History Curtis Hardy & the Tappets Manchester NH Part 1

Great image received from Church Key

 

I would say that picture was taken at Sanford Airport.

 

Just got off the phone with Carl Rogge who lives in California and was a member of the Tappets. He was calling to see if I had a pattern for the Tappets plaque (which I do) because he lost his many years ago. He says he is one of the guys in the picture in front of the Hilman and would have been in the picture in the Manchester Union Leader but he was taking his girlfriend back to UNH
So, if you're an old Tappet member you may be getting a call from Carl to see if you want to go in with him on some plaques. I sent him a link to this thread to help him with his search.

BTW, here's the pattern I have:

 

These are some great pictures. I worked with Curt for many years in Hooksett at Performance Boats of NNE which he ran along with Curts Custom Auto Body. I now live in Florida but was in New England two years ago where I made the drive up to Maine to see him. He was doing well. He is an amazing guy all around, talented... I learned a lot from him, I wish I learned more. That picture of him on the river in the Eliminator hung in the office of Performance Boats. He still has a lot of old pictures and things from the shop, sparked many memories. Someone needs to make sure the history doesn't get lost one day. Please post any more pictures you have of the boats or anything. The picture in the shop was at the 21 Londonderry Tpk, Hooksett location, the dark blue paint outside the garage window my friend and I painted that building and Curt said that paint would never stick because at that time we were just a couple of kids who didn't have a clue. Great memories. I know there were a ton of parts in that attic of that shop, the building is still there, parts could still be up there for all I know. The picture in the brick building must have been a show of some sort because Curt's building was steal and is now retail store fronts. I believe the guy with the mustache is Randy Owen but I could be wrong.
Take care,
JB London

 

Fantastic pictures, that roadster probably influenced a lot of us. I don't recall it but I'm sure I read the magazines it was featured in.
thanks for posting.

 

Just noticed that some of the photobucket links to the images went bad. Here they reposted to the HAMB directly

 

Great to see all those pictures of old New England hot rods!

 

Very cool, thanks for sharing these pics and history. That roadster with the olds motor is amazing!


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Got my latest Rodders Journal and saw the article on the Tappets . Thought i would bump this thread up for some back story to the article.

 

I am very happy I clicked on this thread.
Excellent stuff here, thanks for posting

 

Very cool pictures and some great history. I like the pictures taken at the park at Masabesic Lake. I take my lunch there on Friday afternoons during the summer. Thanks for posting.

 

Curt's dad did wood working and built a lot of wood frames for the cars Curt was doing metal work on.

 

I know this is an old thread now but are the Tappets CC still around? Me and a few friends were talking about starting up a fun club deal and I cam across this article a friend sent and figured why not restart an existing club?! We’re located in NH I’m in Merrimack currently and they’re just north of concord. I’ve got 4 cars and they each have 1 plus a few other friends building cars. Would be great to get the Tappets CC going again.

 

Excellent ! 2 of the names are familiar to me. Tom Kryzaniac and Lenny Ford. I lived in Contoocook for 32 years.

 

I’ll be sure to look them up as well thank you!

 

Dylan please check your messages.

 

Being a NH native when I found this thread I had to have a Tappets drag plaque. Dennis OBrien does all of ours for the Northeast Tennessee Pharoahs chapter so I asked him and he came through as usual. And here are the ones he does for us.

 

Love those plaques @NHBandit !

 

Here's the original Pharoahs plaque that the other chapters have used for years. We are the largest chapter East of the Mississippi and got special permission from HQ in Modesto to design or own unique plaque. We are still part of the mother chapter though and I speak with the President almost daily.