say first the book then the movie. I want to do it backwards.

I would like to do a video of this car. Recreating what it was like back in the day, driving/cruising this car. It would have to have period (perfect) music playing in the background. Coming from the radio, not some remote source. The thing that bugs me now is that these cars all have non period perfect drivers and passengers. You never saw ;geezers driving these cars. Uh uh, no way no how. To accurately recreate the period you have to have teenagers in this car, doing the things that teenagers (BACK THEN) did. After seeing the pic of Jr's 16 y.o. grandson, he would have been perfect. Jr told me that he was/is pretty straight laced. When the interior was done he had the back seat ashtrays removed. This is a no smoker.

We did see video screens being used in some of the car displays and booths. I could start out with a narrative that highlighted the details of the car from a stocker. As well as why some things ended up as they did that represent this particular period of time in so cal.. Kind of a walk around. We could jump in the car and do a simulated cruise. This could be part of the display. I am going to have to start auditions/tryouts for a Jr look-alike? Anybody want in on this action?

Stay tuned.

 

I'm learning that the cruise scienario with the guys would'nt really be correct. Jr learned early on that the more people in the car the more you were restricted by how low the car was. The more correct look would be the future mr./mrs Jr Conway. He would pick her up and take her to school and go to work. He would be a grad.. He is two years older than Sharon his wife..

 

That would make for a great movie display. A guy, his gal and his car. Good luck with that. Using Jr.'s grandson would be a cool family tie in too. Can't wait to see it.