History Uncertain T has been found!

Just noticed the blue tape, hope it kept the mice out of the engine, somebody was thinking. If George Barris got upset enough to slap someone over loosing what did the Barris car in that competition look like? Photos?

 

Promised the owner that trophy as I recall...I met George. He was 5 foot zero.. lol

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

Bob

 

It needs to be restored, it just looks neglected.

 

The paint on it now is a repaint. The original paint was done by Junior Conway of Junior's House of Color. It was originally painted in Tangerine orange metalflake. He also painted the Emperor that still has the original paint. The Ala Kart and the Dream Truck were done by Junior when he worked for Barris. I can guaranty that it was not a previous shitty mess. It was definitely done right the first time! And yes, he was more than a qualified panelbeater/spraypainter by trade! Probably the best, hands down!

 

There is much more to the story of it's "discovery." It will all be part of the documentary that is being made for release later this year. I had the honor of pulling back the car cover of the UT to reveal it to Beau Boeckmann and his crew, as it was my friend who kept it hidden all these years. When the former owner decided to sell, he spoke with me regarding how to go about it. We discussed several possible buyers, and settled to start with Boeckmann. It turned out to be absolutely the best option. The shop/garage it was most recently kept in was just a few miles away from Galpin Ford, and the former owner worked with Beau's dad on the 4 engine Mach 4 that is now in the Galpin Car Museum. The former owner has stories of "treasure hunters" looking for the UT, and his having to keep moving it to keep one step ahead of them.

 

I doubt Junior painted over the original paint. He wasn't a spray over type of painter (which is why Jesse talked him into leaving Barris'). The rest is probably true. I'll have my wife ask him when she calls her dad.

 

There is much more to the story of it's "discovery." It will all be part of the documentary that is being made for release later this year. I knew last month about the find because I was there; I had the honor of pulling back the car cover of the UT to reveal it to Beau Boeckmann and his crew, as it was my friend who kept it hidden all these years. When my friend/former owner decided to sell, he spoke with me regarding how to go about it. We discussed several possible buyers, and settled to start with Boeckmann. Realizing he might be a hard man to reach, we wrote a letter sent it in a custom envelope that we thought would likely make it through to him. It did, and he called me a week later, that led to a personal preview, which led to months of negotiations, which led to the sale and delivery of the UT to Beau and the great people at Galpin Ford. It turned out to be absolutely the best option. Beau and his crew were avid UT historians, and for them it was like Indiana Jones finding the Ark of the Covenant. The shop/garage it was most recently kept in was just a few miles away from Galpin Ford, and the former owner had worked with Beau's dad on the 4 engine Mach 4 that is now in the Galpin Car Museum, so there was already a connection. The former owner has stories of "treasure hunters" looking for the UT, and his having to keep moving it to keep one step ahead of them. All of this will be part of the documentary. Stay tuned!

 

My apologies as I can't really see it well on my phone.
I'll have my wife her ask her dad how it was done. I do know that it wasn't a shitty job as Spanner posted earlier! It won a crapload of best of paint awards. I do know that it did a lot for his reputation!

 

Cool. I will keep an eye out for the doco. It should be interesting. For now though, back to life as we know it.
I still don't get where you fit in, and exactly who you are. You are obviously not Steve Scott. Does this mean Steve has been excluded from the whole affair? He sounded like he was looking forward to being a part of the rebirth.

 

Great observations. The man who has kept it under wraps since 1980+/- took great care in preserving it as he received it. The paint was already falling apart back then as the original owner had it in trailer left in the sun, allowing temps to get above 120 degrees for days, which contributed to the paint starting to peel.. My friend kept in up on jack stands, and plugged the intakes and headers. He had to move it a few times when "treasure hunters" looking for it were getting too close, but other than that, it has been well protected and maintained. When he acquired it, it was his intent to do the restoration. But life took him in myriads of directions, and he never got around to restoring it. In recent years, he came to the realization that he was not going to be able to restore it, and began the process of figuring out who to sell to. He wanted someone to appreciate what the UT is, and have the ability to restore it to it's authentic original self. He knew Bert Boeckmann from a project back in the 70's, but before he could reach out to him, Bert passed away last year. We discussed other possible buyers (Jay Leno's name was discussed) but it was settled we would attempt to reach out to Beau and see what happened. Beau responded, and it was absolutely the best choice for the UT. Beau treasures it as he would if he found an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. He has the means, skills, and passion to reveal the UT to a new generation of car lovers.

There are many rumors and myths related to this story. Some are true. Some have some truth in them. Some are the product of over active imaginations or bad acid. Boeckmann is videoing every part of this from the uncovering to the restoration, along with the entire history of the car. The documentary should be coming out later this year, and then the world will know the real story from the people who were closest to the events related to the car. It will bust many myths and reveal many facts that will blow your mind. The real story is stranger than fiction and has the stuff of what classic mystery novels are made of. Stay tuned!

 

Someone asked if Steve Scott is still alive. He is and is living in Hawaii. Over the years I've written a couple of stories in The Rodder's Journal on this car, so I've gotten to know Steve a little bit. He and I spent a great deal of time talking about its history when I was working on a story for issue #83 that covered both the tale of the original and the construction of Martin Bennett's clone. Unfortunately that issue was printed and mailed at the height of the pandemic and for reasons that have been documented elsewhere much of the print run was lost or destroyed, so a lot of people never saw it. Below are a few paragraphs from my article documenting Steve's recollection of the various paint schemes, as well as how the car ended up with Dick Nickerson...
___________________________________
From TRJ #83, regarding paint hues:
As things neared completion, [Steve] sent the body to Bob McNulty, a bodyman in Castro Valley known for his work on Corvettes, to get it ready for paint. One week and $500 later it was as smooth as glass. Then it was off to painter Bill Cushenberry's shop, which was in Southern California at the time.

Bill told Steve he had the perfect color combination in mind, but when he returned the body Steve wasn't happy. In fact, he hated it. "It was a deep, dark candy apple red, with blended panels of violet, purple and dark blue," he says. "I wish I had pictures, but I just wanted to forget it forever." Unsure of what to do, he asked around and wound up contacting Junior Conway, who'd recently left Barris Kustom to open Junior's House of Color.

"He came out and met me at Lee Wells' upholstery shop in North Hollywood," Steve says. "When he saw my car he said he had the perfect color. I said, 'That's what Cushenberry told me,' but when he described the color, which he called Autumn Glory, I loved the idea and got excited."

The plan was simple: solid hue with no fades, blends or panels—just tangerine mixed with gold, red, purple, and a lot of 'Flake. This time it was perfect, and when it was finished Junior returned it to Lee Wells for a black Naugahyde diamond-tufted interior.

___________________________________
Same article, regarding the lime gold paint and Nickerson connection:

[Steve] did continue showing The Uncertain-T, but not nearly as often as he had in '65 and '66. To satisfy show promoters looking for something new, he had the T repainted a lime-gold color and swapped the five-spokes and slicks for ultra wide Indy tires—a popular trend at the time. In this guise he also loaned it to his friend Richard Nickerson, who displayed it in front of his speed shop, the High Performance Emporium on Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys.

In the '70s Steve married and the T continued to sit, stashed in its trailer on the side of his ranch house in Thousand Oaks. Then in 1981, during a difficult time in his life, it was acquired by a friend who he says still has it tucked away. "He's protected it all these years," he says. "I believe it had to have happened the way it did for the car to still exist today, and for that I'm very grateful."

____________________________________
Obviously that friend was Nickerson. At the time Steve just didn't want to divulge any more details. Through Steve, Dick did provide some images for the story—including one that we ran of the lime-gold T outside of Dick's speed shop in the late-'60s.

Such a neat piece of history. Congratulations to Beau and Dave—the car couldn't be in better hands.

 

Steve Scott was not directly involved in the "discovery" or the negotiations that led to the sale of the UT, as he has not owned it for decades. However, Team Boeckmann indicated a strong desire to reach out to Mr. Scott at some point to include him in the documentary. This process could include flying him to the mainland (Mr. Scott lives in Hawaii) when the restored UT is unveiled.

I fit in as I happened to be a real estate broker in Lake Co. Calif who sold a vineyard/ranch in 1995 to man who purchased the UT from Steve Scott. We have become close friends. Last year, he revealed to me for the first time that he was the owner of the UT, and asked for my assistance to help him find a buyer and negotiate a sale. We discussed several possible buyers, but started with Boeckmann because he seemed to be the best fit. The criteria was:
1. Someone who can afford to purchase it.
2. Someone who would appreciate the iconic history of the vehicle.
3. Someone who had the ability/skill/resources to restore it to its original glory.

Prior to my involvement, there was another party that had shown a high level of interest. They had the money, and the ability to restore it. But as negotiations moved on, it became evident that their level of appreciation for the history of the car was lacking, and my friend pulled the plug on further discussions. The person considered the opportunity as just another restoration, and was not interested much in the history of the car. In contrast, Beau (and his people) showed an intimate and passionate knowledge of the car. In fact, years prior, one Beau's team got a lead as to where the UT might be, and attempted a discovery expedition that failed. But as the car was being moved to from place to place to stay ahead of treasure hunters, the attempt to find it came close. It was quite the surprise to find out that the people we chose to negotiate with just happened to be part of the car hunters that the owner took so much effort to hide it from. When Boeckmann and his top restorer, Dave Shuten, arrived to inspect the UT for the first time, within minutes of meeting them, we knew they were the right group to be discussing the future of the UT with. I assume they wanted to see for themselves if it was the real deal and not just another reproduction. But within seconds of Dave giving it a once over, he nodded to Beau confirming it was the original, and Beau lighted up like a Christmas tree. Dave knew what to look for, and confirmation was quick. I assume it was the layers of paint that he noticed; the gold over the candy apple red, over the fiberglass.

 

Thank you. That wasn't hard, was it? Great info.
All the hype is probably putting people off a bit. Your post above is much more helpful and interesting.
I think you will get a better reception here with this approach.
Can't wait for more news.

..... and I appreciate that you didn't tell me to "stay tuned".....

 

The text below came directly from Steve Scott and his website/blog.

"What are the colors that “The Uncertain-T” has been? I first had Bill Cushenberry paint it at the recommendation of several people, and by his reputation. When he came to pick up the body, he asked what color I want it. I still hadn’t decided! He said to leave it up to him. I said okay... but when he brought it back several days later, it was a dark, bluish candy apple red that I didn’t like at all, with vertical sections that started at the top of the back corners and went down to the bottom of the back, with a thin line, then a thick line around it. To the best of my recollection, the color or colors inside these panels were darker and lighter gradient blends. Whatever it was, I REALLY didn’t like it at all. Don’t get me wrong... it was a spectacular paint job… just totally not my thing. And no, I don't have any photos of the original dark candy red color. It was that color for only a few days, and never was on the chassis.


I IMMEDIATELY started calling around again, and this time the unanimous favorite was Junior, of Junior’s House of Color. I called and told him what I was building and who I was and he drove out right away. When he saw the body, his face lit up. He said that he had a gorgeous new color that will be just right for it. This time, I asked him to describe it to me. I REALLY liked what he had to say. They took it away, and brought it back in about a week. It was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT! It was the metalflake tangerine orange that it was in every car show, with like 30 coats of clear... it looked like you could reach into it!


A few years later, I let a good friend borrow the T for several months to display it in front of his little speed shop in Van Nuys, California. He took very good care of it. A few guys have told me that they not only remember it being there, but that they often went to look at it. Summers were usually VERY hot in the San Fernando Valley. After a while he noticed a couple of small blisters on the back of the body on the right side a bit below the rear window… then more spots! It had to be repainted! I don’t remember if I had it repainted, or if my friend did, but I certainly would not have had it repainted the greenish gold that it is in a few photos. Most likely my friend felt so bad about it sitting in front of his speed shop in the intense sun and heat, which was most likely a major factor causing the blistering… that he had it repainted. If I had it repainted, I would have had Junior paint it the same gorgeous tangerine orange metalflake again!"

 

That's a lot of paint!

 

I never check the mirror, figure there ain't no reason for me to wanna hurt my own feelings...

...

 

To young to remember the real thing. The model version I do.
I really like these history lessons.
Cant wait for the whole story to come out.
Great find.
One thing I did take from it so far is that all it takes for any of us to get our 'restorations' done in a year is to have a film crew follow us around.
Only if it were SO easy.

 

Now that is a great line! I’m going to steal it!

 

Not exactly. In fact, what happened was exactly what I predicted. I was there when it happened, and it was agreed to keep mum about the details until the formal press release which occurred earlier this week. What I was doing was known in marketing as Anticipation Marketing. This is a strategy that focuses on building curiosity, excitement and yes, anticipation, within a targeted group.. It's used to generate “buzz” prior to a certain date, drive engagement, and if executed successfully, generate immediate success upon launch. From the feedback we are getting from across the country, it appears we have "Mission Accomplished."

Thank you for your support. I will be with the car at the Grand National Roadster Show
February 2-4, 2024 in Pomona. Stop by and introduce yourself. The car will be shown as it was found, sans cobb webs.

 

Nice post... most people shit on your earlier posts but as you said you delivered.

 

You might have slightly misjudged your target demographic here on the HAMB with regards to how the hype approach would be received........... but you seem to be doing much better now.

 

Jesus!?!?! Seems like you're trying to take alot of credit for "finding" something that wasn't even lost. "Steve Scott wasn't even involved in the discovery" That's cause he knew where it was the whole time. Fkn salesmen....
Nothing worse than hype

Are there any pics of the 1st paintjob?

 

That's funny cause Steve Scott is asking on Facebook how much Galpin paid for this thing. . He clearly was not involved

 

You guys must be a blast at parties. Does no one seriously have nothing better to do then complain about the way a guy shared the news that an iconic car was finally brought back out of hiding.

 

Could have been like Ed Roths Truck and have folks say it's not the real Uncertain T. Lol