I have a set of Jer Stahl headers, and I was thinking, these are old!!! bought in '68 from Bill Corbett. I was just a kid, but remember going to Corbetts in Sioux Falls South Dakota. It was a real speed shop!!!! In his back yard, about a 3 stall garage. It was full of "high dollar go fast parts" Rick Middlen bought him out, and moved it to Minnesota ave. but it was never the same as Corbetts.. any one out there remember, or have pictures, or what happend to Bill???
I was back in Sioux Falls recently after being away for many years. My how things have changed. It seems to be thriving while other areas struggle. I do remember the shop on south Minnesota Ave in the mid 80s or so. It does seem like they were performance oriented at one time, but later the focus appeared to be more towards trucks. There were a lot of small "speed" shops that tried but never succeeded much over the years in Sioux Falls. That's odd since it always seemed kind of like a car town as much as a northern city could be. I don't remember meeting that many other hard core car guys when I lived there, but there are a surprising number of Dakotans here on the HAMB.
Can't say I ever heard of it when i lived there about 5 years ago. I was truely impressed at the numbre of quality rods around that area when i was there though.
I remember going through it in the early 80's, It was on Minnesota Ave. for a small town boy it was like heaven, we all called it the home of chrome and fuzz. I wasn't into old cars yet, but all the muscle cars in the parking lot was like a small car show, and we always had to look when we were in town. dont know what ever happened to it, one time we went and it was gone....SAD Scott
Discovered his garage in '66. Made many saturday runs to sioux falls when i was in high school to get parts.
I used to shop there in the '80s. The mail order companies (Summit, Jeggs, etc...) killed it in the end.
Bought a lot of stuff from Corbetts in the early to mid 60s. After my senior trip he wasn't there anymore. That was in the early 70s. There was a shop on north Cliff that didn't last long.
I remember the shop when I was a kid. I will ask my dad for more details. He shopped there. Him and a buddy actually had a small speed shop in Brookings for a brief time in the 60s, it was off Main just south of ***auer Seed, the building is still there.
Across from what was the 7-11 on that side street by the softball field. North side of street a square cement building I believe. I'll have to ask dad for the details, I think they ran it in the evenings while they held down fulltime jobs an/or school.
that building is still there - didnt know it was a speed shop. It has been storage (old cars) since 82 - I know that for sure.
Used to be some old tin but the guy died a few years ago and now there is nothing in the yard. You never see any traffic in or out. I don't think Virg even knows who owns it now
Talked to my dad about Corbett last night. He bought an Ansen and a Hurst shifter from the old man in his garage shop. Corbett had a son that died back in the 60s. Dad said that you could show up at anytime and shop as long as he was home. A bottle of whiskey got you the bro-deal on parts. Dad forgot what the ol guys taste in whiskey was. Tom, Dad helped Bruce Bartman for the one brief summer that that shop was open. Bruce found that his plumbing busines was more lucrative. Side note, his kids were the SDSU standouts from the 90s.
I worked there in the 80's. It was a Blast! I have never had so much fun in my life! I got paid to talk Drag cars, Circle track cars, 4X4's and yes...Hotrods all day long.
I met old Bill Corbett in 1967 when I was 15. I had bought my brothers '51 Ford Tudor sedan with a flathead and it was my life. I had been reading all the car magazines I could get my hands on for years and was ready to "hop up" my brothers stocker. I became a regular at Bill's "OA Corbett" Speed Shop in his backyard garage at 12th street and Prairie Avenue. I even remember his house and garage was painted a peach color. It was named after his son whose name I think was Orville. Bill told me the story one day that he and his son were moving a refrigerator in the back of his pickup one day up in Madison, SD. Tragically his son somehow fell out of the back of the pickup and died of a head injury. I think that's why Bill started the speed shop. To honor his son and to stay in contact with all the young men like him. That shop would put many others to shame, every inch of it was covered with manifolds, ignitions, chrome, everything. The garage area was so full of exhaust pipes, mufflers, headers and boxes of stuff you could barely move. All very neat though and super organized and priced with index cards. My first purchase was a complete dual exhaust, pipes, mufflers, everything for my '51 Ford, and it was all in stock! I continued with a Fenton dual manifold with two 94's, a Hurst floor shifter, Moon hubcaps. I beat the hell out of the old Ford until I finally cracked the block and gave up on it. My next car was a '57 Chevy with a 265 that I eventually cracked a piston on. I then built my first engine, a .060 over 283 which ran strong thanks to all the stuff I bought from Bill. Some of the manifolds I ran were an Edelbrock single, Offenhauser dual four and a cross ram (I forget the brand) that I had to take back because my Mallory Rev-Pol distributor wouldn't fit it. By this time Bill had allowed me to have my own charge account with him which was pretty special since my earnings at the Sunshine Food Store couldn't keep up with my appe***e for speed. I spent every dime I ever made on that car and Bill got most of it! I graduated from Washington High School in 1970 and traded the '57 for a '51 Chevy with a straight axle and a tilt front end. It looked cool as hell but was slow as hell because it still had the old six in it but looked like a full race g***er. I used to get guys with Hemi's that wanted to race me! Before I could hop it up the Highway Patrol picked me up and made be park it because it was "unsafe". And then I went to college, bought a motorcycle the next summer, got hit on it, built a Harley chopper and ended up in the Army by the end of '72. I never saw Bill much after that and I think his health was failing. He used to smoke big old stinky cigars and was kind of crotchety until you got to know him but was a good old guy. I think he died in the 80's. Rick Middlen bought the business from him and did very well with it down on south Minnesota Avenue. Rick also started the Exhaust Pros franchise then and was making a ton of money from that. He eventually sold the Corbett-Middlen shop and concentrated on the Exhaust Pros business. The speed shop eventually went under and disappeared. Rick got into home built high performance aircraft which was his demise. He walked away from his first crash landing in a corn field but a second crash hurt him very badly, leaving him paralyzed and he eventually died from its effects. That's some of the history of "Corbetts" as I experienced it. Sioux Falls has a lot more really neat hot rod history from the 50's and 60's that I recently learned of from a former Sioux Falls native, Coy Thomas (now in Port Angeles, WA) when I ran into him at the LARS last summer. Coy has sent me a wealth of pictures and stories from his time back then. Some very cool cars and guys that I didn't know a thing about. Maybe I'll post some of them later if time permits.
Sorry I killed him Chad! Someone had told me he had died years ago and I had never heard otherwise. Glad to hear he is still with us!
great story Vintagehotrods, he could be an old grouch! one sat. nite couple of guys goof'n off, ol bill let out a yell and ran them out the door, with someting like "don't ever come back!" wow I was always on my best behavior! I do remember that back room full of ex. pipes! he begged us to make any offer on them one nite!
I purchased a pair of aluminum cylinder heads for my '40 Ford tudor sedan from Corbitts in 1954. I later bought a Offenhauser intake for 2 Stromberg 97 carbs and an instrument cluster from him. All of his customers were not young kids as a gentleman name Sidney Bebee, who was 65 years old in 1954, had his '51 Mercury loaded with goodies including aluminum heads and three carbs from Corbitts. The speed 'shop' was in his garage on Prairie Avenue.
so.. corbett's was in business in 1954? and he sold out in about 1972-73? maybe a 20 year run..........
I bought the frist set of cheater slicks , sold from his Praire Ave. garage. I also bought 3 ,49 Merc. slot cars from him. I still have them, still in the original package. He was grumpy till you got to know him. you did not want to make him mad.
Bill used to come in and visit every now and then. He was a happy old dude then. I have a ton of stories I could tell about working at Corbett-Middlen but Im not sure how it would go over with the Law... Anyone else care to start? Mr. Jigg's Bar is where a lot of the stories would start from. It reminds me of the movie "Hollywood Nights". Priceless!
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