I’d guess most of the early AMBR winners were driven. Heck, they may have been driven to the show! Rich Guasco won in ‘61 and has been driving his 29 pretty regularly. I think in the ‘70’s Phil Cool’s ‘32 was driven. But the more recent winners? Not so much.
AMBR winners get driven, true not all. Dennis Varni drove his '92 winner after he won. Fred Warren would drive the Smoothster. Hell Boyd drove Boydster the 1996 AMBR winner on HOT ROD power tour. More recently Terri & Darryl Hollenbeck drove their 2016 winner to Lonestar Roundup. 2018 winner David C. Martin competes in road races. These are ones I can think of while typing this reply.
Well, judging by the thread on “how many miles you drive your old car” (sumthin like that) many here don’t drive their non show cars very much
Thankyou for correcting me! The ageing of women is a weird science that I've never been any good at, but I suspect I'm not alone in that! Chris
My good friend Jim Butler's black '32 full fendered roadster (pic 7) was the least likely entry in the AMBR. It was never intended to be an AMBR entry, it was built solely to be a driver, and it was built on a low budget. But it looks right, sits right and runs good. I'm sorry if it's a disappointment to the HAMBER's, but it was accepted into the AMBR compe***ion. It was originally entered into the regular street roadster compe***ion in the GNRS along with Jim's '32 Sedan Delivery, built by our own krylon32, Gary Mussman. The roadster was built in a home shop up in the woods of Mercer, Wisconsin by Jim's friend, a long time '32 guy, Tom Richards. The Muncie four speed came out of Tom's GTO he had in high school. It was painted in a 2 x 4 framed, plastic sheet paint booth by Tom's good friend Johnny Zee for $600. The paint was some extra Ford pickup black acrylic enamel Tom had left over, and it turned out pretty nice. I know because I was the guy that brought the car the final mile. Jim had just learned in January that the car was to be in the AMBR and he needed help to get it ready. I did it just because that's what friends do for friends, and to be a part of the AMBR experience. As a farm kid originally from South Dakota, I never thought I would have the opportunity to be a part of something like this. I had to take care of some safety and function issues it had and I did a few more things to it. Like put my polished Buick drums off my Deuce roadster project on the front, instead of the unpolished ones that were on the car. Jim and I hand polished the exhaust, installed some more chrome accessories, replaced the clutch slave cylinder, put new braided covering on the wiring and then I did a final day and a half buff and detail on it. My good friend, Joe "Zip" Sebastiani, pitched in to help, too. Joe was friends with Andy Brizio way back in the "Instant T" days in the Bay Area. Our good friend, Scott Williams and his Swillco crew stepped up and brought his beautiful display with snow white carpet and brushed aluminum stantions down from Minneapolis and set it up for us. Because that's what friends do! Scott and his Deuce roadster were my pick to win it last year, and although he didn't get the big award, the Swillco roadster was the winner in my mind. This whole experience to me was what makes me so thankful for what brings us all together, our love of hot rods, and the good friends that made all this possible. We never entertained any thoughts of winning anything, we knew we were way out of our league, and we just didn't want to be embarr***ed. So in our minds, we won at that. It was an amazing experience that I'll never forget! Our biggest compliments were "That's the one they would to take home and drive everyday." I also want to thank John Buck, Kevin, Michelle and Laura for putting on the biggest and best car show in the world, bar none. If you have never been to this show, you must go at least once. I'll never forget last week, and for all the critics and arm chair quarterbacks out there, you can do this too. Teddy Roosevelt said it best..... “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” This is the only lift I had available to work on it, and it was up in my driver's garage. My other two lifts were full. I had to leave the Corvette outside whenever I worked on the roadster and I got a lot of exercise running back and forth down to my shop for tools. I drove the car up to the judges table for the initial judging. Jim was shot in the knee (and a few other places) in Vietnam while serving two tours as a Marine, so it's hard for him to get in and out of the car very easily to answer the judge's questions.
Had the pleasure of doing a little deal with Jim a few months back and we traded a number of texts. Seems like a real stand up guy that loves hot rods, and I mean loves em! He was kind enough to send me some pics of his ‘stable’ of hot rods AND holy moley does he have great taste. I bet if you rubbed the rear tires on all of em, you’d find they are all feathered. That right there tells the tale.
Jim is a Hot Rodder's Hot Rodder and he is into Traditional Hot Rods. He should write a book about his life. From drag racing a rail in Phoenix, Arizona when he was in high school, joining the Marines at 17 and doing two tours in Vietnam, being captured, shot and then rescued by Special Forces, coming back home and drag racing gas dragsters, super stock, you name it, he's raced it and won. He knows all the old time drag racers, including the stars. A long career at Honeywell, almost dying of cancer 13 years ago, starting over with a business from scratch helping handicapped people and succeeding. Despite two knee replacements, multiple surgeries and chemo, Jim doesn't know the word "quit". Generous to a fault, and forgiving of other peoples shortcomings, I am thankful and proud to be his friend!
I have a rule try never to criticize someone’s car - but #4 at beginning list. The rims, the high/tall engine, the headers that sweep up, the rear fender lip high above tire. Not the way I would do it.
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