History Spotted in my neighborhood: Andy Brizio-built "T"..???

I know this car is stretching the boundaries of the H.A.M.B. just a wee bit, so mods if you feel it's too far off topic feel free to do your duty.

This abbreviated "Andy's Instant T" tub showed up at our local show last Saturday where I saw the car and met the owner for the first time. Darrell, the owner, is a really nice guy who had bought the car (just as you see it) out of storage from a farmer who lives maybe 15 miles away from me! It still has an Arizona license plate on it. He had no idea of the car's history until after he bought it when the previous owner gave him the two framed sets of pix and the autograph. He doesn't have a deep background in rodding so he didn't know a whole lot about Andy Brizio until others (including me) gave him some background. He seemed very interested in what I told him and thinks the whole story behind the car is totally cool. He told me he has no plans to sell it, he's having way too much fun with a car he likes, hitting the road, and meeting people.

He was told that the car was built circa 1968 in California by Andy Brizio's shop, and it was the only "orange" car that was built there (per the message in the photo of Andy's autograph). He has no idea if it's ever been re-done, can't see any evidence of it ever having been repainted and neither could I. It's in beautiful condition. The frame is even chrome plated, which I'd guess would make it a pretty high-end build for the day! If indeed it has not been re-done, past caretakers have certainly maintained it flawlessly. Most of the main components of the car do appear original to me. I plan to contact the guy Darrell bought it from, but I suspect he told Darrell what he knew about the car at the time of sale. The framed autograph to "Rob" as seen in the photo is NOT the name of the fellow who sold Darrell the car - so it must have been a previous owner. And none of the photos in the frame are of this car, so there's not much history there either.

I'm sure there were a lot of these cars that came out of the Andy's Instant T shop, but it's still cool that this one wound up where it did and it would be fun to figure out how it got here. Collector car auction maybe? Where has it been since 1968? Anybody here have any ideas or remember the car?

Whatever info you can provide will definitely be p***ed along to Darrell. Thanks, and I anxiously await your responses!!

 

I like it except for that godawful steering wheel.

 

There could be changes made in other areas too (valve covers f'rinstance) but don't think the owner really has any plans to change anything right now. In spite of the fact that I don't have a stake in this at all, I'm thinking if he gets some real history on the car, maybe even some past photos, we might be able to get him to work on that part of it...

 

cool. 1968. needs a few "improvements" unimproved back to the old days.

 

Not saying it's the same car,but it sure has alot of the same features as ; the Bob Epperson "T" . That car was on the cover and featured in the July 1972 issue of Street Rod magazine. The man was a parttime Steve Archer employee from San Bruno California. If it is the same one, it would have had a number of the components redone or upgraded.

 

Paging Terri Brizio Hollenbeck (@Born a HotRodGal) ...

 

???????????????? for @bowie ... keen memory and/or magazine collection !

 

Bingo. Even same window decal. Someone did redo the steering and shocks.

 

No blower, different wheels, headlights, radiator shell, ford script in radiator etc

 

Damn, didn't see the sticker ... you're right. Same firewall, and driver's mirror too. As well, if you look at the interior pictures ... the right hand framed photo ... shows the same rear fender paint treatment. Although the headlight stuff already looks different at that time.

 

I remember these were "Andy's Instant T's". I believe you could order a kit, any components or Andy would build a complete car.

 

Single wiper vs dual wipers too, I think different car.

 

Chrome hairpins on cover car rear, and present car rear ... no Jag rear there or anywhere. Clip on chrome accessory wipers can't even be seen in the top up pic' ... probably took one or both off that day. Change all kind of bolt on stuff, six days 'til Sunday ... but interesting that the same windshield sticker rides thru 43 years of sunshine ... don'tcha think ? As the HAMB Turns is my favorite show.

 

man that's cool...

 

Agreed. In spades

 

Did anybody notice that all the pictures in the frames look to be a roadster with short pick up box?

 

Wow, thanks for that info Bowie! Like I said, there must have been a lot of those cars that went through the Instant T shop and it's hard for me to believe that only one orange one was ever done but you never know. And it wouldn't make sense that a car like that wouldn't have been changed or re-done to some degree over the course of 40 years but who knows? That's what I'd like to find out. It'll take some time and digging I'm sure.

Thanks Kid Campbell, this is perfect. I had a few issues of Street Rod magazine once upon a time, although not that one. I'm gonna hunt down a copy of that, just because I'm almost out of older rodding mags...

It would really be a long shot if this is indeed the same car but who knows?? Time and legwork will tell the tale but I'm looking forward to the dig. I should have taken time to look the car over more closely and take a few more pics, but I was "kinda" helping at the show and was keeping myself fairly well occupied. I know the owner is planning to hit a few more events with it yet this summer and I'm sure I'll get the chance to talk with him again and look the car over again. Thanks everyone for all the great info, thoughts and opinions.

We ain't done yet!

 

Kidcampbell: I was going by memory; then went out and dug out the magazine. Along with the above mentioned changes, they stuffed the whole frame in the chrome vat, put in a new black interior (orig was brown) ,and went with different headers and exhaust. I believe it's the same all chrome '55-'57 rear under her. Liked it the 1st time& still do!

 

Yes, I mentioned in my original post that the photos in the frame are NOT photos of that car. Might be that a previous owner or seller put them together to show the uninformed that Andy Brizio built some seriously nice cars. So no, the owner of the car has no photos of this car other than from the present-day. Any older pics or copies would be welcomed I'm sure.

 

You have a good memory!
More great info. If you feel so inclined, a scan of the article would be great to see. But I am going to track down a copy - the "auction site" has a couple listed and I know there are some magazine sellers on here as well. I'll scan and post if someone hasn't already done so by then.

 

Terrythek: I 'd love to scan an post the article ,alas I'm still a technological retard. If I can round up my son; I will try to git her done! The magizine does state it is an Archer body ,and that it was a Brizio supplied front end. The car was a homebuild,with the owner having even done his own upholstery job. I hope I 've helped lead the owner toward the right path; although rounding up four American "std" style wheels , could prove to be rough.

 

@TerrytheK -

If @bowie doesn't scan the article for you, I'm almost positive I have a copy of the July 1972 issue of "street ROD" magazine ... and can scan the article on "Bob Epperson's Homebuilt T" for you ... but please be patient, I have no idea what box of (unsorted) magazines it's in

Also ... there's a color photo of Archer's "Instant T Tub" in my Andy's 3rd Annual Picnic - July 1969 ... Pics!!! thread.

 

Thanks for the offers to scan, guys - no rush or big deal at all as I did locate a copy of the magazine. Got an email that says it's being shipped so I should have it soon (I hope) and can handle it on my end. And Hemi32, thanks also for the link to the Andy's Picnic thread. Hadn't seen that before. Very cool photos and cars - love that stuff!

 

Got the magazine over the weekend, and have scanned the article - four-pages with lots of great photos and info from the legendary James Handy. This is (was) a stellar car, no doubt. My gut feeling right now is that the Epperson car is NOT the same car as the one pictured in my original post. But I'll admit that I did not examine the present-day car that closely and took very few pics. Pretty sure I'll see the car again over Labor day weekend, so if I do I will make a point of getting detailed pics and doing some comparisons just for fun. And I'll keep trying to dig up whatever history I can on Darrell's car
So with that out of the way, here's the article on the Bob Epperson "T" touring I scanned from the July 1972 "Street Rod" Magazine. Enjoy!

 

Terry - I looked the car over at the Wednesday night cruise in Glenwood the other evening and talked with Darrel quite a while. I pointed out to him the various things that really should be returned to original and I think he started warming up to the idea. He showed me the upholstery where the sun hadn't faded it and its obvious the lighter areas were originally orange! - he has a guy working on re-dyeing it back to the original color. The steering wheel definitely needs to be fixed - I believe most of the original cars had "T" wheels. Valve covers are easy-peasy. The carb scoop could be the toughest item to change out - there used to be some similar ones available on the net but a quick search didn't turn up much. Speedway makes something similar for dual carbs that could maybe be modified. It wouldn't make sense that someone would have made the modifications necessary to the Epperson car for this to be that car though. One thing's for sure - the quality of Andy's product is obvious everywhere on the car!

 

Interesting. Ya know, I like just about every T Andy did. When I first fell in love with T Buckets, his always caught my. And there's one thing about this discovery that kinda stings a little bit. It's also one of the reasons a 16 year old me, liked his T's. The scoop. Who decided to slap that fake blower scoop on that car in place of Andy's?! At least they didn't put some fat *** tires on the rear.

Good luck on the quest for truth.

 

It is certainly an original car Fred -I'm 100 per cent sure of that. Luckily, the changes made over the years are fully reversible. One other thing I noticed on the car is the braketry on the firewall & radiator shell for a hood top. I'm sure this would have been just like the one on Steve Archer's personal car. This could explain the lack of an original Andy's scoop. It would probably be a better idea to replicate the hood.

 

One other thing I noticed that was probably not right - the original Ford Mustang type shifter was still there but the base-quadrant part had been replaced by a rubber boot ala Hurst. Easily fixed.

 

Thanks, John! Glad you revived this thread. Haven't been anywhere that Darrel has been since last year so haven't had the chance to look the car over more or even talk to him about it. You're right, I'm sure Darrel's car and the Epperson car are NOT the same. But I still would very much like to get the story behind this one and how it wound up here. He told me he bought it from a farmer who lives almost in my backyard so it shouldn't be that tough to get more info. IF I can just get my a$$ in gear.....

 

Cool find. Did you get a chance to talk to the farmer?
This roadster has the original style Sanderson headers, early hair pin radius rods that used a tube rather than the dogbone plate found on later instant T's. The rear cross member should be a big fat tube rather than a small squaire tube found on later instant T's. The gas tank is fibergl*** that fits between the frame rails flush on top with a indentation for the differential on the bottom. The upholstery looks like a Kenny Foster, seams as straight as an arrow and even, with no wrinkles. He later teamed up with his brother in-law Gary Carpenter in Sacramento CA and where arguably the best upholstery guys in the Bay Area. You can tell if it is as he used to build a wood wrap around shaped back for the seat backs and sides that are upholstered all the way to the floor and could be lifted out, they had screw pins that fit into holes drilled along the lip of the body (at least he was doing this in the late '70's), the black looks like Mercedes Benz holy leather if those are small holes in the material. The body and fenders are Steve Archer made and he didn't build a lot of phaeton bodies. Andy used to have C&M Plating Works on 6th in San Francisco do most of his chrome work and they had a tank that was large enough to dip a frame. The drive shaft was probably shortened by Bay Shore Trucks in South San Francisco. A Corvair steering box that is not reversed. The radiator if it has the filler vertical on the back side of the tank was built by Jerry and would fit a Mr. Roadster shell.