YEs, the Gold Brick and the Nugget are two different cars, they do have a lot of similarities. I didn't know who built the Brick, thanks. The Nugget was orig. bvuilt by Bill Hines and was restored by Larry Jordan.. We built the new frame for the car, In one of the pictures above, the golden Nugget is two cars to the right of Franks roadster....I think...yup pretty sure...but I thought a stock Deuce tank was 12 gallons too so don't hold me to it!haha
The same, Only diffrent ! They got mixed up a lot. The black Merc. in the top pic is Romango restored by Harry McAuliffe, just won 3 place at pebble beach.
So who built the Brick??? I always thought Hines built it, but I wasn't sure????? If Hines didn't build it WOW!! Talk about similar!! It's been a long time since I've seen the brick!!!
Ya'all got to listen to "HotRod1940" Ernie Szelesi of Lincoln Park Did in fact build "Gold Brick" Bill Hines built the "Nugget" for Marty Rivetts (sp?)
Larry Jordon(the guy who owns and restored the Golden Nugget)told me that the Goldbrick was built for Bob Larivee(Sr.I think)because he liked the other car so much.I found it(the Goldbrick)on the cover of a magazine and was going to bring it up to Larry and that was when I found out about it.
Thanks, Harms way, I think we might be from the same era. In your picture of the 53 Autorama, I think that the Golden Nugget is two cars back from Mack's T and it is painted black or a dark color, so it probably predates the Golden Brick. The 1940 Mercury, originally owned by Jerry Yatch, and built by Bill Hines, was my all time favorite. If that car was in a show, I was there to drool over it. I really think that Hank McAuliffe deserves a lot of credit for bringing this car back from the dead. From what I understand, it was in pretty bad shape. What a history that car has. Year after year, top custom at the Detroit Autorama. I sure would enjoy going through your s****book, for sure. For an ugly old town, Detroit holds a lot of cool memories for me. Thanks again.
I don't have anything to add, except that this is exactly the kind of thread I love this site for. Thanks guys, keep it up...
I'll second that motion...........ambman great history, great hot rod, .............stickylifter nice to here your making progress on the 51. ...................Harms Way sweet vintage photo's of the early years of Autorama and the cars!!
Funny thing, for years "Romango" bounced around this area a lot, finnally Don Brown got it and drove it a lot with a 351 Cleveland in it. It was really used up and in really bad shape when Harry got it. It turns out that at the time of the first autorama a guy name **** Reem owned the car, his buddy Frank Taubits ( with the chopped 36 coupe in the picture ) were best friends, they belonged to the "Dearborn Custom Auto Club" and the cars were in the same corner at the show. they also drove the two customs to California and back in 1954. Frank Mack was in our club and brought his car down to our display for the 40th anniversary of our club in 1991, here he is with the "Best of Show" and "Best engineered" trophys from the First Autorama,..... Sorry if I hijached this thread,.........
I don't know if this 50s Flint Michigan hot rod ever made it to Autorama but even it didn't it's still a cool ride.
Thanks HW for the memories-saw your post on Frank's house on 8 Mile the other day-haven't thought of that in years-my grandfather was Barney Pollard the guy with probably a 1000 cars in the late fifties and I could always see a bunch of nice antiques but Frank did my dad's 36 Cord in the mid to late fifties and I used to spend a lot of time just looking at this car (first hot rod I ever saw up close) and others when I would go with my dad to check on Frank's progress on the Cord. Have some slides of the Cord he did-won a bunch of awards. Frank used to call me the "questionaire" because I always was asking him questions. The wreck in your other post reminded me of a wreck he did and when I asked him what it was he told me an "eversoran" and he told me some story and would laugh. Last time I saw him was at Herb Brown's shop in the late 70s and we still had some laughs. Good guy-good memories. Jim
jimdillon, I haven't heard of Barney Pollard in years, but what a story that was. I remember that he stored cars hanging up in huge buildings like slabs of meat. Fought the government because they wanted him to destroy them all of them for the metal during world war 2. He had many cars that were the only survivors of early makes. You have quite a heritage. I hope that your family has recorded some of that history in some way. I wonder what happened to all those cars. I remember that there was a huge auction. Thanks
A friend of mine owned a 34 Ford Vicky that was also built by Ernie Szelesi in the early 50's. It was chopped,channeled and sectioned and the metal work was amazing,all hammer welded and very little lead. It also had 40 Chevy headlights moulded to the front fenders. He bought it in 1971 and sold it in the late 90's,it is supposed to be in the San Diego area now.......
I have a bunch of stuff on him including some photos. Towards the end I handled much of his affairs ( I am a recovering attorney-don't practice anymore because of all the BS). When if came time to ***le the cars I told the Secrertary of State to come look at 60 cars that I had to ***le for an auction-they came down and I showed them 700+ that needed ***les - they didn't know what to say- I got a special bill p***ed thru the legislature to do it-still have all the forms- that place was my playground- we had one building with about 600 cars on their bumpers-one time they started to fall and my grandfather told me to stand them back up with a come-along- here I am a young kid standing on radiators pulling them back up- crazy stuff- he was a real character-talked cars with him up until the day before he died- he was really sick but I got him talking about Pierce 12s and he seemed to want to talk about it. He gave me a car sickness that I have never been able to shake-thank God it has always been fun.
That car is still around, it was for sale in '03 at Frankenmuth.. I noticed in your photo how they split the center tubes to get the eight out the back CC
Well I'm listening,,to some great stories.... Larry is a friend of my Dad's and it was awsome having the chance to work on the Nuggets revival, I was just mistaken... I wish my Dad could type 'cause this stuff is right up his ally (mine too, I just don't know all the names and have the stories he has) If he gives me anything to add, I'll add it, but for now I think I'll just sit back and listen add some more knowledge to the memory bank HRD edit: I will add these pictures of the golden nugget before its restoration if'n ya like?
If it is the car that I picture in my mind, it was gorgeous. The lowness and the headlights really were ahead of it's time and really a great looking car. Hope that someone can come up with pictures. As I typed this, someone came up with pictures. That is it, but I remember it with the wheels tucked in with older style tires and ww's
I have lots of pictures of it but I have to dig them out and scan them. When he bought it it had a 53 Olds drivetrain that was later switched to a small block ford. He used to paint it about every 2-3 years and I think I helped strip it about 6 times (Aircraft stripper,no wimpy media blasting back then). It was black a few times,red,candy black cherry a couple of times,charcoal gray. when he sold it it was black with a gray Benway interior. I will dig the pictures out...
That looks like Frank Schrader's shop,.... which would fit because that is the last place I seen it. the car is very cool and Frank has some great memories of that 3 Window.
Wow !, Frank use to talk about Barney a lot, Frank actually restored several car's for your Grandfather. Frank was a great guy and a good friend with a lot of "one liners" , jokes and great stories. I truly miss him and his quick whit. One time when he knew I was flat broke he offered me a great deal on his 1902 Covert, When I said you know I don't have any money now, He laughted and said "you remind me of the poor snake,.......... He didn't have a pit to hiss in" Frank was one of Hot Rodding's true unique people and anyone that had knowen him will atest to that.
thats the truth-I was a young kid but I wanted him to take me for a ride in the "eversoran"=can't remember too much about the car other than it was "cool"-he told me that he couldn't take it out because if he went over a RR track it would turn back into a pretzel (since it was an old wreck)- I spent a lot of time looking over the hot rods etc while my dad and him talked-my love of hotrods really started with his stuff-never forget it. Jim
The Jalopy Journal
