Hey all, wondering if many people here local to Michigan Royal Oak area know of the Rust T that was built and owned by Clay Smith. Three years ago I had a chance to talk to the owner of the car. It was built and owned by Clay Smith and left his hands and went to the president of the Hells Angels where the car sat in their club house for some time. Then the car changed hands again to a Michigander which this latest fellow picked it up at the Kalamazoo Nationals, for a steal from what I was told. This is an awesome car to say the least. It has original sketches and illustrations of skulls and checkard flags and of course the Woodpecker. However there are a couple mods to the car that he had done to make it road worthy but changed the look of the car quite a bit. Like adding some brackets and a small aluminum gas tank in front of the radiator. Any other feedback on this car? I am just intrigued by the history of this car.
Car has been around for a few years, but I don't know anything of it's history. I always thought it was just another rod with the Clay Smith logo on the cowl. Car gets driven a lot, I see it at most of the cool events around here.
Great stance. I like the way the floors are fit inside the frame rails for extra room. First time I was ever compelled to copy pics from the HAMB to a folder for future reference.
from my chats with him over the years seeing him at the Hot Rod Powertour and Dream Cruise, his story is always the same. I know the engine combo has been changed out a few times, and the wheel combo also. He also added the roll bar and watered it down with a hose to try to make it match the body. The car from what he said was stripped to bare metal and over the years the Cali sun baked on it and pretty much pertified the steel. I seen the car last night on woodward, he recently added some stabilizer links to the front. It is nice that he is preserving the car, not restoring it.
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