Hello flatoz here, I registered my old man "swifty" a while ago, but he has failed to do an intro, so I have been left to do so. Cant remember exactly when he got into rodding, I think it was the late 50's he built his T bucket in '62, I have posted a few photos of it before. but here it is again. taken about '65 from memory and just on the weekend to compare how much its changed in 40 years. and on the front of the 'new' car mag of the day, only hot rod to grace the cover of such a mag at least here in Australia. The old man had a hand in building the car by a bloke by the name of Eddie Ford. Eddie was building a channelled 34 Aussie coupe ( five window) not choped with a Y block in it. These cars were built at Eddies farm in pretty basic conditions to say the least. Because they were tight****s and wanted to spend all their money on their cars, they improvised. such as they used to collect the beer cans from the side of the road and weld them together ( back when they were steel of course) and in hamb TECH style, wammo, you had an instand jack stand for nix. in 1966 the old man, eddie and another fella called barry fletcher jumped on a boat for 6 weeks and headed stateside. they bought a plym in cali and drove over all the states for 6 months. They stated with and met some big name ( now ) people like Phil Weiand, **** Scritchfield, Fred Steele, Wally Parks ( who gave them seasons tickets to all NHRA events) Fred Offenhauser ( who they met at a NHRA event apparently pissed as a fart and told them if they took off those damn weiand T shirts he'd give them an offy one!) They drove across country stoped at the grand canyon, and on a day that was too hot to take the mules down, decided to walk down with out any water. Expecting the river at the bottom to be ok, apparently it wasnt. At Fred Steeles joint they shot up a 32 5 window body with tommy guns and got to ride in his roadster and A tudor. of course there are many more stories and pictures too. Which of course I grew up with. The old mans other ride is his 1962 "S" series Valiant. His father bought this new in 62 and the old man bought it off him in 63 and has had it since. it had a rebuild about 10 years ago, he loves this car as it was all but his first car ( drove his mothers car for 6 months or so first). Of course courses changed, he met a girl, bought a farm, went water skiing, built a house and had a famliy. but thought all the years the Bucket was there, he was offered money a few times but mum told him not to sell it that he would regret it and would never get it back again. wise woman! here a photo of the wise womans recent purchase an Aussie 5 window 33 notice the 'spear' under the body to make up the difference. Currently hes working on a 32 five window coupe, its a bit street rod, but hey he wants the comfort its got a tricarbed poly in it auto and jag rear. gl*** body but would love a steel one. lastly here a photo I took at the Castlemaine Rods Run on the weekend. He was a founding member back in 1962. Hes having a Yak one your yanky old time rodders - Tex Smith. So he has been lurking for a long time, and often alerts me to threads I might have missed. I know he wont post a heap, but if I can ever get some of the slides he took from his trip scanned and up loaded it would be a magic ride. cheers. flatoz.
Jim-bob, Thanx for the nod of approval. We have a reciprocal bucket approval agreement as I love your bucket and would have loved to build a short cowl version just like yours. Will catch you on here from time to time. Jimmy B, Thank you for the welcome. I don't have much to say so I will probably spend most of my time on here just reading what others have to say. Swifty
You got the trifecta. Great Bucket, lovely Val. and the Coupe. No wonder you're smiling in the photo.. Welcome from Melbourne.
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