A lot of these pictures I have very little or no history on so maybe someone in the audience can fill in the details. First up is a really nice 27 T roadster pickup.This pic was taken at the NSOCC picnic in Newburyport M***achusetts in 1970 or 71.It had a V8-60 in it and supposedly was started around 1948.That is all I know about it. Next at the same show was Sebastian Rubbo's 35-36 Ford roadster that had about 250,000 miles on it then!It was started in 1943!Sabby drove it until he died some years ago and it is still driven regularly by it's new caretaker Lennie Biondi(I hope I spelled that right).Sabby was a one of a kind as anyone who knew him will attest. A quick funny story about him:We were in Connecticut one year at the Hartford Armory setting up and Sabby comes strolling in with this really hot looking chick about 20.(Sabby was in his 50's at the time and quite the ladies' man).This was on a Friday. Saturday we run into him again with a different but equally good looking chick. The kicker is Sunday he comes strolling in with his WIFE and quickly rushes over and whispers,"Whatever you do don't say you saw me here Friday and Saturday!" That was Sabby! Next pic is of Bob Ellison and Rick McGarvey's 33 Willys taken at I believe the Suffolk Downs show around 1970 or so.That particular car was destroyed and Rick was hurt pretty badly. Ironically a clone of the car was built a few years ago and Bob was driving it at the goodguys show in Indy when it hit the rail and was totally destroyed.Bob survived the initial impact but died a few days later in the hospital of brain injuries.Very sad.Bob was one hell of a nice guy to all who knew him. The next few pics were taken at Sears shopping center on Route 1 in Saugus M***.Richie Willet's T touring;one of the first East coast cars I saw with Corvette IRS. The 29 Model A truck belonged to a guy named Al(I can't remember his last name)and was called,"The Ugly Truckling".Al worked at the Prudential Center in Boston and he used to sneak us into the car shows there. The 27T sedan I have no idea who the owner was.Same with the black Deuce in the background. The last pic(for now)is one of a chopped 54 Chevrolet 2 door sedan turned hardtop built by Paul O'Neill of Lynn M***.56 Olds engine,Cadillac trans and 57 Chevy rear end.This pic was taken in April 69. I bought the car in 1974;actually I traded Paul an AM-FM radio for a Studebaker Avanti for it.He was restoring the Avanti(he still is).I had it for a couple years until the gl*** got broken out of it by a bunch of punks.It changed hands a few times and was re-done with a 57 Olds rear window.The owner died a few months back and Paul actually bought it back.He started the car in 1959. I hope I get to see it the next time I'm in M***achusetts. So ends Chapter 2. Stay tuned for more.
Cool pics! That 35/36 roadster definately had a style of it's own... What tailights did the 54 have, any more pics of it?
I gotta wonder, were you taking a picture of the truck, or the girl in the yellow miniskirt? Really cool pix! Thanks for sharing. Jay
The taillights were 55 Chrysler Windsor as was the grille.Here's a couple of pics of it after I dragged it out from under a garage where it had been sitting long enough for the whitefaced hornets to take over the inside.Took me several weeks to find and dispose of all the nests.Nothing quite so disconcerting as driving along in an unregistered car with almost no exhaust and having hornets falling into your lap from the headliner.
Great old pics, thanks Ray! Lenny is still driving Sabie's old roadster. Lenny did a complete makeover a few years ago and it looks really good. Any idea what that wild 34 3 window is behind Sabie's car? Check out the door bottoms, they were cut off when they channeled it. Cool stuff!
Don't remember whose car it was(the 34)but someone said that he had about $150 in it at the time(1970 or 71)!Here's a better pic of it.also a couple other carsat the show. The gold and brown 35 belongs to Sonny Venuti from Lynnfield M***.He still owns the car but it was repainted yellow with flames many years ago.I did the striping on it for him.I just saw Sonny and Sylvia in October when we were out east for my cl*** reunion. The black Model A roadster I have no info on as well as the yellow Model A sedan. The chopped 41 Ford belonged to Don Burley(the guy who owned that Deuce roadster with the track nose I posted earlier).The black T bucket behind Don belonged to Paul Donahue from Saugus M***.He also owned the Triumph Mayflower with the SBC I posted earlier. An interesting story about the Taul bought it from someone in St.Louis Missouri and he and Teddy Perotti(his dad owned a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Medford M***)DROVE the car home in FEBRUARY! They were wearing snowmobile suits.No top;no heater! Paul has always been a little nuts anyway and Teddy wasn't too far behind.
Great Pics Ray. Sabbie's car was a '36. I could tell simular stories about Sabbie from runs in Rhode Island, the Cape, ......... Quote fro Liz (Sabbie's wife) at his funeral "Sabbie and I had one thing in common, we were married in the same church on the same day." Keep the pics coming. And Merry Christmas to you out there in snow land (50 degrees today and only about a 1/4" of snow so far this year.)
Ray, I am glad to see this subject come up again. here are two photos of Richie Willet's highboy, and there is a T roadster that I never could ID. Could this be Paul Donahue car ? Jack Brady AKA Church Key
Here is a picture of a coupe that has been running around M***achusetts for a couple of years, it has some similiarities to that blue coupe in your pictures.
Hello Jack and Merry Christmas! That T belonged to Vito Venuti;it was originally started by Ken Frederick and Vito did the majority of the work finishing it.I can tell by the high mounted woodgrained beer keg bas tank.I think that was when Bill Besarick owned Richie's roadster;they were both members of the M***. Street Rod ***'n.Billy sold the car to Steve Hitch**** from Reading and he painted it bronze or maroon(I have a pic of it around somewhere) and put a Chevy in it if I remember correctly. I don't think that other coupe is the same as the blue one but if it is,it underwent some pretty serious modifications. BTW I stopped down to see Tom O'Connell when we were in town the end of October.Good to see him again.
Church Key, I thought the same thing about the "TANG" car and the blue 3 window in Rays steamer trunk photos. There's alot of similarities between the two, but alot more differences. I wonder what happened to that ol' blue car?? Thanks for the pics Ray! and the history lessons, keep 'em coming. -Scott
The biggest differences are the fact that the blue car is angle chopped and the windshield is quite a bit smaller angled slanted back more sharply. The only reason I can see for shortening the doors in that manner is to eliminate the exposed frame area in channeled cars.It isn't particularly eye appealing and the only car I've ever seen that looked decent that way was Clarence Catallo's 32 3-window(the Little Deuce Coupe).
Hi Ray, I hope you and the rest of our fellow HAMBERS had a great Christmas. These pictures you have been posting have brought back alot of memories. Thanks for the ID on the T roadster, I have had that picture for several years and nobody knew who it was. That was a great thing about the old neighborhood, not only did we have six race cars and ten hot rods in a two city block area, there were other cars visiting all the time. That is the first picture I have seen of Richie Tub, I remember the car when he had a garage on Main St. I realy like that picture of the Elison & McGarvey AA/GS if that picture was Suffolk Downs I was there. Back in the early seventies during the Winter, Bob and Rick had a portable fifty five foot slot car drag strip they would set up in Bob's house. All the areas big name racers would show up on Saturday night for 1/25 scale drag racing and bench racing. That was a lot of fun, and I sure miss Bob. I will see Tom O'Connell in a couple of weeks up in Hudson, Ma. at the Mid Winter Hot Rod and Drag Fest. It is sure to be a good time, getting together with a lot of old friends. Do you remeber a car show that took place at the Gloucster Armory in 1970, I think it was put on by New England Dragway? One more Armory show I remember attending was at the Natick Aromory and put on by the Los Coaches Car Club.
Jeez, seeing the pics of Sabby's roadster sure brings back memories of him of one particularly hot year at the Nats East. I saw Sabby cruising the fairgrounds in his roadster and then later that day, while everyone was diving for whatever cover they could find, there was Sabby pedaling a bicycle around the grounds and yakking with everyone, and I mean everyone. If he didn't know you when he pedaled up to you, he sure knew you when he left! Anyway, there he was on his bicycle sporting his flame red sneakers and his blue underwear - and NOTHING else. He said it was so ******** hot and he forgot his shorts, so what the hell, he would tell everyone that it was he swimming suit he had on. The fact that his swimming suit doubled as his undies made him no nevermind! What a great guy. I sure do mis seeing him and his wild head of hair. Come to think of it, I wish he would have willed those curls to me! Could use it on those sunny days where my follicly-impaired head takes a severe beating. Sabby, what a guy with the right at***ude on life and what it's all about.
You should have seen the look on the two little old ladies when they got on the elevator at the Raddison in St Paul '77. Sabbie had gone up to his room to get a couple a trash bags because everyone was leaving beer cans all over the parking lot. These two old ladies get on while we're heading back down and there he is in his Jokies "Yes ladies, what floor would you like?" he nonchalantly asks Of course a week earlier he was driving my wife and Marleen Wheatly thru downtown Winnipeg sitting up on the back of the seat (like he used to do on the highwy at 85) in his Jokies. Sure miss that guy!
I know were going WAY back here...Don't know if you ever got any more info on that cut-down coupe w/ the wooden side rails, but my friend Rick Becker owned that car when I was a kid. He's 'rbantique' on the HAMB. Here's a link to a photo of the car: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5376&pictureid=45997 The caption reads "Bob Walton Roadster (built in 1959) Cam Snapper Newburyport MA member looking pretty much the way it was built ..I drove this for several years in the 80s. Now in the Clark Cram collection" He also owned a Ford built by Kelsey Martin at the same time as Sonny Venuti's, with a similar flame job. Rick is a GREAT guy with amazing historical knowledge and has had an impressive stable over the years.
That Ford that Kelsey built is I believe the one Paul Aldrich of the Ty-Rods owns now.I don't recall if I've ever met Rick;I'm not very good with names.From the looks of some of the pics he's posted,he's really had some nice vehicles.
Great Pix Safariknut.....brings back memories. I remember Wilets touring car first time I showed up at Sears in Saugus when I was sixteen. Had a red "30" Model A Ford Cabriolet. Got a picture of that stakebed from Joe Kaisers car show in Boston too. Try to post some of mine soon.
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