vintagehotrods

I have been a gearhead since I was a little kid and I'm 72 now. I grew up on a farm so I was driving as soon as I could reach the pedals on anything with a motor, starting with a 1946 Farmall H tractor. My first car in 1967 was my brother's old '51 Ford with a flathead that I put dual exhaust, glasspacks and a two deuce Fenton manifold on, then a '57 Chevy with a Crane Cam and two fours that I worked on every minute and spent every penny I had on it. I collected a lot of tickets street racing it until I almost lost my driver's license in 1969, since the cops took such a liking to the '57, I traded it for a '51 Chevy with a straight axle and a tilt front end. The South Dakota Highway Patrol finally made me park it because it wouldn't pass SD Safety Inspection (in their opinion). Then I got my first motorcycle, a Honda SL125 in '71 and promptly bashed in an old lady's right rear quarter panel when she turned left in front of me, which landed me in the hospital with three broken vertebrae in my back that gave me enough money to build a basket case '50 Panhead chopper (seeing Easy Rider in '69 was my inspiration). That was fun until I got drafted into the Army in 1972 and spent the next two years on 175 mm guns in the 6th Battalion 10th Field Artillery VII Corps in Bamberg, Germany. My girlfriend, Jan came over and we got married over there and spent our free time seeing as much of Europe as we could on Army pay in a Fiat 600. We are still married 51 years later and she is into the cars almost as much as I am, although she now says I'm "excessive", but then I've always have been that way. After getting out of the service in 1974, I started working in motorcycle shops in 1975, building and repairing bikes and selling parts. In '75 got hooked on flat track racing on indoors, short tracks, half-miles on a Bultaco Astro and eventually scrambles and motocross until I became a dealer in 1980 for Maico Motocross Racing motorcycles until their demise in 1984. I ended up trail riding (with my friends it was more like trail racing) after that. I ended up racing modified Honda 200X and 250R three wheelers for in the 80's in local and national events. Eventually I wised up before I hurt myself and got back into hot rods in '95. I've been totally obsessed ever since. My first car then was a '57 Nomad (which I sold after moving to Prescott), then a Gibbon bodied '32 Roadster hiboy roadster that I finished in 2000 and put over 55,000 miles on it (which has also been sold). Deuce fever took hold really bad and I now have eleven old cars with seven of them steel Deuce's: a restorod 3W, an original gennie 5W with 55K, a hot rod 5W with a tunnel rammed SBC 355, Muncie 4 speed (apart for paint now), my Deuce pickup with a SBC 350/Turbo 350, a Brookville Roadster project, a chopped Cabriolet project (see the Tree Car post), a Fordor with a SBC 350/200R4. I also have a sweet old gennie '34 3W driver, an original '35 Ford Woodie, a restored '37 Ford Cabriolet, a '40 Ford Coupe and one Chevy, a '56 Handyman two door wagon. Some drive, some just run, most are projects, and all need work!! Anyway that's my life!

In late 2010 we sold our home in Renner, South Dakota and moved to beautiful Prescott, Arizona for the great climate and a location closer to all the fun stuff I like to do. We built a new home and my workshop/garage. We finally finished moving the rest of my collection of stuff down here with a nine car hauler and eight loads with my truck and enclosed 24' trailer. My garage is already too small but life is good!