Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: The 'Mitchell Auto Co. Special' Roadster Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Great Roadster — love the look! My sense is that market values for historic hot rods have fallen off a cliff… The children of Silent Generation / Boomer parents simply don’t value these cars as six-figure “investments”— nor do they have the patience or skill to maintain them. (And if they do, they’ve likely built their own TROG clones for much less…)
I don’t remember Bill Meeks, however I do remember, Bobby Meeks, who worked for Vic Edelbrock for 50 years. This is a very nice roadster, Jive. It would probably help the sale if it had been featured in a major publication. Good news, on the Classic Auto site, it says the sale is pending…..
I know Mitchell well. The car is fantastic! It will bounce back...nothing more beautiful in the world than a 32 deuce roadster!!!
The owner might do well to get it out to some real hotrod shows so it can be seen more. Like Hotrod-a-rama Southwest next May 14-16 2026 in Prescott, Arizona!! www,hotrod-a-rama.com for details if he see this!!
This caliber of car needs the as found presentation and maybe a magazine piece to let us know it’s either been found and will go through with the restoration process. I m always deep into this stuff and I have absolutely no idea that this car still existed. I know of some other cars that I’ve found and have been found and they will get some press to introduce them back into the mix. A story is everything
I was surprised to see that Mitchell was selling his Roadster. He is to be commended for buying it back, having it restored, and preserving it. The car had a rich history before he acquired it (in late ‘56?) from Charlie Adams, which Jay Ward touched on a little in the blog post. It’s a very important part of Dallas’ hot rod history. Charlie Adams has been discussed here on the Hamb at length in older posts (thanks to Karl Knecht, Bobby Wolcott, and “ElRod” Jason Ellis) , so I won’t go into great detail. But he was a Dallas native and an army veteran that flew B-17s during WW2. He met Vic Edelbrock and a lot of pioneer Southern California hot rodders around that time, and came back to Dallas to open a speed shop. He first had a small garage/service station (at Fitzhugh & Cole) but shortly after opened Custom Automotive on Pearl St here in Dallas. This was the most well known speed shop in the area and lasted for around 20+ years. The Federal Reserve building on Woodall Rogers here in Dallas now sits where the old Custom Automotive was. This Roadster was one of two that Charlie Adams brought back from California (Long Beach, I believe) to Dallas. He also had a full-fendered ‘32 street roadster that still exists and is currently owned by Mark Warrick in Amarillo. But the highboy roadster in this thread was the one that raced at Bonneville, Daytona Beach, Caddo Mills, NHRA national drags, etc. The Roadster is fairly well documented during this time frame, and honestly the car’s importance to Dallas hot rodding during the early-mid ‘50s should be the main focus of its provenance. (Mitchell then of course added to that provenance.) It was running an early Oldsmobile OHV engine by the time Mitchell bought the car. I don’t know for certain that Mitchell continued to run it with an Olds, but I think he did. I don’t think the Flathead went back in until it was restored prior to Mitchell taking it to Pebble Beach in 2007. We are lucky that the car is still around, and I definitely understand why Mitchell restored the car to the way it was when he raced it. Here are some photos of the car that show what it looked like prior to his ownership. Charlie Adams.
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