Well, not New England, but a Northeast car, "Thw Whale" Y block powered 40, originally built in New York in the late forties, rebuilt in 58, now owned by my buddy Mark. An enlarged photo of it's original late forties state can be seen in the left bottom corner.
Dana: What type of a car did he have?I was never too good with names but I rarely forgot a car;especially one I might have raced. The Lynn Marsh Road was one of many good places to street race.We also used to race from the Sargent st.exit on Route 1 in Revere towards the Revere Beach Parkway exit.Also on the Parkway in various spots(from the Big Burger on the corner of the Parkway and Everett Ave by the stadium)and from Wellington Circle at Richard's Drive-In to the,"ramps"(the overhead roads on Route C-1 going towards Logan Airport)to Route 2 in Cambridge near the other Big Burger and Dunkin' Donuts. Just before I went in the Navy in June 64 they started using Interstate 93 which wasn't officially opened yet.While I was in a kid from Medford(Paul something or other;I can never remember his name.He had a younger brother who owned a Pontiac powered 34 cabriolet)got killed up there driving his maroon 40 Ford Coupe supposedly racing a Corvette.As I remember he went off the road and hit a house at the second floor level. I probably met him at one time if he hung around the Big Burger or Mister Donut at the end of the Marsh Road.My friend Jerry Bennett used to work in the Sunoco station next door and that is where he built his 57 Safari race car in the early 60's that is now sitting in my garage.
Hi Ray, Glad to see this thread come up again. Who owns that green 32 Ford roadster ? I also have a picture of that car. The picture of the blue 32 sedan was built by Johhy Otis of Braintree. A couple of years back I saw in the swap meet section at Bakersfield still looked the same. It had Iowa plates and the guy selling it did not know it's origin.
The green 32 cabriolet was owned and built by Richie Tallant;one of the founding members of the Boston Area Roadsters.It had a 331 or a 354 Cadillac in it that had a ton of gold plating on it(an original,"gold chainer maybe?). The 32 sedan was always the centerpiece of the Flywheels Auto Club display.They were the ones that put on the show at Tedeschi's.It was featured on the cover of Car Culture Deluxe I believe a few years ago. Frank Balzano's 56 Vic is also still around in Virginia somewhere.It was featured in a magazine several years ago. That show was always on of the best of the Eastern car shows.I first met George(Whitey)Gould there in 1959 when he had just finished that gorgeous aqua colored T bucket that had the chromed nailhead in it with the six deuces.Shortly after that it was featured in Hot Rod magazine. I striped a car for him many years later and when we were discussing the T he said he had sold it to some guy on the South Shore who owned a restaurant or something and it had been salted away in a garage.Supposedly it had been painted black before that.I guess we'll never know what happened to it as George went out to California to work for Boyd Coddington(pre bankruptcy)and the last I heard he had p***ed away. My cousin ****(Manley) and I went there in 59 with his 34 roadster turned coupe(that Fred Manning from Saugus originally built)and I remember it well because the day before the show we spent nearly the whole day cleaning it.Took it out for a ride that evening and ran over a skunk on the way home!Couldn't get the stink out of the car for a month!They almost didn't let us in the show because it smelled so bad! These pictures that I posted were mostly gotten from Kelsey Martin who used to(and still does)build some pretty fine machinery.His first car was a 53 Ford convertible that he took a hardtop from another 53 and made it removeable.Quite a feat back in the 50's for a backyard mechanic.I have a couple of pics of that car;I'll have to dig them out.I remember it was so low they took a picture of it with a pack of Luckys next to the rear fender and the fender was lower! I also have some great video(transferred from 8mm movies)that Vito Venuti sent me from the early M*** Street Rod ***ociation meets as well as the Notheast Rod Run in Kingston NY in 1972 and a car show at Sears Roebuck in Saugus in the early 70's.Also the cruise nights at Captain Bob's or whatever the name of the place was on the Lynnway in the late 70's. I almost hate looking at them and seeing myself about a hundred pounds lighter and hair halfway down my back.Rant over. Ray
Ahhh Ray your still, "blessed with the look of youth and gifted with the wisdom and the skill's of time!!"
Now I know real,"blarney" when I hear it! BTW that pic you posted of Len Legere's Ford convertible:That looks like it might have come from one of Frank Maratta's show programs.That was actually the second version of that car.The first one wasn't chopped quite as much and it had a shortened deck lid with 58 Edsel taillights across the rear.The ends fit the Ford windsplits almost perfectly.It was also painted a metallic green whereas the car pictured was blue. There were some really wild cars around the North Shore(just north of Boston)area at the time.My cousin Dave bought a 37 Ford humpback two door sedan in high school(about 1958 or 1959)that was painted orange,had a warmed over 21 stud flathead with twin carbs,beautiful orange and white tuck and roll upholstery and still had mechanical brakes!It was built by a guy named Walter Jepson back in the early 50's.It survived at least into the late 80's. There was a 51 Chevy hardtop in grey primer with a big Olds motor and fenderwell headers set up like a g***er.I think it was owned by Greg Finn of Beverly. Jack Doyle and Sonny Mazza had a Fiat altered that was originally olds powered and eventually a blown 392 hemi that made more than one run down Highland Avenue in Salem at well over a hundred mph at midnight.You had to hear that one! Donnie Hiller had a beautiful 34 Ford 5 window that was Olds powered. In Malden,Richie Willet had his red 32 Ford 5-window with chrome grille shell and Olds engine.Dave Yetman had a chopped 50 Plymouth coupe with and Olds in it and then pulled the motor and put it in an Austin A40 sedan.He pulled out the front seat and sat in the rear.Earl Carter had a beautiful T roadster made from a touring with a Pontiac in it.The McKeel brothers from Melrose(next town over)had a nailhead powered 33 cabriolet. Some crazy dude from Peabody or Salem had a 55 Chevy 4 door sedan with an Olds engine mounted in the REAR and driven by a chain!Stu Lord had a beautiful lowrider style 57 Ford retractible.Ed Santisi had a really nice 29 Model A with a 283 Corvette motor and early Ford driveline. There were just SO MANY really nice cars around.I often wonder where they all went to.I wish I had taken pictures back then but I didn't own a camera until I went in the service in 1964.
The Artie Gould T bucket surfaced around here about ten years ago. I was working in Natick one day, and I was driving by Los Coaches Autobody and there was the T, back in it's aqua color. It has been shown at the TyRods when they were still in Hudson.
Hey that crazy dude with the 55 was from Salem, M***. His name was Bill Lazuras and owned and drove the "Mr. Wiggle" AA/FA, him and Bob Corain (Gil's brother) rented one the Edmund St. garages in Malden, M***. the same street I grew up on. We have talked about this area before, there was a lot of hot rodding and racing activety for most of the sixties and early seventies. I was at the garage one day and Bill shows up with his old 55 on his trailer. I was ten years old at the time 1970, but I seem to remember it was a faded aqua two door sedan with a Chevy motor in the back, with the chain drive. He said he used to drive around up in North shore with the car and surprise everyone with stop light wheelies. Well the car had been sitting a long time, and had out lived it's usefulness, and he had to get rid of it. He took a torch and cut the car in half to take out the motor, and junk the rest of it. I wonder if he has seen what a 55 Chevy goes for these days, who knew... it was just a 15 year old car then.
I have pictures of the 54 Merc and others from a show in Weymouth M*** in the early 60s. The 56 looks exactly like Bobby Carr's custom with a 312 and lotttttts of chrome everywhere that he built and still has. He is in North Carolina and it was featured in Street Rodder in the 90's. I saw him at the Southeaston Regional School cruise in August. It has a 351 in it now. His wife is a cl***mate of mine from high school. He is up this way once a year. He came from Whitman M***.
Safariknut, Your picture shows the Tedeschi's sign as does one of mine in my collection. It was on the Weymouth - Braintree line as stated. It appears that we and Jonnyhotrod were at the same show in probably 63 as I was with my girlfriend who I met in late 62, now my wife, and in 64 I was in basic training until the end of September. It appears that the pictures were taken from about the same place in a lot of cases and I have others that are similar to ones that you posted. The first is the motor cycle towed by I think the 57 Chevy. If it is Perewitz's he is building high dollar cycles now at Perewitz Cycle Fab in Bridgewater, MA, about 5 miles from my home. The 32 sedan, the Bluebird as Jonnyhotrod mentioned, the Merc, the 54 Ford which a friend of mine later owned. He traded his 32 Chevy coupe with an Olds engine for it and later sold it for $400.00. No one wanted it. It was made from a sedan if I remember right. The 56 Custom I beleive to be Bob Carrs. He had his album with him in August and it is identical to the rolled pans and bumper treatment. The 57 Chevy and a 36 3W that was probably at World of Wheels in Boston. The 32 3W in prime, posted by Jonnyhotrod, looks like the one owned by Jimmy Adams from Brockton powered by a 283 and with an open rear from a 48 panel truck. He stilled owned it about 5 years back and was living in Virginia. Then two pics of my 55 convert. I put a 58 Police 352 in it with a standard and 56 Bird floor shift. I totaled it in late 62. Like to relive those years now knowing what I have learned. Safariknut, do you know Alex Olivera, a striper by trade from CA now living on Cape Cod? He and I go to garage night once a month at a freinds place.
Hey Model40: I think you are right about the 56 Ford.Frank Balzano had one almost identical to it but he was from Connecticut. Strange how when you see pics like that and it puts you back in time.I had gone to that show with my cousin in his Olds powered 34 Ford roadster that was chopped and channeled,full fendered with fadeaway running boards,and a 3 window coupe top welded on it.We were out in it the night before the show after spending most of the day cleaning it up and hit a skunk going back to the garage.It smelled so bad they wouldn't let us park it with the other cars.You should have smelled it INSIDE! Yes I do know Alex and there is a very interesting story about that: Several years ago we drove out to M***achusetts for the Ty-Rods show andthe day before went to the NSOCC show in Topsfield. Stu Lord was up there and brought me over to introduce me to Alex.We were talking for awhile and I asked what on earth would want him to move from sunny California to M***achusetts.He replied that his wife was born and raised there and wanted to be nearer to her family.Long story short she grew up in the same town as I did and was a year behind me in school!I knew both her and her older sister! So when you see him again tell him I said hello and wish him and Donna a merry Christmas. Ray Smith
Safariknut, I will forward you greetings to Alex. I asked him the same question about leaving CA when I first met him. I had a similar skunk experience with my 55 Ford Conv. I had to park it at the end of our long drive way for weeks and kept washing it to no avail. It took months to go away completely. The pictures sure do take you back. Every stage of life is great but there is something about those early days; the cars, music and girls. It was a much more innocent and fulfilling time. Tom Phelan http://www.bslusa.com/cars/index.htm
Don't feel too bad for poor Alex leaving CA for MA. I was talking to him at our Cape car club Christmas party last Wednesday. He's leaving for FL right after the Holidays. Won't be back until late April. Donna doesn't like the cold any more than Alex does.
More please. I'm gonna save this thread to show to my dad (Bob Terenzi) at X-mas. The Revere area was his old stomping grounds, I'm sure he'll recognize some names and cars.
Model 40 The 32 sedan you have in your pictures belonged to John Otis from Weymouth and the 36 ford coupe belongs to Steve Jones who lives in Pembroke and still has the car. Steve
Steve, Great info. What neat cars they were. There was a fellow from the SE M*** area who about 15 years back did a 36 convert or roadster that was a gray color. I haven't seen it now for some time. For some reason I thought that his name was Jones, maybe not. Does Steve still drive the car? That is one car I would love to see in person again. I was just revisiting the pictures from Tedeschi's and saw Oct 63 on the border of some of Safariknut's photos. My wife noticed that in the background of John Otis's car there is a sign for Halloween in the window of the store. A lot of guys have sweaters or jackets on too. So that would put that show in the fall of 63. I was just a mere lad with not a care in the world but the draft. Tom
Don't know if I posted this one before but this is a drastically channeled Model A belonging to Al Frecca originally from Somerville M***.This was before I knew him(taken around 1958)and it had a flathead in it then.I met Al around 1962 and by then it was painted lime gold and had a 57 Pontiac motor in it still with the motorcycle mufflers.I striped it in white down at the Big burger in Chelsea one night. I just saw Al a couple months ago when I went out to my cl*** reunion(45 years);he and Dennis Rota run a body shop in Wakefield(BodyCraft)and he is still crazier than a ****house rat.
model 40 You are right the grey 36 conv. did belong to Steve Jones. He sold it to a fellow named Tom Balboni from Pembroke but I don't know if he still has it. Steve Jones still drives the 36 coupe and he still lives in Pembroke.
I really can't get enough of those Tedeschi's pictures. I'm in that parking lot at least once a week.....a regular stop on the way to the folk's house. Thanks for posting them.
while its not a custom does anyone here remember this car running at New England are strips?It's in Kool Cars Square Rollbars and I own it and am in process opf rebuilding it
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