History The last Hot Rod, A tribute to Dad

I posted a few pictures of Dad's 32' Roadster in a thread the other day and someone said that they would like to know a little more about him and the 32'.
Careful what you ask for!
I'll start with the Deuce. This is the last Hot Rod that my Dad finished for himself. There were others that he built for other people after this and he was working on one that he had just purchased a few months before he p***ed away. My wife and I took the Deuce out for this photo shoot one beautiful Sunday evening this past spring.

 

I saw your post on the roadster thread and like many others wanted to know more. That's a sweet Deuce roadster, I ***ume you are now the caretaker which your Dad would be happy to know that it's being used and looked after.

 

Dad went all out traditional on this one. He used a military block with Sharp heads and an Edmunds Custom intake and it has an old Mercury overdrive added to the back. Here are a few more pictures of the car showing other details. It's mostly Brookville steel. I saw the car he started with and there weren't many parts that were salvageable.

 

For now the Roadster is in my garage. A member here is going to be the proud new owner here before long. I'm muddling through the Probate process. I can't afford to buy my sister out on this one, so it is being sold. I will however get the 32 3 window the he had just recently purchased.

 

Spectacular car, thanks for sharing the photos and story.

 

Dad started building Hot Rods around 1950. He said he was 15 when he bought this car, his first. He bought it wrecked. I believe this was his calling.

 

Great story and pics!!!! Love to see the three window and progress pics along the way. thanks for including us in your adventure. Tim

 

Thanks for the info and pics zombiecat. Shame that the roadster has to go down the road as it is an exceptional car. A 32-3 window is poor compensation LOL but as Tim says keep us posted with progress on that one.

 

Thanks guys. I'm working my way to the 3 window.

 

When my Dad was younger, he was born in 1933, he would greet a certain store keeper with, "Hi, Charlie" and the store keeper would return with, "Hi, Bergen". Well, the old timers here will probably know where this came from. For the younger folks, Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen were famous on radio and TV back when Dad was a kid. Charlie being a puppet and Bergen was the ventriloquist. So from that point on, Dad was know as "Bergen". Most people didn't even know his real name.


We found this picture while going through Dad's belongings. It was in with a bunch of other drawings from when he was in Boot Camp. The 333 on the plate would be for his birthday, March of 33. After a stint in the Air Force he came back home and worked as a mechanic and bodyman for several years before he started his own business. This is one of his first Hot Rods after coming home.I was a year old then. His car building career really took off after he started his own business.

 

Great story! Thanks for sharing.


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I'm in for the ride, love these history lessons....

 

I love the roadster it is very much like the one I built and own. Your Dad sounds like a great guy. Thanks so much for posting. Almost forgot what size tires are on the roadster? Thanks Again.

 

Thanks for sharing this with us.

 

That's a great car but I must say that it makes me more than a little sad that you cannot afford to buy out your sister.

 

fantastic roadster & back story

 

I love this picture of your dad's roadster.

 

thank you ........

 

Thanks for the great story and pics. Four star rating

 

Killer story and awesome you have pics to back it


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This thread makes me happy!
Thanks for sharing the story with us.

 

A beautiful car and a wonderful story. You were blessed to have a great rodder for a father. Thank you for sharing this.

 

6.00 - 16 Deluxe Firestones in the front and 7.50 - 16s in the rear.

 

I'm not too sad. Dad was planning on selling it to help fund the 32 3 window that he had just bought. He had the roadster finished for about 3 years now and he was ready for the next challenge. That's how I'm looking at it. And besides, it going to a very good friend of his, who is also a member here.

 

I had talked to dad last winter about getting a silhouette picture of him standing next to the car. It never happened. This was the best I could do. I like it very much also. My wife and I are amatuer photographers. I love taking car related pictures.

 

Love that car....Thanks for posting!!

 

Dad started building a following of car buddies at an early age. There were all sorts of stories of cars lining the streets by my grandparents house when he was a teenager. Here are a few pictures that I have handy. I have tons of pictures that I haven't had time to scan into my computer yet. I'm going to be working on getting some more done soon. I found so many things while going through his house and shop that it's hard to comprehend. Tons of neat stuff!!!


It's going to start getting real interesting. I just have to find a few more cool pictures. I'll try to keep this in chronological order as best I can.

 

In the late 50's through the early 60's dads life started changing. I was born in 1957 and my sister was born in 1960. Kids change your life! I know mine changed my life. One thing that never changed in his life was his love of cars. He was always wheeling and dealing. He'd buy a car that needed a little work, fix it up and either sell it or trade up. He had some nice cars along the way. These are some of the cars he had in the late 50's.

Then in late 59' he bought a 57' Corvette that was not running. He found some guys who had a Pontiac 389 that had been Built for their race car but they were never successful in getting it tuned properly and eventually sold it to him. He and one of his car buddies beefed up the frame of the Corvette and crammed the 389 in it. Once in the car they worked on getting it tuned. He said that he found a vacuum leak in the manifold and once fixed the engine turned into a beast. He told me that that was the fastest car he had ever owned. There are still guys around that get a smile on their faces when you bring that car up in conversation. There are also lots of stories about it. Most people agree that it was the fastest car in the area for several years.

Notice in this picture, I'm trying to keep in stride with dad. I learned later in life that that was something that was extremely difficult if not impossible.

 

Back in this period of time dad met and became very good friends with another car guy named Clark Rader. At the time Clark was working at a wildlife area near Coshocton and Dad's cars caught his attention. They were both into the drag race scene and did a lot of street racing. Clark's dad didn't approve and decided to build a Drag Strip so the kids would have a safe place to race. So he built National Trail Raceway. Clark gave dad a V.I.P. p*** every year. I used to love going there as a youngster. It was awesome. Here's a picture of Clark and dad many years later at a car show.

Here is something else you don't see very often. Unused but a little dirty. I found this in dad's stuff.

 

I am totally groovin' on the old photo's of your dad...very cool.... I appreciate you taking the time to share with us about your father... and his fine looking cars!....you can sure tell he loved what he was doing!!!