Hot Rods Larry Ferris tempted once Model A Magazine features?? AND WHERE IS IT TODAY???

It's called "innovation" or "setting a trend". Without someone standing back and just saying let's try this where would we be? The car and builder won top honors at a very prestigious show, and they deserve respect.

 

Very cool that you know this car from that time period. The Whiting HS shot has the car in maybe its most drivable look - chrome wheels, bumpers front and rear and the radiator/grille shell. The dual quads remained on the engine in one of the other looks, no bumpers, no grille shell and radir wheels.

Would be awesome to find it and undo all the later mods and return it to one of the early looks. That later picture is kind of hard to look at.

 

I know where a roached 59 is.
Some chicken wire, 1/4 steel rod and a pallet of bondo.
Drop it off at Lloyd’s car show, and we’ll poop a new one

 

Actually if Larry had the mind to the car with the radiator and custom A grille in it was very much drivable. It was tuned on his Bear chassis dyno. He was afraid of some jerk plowing into him more than anything. We have to find this car for Mark to restore to its former glory!

 

Someone needs to talk to Darrell Starbird. He may have a lead on where the car is or where it may have went. Like I said I think he was involved in the deal when it got sold.

 

BTT

 

That sure looks like the right car, I think you found it Mark.

 

They are building them. You just don't often see them here.

The self-appointed trad police hound anyone that is not building a car that is exactly what they like.

 

Then it would be largely indistinguishable from any other generic Model A.

 

I think it's awesome!

It's cars like this that inspired me to build cars!

 

I can remember my dad taking me and my brother to the auto show when I was a kid.

There were numerous very shiny cars there, but they were just shiny, and just cars.

Sure, they were interesting, in some way, but they were largely unmodified, except for wheels, and shiny bits.

Very rarely did one excite me as much as seeing something that looked like an exotic Matchbox or Hot Wheels car or truck that I played with at home.

Why? The human visual processing system evolved to spot difference, be that to find the best rock to chip into a spear head, something good to eat, or something to avoid being eaten by.

I have spent my lifetime building detail into things that people will notice. I realize that others have not, and don't find value in this. That is ok. You build the car that makes you happy.

I don't want to ever show up to a car show with the 40th car that is substantially identical to the 39-cars that showed up before me. If you're good with that, you do you.

When I have to build for others, I have to build what they want, but I am still going to put in as much detail as I can.

When I build for myself, I will only built what will be remembered, and I do not care if you like it, or not.

Whether you like it or not, you will have formed an opinion, and you will remember that!

For me, rods and customs have always been about going your own way, against the grain of commonality. Please don't ever turn it into a different grain of commonality to follow.

Even my daily, far OT for here is that way. It is a common modern 4-door sedan, which I have carefully crafted into a plausible pickup truck, in a fashion that resembles a vehicle previously made, by the same company, in a manner that makes it appear that it was factory-done.

I wasn't born to follow.

 

Mark, it would be an incredible find and you'd do the car justice!
That all chrome undercarriage with individual exhaust pipes is reminiscent of the Jackman brothers' 32 Cab. I'd restore it back to original, but would somehow try to mount (hide) a radiator/cooling system in the trunk, even if it involved a 30 gallon coolant reservoir and fans so I could cruise it at least a short distance.

Though someone mentioned Larry may have passed (?), I found a listing for a Larry Farris/Farris Automotive in Whiting, IN. Possibly a relative (Son or Nephew), but worth a shot.
I'm amazed at how many people (or their surviving relatives) know exactly where their decades old Rod or Custom sits collecting dust. Many times the individual or family member has done the leg work of tracking down the car in an effort to unsuccessfully buy back the car and know where it is and what condition it's in. Worth a phone call or two...

https://autorepairme.com/indiana/131705-larry-farris-farris-automotive-inc-whiting-in

 

If you ever decide to pull the trigger, let me know.

I worked for years at GM designing cooling systems to keep remote components under control. We can work it out.

 

Like I said Larry lost track of the car after it went to Texas. Yes, Farris automotive is still open and still on White Oak Ave. in Whiting. The last time I was in there all the trophy’s the car won were still on display too! But Larry is probably around 90 now if he’s still alive.

 

As a kid the car always looked friendly and was smiling at me! Some times I think it was waiting for it to talk to me. Ahhh, the 4 year old mind. Things were simpler back then.

 

A few weeks ago I had to go back home for a friends funeral. I went past Larry’s shop. It’s closed up. Went to his house and knocked on the door but no answer. Even his name and address plate on the house were gone only to be replaced by just the numbers.
Anyone else heard anything on the whereabouts of the car?

 

Found this the other day, Enjoy!

 

this looks like Bill Zahora's cabriolet. I remember his in black, also, but I can't remember if it went from black to pearl or pearl to black.
Curt R

 

I'm glad I reread this thread. I've been thinking of building a rear nerf bar for my Model A coupe like I did for my old roadster but I wasn't sure how it would look. It looks great on Larry's car. And the slightly bobbed rear fenders - oh yeah. Now where did I put that stick of 5/8' rod.....
Mark, did your friend ever finish the model he was building? Pix?

 

For some reason I searched this car and Larry farris today & wound up reading this whole post.
I've never seen it in person. But always liked it. I've been waiting patiently for it to resurface.
As for the Fantabula cabriolet mentioned above, it is now fully restored to bone stock. And is a blue ribbon winner at ford shows.
Who would ever guessed that would happen. Theres a youtube video of it as it looks today

 

^^^^^A lot of folks on here don't want the mold broken. When you limit the spice of creativity the world becomes very bland.

BTW, best starter pic ever from the mag cover on page 1 of this thread. If you were to draw that people would say it was too symmetrical and balanced. Kudos to the photog lying in the middle of the track.

 

Has anyone found the car yet? It was a beauty in person! I haven’t been the same or right since I first saw it as a little kid!

 

I came across this today looking for some old fuel injection info, nothing we really haven't seen before, just some different camera angles. Photos by Bob Hegee from an article in Popular Hot Rodding, Feb.1964

 

I currently own this car it has had quite the journey !! It's was a driven hotrod show car from the late 70s where it got a 32 grill shell . Then when through several owners my friend bought it in around 2000 . The panhandle bar broke and it rolled several times almost killing him . It then sat in a old shed till 2015 when he sold it me because he had cancer. I tore it apart and found out how bad it was !!! A different frame and so many hours later it was kinda straight enough to drive and I've been driving it since 2017 .